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This week on The Bottom Line podcast: As the economic stimulus package meanders through Congress, President Obama warns us the crisis could become irreversible if lawmakers don’t act now.

…Really? Co-hosts Curt Nickisch and Andrew Phelps pick apart this week’s Bottom Line Buzzword, uttered by POTUS himself: Catastrophe.

Car Talk's Ray Magliozzi, left, and his brother, Tom, in 2008. (AP)

Plus, we nominate Car Talk’s Ray Magliozzi for car czar. He’s happy with his day job at the Good News Garage, thank you very much, but he returns to the show with some advice for the next car czar: “I don’t think any stimulus or any overnight answer is going to suffice here. I think they’re going to have to start innovating.” Ray suggests the government partner with the Big 3 to build a nationwide high-speed rail network. And he renews his call for a 50-cent national gas tax.

Also on the show: If your colleagues lose their jobs but you get to keep yours, how do you feel? A workplace psychologist says a lot of people suffer survivor’s guilt at the office.

And we check in again on Dancing Deer Baking Company, a Boston cookie shop that just laid of 10 people after years of growth. There is definitely some survivor’s guilt going on there. (You can catch the whole series over here.)

Get the week’s economy news — with a Boston accent — on The Bottom Line from WBUR.

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This week on a jam-packed Bottom Line podcast: We look back on a not-so-merry Christmas for the U.S. economy –the worst holiday season for retailers since 1970, according to one trade group.

• » Host Curt Nickisch re-visits a Boston cookie company that believes flat is the new up.
• » WBUR’s Andrea Shea re-examines literature’s stingiest skinflint: Ebenezer Scrooge.
• » Here & Now host Robin Young asks how we calculate the unemployment rate. (Hint: It should be much higher.)
• » Curt examines the seemingly indefatigable Massachusetts hospital industry, which is showing signs of sickness.
• » And Anthony Brooks reports on a middle-class Massachusetts family that’s just getting by on $150,000 a year.

Don’t miss the first Bottom Line of 2009. And let us know what you think of our new show in the comments.

• » Bake Or Break: WBUR’s series of profiles on Dancing Deer Baking Company
• » The Vanishing Middle Class: Inside Out

The Bottom Line podcast takes a holiday break next week. We’ll return Friday, January 2, 2009. In the meantime, stay with the blog for daily updates. Enjoy your holiday!

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Bernard Madoff

This week on the new Bottom Line podcast: Bernie Madoff made off with a lot of money, and there’s plenty to sort through in the biggest Ponzi scheme ever. Here in Boston, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation lost $155 million overnight. We get the lowdown on the Madoff scandal from Wall Street Journal reporter Amir Ephrati.

And as the rich get richer, the middle class keeps getting squeezed. But what is the “middle class?” It might be defined by more than just money. We present part of WBUR’s new Inside Out documentary: “The Vanishing Middle Class.”

Plus, we get perspective on today’s financial crisis from people who lived through the Great Depression. And we continue our look at Dancing Deer, a Boston cookie company choosing to expand as the economy crumbles.

Hosted by WBUR’s Curt Nickisch.