HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!

Hump Day Round-up...

Manufacturing and housing are down.

North and South Korea situation is escalating.

China and Russia dump the dollar as their bilateral currency.

The TSA peep-&-grope-fest is to be expanded to train stations and bus terminals.

NBC praises the "Ground Zero Mosque" developer.

Lots of things to be thankful for, huh?

Food, Healthcare, Heating, Housing, Free Speech... The Important Stuff

Inflation is "subdued":

Excluding food and energy costs, prices were flat for a third straight month and the increase from a year ago of 0.6 percent was the smallest since records started in 1957.

Food and energy shows inflation, but the rest of the economy... not so much. (yeah, right)

Housing starts stop:

US housing starts plunged to a near-record low in October while building permits were flat amid a depressed real-estate market, official data showed Wednesday.

Construction on new homes dropped nearly 12 percent from September, to an annual rate of 519,000 units, the Commerce Department reported.

The pace of construction was the weakest since April 2009, when a record low of 477,000 was reported in the data series that began in 1959.

The list of ObamaCare exemptions grows:

A few weeks later, McDonald's finagled its own Obamacare waiver after warning federal regulators that it could be forced to drop its affordable health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 restaurant workers unless it got a pass.

In early October, the Obama administration announced it had granted waivers not only to McDonald’s, but also to several other firms and labor unions.

Now comes word that Torquemada HHS Secretay Kathleen Sebelius has approved a whopping 111 waivers for businesses of all sizes, along with more unions and other providers of health insurance.

This doesn't include the growing list of companies that are already planning to drop healthcare coverage all together, since they figured out it's cheaper to pay Uncle Sam the per-employee fine than to continue proving health insurance.

Meanwhile, Senate Rockefeller has a bug in his brain that wants to end free speech. Arrogant idiot!

Another Bubble About to Burst?

(Via Reuters)

The new round of cash the Federal Reserve is pumping into the U.S. economy to spur job growth could create bubbles that do the very opposite, some Fed officials are warning.

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher suggested this week that a bubble is already forming in private equity, with cheap debt fueling high-priced deals in an echo of the torrid days of leveraged buyouts before the subprime credit crisis cut off financing in 2007.

Fisher, who argued against the U.S. central bank's decision earlier this month to buy $600 billion in Treasuries to boost the recovery, told a San Antonio audience on Monday he is concerned about signs of "speculative activity" in buyouts, along with stocks, bonds and commodities.

Global Trade War on the Horizon???

The G-20 refuses The One's request that they put pressure on China to adjust the value of their currency.

Wall Street responds by dropping over 1%.

Thursday News...

Michelle Malkin breaks down the beliefs of Muslims (including western muslims) on suicide bombings.

Gateway links to a story about clarifying the economic situation over the last decade.

Daily Eudemon talks about value shrinkage (in which I make a comment).

PoliPundit explains gerrymandering (very well, I might add).

And oil is currently trading at $88/barrel.

Inflation is coming... BIG TIME!

UPS will be raising their shipping rates 4.9% across the board come the beginning of 2011. Their maximum dimensional weight specs will shrink to the point that many items that would fit in a generic 1-lb box will now automatically weight 2-lbs, and thus be charged a higher rate.

FedEx, I'm sure, will follow suit. The U.S. Postal Service got denied their request for a rate increase, and they're already running in the red, which means that at some point in 2011 postage rates will increase as well.

Shipping costs increasing across the board at 5%... in this economy... umm... yeah... those added business expenses to get anything shipped from-here-to-there will be passed along to you & I.

Inflation.

It's coming.

Very soon.

11/12 Update: Well, I was right. The U.S. Postal Service just posted an $8.5 billion loss.

The U.S. Postal Service more than doubled its losses in fiscal year 2010, despite cutting billions of dollars in expenses and trimming its staff.

The Postal Service said its net loss totaled $8.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That compares to a loss of $3.8 billion the prior year.

Tuesday Trifecta (Housing, Jobs, Economy)...

So, September pending home sales drops 1.8 percent (unexpectedly... snicker).

Fannie Mae is asking for an additional $2.5 billion in federal aid. (???)

Job openings drop for the second straight month. (makes you wonder... if jobs keep getting added to the market, but unemployment remains at 9.6%, then doesn't that mean that the real unemployment number is - and has been - much, much higher?)

(via Ace): A Wall Street Journal reporter bashes Palin for stating that inflation is working it;'s way into the economy. But, of course, Palin was only quoting a report from straight out of... wait for it... the Wall Street Journal. (hehehe)

(via Daily Eudemon): The WSJ also reports on potential dissension in the ranks of the Federal Reserve and Bernanke. (Uh-oh!)

And, finally.... NOTHING TO SEE HERE!!! Just go about your daily business.

The Tidal Wave Stops at California (ugh)

Moonbeam Retread for Gov.

Box-o-Rocks Retread for Sen.

*deep sigh*

VOTE!!!

FOR GOD'S SAKE, GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!!