Signs of the times

Over the past 10 months, EconomyStory.org has featured some of the most poignant, informative and visual stories about communities coping in the ongoing crisis.

These stories are what make public media stand out – the voices featured from around the country and the innovative ideas that have inspired news stories.

It’s been so exciting to learn how the economy has changed over the past year – at times the stories have been hopeful and uplifting, often they’ve been upsetting and grim, but never boring.

Here’s a quick review of a few stories that continue to be relevant:

Book Club (4/12/2010) and Book Keeping (3/11/2010) Funny names of old financial texts, and a Paul Solman list of the best books on the financial crisis.

One Sixth of What? (9/22/2009) Back in September, before the health care reform legislation was passed, we examined what makes up the health care costs.

Trading Up (2/24/2010) looked at bartering’s comeback – from help with school projects to borrowing a rake from your next door neighbor.

Shifting Gears (4/2010): Tens of thousands of people work building vehicles in the U.S. And while Ford and GM are reporting that their books look better, many people are still riding the waves of the the hard transition in this industrial sector. That’s why Shifting Gears, a public radio special, will have relevance for some time to come. The latest EconomyBeat podcast features highlights from the program.

Pictures of Transition: One of the most popular aspects of the EconomyBeat.org blog this past year was the weekly collection of user-generated images about the state of the economy. These powerful, witty and painful pictures illustrate the compelling drama of the recession that communities and individuals continue to navigate.

I can’t write about EconomyStory without including stories that came directly from readers, listeners and viewers in the form of comments, six-word memoirs and responses on Facebook and Twitter.

A comment from reader Carlos Tobin about bank size, one of many active discussions on Facebook:

Limiting the size of banks could hurt a innovative start up bank that wants to form and take out the banks that caused the problem. Legislation will just entrench the existing players, and stifle innovation.

And the Six-Word Memoir Project with SMITH Magazine, which collected creative tales of economic hardship. The most recent ones, posted on the SMITH site include:

Whitney Cole: Goodbye, economy. Hello, credit card debt.
Charles: Exchanged credit cards for library card
Kali: Buying a camper, not a house!

EconomyStory will continue to serve as a jumping off point for exploring all that public media has to offer. Projects like Patchwork Nation and Youth Radio aren’t going away, so the links on this site will still take you to the best coverage of the economy. However, as the EconomyStory collaboration comes to an end, this blog will no longer be updated. You can still follow the great work that the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) does at PRX.org and you can follow my work on Twitter @laurahertzfeld. Thank you for all your support and input! And a big thank you to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for making this possible.

In case you missed it, PBS NewsHour analyzed the proceedings and this short video from The Huffington Post mashes up the hearing into five minutes of accusations and rebuttals… you’ll get the gist.

But the kernel that the industry has to take away from the screaming matches in the news today is that trust is all but gone between consumers and the traditional banking system. So how can the finance industry move ahead? Perhaps the answer rests with consumers taking more responsibility for their own financial future. This was one of the themes of a conference I attended this week called The Future of Money and Technology. I moderated a panel at the San Francisco event, where I met leaders in the financial and tech worlds who are working on creative, innovative ways to improve and expand on how consumers and companies manage their money.

Former Union Bank executive and entrepreneur Arno Hesse spoke about Bernal Bucks a new project in a San Francisco neighborhood that encourages people to spend money in their community and reinvest in businesses they know and frequent.

A fellow at the social entrepreneur organization Ashoka Bruce Cahan is creating GoodBank, which aims to put a mirror on investors and show them where their money is really going. Do you actually support the causes you say you do? GoodBank plans to serve as a moral compass for your money:

Rob Garcia, who won the Twitter “Shorty Award” in finance, discussed his company Lending Club, a site that allows people to borrow money from people they trust, resulting in lower interest rates and a community of smart investors.

While gaming might be seen by some as frivolous, especially when it comes to money, John Bates talked about Entropia Universe, the only cash –based virtual game, which allows players to invest in a virtual world and see actual monetary results. Bates reminded the panel that the future of banking doesn’t have to be so serious; it can have a fun element to it as well.

Some of the biggest issues that came up with each of these diverse projects were around defining community, creating sustainability for these new projects, and determining what the needs in the market will be to gain investors’ trust in these new ideas.

Are you more likely to invest in organizations that you have a direct connection with, like the coffee shop on the corner, or is your community more broadly defined by people who care about similar philanthropic causes? What kinds of parameters need to be put in place to regain trust and share financial information online?

This week, Smith Magazine, the originators of the six-word memoir, is working with us to share even more of your stories.

Recently, we asked what happened to your career in the crisis and asked respondents to submit their stories in six words. Minnesota Public Radio got some great responses:

Mike Rose: Got work but wants more. Unlikely.
J. Wagner: On food stamps, Americorps, Future M.D.
Jay: Career long in tooth, got yanked.
And a hopeful one from Steph: In three words: I found happiness.

A few more were posted on the EconomyStory Facebook page.

Lost two jobs gained an LLC

Adjust to reality, give up dreams.

In an earlier post, we asked about your experience with health care. MPR mapped the responses to show where listeners were live. They received stories from across throughout their listening area, all the way to the Canadian border.

Here’s one of my favorite health care responses:
Bill Kelso: Eyes popped out. Both of them.

What is your six-word memoir on the financial crisis? Share yours here and at Smith Magazine!

Coupons/ Credit: Flickr user sgrace

It’s always taken a bit of persistence and planning to save money on the things you buy, whether it’s religiously cutting coupons from the newspaper or saving up frequent flier miles. Last year, NPR reported on avid e-coupon collector April Englebert, who told Weekend Edition that she saves up to 80% using online coupons. But over a year later, it’s now easier and easier to save money online – thanks to sites like Savings.com and GroupOn, as well as social networking sites like FourSquare and Yelp.

There are various models for online coupons. GroupOn provides limited-time deals that visitors sign up for using their local zip code for services like yoga studios, spas, and restaurants. Savings.com aggregates deals from national chains and online retailers. FourSquare and Yelp provide money-saving incentives for sharing information about places you’ve visited.

I spoke recently with Savings.com’s community manager Sara Dunham. She talked about the kinds of deals that people tend to search for online.

“I’m always surprised to see what people will buy,” she said. “Merchants are also trying to make it easier to buy online … Free shipping is one of the most searched terms for coupons.”

Dunham said that employees at Savings.com are even required to use the available coupons to book their work travel.

Beyond coupons, social network FourSquare hooks users up with deals at the businesses they frequent most. WLRN and Miami Herald’s Niala Boodhoo wrote about “FourSquare Day” last week:

There’s been lots written about Foursquare being dangerous for privacy reasons (it’s easy to stalk or rob you when you’re always saying where you are…
But Foursquare promotes it as a way to discover new places to eat, shop, etc. based on what your friends say they are doing.
Here’s where the Foursquare Day part comes in. Some businesses are getting in on the game by saying if you “check in” on Foursquare today at their establishment during a certain time, you can get a deal.

The privacy concerns about online coupons go beyond the information you may provide for the FourSquare and other social social network deals. The New York Times reported on the information stored in the barcodes of online coupons and when consumers may want to be wary.

Using coupons to link Internet behavior with in-store shopping lets retailers figure out which ad slogans or online product promotions work best, how long someone waits between searching and shopping, even what offers a shopper will respond to or ignore.

Have you used online coupons to save on goods or services? What kind of deals have you received?

New $100 bill

The new $100 bill design was unveiled today, and will go into circulation next February. The new $100s are aimed at preventing counterfeiting. NPR’s Planet Money reports:

The $100 is a favorite of counterfeiters, for obvious reasons, and the government’s rolling out new bills to try and make life harder for them. It seems like the old antibiotics-versus-bacteria thing, where the pathogens/counterfeiters are always catching up to the drugs/government.

Watch the unveiling of the new bill, complete with patriotic theme music:

The NewsHour’s Rundown blog polled leading economists on what they would ask Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke ahead of the hearings.

Some of their responses:

Mark Calabria – director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute
Chairman Bernanke: If Lehman had been rescued what would be different today? Would employment be any higher or credit more widely available?
Russ Roberts – J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Professor of Economics Chair, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
I would ask Ben Bernanke: What would have happened had you let Bear Stearns go bankrupt? How would that have changed Lehman’s behavior between March and September of 2008? What evidence is there that the bankruptcy of Bear Stearns would have had systemic effects?

WNYC’s The Takeaway had New York Times reporter Louise Story explain the Goldman Sachs fraud suit.

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In December, Story reported on how Goldman and other banks bet against collateralized debt organizations (CDOs), which may have worsened the housing crisis.

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What questions would you ask the Geithner and Bernanke about the financial crisis and bank regulation?

In the U.K. this week, a new street art campaign was launched by a group called Mutate Britain, in support of a “Robin Hood” tax, charging large corporations more than small ones.

IRS forms may be simple in design, but they provide hours of entertainment as parody. In The New York Times last week, graphic designer Sam Potts shared his rendition of the freelancer’s write-off list.

My personal favorite in Potts’ design?: “If you do not twitter, you do not qualify as a freelancer and may not use this form” (follow us @economystory).

Here’s another link between art and taxes: In Mexico, artists can even pay their taxes with works of art. USA Today reported on a project that’s been around since 1957:

There’s a sliding scale: If you sell five artworks in a year, you must give the government one. Sell 21 pieces, the government gets six. A 10-member jury of artists ensures that no one tries to unload junk.

Under the program, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit now owns 4,248 paintings, sculptures, engravings and photographs by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Leonora Carrington and other masters.

KQED’s YouDecide tool lets you answer a poll about whether your money is being well spent, and shares data about where the money really goes.

It turns out that in three major categories – defense, health care and education – we direct more of our budget than the average member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

So far, 55% of respondents have said that tax dollars aren’t being spent well by the federal government. Add your voice at YouDecide.

YouthRadio’s Making Cents series tackles taxes and gets young people sharing what comes to mind when they hear those letters: I.R.S.

And to lighten up Tax Day a bit, Nightly Business Report has a piece on the pressures of filing taxes. Watch tax experts go head-to-balance sheet in: Iron Accountant.

Meatloaf dinner

Just the idea of meatloaf conjures an image of TV dinners, Depression-era cookbooks, and eating for cheap. It’s not an inspiring image for a foodie, but I figured there must be a way to make a slightly more modern, healthier version of those dinners and still save money. So last night for my weekly Tuesday dinner club, I decided to make a gourmet version of meatloaf and green peas and add up the total cost.

Here’s what I made with the cost of ingredients:

Last year, The New York Times featured a piece called Fancy Meatloaf in the food section – the author was having Nora Ephron over for dinner—so I knew this was not going to be my mom’s meatloaf with the ketchup and the smiley face made of olives and gherkins. I’m a pretty amateur bread maker, but I wanted to do this whole meal as cheaply and as homemade as possible, so I threw together a loaf of whole wheat bread the night before and let it rise. And how can you have a meatloaf dinner without green peas on the side?

I had the basics already in the fridge (leftover bread, flour, milk, oil, butter, eggs, vinegar, salt and pepper), so adding to that I spent:

For the meatloaf:
1 pound ground chuck (I bought local, non-hormone treated beef): $7.77
1 pound ground veal: $5.64
1 link, hot pork sausage: $1.00
1 cup white wine: $10/bottle (and you can drink it with dinner!)

For the peas:
1 package green peas: $1.19
2 slabs house-cured bacon from the local deli: $2.50
1/2 pound mushrooms: $1.50

For the bread, in addition to the flour, I needed:
1 packet dry yeast: $.75
1 can beer $1.50

TOTAL: $31.85, for a meal that serves about six people. That averages out to just over $5 per serving, including a glass of wine. Not bad!