Latest news with #Rough
Business Mayor
26-04-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Americans are getting flashbacks to 2008 as tariffs stoke recession fears
Homemade barbecue pork chops. Katy Perry performs onstage during the Katy Perry The Lifetimes Tour 2025. A woman checks her receipt while exiting a store. iStock| Theo Wargo | Hispanolistic | Getty Images A few weeks ago, as Kiki Rough felt increasingly concerned about the state of the economy, she began thinking about previous periods of financial hardship. Rough thought about the skills she learned about making groceries stretch during the tough times that accompanied past economic downturns. Facing similar feelings of uncertainty about the country's financial future, she began making video guides to recipes from cookbooks published during previous recessions, depressions and wartimes. The 28-year-old told followers that she is not a professional chef, but instead earned her stripes by learning to cook while on food stamps. From Rough's yellow-and-black kitchen in the Chicago suburbs, she teaches viewers how to make cheap meals and at-home replacements for items like breakfast strudel or donuts. She often reminds people to replace ingredients with alternatives they already have in the pantry. 'I keep seeing this joke over and over in the comments: The old poors teaching the new poors,' Rough told CNBC. 'We just need to share knowledge right now because everyone is scared, and learning is going to give people the security to navigate these situations.' The self-employed consultant's videos quickly found an audience on TikTok and Instagram . Between both platforms, she's gained 350,000 followers and garnered about 21 million views on videos over the last month, by her count. President Donald Trump's announcement of broad and steep tariffs earlier in April has ratcheted up fears of the U.S. economy tipping into a recession in recent weeks. As Americans like Rough grow increasingly worried about the road ahead, they are harking back to the tips and tricks they employed to scrape by during dark financial chapters like the global financial crisis that exploded in 2008. Google is predicting a spike in search volumes this month for terms related to the recession that came to define the late 2000s. Searches for the 'Global Financial Crisis' are expected to hit levels not seen since 2010, while inquiries for the 'Great Recession' are slated to be at their highest rate since the onset of the Covid pandemic. Porkchops, house parties and jungle juice On TikTok, a gaggle of Millennials and Gen Xers has stepped into the roles of older siblings, offering flashbacks and advice to younger people on how to pinch pennies. Some Gen Zers have put out calls to elders for insights on what a recession may feel like at this stage of life, having been too young to feel the full effects of the financial crisis. 'This is, potentially, at least on a large scale, the first time that millennials have been able to be the 'experts' on something,' said Scott Sills, a 33-year-old marketer in Louisiana. 'We're the experts on getting the rug pulled out from under us.' Those doling out the advice are taking a trip down memory lane the to tail-end of the aughts. Cheap getaways to Florida were the norm instead of lush trips abroad. They had folders for receipts in case big-ticket purchases went on sale later. Business casual outfits were commonplace at social events because they couldn't afford multiple styles of clothing. Porkchops were a staple dinner given their relative affordability, leading one creator to declare that they 'taste like' the Great Recession. They drank 'jungle juice' at house parties, a concoction of various cheap liquors and mixers, instead of cocktails at bars. 'There's things that I didn't realize were 'recession indicators' the first time around that I thought were just the trends,' said M.A. Lakewood, a writer and professional fundraiser in upstate New York. 'Now, you can see it coming from 10 miles away.' Customers shop for produce at an H-E-B grocery store on Feb. 12, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images To be sure, some of the discourse has centered around how inflationary pressures have made a handful of these hacks defunct. Some content creators pointed out that the federal minimum wage has sat at $7.25 per hour since 2009 despite the cost of living skyrocketing. Read More Passive investing movement gets its Hollywood moment Kimberly Casamento recently began a TikTok series walking viewers through recipes from a cookbook that was focused on affordable meals published in 2009. The New Jersey-based digital media manager said she's found costs for what were then considered low-budget meals ballooning between about 100% and 150%. In addition to sharing the price changes, the 33-year-old gives viewers some tips on how to keep costs down. 'Every aspect of life is so expensive that it's hard for anybody to survive,' Casamento said. 'If you can cut the cost of your meal by $5, then that's a win.' 'A very human thing' This type of communal knowledge-sharing is common during times of economic belt tightening, according to Megan Way, an associate professor at Babson College who studies family and intergenerational economics. While conversations about how to slash costs or to make meals stretch typically took place among neighbors in the late 2000s, Way said it makes sense that they would now play out in the digital square with the rise of social media. 'It's a very human thing to reach out to others when things are feeling uncertain and try to gain on their experience,' Way said. 'It can really make a difference for feeling like you're moving forward a little prepared. One of the worst things for an economy is absolute fear.' Way said that Americans are quick to look back to the Great Recession for a guide because that downturn was so shocking and widely felt. However, she said there's key differences between that economic situation and what the U.S. is facing today, such as the absence of bad debt that sparked the housing market's crash. Still, she said there's broad uncertainty felt today on several fronts — be it tied to the economy, geopolitics or domestic policy priorities like slashing the federal workforce or limiting immigration. That can reignite the feeling of unpredictability about what the future will bring that was paramount during the Great Recession, Way said. In 2025, it's clear that economic confidence among the average American is rapidly souring. The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment recorded one of its worst readings in more than seven decades this month. With that negative economic outlook comes rising stress. When Lukas Battle made a satirical TikTok about feeling like divorces were increasingly common around the time of the Great Recession, the 27-year-old's comments were abuzz with people talking about their parents splitting recently. (Though divorce has been seen as a cultural hallmark of the financial crisis, data shows the rate actually declined during this period.) 'There's a second round of divorces happening as we speak,' Battle said. Cultural parallels That's one of several parallels social media users have drawn between the late aughts and today. When videos surfaced of a group dancing to Doechii's hit song 'Anxiety,' several commenters on X reported feeling déjà vu to when flashmob performances were common. Disney 's reboot of the animated show 'Phineas and Ferb,' which originally premiered in the late 2000s, similarly put the era top of mind. Lady Gaga performing at Coachella 2017 Getty Images | Christopher Polk 'Recession pop,' a phrase mainly referring to the subgenre of trendy music that dropped during the Global Financial Crisis, has caught a second wave over the past year as Americans contended with inflation and high interest rates. Now, in 2025, as the chorus of voices projecting a recession ahead grows, pop music has some familiar sounds. In 2008, artists such as Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry regularly appeared on the music charts. Both Cyrus and Gaga have released new songs this year. Perry kicked off a world tour this week. 'It's almost a permission to feel good, whether that's through song or something,' said Sills, the marketer in Louisiana. 'It's not necessarily ignoring the problems that are here, but just maybe finding some sort of joy or fun in the midst of all of it.'
CNBC
26-04-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Americans are getting flashbacks to 2008 as tariffs stoke recession fears
A few weeks ago, as Kiki Rough felt increasingly concerned about the state of the economy, she began thinking about previous periods of financial hardship. Rough thought about the skills she learned about making groceries stretch during the tough times that accompanied past economic downturns. Facing similar feelings of uncertainty about the country's financial future, she began making video guides to recipes from cookbooks published during previous recessions, depressions and wartimes. The 28-year-old told followers that she is not a professional chef, but instead earned her stripes by learning to cook while on food stamps. From Rough's yellow-and-black kitchen in the Chicago suburbs, she teaches viewers how to make cheap meals and at-home replacements for items like breakfast strudel or donuts. She often reminds people to replace ingredients with alternatives they already have in the pantry. "I keep seeing this joke over and over in the comments: The old poors teaching the new poors," Rough told CNBC. "We just need to share knowledge right now because everyone is scared, and learning is going to give people the security to navigate these situations." The self-employed consultant's videos quickly found an audience on TikTok and Instagram. Between both platforms, she's gained 350,000 followers and garnered about 21 million views on videos over the last month, by her count. President Donald Trump's announcement of broad and steep tariffs earlier in April has ratcheted up fears of the U.S. economy tipping into a recession in recent weeks. As Americans like Rough grow increasingly worried about the road ahead, they are harking back to the tips and tricks they employed to scrape by during dark financial chapters like the global financial crisis that exploded in 2008. Google is predicting a spike in search volumes this month for terms related to the recession that came to define the late 2000s. Searches for the "Global Financial Crisis" are expected to hit levels not seen since 2010, while inquiries for the "Great Recession" are slated to be at their highest rate since the onset of the Covid pandemic. On TikTok, a gaggle of Millennials and Gen Xers has stepped into the roles of older siblings, offering flashbacks and advice to younger people on how to pinch pennies. Some Gen Zers have put out calls to elders for insights on what a recession may feel like at this stage of life, having been too young to feel the full effects of the financial crisis. "This is, potentially, at least on a large scale, the first time that millennials have been able to be the 'experts' on something," said Scott Sills, a 33-year-old marketer in Louisiana. "We're the experts on getting the rug pulled out from under us." Those doling out the advice are taking a trip down memory lane the to tail-end of the aughts. Cheap getaways to Florida were the norm instead of lush trips abroad. They had folders for receipts in case big-ticket purchases went on sale later. Business casual outfits were commonplace at social events because they couldn't afford multiple styles of clothing. Porkchops were a staple dinner given their relative affordability, leading one creator to declare that they "taste like" the Great Recession. They drank "jungle juice" at house parties, a concoction of various cheap liquors and mixers, instead of cocktails at bars. "There's things that I didn't realize were 'recession indicators' the first time around that I thought were just the trends," said M.A. Lakewood, a writer and professional fundraiser in upstate New York. "Now, you can see it coming from 10 miles away." To be sure, some of the discourse has centered around how inflationary pressures have made a handful of these hacks defunct. Some content creators pointed out that the federal minimum wage has sat at $7.25 per hour since 2009 despite the cost of living skyrocketing. Kimberly Casamento recently began a TikTok series walking viewers through recipes from a cookbook that was focused on affordable meals published in 2009. The New Jersey-based digital media manager said she's found costs for what were then considered low-budget meals ballooning between about 100% and 150%. In addition to sharing the price changes, the 33-year-old gives viewers some tips on how to keep costs down. "Every aspect of life is so expensive that it's hard for anybody to survive," Casamento said. "If you can cut the cost of your meal by $5, then that's a win." This type of communal knowledge-sharing is common during times of economic belt tightening, according to Megan Way, an associate professor at Babson College who studies family and intergenerational economics. While conversations about how to slash costs or to make meals stretch typically took place among neighbors in the late 2000s, Way said it makes sense that they would now play out in the digital square with the rise of social media. "It's a very human thing to reach out to others when things are feeling uncertain and try to gain on their experience," Way said. "It can really make a difference for feeling like you're moving forward a little prepared. One of the worst things for an economy is absolute fear." Way said that Americans are quick to look back to the Great Recession for a guide because that downturn was so shocking and widely felt. However, she said there's key differences between that economic situation and what the U.S. is facing today, such as the absence of bad debt that sparked the housing market's crash. Still, she said there's broad uncertainty felt today on several fronts — be it tied to the economy, geopolitics or domestic policy priorities like slashing the federal workforce or limiting immigration. That can reignite the feeling of unpredictability about what the future will bring that was paramount during the Great Recession, Way said. In 2025, it's clear that economic confidence among the average American is rapidly souring. The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment recorded one of its worst readings in more than seven decades this month. With that negative economic outlook comes rising stress. When Lukas Battle made a satirical TikTok about feeling like divorces were increasingly common around the time of the Great Recession, the 27-year-old's comments were abuzz with people talking about their parents splitting recently. (Though divorce has been seen as a cultural hallmark of the financial crisis, data shows the rate actually declined during this period.) "There's a second round of divorces happening as we speak," Battle said. That's one of several parallels social media users have drawn between the late aughts and today. When videos surfaced of a group dancing to Doechii's hit song "Anxiety," several commenters on X reported feeling déjà vu to when flashmob performances were common. Disney's reboot of the animated show "Phineas and Ferb," which originally premiered in the late 2000s, similarly put the era top of mind. "Recession pop," a phrase mainly referring to the subgenre of trendy music that dropped during the Global Financial Crisis, has caught a second wave over the past year as Americans contended with inflation and high interest rates. Now, in 2025, as the chorus of voices projecting a recession ahead grows, pop music has some familiar sounds. In 2008, artists such as Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry regularly appeared on the music charts. Both Cyrus and Gaga have released new songs this year. Perry kicked off a world tour this week. "It's almost a permission to feel good, whether that's through song or something," said Sills, the marketer in Louisiana. "It's not necessarily ignoring the problems that are here, but just maybe finding some sort of joy or fun in the midst of all of it."
CBC
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
In the age of streaming, why is physical media seeing demand?
Walking into Rough Cut Video in Calgary's northwest community of Varsity, the store's owner Pascal Fortin says expect to see films that would never be found on streaming services. "Harder to find stuff like Japanese monster movies, old kung fu movies, Italian horror movies," he said. "Cult cinema." The shop's shelves are lined with Blu-rays, 4K discs and VHS tapes imported from across Canada and internationally from countries including the U.K., Australia, Germany and the U.S. Fortin says when he opened the physical media store in 2023, he thought it would eventually succeed but didn't anticipate business taking off right away. Now, he says, he gets new customers all the time — and a new generation of collectors are eager for his inventory. "We're not far from the university, so a lot of young kids come in here to buy VHS tapes. [They're] nostalgic for a time that they didn't even live in," Fortin said. "They think it's cool to actually own and hold a movie rather than just watching it on streaming and then it's pretty much gone and forgotten about. When you actually own your movies, you kind of curate yourself your own collection and it says something about you rather than, you know, a watch history." Fortin said he has customers as young as 16 that regularly visit the store. He became a film enthusiast at a young age, watching 1950s Japanese monster movies and branching out to more "obscure" movies from there. 'A physical, tangible thing that isn't going to disappear' Calder Fertig is a long-time film collector and a regular patron of Rough Cut Video. Part of the allure of collecting physical media, he says, is the joy of discovering something new to watch. "Some of my fondest memories are going with friends to the video store on a Friday night and you'd always go to rent the big new movie and 90 per cent of the time it was rented out," he said. "So you'd be scouring the shelves looking for something else, and that's where you end up finding some of the hidden gems." And another reason to collect, he adds, is being able to actually display those films on a shelf. "In an era where we're seeing just how transitory, maybe, files on the internet are, it's kind of nice to have a physical, tangible thing that isn't going to disappear," Fertig said. "There aren't going to be ads put on it, you know. No rising subscription rates." The cost of streaming In October, Disney+ increased its cheapest monthly subscription plan for Canadian streamers from $7.99 to $8.99 per month, which includes ads and limits streaming to two devices at a time. Netflix discontinued its cheapest ad-free subscription plan in Canada altogether last year. "I think we're all kind of getting a little bit frustrated every time there's a [price] hike every few months on our subscription services," Fertig said. "And, you know, you don't want to kind of lose access to everything that they contain." Charles Tepperman, an associate professor of communication, media and film at the University of Calgary, says when streaming was first introduced, there was "the hope or promise that you would maybe pay a subscription to one service like Netflix and that you'd be able to get everything that was released through that service." He explained many people have had the experience of looking through multiple streaming services for a particular movie that they want to watch, and then not being able to find it on any of the services they own. "Instead now there's this kind of patchwork approach [with movies spread across various streaming services]. And so you start to wonder how many of these you need to subscribe to in order to watch the shows that you want to watch." The joy of discovery Fortin's store has held special screenings at Globe Cinema and other venues in Calgary to bring Rough Cut Video's selection of hard-to-find films to the community. Audiences have come to watch without knowing what film they'll get to see, and so far, Fortin said he's had positive feedback from attendees. For Fortin, finding something new and unexpected is what it's all about. "Getting that sense of discovery when you come in here to look for something that we have and right next to it on the shelf is something that you never heard of but looks cool too," Fortin said.
