Recessionwire goes live, Wells Fargo strikes back

GOOD DAY FOR: Making lemonade, after two editors recently laid off from Condé Nast’s Portfolio started a new website, Recessionwire, to try and profit from the job-killing downturn. The site is fashioned as a “user’s guide to the recession,” and has recurring features with names such as Lemonade Makers and Love in the Time of Layoffs. The site is set up to last only as long as the recession, but to cover their bases, editor Sara Clemence has also purchased the domain name Depressionwire. (The New York Times)

BAD DAY FOR: Corporate inspiration, after Wells Fargo took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to defend itself from “deliberately misleading” reports that its “employee-recognition events”—notably a canceled event in Las Vegas—are “a junket, a boondoggle, a waste, or that it’s for highly-paid executives.” CEO John Stumpf said the events are paid for by company profits, not from the $25 billion it got in the federal banking bailout, and that they are important morale boosters for employees. “It inspires them,” he said. Wells Fargo, which posted a $2.55 billion loss last quarter, has nevertheless canceled plans for other such functions. (Bloomberg)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up