Remember when your grandparents used to bore you with stories about how they used to walk backwards in the snow barefoot and eat mustard sandwiches? Yeah, they’re saying “I told you so” right about now.

OK, actually I really enjoyed stories of the 1930s from my Nana. She actually did eat mustard sandwiches. The child of Caribbean immigrants, she was a successful math student and ended up going to the prestigious Girls High School (which is now Boys & Girls High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.). For treats, she and her brothers would get penny pickles and go to the movies and watch cartoons and newsreels all day. She only had about 2 outfits for most of her adolescence, and would have to wear her shoes down to the sole, sometimes until her toes scraped across the city streets. She, like many other women and girls in those times, had to hand-wash sanitary napkins, which were usually made of worn bed sheets.

Eventually she graduated high school, held a few odd jobs, but went on to join the Women’s Army Corp and serve in France during World War II. Using her GI Bill, she went to city college, and rose through the ranks with civilian jobs in the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Postal Service. At one point she was the president of her local postal union. And then she met my grandpa, and made a baby. I call that baby, “Dad.” He is a very large baby.

Basically she was rad.

Anyway, I miss her, and her stories, but hopefully some of these New York Times Depression-era memories will do something for you and I — like remind us that we don’t have it as hard as we think.

And basically kinda saying what all of us are saying:

“Commander in Chief?” she says of George W. Bush, with a mix of disbelief and scorn. “You blew up every single financial vessel we had and if you think you aren’t personally responsible, well, the blame starts at the top. There is no higher top than you, SIR! If I were you, I would feel so absolutely horrific that I would take every penny I had and distribute it to anybody and everybody to help them in whatever way I could. You owe the American people every penny of your fortune and your family’s fortune.”

God, don’t you just love when she gets all sassy?!

The National Bureau of Economic Research, after months of doom and gloom, and clear economic stress in the U.S. has finally called an official recession.

Actually, sorry, wait…the nonpartisan group, looking at its facts and figures, the recession started in December 2007. A bit slow on the uptake.

The financial rundown as of today:

- The stock market tumbled 9 % — the Dow alone dropped 696 points.

- Oil now costs $49/ barrel

- Analysts are guessing that 300,000 jobs were lost in November alone

And a screenshot of some of the stocks I follow:

Photo by Legalsec

There comes a point in your 20s when your friends start getting married for the right reasons, as opposed to the majority of your friends who were getting married early on because they’re unstable/dumb/weird. Eventually, those friends will ask you to be bridesmaids. A lot of those times, you’re going to have to say yes, especially if it’s your cousin who doesn’t have any actual friends and your mom makes you.

Your job as a maid of honor or bridesmaid may differ, depending on the wedding. Some brides will expect you to just show up in your expensive-ass dress the day of the wedding and look pretty, but not so pretty that you’ll outshine her. Other brides will want you there every step of the way, through thick and thin, to be there for her tantrums, and to down Jose Cuervo through the night on those days where she’s having cold feet.

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The government started sending out stimulus checks this week. If you’re a tax-paying American, making less than around $80k (depending on how many dependents you have), and if you’ve filed your taxes, you will probably get one of these checks — but you should still check with the IRS to see if you will. Instead of using the $600 for a Hummer down payment like the government wants you to do, consider boosting your financial status (or someone else’s):

1. Pay off your debt.
There are many kinds of debt that you likely have — credit card, student loans, your Macy’s card… If you’re going to use your money to knock off a chunk of debt, you should probably go with the most pressing line of credit that you have like a high-interest credit card. If you don’t have a ton of debt, well then, good for you for being an anomaly.
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(Photos.com)

It seems as though people are writing more an more about the pending recession each day. It’s not without reason: The Dow is tanking today, people around the world are rioting for food, gas is around $4 where I live, it hurts to buy basic groceries, the unemployment rate is inching up, and McDonald’s stock price is rising because it’s the cheapest place to eat. It’s bad, people. After the jump, peep a few articles here and there to help you figure out a game plan for when Wall Street suits start jumping out of buildings (you do have a plan, right?)

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