Subject: Economic Crisis

• Blow a Rack

  January 22, 2009

• Ya Gotta Hang On

  February 26, 2009

• J Flynn Gallery Goes Bye-Bye

  Weekly art critic Greg Stacy writes: "It is my sorry duty to report that we recently lost yet another fine local gallery, the J Flynn of Costa Mesa. Recent months have seen far too many local galleries close up for good, as the art world continues to suffer the effects of the ailing economy. In a time of recession, fine art becomes a luxury too few can afford. And if nobody buys the stuff, the galleries go away and the world becomes just a little bit more ugly every day."

  September 4, 2008

• OC Register to Lay Off 30 Newsroom Employees

  Just received word from an anonymous but reliable source that the Register is going to announce the elimination of 30 newsroom positions tomorrow. The paper is hoping to avoid direct layoffs by getting volunteers. Stay tuned for updates on who jumps the ship(wreck).* *Update #1: Apparently, Freedom Communications hatchet men are waving carrots before sticks, offering sweet retirement deals to senior-level management before going to lowly reporters. The best deal yet: a payout through the end o

  October 9, 2008

• Rate Rape

  February 15, 2001

• Out-of-County Experience: Dim Sum at New Capital in Rowland Heights

  If we're in a recession, someone forgot to tell the Chinese. Yesterday, the dim sum crowd at New Capital in Rowland Heights was as crazy as always.  Judging by the number of people milling about outside waiting for a table, this go-to place for dim sum in the eastern part of San Gabriel Valley is as good as recession-proof. The going rate for all dim sum plates on weekends is now $2.39. Two years ago it was just $1.98. But everything is as good as I remembered from my last visit. Dim su

  December 8, 2008

• MUSINK Tattoo & Music Festival: Totally Canceled!

  Curse you, recession! The MUSINK Tattoo & Music Festival, which was birthed from a three-day event this past February at the OC fairgrounds, has been completely scrapped; official word is that it's, unsurprisingly, "due to the current economic climate."The tour was planned for 25 cities, including Anaheim on March 14, and was to be headlined by Social Distortion and Motorhead. Also on the now-nonexistent bill: a bunch of tattoo artists including festival co-promoter/tattoo artist Kat Von D,

  December 8, 2008

• It's Gonna Get Bad, Then Really Bad, Then Really Really Bad ...

  Chapman University's annual economic forecast has been known to be overly sunny, but even this year's had to acknowledge that it'll suck huevos through the end of the next year. However, as they faced a crowd of 1,200 huddled in the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, Esmael Adibi and James "I'm Not Just an Economist, I'm Chapman U's President" Doti did offer this glimmer of hope: the economic recovery will begin near the end of '09 and start in Orange County and California before

  December 11, 2008

• [Summer Guide] What Not to Do When You're Desperate and Hungry for Money

  June 4, 2009

• [Summer Guide] Proposed Theme Park Celebrates OC's Part in Bringing the Global Economy to Its Knees

  June 4, 2009

• Believe the Investment Advice From the Man With No Mustache

  In mock congressional testimony, Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), said today the U.S. should only nationalize banks as a last resort, that focus should instead be placed on shoring up lending and staving off foreclosures and, most importantly, that he shaved off his mustache at the urging of his mother.In "Hairy Lips Sink Ships," his March Investment Outlook posted on the PIMCO website, Gross explains, "One thing I've

  February 24, 2009

• Moyers Picks Brain of Last Socialist (and Weekly Pal)

  Saturday Night Live had this skit years ago where they presented a Fugitivesque TV show called The Last Liberal. With all the talk on Fox News and conservative talk radio about the rise of Socialism in Obamerica, Bill Moyers decided to go out and find The Last Socialist to get the other side of the story. It turns out the subject of the host's recent Bill Moyers Journal interview is an old pal of the Weekly to boot!Moyers jokes that when it came to locating a socialist, his show "consulted the E

  March 23, 2009

• Days of Yore

  February 19, 2009

• Blues State

  November 13, 2008

• [Moxley Confidential] Chris Cox Says He's a Tough Wall Street Regulator, SEC Record Proves Otherwise

  October 2, 2008

• Burning Bush

  March 11, 2004

• The Adventures of John Moorlach

  March 27, 2003

• Its Official!

  March 2, 2000

• It's Official: This Recession May Make You Fat

  Today is Mardi Gras (aka Fat Tuesday), so it's fitting that I'm writing about how unhealthy we're becoming as a nation - indeed, as a planet. According to the Guardian, the number of new cases of diabetes being diagnosed in the UK is growing at a faster rate than in the US. Now that is depressing. And when I read the headline in the LA Times yesterday--"Fast food restaurants and stroke--a link?"--I was so bummed I nearly reached for a second tub of Ben & Jerry's.We could soon see more panic-

  February 24, 2009

• Taxing Pot Would Generate $1.4 Billion in California: State Board

  President Obama, Governor Schwarzenegger and other esteemed politicos may routinely distance themselves from the potential windfall that would accompany legalizing and taxing cannabis, but amid California's latest and deepest financial crisis the state Board of Equalization has tagged a whopping revenue figure to such a notion.As Eric Bailey blogs on the LA Times' L.A. Now site, "a tax on pot sales in California could fetch as much as $1.4 billion, according to the board's analysis in response t

  July 15, 2009

• Running Dry in the Cove

  July 23, 2009

• On Sale Saturday: The Killers at UCI's Bren Events Center

  ​Las Vegas' own the Killers are performing Sept. 15 at the not-used-very-often UCI Bren Events Center. I saw Al Gore speak there about a decade ago, but this was way before he invented global warming.Anyway, tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. and cost $47.50. Wait, what? $47.50? Am I crazy or is that a whole lot of money to see the Killers? I know they're popular and all, but is no one in their camp aware of this little thing called a recession?

  July 28, 2009

• Tale of 2 Police Forces: While Irvine's Fumes, La Habra's Bites the Bullet

  To protect and serve . . . for less.​While their counterparts in "Safest City in America" Irvine fume over an employer-proposed wage freeze, officers who belong to the La Habra Police Association seem to have gladly accepted a deal that imposes what is essentially a 5 percent pay cut. "Although difficult, we commend our members, and other city labor groups, for agreeing to tighten our collective belts in order to help the city through our national recession," says La Habra association presiden

  August 19, 2009

• Fun

  August 27, 2009

• How to Save Time, Money and Get Wall Street Journal Coverage for Cutting Your Own Hair

  How do you get yourself written on Wall Street Journal online? If the nation is gripped by an economic recession whose bad ju-ju has spread even to the usually immune hair salon industry, and you're Dana Point's George Trimm, you start a Facebook group called "I Cut My Own Hair."

  September 2, 2009

• Not Another Crappy Orange County Teen Reality Show . . . Oh, Wait, Yes It Is

  Poor? What you talking about, Seth?​Can you smell that?No, not the smoke from the inland wildfire of the week. That other, more ghastly odor. Go ahead, take a big whiff.SNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNORT!That, dear friends, is the smell of another lame TV show focusing on Orange County teens."WEALTHY TEENS: Has the recession affected your lavish lifestyle?" is the title of a Craigslist ad from Cast Iron Productions, and if you think Clockwork is making up the questions after the jump, well, you should

  October 7, 2009

• The Dark Room

  November 12, 2009