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For all the right reasons, John Higdon bought into the dream of being the first in his immediate family to earn an undergraduate degree.

"All through high school and college, I thought, ‘I’ll get this piece of paper and it will open up doors that weren’t open to my parents, because they didn’t go to college,’" Higdon, 24, said over a cup of coffee last week.

Instead of opening wide, however, the door cracked after Higdon earned his bachelor’s in finance from Missouri State University in December 2008.

"I’m not where I thought I’d be almost a year after graduating," said Higdon.

Nor are thousands of others in the classes of 2008-09, who marched from the commencement stage into the teeth of the worst job market since the Great Depression.

Higdon did manage to land a job in his chosen field.

But earning a commission cold-calling potential commercial insurance clients is a far cry from employment as an analyst with a prominent financial or investment firm in the St. Louis area — the objective the Hannibal, Mo., native set for himself as an undergraduate.

Nor did his short-term goal include a plan to stay afloat financially by moonlighting behind a bar a few nights a week.

"That’s the norm now," he said. "All my buddies (from Missouri State) are working two jobs, too."

Adding insult to the insult of dual employment that netted him less than $20,000 in 2009 are the bills now coming due: The $315 monthly payments on his $42,000 student loan.

His college education, Higdon said dryly, "is definitely not paying dividends right now."

His won’t be the only one, according to some experts. Look for an exponential increase in the ranks of underemployed graduates struggling to cover an education they hoped would boost their earning potential, said Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University and executive director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. "It’s going to be a long-running crisis independent of the recession," Vedder predicted in a telephone interview from his office in Athens, Ohio.

The economic downturn, he continued, "exacerbates the fact that beginning salaries are lower and the ratio of the amount of (student) loans to those salaries is getting higher and higher. When that happens, you’re getting into problems."

The lag in processing comprehensive higher education data makes it impossible to know how many underemployed 2008-09 graduates are wrangling with student debt.

But the U.S. Department of Education announced in September that the default rate, 6.7 percent, was already on the rise in 2007 — a year before the recession took hold.

More and more students, Vedder said, are deferring payment (and incurring additional debt) by pursuing advanced degrees. The latest statistics from the Council of Graduate Schools bear him out.

From 2007 to 2008, the council said, first-time graduate school enrollment among U.S. students jumped nearly 5 percent — the largest increase since 2002 — according to its survey of schools serving 1.7 million grad students in 2008.

John Drenkhahn of Collinsville opted for graduate school after evaluating the odds of getting a job in electrical engineering following his 2008 graduation from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

"If I hadn’t gone back to school, I would have been competing with other (graduates) along with (experienced) people," said Drenkhahn, 25, who planned to graduate this summer.

While the market hasn’t improved much for graduates, Drenkhahn’s decision appears to have paid off: He landed a job.

"They agreed I’m a little overqualified in terms of education for this position," said Drenkhahn, who will handle customer support for a technical product sold by a company he did not want to name.

Although the master’s degree may not have been the difference in getting the job, Drenkhahn said he found the education useful and expects the advanced degree will help as he tries to move up the ladder. He said his new employer indicated there may be opportunities for advancement.

"That’s all I’m looking for," Drenkhahn said. "That’s all anybody who is graduating right now is looking for."

He said he was thankful to find a job with a local company. Otherwise, he was prepared to expand his search outside the area where he has lived his entire life.

Higdon, meanwhile, is staying put.

He and his girlfriend, a teacher, recently scraped together the down payment on a small condo in Valley Park. A wedding, Higdon said, will start taking shape once his employment situation is settled.

A year into the business, Higdon doesn’t rule out continuing in the insurance field, perhaps as a broker.

As he considers his options, Higdon’s eyes are on two components of the employment market — job openings in the local financial sector and the influx of graduates poised to compete for those positions.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers reports the job outlook for the Class of ‘10 is slightly better than it was for the two preceding classes. Then again, it couldn’t get any worse than 2009, when campus hiring dropped more 20 percent from the year before.

Higdon hopes there’s room in the slightly improved market for him.

"I know it’s a matter of timing, but it’s also a matter of increasing costs," he said. "I didn’t go to Dartmouth or Harvard, I went to a school that cost about $13,000 a year. I thought it was affordable, but it doesn’t pay for itself if your job prospects are poor."

Michele Munz of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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Tyson Foods and the League of United Latin American Citizens are donating 15 tons of meat and other protein-rich food to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

The more than 30,000 pounds of meat donated Feb. 12 will be distributed to partner agencies in six counties and are part of Tyson’s and LULAC’s three-year commitment to fight hunger.

The new donation brings Tyson’s total in-kind donations since 2000 to more than 71 million pounds.

“Donations of poultry and other high protein foods are especially valuable as they allow us to provide our member agencies with more healthy, nutritious options,” said Dave Krepcho, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. “Every year, our agencies are seeing an increase in need. This significant donation will help local agencies feed our many hungry neighbors.”

S 2010 study on hunger in Central Florida showed there was a 152 percent increase in people receiving food assistance since 2006. Approximately 54,000 Central Floridians are in need of food assistance each week business card.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is a member of Feeding America, which is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the U.S. It serves about 500 agencies that feed the hungry throughout Central Florida, providing enough food for 14 million meals annually.

The League of United Latin American Citizens has approximately 115,000 members throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. It is the largest and oldest Hispanic organization, advocating for Latino civil rights, in the United States.

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN), based in Springdale, Ark., is one of the world’s largest processors and marketers of chicken, beef and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. It provides products and services to customers throughout the United States and more than 90 countries with approximately 117,000 employees at more than 400 facilities and offices worldwide.

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SHILOH — What recession?

If Kevin Bollman is to be believed, tough economic times have had only a minimal effect on plans for the Villages at Wingate. That’s an ambitious 172-acre residential and commercial development now partly under construction at Shiloh — not far from Scott Air Force Base.

Bollman owns J2K, a major developer of the Villages at Wingate. The project, with an estimated cost of more than $140 million, was announced in the summer of 2007. The developers have plans for 270 houses and villas, 96 apartments for older residents, 75,000 square feet of retail space and 60,000 square feet of office space.

The site is just off Green Mount Road, about half a mile north of Carlyle Avenue and four miles south of Interstate 64.

"We never stopped going forward with our plans" despite the recession, Bollman said. "And now it’s good to see the housing market recovering, at least here."

He predicted the development could be built within five years.

Many people are interested in the project, said Bollman, who touted it as the first master-planned community that has come to fruition in Metro East.

The first of two independent living apartment buildings for older residents has been completed and will be ready for occupancy within a few weeks.

Three new houses already are occupied, and about 15 more are under construction, Bollman said. The houses range in price from slightly more than $160,000 to almost $300,000.

Six homebuilders have been involved in the project, and a seventh builder — Dettmer Homes — signed on this month and announced it would build on 82 of Wingate’s 221 single-family sites.

Scott Dettmer, general manager of Dettmer Homes, said his company, which already started building a display house at Wingate, has plans to build houses worth a total of nearly $22 million there.

Other builders with houses either under construction or planned at Wingate are J2K, JLP Homes, McFadden Homes, DF Contracting, New Tradition Homes and Carda Construction.

The architect on the Villages at Wingate is TRi architects. TWM Inc. of Swansea provided the civil engineering for the project. The contractor on the proposed commercial and retail part of the project is Grubb & Ellis Gundaker Commercial.

Developers also are working with the Mascoutah School District for a new elementary school on the project site that could be built in three to five years.

Mascoutah Superintendent Sam McGowen said the school could cost more than $8 million and have space for up to 600 pupils. He said a site for the proposed school already has been graded, near the entrance along Wingate Boulevard.

"I think that area is going to grow soon, and the developers have been great in working with us," McGowen said. "But the school is sometime in the future. The development has to generate revenues … in order to sell the bonds for the school."

Near the center of the Wingate project is a graded site for a 2,000-square-foot clubhouse and adjoining playground.

Bollman said another distinctive feature is a planned section of multi-family row houses, designed in a style echoing a century ago, "kind of like what you’d see at Lafayette Square." Carda Construction is the contractor for those homes.

The project also includes about 30 acres of green space and a planned walking trail.

"When we were putting this whole project together, I was adamant that we had to be unique," Bollman said.

And what’s with the name, Villages at Wingate?

Bollman said he read something a few years ago about an eccentric British Army general named Orde Wingate, who died in a plane crash during World War II. Bollman said he remembered that name and just decided it had a nice ring to it.

That also explains the British influence on the project’s street names, including London Lane, Welsh Drive and Downing Court.

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DETROIT–General Motors Co. chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. urged the troubled automaker’s employees to forget their old bureaucratic culture, telling them Friday not to fear being fired for taking risks.

Whitacre, who also announced key management changes, wants to speed up the automaker’s shift to an entrepreneurial culture where decisions are made quickly.

"We want you to step up. We don’t want any bureaucracy,” Whitacre told employees, strolling back and forth across a stage at the company’s headquarters.

"We’re not going to make it if you won’t take a risk," he told the audience of 800.

In a 45-minute presentation that was broadcast to employees on internal television networks and over the Internet, Whitacre also unveiled a mission statement to design, build and sell the world’s best vehicles.

Whitacre, who peppered his address with self-deprecating humour, named vice-chairman Bob Lutz, who has long advocated for a more risk-taking culture, as his adviser for product development.

Whitacre also said he is recombining sales and marketing, placing them under Susan Docherty no faxing payday loans.

She became head of sales when former CEO Fritz Henderson separated the roles of sales and marketing. Henderson left the company earlier this week.

Lutz, 77, who had been in charge of marketing, will help Whitacre learn about the business, he said.

In another key move, the chairman, who joined GM in June, promoted engineering chief Mark Reuss to run North American operations. Reuss recently was named head of engineering, and before that ran the company’s Holden operations in Australia.

GM board member Stephen Girsky, a former auto analyst with Morgan Stanley, will also be an adviser to Whitacre.

During his speech, Whitacre set a tone of humility and encouraged employees to give him ideas.

"I’m on the 39th floor of the RenCen. You’re all welcome," he said.

"You’re a terrific bunch of employees. You have our support. Let’s go hit it and make this thing big."

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Recently a friend was shopping for boots at Saks, only to be told the store was out of her size. "You’re the sixth person I’ve had to turn away," the sales clerk said. My friend is not alone. But at a time of slumping sales, shouldn’t it be easier to find what you want?

Not necessarily. It looks as if some retailers ordering merchandise in the depths of the credit crisis overestimated just how bad things would get. Now certain stores appear at risk of running short of inventory heading into the crucial holiday shopping season.

What does all this mean for consumers? While there will still be plenty of discounts this season, the markdowns probably won’t approach last year’s rock-bottom level. And hot items — like Netpal laptop or Sony’s e-reader — will sell out fast. "You’re not going to see merchandise piled high like you did last year," says Stevan Buxbaum, a consultant.

The cost of inventory is one of the biggest expenses for retailers, and therefore a natural place to cut when sales are falling, as they have been for most of this year. Retailers typically try to order slightly less goods than they expect to sell. It’s a fine balancing act: Not cutting enough results in markdowns to clear unsold goods, while cutting too much risks turning customers away empty handed.

The former scenario played out last Christmas. Caught unprepared by the sharp slowdown in sales following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions, retailers were awash in extra goods. That resulted in lots of great deals for consumers, but those discounts ate into store profits.

This year, the opposite situation appears to be playing out. Retailers were extremely cautious heading into the holiday season, and some may not have ordered enough goods.

During the second quarter, for example, Abercrombie & Fitch’s (ANF) inventory was down 42%, compared with a 28% decline in sales. Ann Taylor (ANN) and Talbots (TLB) both shrank inventory 30% in the period. "These are some of the biggest declines in inventory we have seen since we started tracking the measure in 1992," says Lazard analyst Todd Slater.

These retailers may have miscalculated. Suddenly, the doom and gloom of the past year has been replaced by a slight optimism. Sales at stores open at least a year in September rose for the first time since August 2008. The October figures, due to be released Thursday, are also expected to show strength.

Third quarter GDP grew at a surprisingly strong 3.5%, marking an official end to the Great Recession, although most of that growth was the result of government stimulus programs such as the Car Allowance Rebate System (popularly "Cash for Clunkers). The National Retail Federation predicts holiday sales will decline 1% to $438 billion — less than last year’s 3.4% drop.

Some analysts are predicting an even stronger turnout. Customer Growth Partners, a consulting firm, released a report last week that estimated holiday sales would rise 2.4%, compared with a year ago.

Retailers that try to reorder goods to meet this small but promising uptick in demand may run out of time. For instance, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) has one of the more nimble supply chains, but it still takes the retailer 45 days to restock merchandise that is made in China. "Many of the companies that I cover have cut inventory too much," says Richard Jaffe, a retail analyst with Stifel Nicolaus. "What do you do Dec. 15 when you’re out of goods?"

Time isn’t the only problem. Dozens of Asian factories have gone bust during the financial crisis, which will restrict supply when demand picks up, says James Lawton, a senior vice president with Dun & Bradstreet, a research and credit-monitoring firm. "A lot of capacity is coming out of the system permanently," he says.

That problem is not just restricted to apparel. Lawton says he knows of one retailer forced to delay store openings because the company that made its shopping carts went bankrupt. "They literally didn’t have enough carts," he says.

The lesson: If you can’t live without those Christian Louboutin booties, you’d better buy them now. 

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Monday announced its second round of price cuts on toys as the world’s biggest retailer backs up its intention to be the “price leader” this holiday shopping season.

U.S. Walmart stores are cutting prices on 100 toys, like the Buzz Lightyear talking action figure and Star Wars light sabers, by roughly 20 percent to 30 percent.

The cuts are in addition to ones the retailer implemented at the end of September, when it began selling 100 toys for $10 each.

The new prices will be available through December 25 or while supplies last.

Wal-Mart has vowed to be the “price leader” this holiday season, and announced plans on October 21 to cut prices every week until Christmas to fend off rivals and win over shoppers easy online payday loans.

After it reduced toy prices at the end of September, Target Corp responded with price cuts of as much as 50 percent on toys like Barbie and G.I. Joe.

Analysts said many of these holiday price cuts are planned in advanced, allowing retailers to protect their margins.

But such cuts can be damaging to manufacturers, because they train shoppers to expect lower prices for their goods. They can also hurt retailers’ profits if they must slash prices lower than expected to match competitors’ prices, or they can not sell enough goods to offset the lower prices.

(Reporting by Nicole Maestri, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

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Half a million people are now in trial modifications under the Obama administration’s mortgage rescue plan, but getting them permanent help is proving to be difficult.

The foreclosure prevention plan, which reduces eligible borrowers’ monthly payments to no more than 31% of their pre-tax income, requires homeowners to make three on-time monthly payments before they can receive a permanent modification.

Loan servicers use the trial period to verify borrowers’ income and ascertain whether they can handle the reduced payments.

But servicers say they are having a tough time collecting the necessary documents to determine whether troubled borrowers should receive permanent adjustments. They contend that some homeowners aren’t sending in their tax returns, bank statements and pay stubs. Borrowers, on the other hand, complain that their paperwork is being lost.

The Obama administration recently made several changes to the program to give the transactions more time and streamline the plan.

Last month, it extended the trial period by two months to give servicers more time to collect the documents. And last week, it announced that servicers could automatically move qualified borrowers into permanent modifications without their signatures.

The Treasury Department said these moves should make it easier for qualified borrowers to get permanent modifications, according to a spokeswoman. Officials are discussing ways to make it even easier, she said, including allowing servicers to access tax records directly from the Internal Revenue Service.

It is in servicers’ interest to convert eligible borrowers since they only get incentive payments when the modification is made permanent, the Treasury spokeswoman said. Plus, if the government finds institutions to have wrongly deny swaths of people, it could impose penalties.

"Treasury is also working intently with servicers to help ensure that they execute in helping more borrowers convert to permanent modifications," she said.

Who’s to blame?

Servicers say they are wrestling with getting the completed documents they need to put borrowers in permanent modifications.

At JPMorgan Chase, for instance, representatives call and send letters to homeowners detailing what they still need to mail in. The bank says it has improved its system for collecting paperwork so that lost documents are not the problem. The issue, it says, is that homeowners are simply not sending in what’s required.

"At first blush, you’d think that for people who’ve made three payments, it would be a no-brainer to get the paperwork in," said Tom Kelly, a Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) spokesman. "But for some people, it just hasn’t been the case."

A Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) spokesman also said the documentation process has been challenging.

But many borrowers and housing counselors contend that homeowners send in their documents multiple times, only to be told their files are incomplete. This has been a problem that’s plagued the program from the beginning.

On top of that, housing counselors report that banks are sending homeowners forms with the wrong income data listed, which could jeopardize their chances of getting a permanent modification.

One homeowner’s problem

Many borrowers are growing increasingly nervous as they near the end of their trial modification periods with no decision from their servicers.

Jim Copley, a Minneapolis homeowner, was given a trial modification five months ago. He found he could no longer afford his $1,650 monthly payments after the housing collapse decimated his home-painting business.

After receiving a temporary adjustment that cut his payments to $955 a month, Copley sent his servicer, Bank of America, all the required income documentation in June. He was shocked to learn two months later that there was some paperwork missing. He called again and was told that his file was, in fact, complete and that he should continue making reduced payments until he was told otherwise.

"Every time I talk with them, I get a different story," said Copley, a single dad who now makes a third of his previous income selling meat to restaurants. "No matter what I do, I can’t get any kind of an answer."

A Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) spokeswoman said that Copley’s file is complete and that he should receive a decision about a permanent modification soon.

It remains to be seen how many people will qualify for permanent modifications.

"If the trial modifications don’t convert to permanent modifications, then the program won’t be considered a success," said Barry Zigas, director of housing policy for the Consumer Federation of America.

Have you turned into a saver because of the recession? How have your saving and spending habits changed? Please email your stories to CNNMoney.com and you could be part of an upcoming article. For the CNNMoney.com Comment Policy, click here. 

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Ballpark — A mildly pungent jalape

The U.S. economy is starting to climb out of a “deep hole” but with a tepid recovery likely it will remain vulnerable to shocks, a top Federal Reserve policy-maker said on Monday.

Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Fed, said that the Fed’s policies need to protect against “disinflationary forces” that currently pose a bigger threat to the U.S. economy than the possibility of inflation.

“The economy seems to be brushing itself off and beginning its climb out of the deep hole it’s been in,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for the Certified Financial Analysts of San Francisco.

The severe recession probably ended in the summer, and the U.S. economy will grow in the second half of 2009 as housing, manufacturing and even consumer spending start to show some signs of life, she said.

But Yellen, a voting member of the monetary policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2009, said that consumers could not be relied on to power a recovery.

“It may well be that we are witnessing the start of a new era for consumers … The destruction of their nest eggs caused by falling house and stock prices is prompting them to rebuild savings,” said Yellen.

Yellen said views on the inflation outlook have coalesced into two diametrically opposed views, but threw her weight behind those worried on falling prices — a consequence of high unemployment and substantial “slack” in the economy.

“With slack likely to persist for years, it seems likely that core inflation will move even lower, departing yet farther from our price stability objective,” Yellen said.

Yellen said fears that the Fed would be pressured to “monetize” the growing U.S. budget deficit were “real, growing, and disruptive” — but also misplaced.

“We at the Fed are and will remain fiercely independent from politics. We have the means — and we certainly have the will — to tighten policy when the time is right.”

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

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Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co Ltd agreed on Thursday to buy U.S. drugmaker Sepracor Inc for $2.6 billion, giving the Japanese firm a big, local sales force in the world’s largest drugs market.

The deal is the latest in a string of overseas acquisitions by Japanese drugmakers keen to grow outside a mature home market and build product pipelines before key drug patents expire.

Dainippon, Japan’s No.7 drugmaker by revenues, will gain a sales force of 1,200 familiar with central nervous disorders as it looks to promote its experimental schizophrenia drug lurasidone, which has performed well in late-stage trials.

It will also gain Sepracor’s insomnia drug Lunesta, asthma drug Xopenex and an experimental epilepsy drug.

“We anticipate our business will shrink if we focus only on Japan, where medical prices are under pressure,” Dainippon Sumitomo President Masayo Tada told a news conference.

“Even if the U.S. carries out healthcare reform it’s not as if the market is going to halve. It will remain the world’s biggest drug market.”

The deal is the fourth-largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese drugmaker, and the second-biggest this year by any Japanese company.

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Dainippon’s shares climbed 1.2 percent in a weaker Tokyo market, with volume at six times the daily average this year. Some analysts said the purchase was the easiest route into the U.S. market, others said it looked pricey and risky.

Dainippon will pay $23 cash for each share, a premium of 27.6 percent on Tuesday’s close before media reports of the deal sent Sepracor’s stock surging to $22.8 on Wednesday. The acquisition cost is roughly equal to Dainippon’s annual sales.

“It’s a very expensive deal for a company of Dainippon Sumitomo’s size and also very risky, given the series of patent expirations on Sepracor’s mainstay drugs in the next few years,” said Credit Suisse analyst Fumiyoshi Sakai.

“Dainippon must be extremely confident in lurasidone, although I have some doubts,” he said, adding the deal would not have been possible without the backing of the Sumitomo Group, which includes Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Japan’s third-biggest bank. Dainippon is majority-owned by Sumitomo Chemical.

Aaron Gal, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said that based on projections for 2013, the deal values Sepracor at 3.5 times sales, compared with 3.1 times for the average of other specialty pharmaceutical and generic drug industry acquisitions.

It also values Sepracor at 19.4 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) compared with an average of 15.1 times for other deals, he said. 

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