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Is the recession harder on women?

In 2009, more men are putting an emphasis on stability and security in their job and are looking for a girlfriend as a potential wife, according to the annual Great Male Survey by askmen.com

But how are women fairing in comparison?

Yahoo! Shine asked 19,000 women in the Great Female Survey and found that more women see their career on hold. Fifty-six percent stated that any upward movement in their career is cut off because of the economic crisis while only 24 percent of men saw the same problem.

Asked how their unemployment status had changed recently, 28 percent of women said they had to take a pay cut, pay freeze or lost their job altogether – 10 percent more than their male counterparts.

Looking ahead, women were split on wether the worst of the crisis was behind them, whereas every second man thought it would get better from here on out.

Should Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke be reappointed?

For Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, 2009 may be a tough year as political battles pile on top of tough economic challenges.

Bernanke must juggle a host of problems as he tries to revive the economy. With the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.4 percent and still climbing, he faces the challenge of recovering from an 18-month-old recession with unconventional policies that some worry will ignite inflation.

On the political front, he has the daunting task of convincing Congress the Fed deserves a leading role in a restructured financial oversight system even as he addresses criticism of Fed failings before the financial collapse and some actions since.

Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd said giving the Fed more authority “is like having a parent giving his son a bigger, faster car, right after he crashed the family station wagon.”

Still, economists give Bernanke an 8 out of 10 for his handling of the economic crisis, according to a Reuters poll and he has the support of Congress members who value his steady hand during the crisis. President Obama said “he has done a fine job under the circumstances.”

The end of his term is just six months away — do you think he deserves to win another four years running the Federal Reserve?

from MacroScope:

Welcome to “The Great Recession”

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a name. We are living through "The Great Recession". Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, used the term to describe our current angst on a trip to Africa this week. He may not have been the first to use it -- we have found other citations, including JPMorgan -- but the guessing here is that it may  stick with him because of his role.

It's a pretty neat moniker, actually. It resonates, of course, with "Great Depression" but without the soup lines and Hoovervilles. At the same time, it differentiates between the severe contraction now under way and run-of-the-mill economic misery. It also has the snappiness that media folks like -- hence this post.

The Bretton Woods duo of IMF and World Bank have been underlining how bad things are. Strauss-Kahn, for example, tells Reuters that delays in bank restructuring could mean economic recovery is not on the cards even in 2010 (which sounds a long way off, but is only next year). Then comes Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, who opines to Britain's Daily Mail that global growth will probably fall about 1 to 2 percent this year.

Not that any of this is particularly surprising to economists. Reuters polled around 250 of them in the past week or so and found expectations of a 1.4 percent contraction in the U.S. economy this year, a 2.6 percent one in the euro zone and a 4.0 percent one in Japan over its next fiscal year.

So "Great Recession" it appears to be. Unless you think otherwise, in which case, suggestions below, please.

(Reuters photo: Dylan Martinez)

Out with the old year, in with the new

Despite the incessant drumbeat of poor economic data — consumer confidence fell to a record low in December and the price of single-family homes plunged in October — the majority of Americans are optimistic about what is in store in 2009.

The Marist College canvassed 1,003 Americans about their expectations for 2009 on December 9 and 10 — days after the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed the United States had been mired in a recession since December 2007.

Expectations for a brighter future were higher among younger generations with 64 percent of those under 45 having an optimistic view compared with 52 percent for those 45 or older.

Based on last year’s results, those who aim to improve their lives in 2009 will have at least partial success. In 2008, 60 percent kept their self-made promises for at least part of the year.

Are you optimistic about 2009? What resolutions will you make to improve your life in 2009?