Our friends at Michigan Radio and PRX have put together an hour long special on the state of the economy, illustrating the crisis through the stuggles of individual Americans:
Since late 2007 America has been in an economic crisis. From a story about a family living on a beach, to a former GM employee looking to downsize his life, to a teenager weighing options for after high school, this one hour newscast compatible documentary explores how people are finding the strength and situations that get them through economic hard times by presenting personal stories and intimate portraits alongside contextual interviews and reports. Jennifer White is the program's host. "Finding Our Bootstraps: Americans Deal with Recession" was produced at Michigan Radio and showcases work from independent and station-based contributors to PRX.ORG - The Public Radio Exchange.
You can hear the whole program online or download the mp3 at the link above.
PALO ALTO-- With a $465 million loan package coming down the pipeline from the U.S. Department Of Energy, Tesla Motors is getting ready to step up their game from a limited production run of electric roadsters for rich silicon valley types and eco-conscious Hollywood celebs to something more robust.
How much more robust?
On the order of 1,600 new jobs in the Bay Area. Tesla can add "recession fighting" alongside "swift, silent, and sexy" to the Tesla roadster's list of fine qualities.
Below is a transcript of a story which originally aired on American Public Media’s Marketplace Money
My bank account has never seen “disposable income” – I use everything I make, and then some.
I’m a college graduate. And I work. Still, I pay for meals with loose change. I calculate the price per ounce in the cereal aisle to ensure the best deal. Apparently, this makes me part of a new trend you have probably read about: being frugal. But there’s nothing new about it to me. I’ve been living in my own personal recession since before the real one started.
My financial life is, well, first I pay rent, and then my bills for the month. Health insurance is a luxury. I haven’t had insurance for almost two years. DayQuil is my doctor. I can’t afford to think about a more serious illness or a medical emergency or even paying for antibiotics out of pocket.
While this isn't at the scale of say, Kraft acquiring Cadbury or even Apple picking up Lala there's been some M&A (that's mergers and acquisition for those not up on business-speak) action in the realm of the teen tycoons. The 17 year old CEO of Teens in Tech, a teen blogging community, Daniel Brusilovsky [@danielbru on twitter] has announced the acquisition of the site Yazzem.
Yazzem, based in Michigan and founded by two 14 year olds, is a topic-based microblogging service. A user starts a topic thread in 200 characters or less and can carry on a back and forth with other users. Think of twitter with an attention span. Brusilovsky plans on integrating Yazzem's tech and features into the Teens in Tech service, which has finally emerged from private alpha this week.
Yazzem was acquired for the princely sum of $15,000, or 1.2 million XBox Live points.
Teens in Tech will be hosting a conference in San Francisco come February 6th at the Google offices in San Francisco. Who's laughing now?
Have dreams of becoming a big film star? Forget moving to Los Angeles. You might be better off where you are right now. Over the years, Los Angeles has lost a lot of revenue due to runaway film/television production. Total productions in the city have declined 21.4% last year, with a 37.4% decline in feature film production. That's according to Film LA, the agency that handles production permits for all projects in Los Angeles. More and more producers and studios are heading to other locations, taking money and jobs with them. Now the Los Angeles City Council has declared a "crisis" and formed a committee to explore the feasibility of an LA Film Commission. The commission would promote Los Angeles as a go-to destination for filming. The commission would also work to undo some of the red tape and hassles that lured producers and studios outside of Los Angeles.
Competing with other cities to cement Los Angeles as a go-to destination for filming projects is a dangerous game for the city to play. Sure, production jobs within the city’s film industry have shrunk, but I wouldn’t call it a crisis. Spending more money to woo production back to the city, however, takes away resources in an already cash-strapped budget. Los Angeles hasn't been the primary destination for production in over a decade. That's according to Phil Sokolosk, the Manager of Communications at FilmLA. Read more...
Side Hustlin'- The first episode of Youth Radio's series about those extra money getting hustles we get into when our pockets get empty. New Options Host Venus Morris interviews Howard University Senior Pendarvis Harshaw about what he did to make ends meet during the last school year.
Watching the Super Bowl is not just about watching your favorite player, team, or performance. It's also about watching the commercials. Pepsi has announced that its 23-year-long Super Bowl commercial career is coming to an end. The soda company said it will use its money for a new marketing effort that’s mostly online. Pepsi has had the best commercials, but unfortunately we won’t get the chance to see another of those classic commercials after 2010.
The average 30-second super bowl commercial costs $3 million dollars. Pepsi was one the biggest advertisers in this year’s Super Bowl and has been since 1987.
“Pepsi had been a major advertiser during the Super Bowl. According to TNS, the company spent $142.8 million on the 10 Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008, second only to Anheuser-Busch, which spent $216 million. The brewer of Bud Light confirmed Thursday it will have 5 minutes worth of advertising in the 2010 Super Bowl.”
The company has decided to dedicate its time to a new project, the“Pepsi Refresh Project.” This project will pay $20 million to programs created by the people to “refresh” communities. Pepsi will have a website—that is expected to go live on Jan 13—where people can post projects like teaching children how to read, or how to organize a group to collect and deliver food. Users can then vote for the project that deserves funding. It looks like Pepsi is trying to give back to the community with its new project.
Will this new project be as succesful as their commercials? I don't know. One thing is clear; Pepsi stepping down leaves room for their rivals, Coca Cola--who has spent in the last decade $30 million dollars on Super Bowl ads—to come out stronger than ever.
Check out this video of top ten Super Bowl Ads of 2008—in which Pepsi came in at number 1 and 3.
SACRAMENTO-- California colleges and universities have been hit hard by state budget cuts cuts. Fewer classes are being offered, pay cuts for staff and faculty have been handed down, and classes sizes are blooming. In response to all this, protesters against these drastic cuts have held numerous demonstrations across the state at various college campuses.
We spoke with California State Senator Loni Hancock, a member of the State Senate's Education Committee about the budget cuts. Senator Hancock discusses the root of the budget crisis and what steps are being undertaken in Sacramento to address the budget shortfall.
The year's coming to a close. And that can only mean one thing: Hollywood is rolling out its biggest movies of the year. At stake...award nominations and ticket sales. So in this second installment of Youth Radio's Making Cents--a monthly video collaboration with Marketplace in which teens talk money...we decided to yell...lights, camara, action.
Episode II: What movie reminds them of the economy?
PALO ALTO-- With a $465 million loan package coming down the pipeline from the U.S. Department Of Energy, Tesla Motors is getting ready to step up their game from a limited production run of electric roadsters for rich silicon valley types and eco-conscious Hollywood celebs to something more robust.
