Yeah, you read the gloomy media reports yesterday about the Fed’s latest “Beige Book” report. But you won’t really know what the Beige Book is about until you’ve read Gilbert Cruz’s Skimmer of it for TIME.com. My favorite part:
1. On the laid-back nature of laid-off New England retail employees: “Retailers continue to manage inventory levels tightly…Most respondents have invoked hiring freezes and some have already reduced or are considering reducing headcount in the near future. Several contacts have have also frozen wages or eliminated bonuses or retirement contributions, and note that employees have taken the news of these freezes and jobs cuts ‘remarkably well.'”