Economic Roundup...

Earlier this year, S&P lowered the credit ratings for eight European countries, including two notches down for Italy, Spain and Portugal, one notch down for France & Austria. And Italy and France are on "negative outlook". And we all know the mess that Greece is in (Ireland, too).

S&P also lowered the rating for the European bailout fund.

Gas prices are spiking... again. Out here in my neck of the woods, one of the cheapest gas stations (an Arco close to my home) has 87 octane at $4.27/gallon. It's up approximately 72-82 cents since Christmas day.

And how is the MSM treating the reporting of the gas price issue today vs. eight years ago under Bush? Interesting:

The Business and Media Institute analyzed broadcast network news references to gas or fuel prices between Jan. 20 and Feb. 20, 2012 and from March 24 and April 24, 2008. BMI found that in the 2008 period there were more than 4 times as many gas prices stories, news briefs or news headlines on ABC, CBS and NBC as there were in 2012 (97 to 21).

Coverage during the time periods differed not only in quantity, but in tone as well. During Bush’s tenure, gas prices were a huge economic threat and cause of suffering. The networks also used the high gas prices to attack the administration. In 2012, the networks aired mostly matter-of-fact stories on the rising gas prices, and worried primarily that they would hinder the economic recovery, not that they are making people suffer.

Thew fake unemployment numbers are out. The non-seasonally adjusted Gallup poll suggests it's actually a bit higher. The real numbers show something else. Include those who no longer get unemployment benefits, and those who have stopped looking for work, and the rate is 9.8%. Add people who have only part-time jobs, and want full-time jobs, and the rate is 14.9%.

Then factor in those who are working full-time and who have had to take pay cuts, and those whose monthly outlays are higher than they used to be, and... well... you know.

Bernanke warns of slow job growth.

Real inflation is at 8%.

Durable goods orders fell in January.

Wholesale inventory numbers aren't good, either.

Tis the Season for a Woeful Economy... fa-la-la-la-la... la-la la la....

3rd Quarter growth weak due to cut in inventories.

The U.S. economy grew more slowly than previously estimated in the third quarter... Gross domestic product grew at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate on Tuesday, down from the previously reported 2.5 percent...

The government revised third-quarter output to account for an $8.5 billion drop in business inventories, the first decline since the fourth quarter of 2009.

The November unemployment rate drops to 8.6%. Reeeeally???

There are three elements that U-6 tracks that the official U-3 does not – “discouraged” workers (which is not nearly the same as the “want a job but haven’t looked lately” number mentioned above), those who hadn’t searched for work in the last 4 weeks because of reasons other than the job market (both not seasonally adjusted, and together being the number of those marginally attached to the workforce), and those employed part-time because of economic reasons.

The number of “discouraged” workers rose from October’s 967,000 to 1,096,000 in November, though the BLS does note that November 2011′s number is less than November 2010′s 1,282,000.

So, what about those questionable unemployment numbers.

The civilian participation rate in the workforce dropped 0.2% to 64.0% last month, barely above the 30-year low of 63.9% achieved in July of this year. The reason that both the topline and U-6 numbers declined is that both are based on the base number of workers, actual and potential, in the labor force that have plummeted in the last two years. The dramatic reduction in this number is what allowed a gain of only 120,000 jobs — which only covers the population growth in a month — drop unemployment by 0.4%.

In other words, the drop isn’t an indication of hope — it’s an indication of despair.

The "400,000 benchmark" myth explained.

Economy now hitting the breaks.

A different look at the economy in relation to past recessions and their subsequent recoveries.

Retail sales for November aren't so hot (so much for Black Friday saving the day).

Retail sales grew at their slowest pace in five months in November, tempering expectations for a strong holiday shopping season.

Retail sales increased a weaker-than-expected 0.2 percent after gaining 0.6 percent in October, a Commerce Department reportshowed on Tuesday...

Some of the weakness in the November retail sales might be because stores discounted heavily to attract customers, said Millan Mulraine, a macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.

"It's fairly disappointing given that all the evidence was pointing to fairly strong gains during the month," said Mulraine.

Oh, yeah... and that 2.0% growth for the 3rd quarter I posted just a few inches above in this post? Ahem... it's actually been revised downward to 1.8%.

Meanwhile, S&P warns all 17 Euro nations that they could be downgraded if things don't improve there.

Fitch ups the timeframe of a possible downgrade of France.

Fitch also warns of a possible downgrade of the U.S. rating (something S&P already did this summer).

Thursday Thrills...

So the markets got restless after Greece decided to have a referendum vote AFTER they got the bailout okay'ed by the Eurozone heads (and details of the bailout unveiled that it's not that great of a bailout anyway).

Well, the Eurozone heads then said, "you're not getting any of the bailout money until AFTER the December 4 vote."

Greece, then, decides NOT to go ahead with the referendum vote, with their prime minister saying:

"Elections as a solution, today and at this moment, would mean a much greater danger of bankruptcy and of course exit from the euro."

There you have it! Elections are a BAD thing!

*WOW*

Unemployment numbers aren't really that much better for last month.

The Fed keeps things steady, but lower their forecasts for 2011 through 2013.

Officials now expect the [U.S.] economy to grow by a tepid 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent next year, down from the rosier 3.3 percent to 3.7 percent they were expecting in June, with inflation muted over the forecast horizon.

They see the unemployment rate going no lower than 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent by the end of 2012, up from the more sanguine 7.8 percent to 8.2 percent range envisioned in June.

National average for 30-year mortgage interest rates fell back down to 4% (just off of it's all-time low of 3.94% one month ago).

Friday's Headline Round-Up...

We've got a lot to cover here. Take a deep, cleansing breath, hold it....... count to 10....... and sloooooowly release.......... OK. Here it goes:

The 1st Quarter GDP numbers had been revised downward (surprise, surprise) from 1.9% to 0.4%. The 2nd Quarter GDP numbers were initially 1.3%. Well, guess what?:

The U.S. economy grew at a meager 1 percent annual pace this spring, slower than previously estimated. The downward revision will likely increase fears that the economy is at risk of another recession.

Fewer exports and weaker growth in business stockpiles led the Commerce Department to lower its estimate for the April-June quarter from its previous rate of 1.3 percent growth. That means the economy expanded only 0.7 percent in the first six months of the year.

The report continues:

Most economists aren't forecasting a recession. JPMorgan Chase projects the U.S. economy will grow only 0.9 percent this year and 1.7 percent in 2012, much lower than the bank's estimates just a few weeks ago. Other economists have made similar downgrades.

Nine of the past 11 recessions since World War II have been preceded by a period of growth of 1 percent or less, economists note.

Morgan Stanley had also cut it's global forecast less than two weeks ago (so did Goldman Sachs):

Morgan Stanley slashed its global growth forecast for 2011 and 2012, saying the U.S. and the euro zone were "dangerously close to a recession", and criticized policymakers in Washington and Europe for not acting more decisively to contain the sovereign debt crisis.

The bank cut its global gross domestic product growth forecast to 3.9 percent from 4.2 percent for 2011, and to 3.8 percent from 4.5 percent for 2012.

Daniel Gross had this report on the state of things:

First, data on unemployment claims, manufacturing and existing home sales lent weight to the case that the U.S. economy is slowing. (Of course, other data released this week, such as the leading economic index and retail sales suggests the U.S. economy continues to plow along at a positive, but not satisfactory, rate.)

Second, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs downgraded their forecasts for global growth in 2011 and 2012. Stocks are leveraged bets on growth. The big firms that populate the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 now get a very large chunk of their revenues, and much of their growth, from overseas. The prospect of a growth slowdown in China and India is far more daunting to investors than the possibility that U.S. and European growth could fall.

Third, there are continuing problems emanating from the euro zone. Growth seems to have stalled in both France and Germany, the engines of the continent's economy. The big fear this week is that French and German banks might suffer a two-fold blow. They're heavily exposed to government and private-sector debt in Greece, Spain and Italy — countries whose ability to repay debts is being questioned. And they're also heavily exposed to consumers and businesses in their suddenly flat home markets.

Of the three problems listed above, it's the last that I find most troubling.

He ends his report with this:

Europe is dishing up a toxic brew: a rigid currency, fiscal contraction, begrudging aid from the central bank, and a long history of enmity between its constituents. That's a recipe for collective paralysis, not for the sort of bold collective action that is required to halt banking crises. Pundits have floated the idea that Europe could solve its problems by issuing eurobonds. And it's true that selling bonds that are guaranteed collectively by European countries would allow countries to escape the tender mercies of the bond markets. But that plan, which would require true collective action, has been rejected.

The reality is that Europe today resembles the U.S. states during the Article of Confederation period — an agglomeration of allies and frenemies, unwilling fully to cast their lot with one another. European policymakers aren't inclined to take advice from American political thinkers. But they'd be well-advised to heed the warning Benjamin Franklin issued at a time when collective action was being considered: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Bernanke today says the Fed ain't gonna do anything right now. No QE3...yet. And he already stated previously that interest rates will remain the same for two more years (until mid-2013). So what else could he really say or do, anyway? Nothing but sitting on his thumbs, I guess.

Meanwhile, unemployment rose in July in 28 states. California (at 12%) is second only to Nevada's 12.9%.

As Gateway Pundit also reports (via CSN News), "The percentage of young people employed was the lowest ever for a July since the government started tracking the numbers in 1948."

On an interesting tack, one college student decided to try and see if his fellow students would put their GPA where their mouth is. Since students are so eager to want the wealthy to have that wealth taken away and given to those less fortunate, would they themselves be willing to give their 4.0 Grade Point Averages to other students who're less fortunate?

“They all earn their GPA,” said Darcy in an interview with "Fox and Friends." “So we asked them if they’d be interested in redistributing the GPA points that they earned to students who may be having trouble getting a high GPA.”

Darcy, who films his encounters with teachers and fellow students, doesn’t have much luck selling this theory.

He said many students on college campuses support high taxes on the rich, but when put into relative terms, cringed at the thought of spreading around their academic wealth.

In a video posted on Exposingleftists.com, one student said, “If I do give GPA points to students that don’t deserve it, it isn’t fair, I work for what I have.”

What does big business think of the current economic climate and the state of federal government debt and deficits?

Heads of over 100 major companies have joined Starbucks Corp. CEO Howard Schultz in a pledge to boycott political donations until Congress and the president agree on a long-term debt and deficit plan, Schultz announced in a letter Wednesday.

"Remarkably, the initiative triggered a national dialogue and a groundswell of support," Schultz wrote, adding that in the 10 days since releasing his pledge, he "heard directly from thousands of concerned citizens and was astounded by the volume of support we received through calls, emails, social media exchanges and various other public votes of confidence."

That included over 100 business leaders who signed on to Schultz' initiative, including Myron Ullman of JC Penney, Duncan Niederauer of NYSE, and Walter Robb, co-chief executive of Whole Foods, Tim Armstrong of AOL, Mickey Drexler of J. Crew Group, and billionaire investor Pete Peterson.

And what do they think about ObamaCare?

Nearly one in 10 midsize or large employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014, according to a survey from a large benefits consultant.

Towers Watson also found in a survey completed last month that an additional 20% of companies are unsure about what they will do...

In fact, a survey of employers published by McKinsey in June found that as many as 30 percent will definitely or probably drop coverage once the exchanges begin, and among those with a “high awareness” of the new rules post-ObamaCare, that number rises to 50 percent. And why not? If you can cut costs by paying a fine instead of buying insurance for workers, why not push them off onto the exchanges and let taxpayers pick up the slack?

Speaking of ObamaCare, remember when Rep. Joe Wilson caught flack for yelling, "You lie!" during The One's State of the Union address when Obama insisted that illegal aliens will not benefit from ObamaCare?

Guess what? Rep. Wilson was right!

...the Health and Human Services Department awarded millions to “migrant and seasonal farm worker” health care — a spokeswoman in the department was cited last week saying patients would not be asked about immigration status and an department official confirmed Monday that the centers receiving the grant money must offer primary care to “all residents” in a given area.

Wilson, on his campaign website, declared the funding announcement proved him right. Though most farm workers are here legally, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that about a quarter of them are undocumented.

More to come in today's second post.

Tuesday Toss-ups...

The truth about light bulbs (CFLs vs. Incandescents).

So, you bought an electric car to (a) save money on gas, and (b) "save the environment". GUESS WHAT?!

Meanwhile, about those gas prices (currently no lower than $4.13/gallon in my area).

Are food and fuel prices the death knell for The One? Apparently, when fuel energy costs surpass 6% of consumer spending we head into a recession. IT'S DOUBLE-DIP TIME!

Here comes inflation!

And, what about that shrinking workforce?

How's that job search in California going?

JP Morgan downgrades its the nation's prospect.

S&P also lowers it's long-term outlook for the country.

Plus the coming Treasury Bond crisis looming on the horizon.

Then, finally, there's the housing issue... which is THREE TIMES worse than you think, with a double-dip happening there as well.

Ain't it fun???

Jobs, Inflation, Gas/Oil Prices... Up, Up & Away...

Jobless rate is much higher than the 8.9% in February:

Since November 2010, the unemployment rate has tumbled from 9.8% to 8.9% in February. That seems to signal a return to healthy job growth. But is it real?

While unemployment has fallen nearly a full percentage point, just 407,000 payroll jobs have been created — a mere 0.3% rise.

How can that be? Maybe it's because the real jobless rate — which includes those unemployed Americans so discouraged they've stopped looking — is higher than 8.9%. Much higher.

"Though the official unemployment rate is improving, according to our poll, we still have at least 20% of able Americans looking for full-time employment," said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, IBD's polling partner...

At one time, the jobless rate included all people without jobs.

But during the first Clinton administration, the BLS changed its definition to exclude long-term discouraged workers. As a result, the unemployment rate has looked far lower than it really is.

The labor-force participation rate, now 62.2%, is at a 27-year low. If you're not in the work force, you can't be "unemployed."...

Gallup's "broader unemployment" measure combines the unemployed with part-time workers seeking full-time work. It rose to an alarming 19.9% in March, from 17.2% in December.

March's "official" number dropped to 8.8%, but Gallup's true numbers rose to 20.3%. Also, there is this tidbit:

Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

Via Hot Air, on April 5 the Washington Post reported that inflation is here (duh!) and wages are lagging behind (double duh!!):

Today, Wall Street stumbles on news of inflation going up, the March unemployment numbers "unexpectedly" as initial jobless claims went back above 400,000. Core producer prices are up, too. I like this gem of a quote from The One's Labor Dept:

The Labor Department said on Thursday its seasonally adjusted index for prices paid at the farm and factory gate -- excluding volatile food and energy costs [emphasis mine] -- rose 0.3 percent after gaining 0.2 percent in February. Economists had expected core PPI to rise 0.2 percent in March.

Yeah, let's just EXCLUDED those pesky food and energy costs. And prices still rose!

Is there a bubble forming in food commodities? Via Daily Eudemon, there's this:

And, about those energy prices???

Energy prices, which rose 2.6 percent, accounted for nearly 90 percent of the increase in wholesale prices last month. Energy prices rose 3.3 percent in February.

Gasoline prices rose 5.7 percent after increasing 3.7 percent in February.

Let's chart that sucker (thanks to PoliPundit):

Here in southern California the cheapest gas price I can find is $4.11/gallon. (Ouch!)

What else could also be affecting the cost of government? How about this fact!:

If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers.

The One's OMB admits that the Prez's budget won't reduce spending at the federal government level at all.

Flopping Aces has an antidote for too much government.

Jobs, the lack thereof, and food you can't afford...

In January, jobless claims jumped and wholesale food costs begin to go up big.

Hiring fell short of expectations. (...unexpectedly...)

Eric (via Zero Hedge) went into the labor numbers here:

At 64.2%, the labor force participation rate (as a percentage of the total civilian noninstitutional population) is now at a fresh 26 year low, the lowest since March 1984, and is the only reason why the unemployment rate dropped to 9%...

...Those not in the Labor Force has increased from 83.9 million to 86.2 million, or 2.2 million in one year!

February wasn't much better.

ObamaCare will cost us yet another 800,000 jobs.

Then, the Obomination Administration and the Mainstream Media try to boast about the recent unemployment numbers.

Clarity is needed, here.

Eric, yet again, goes thru the real numbers.

Meanwhile, food prices worldwide are now at their highest:

Global food prices are the highest in 20 years and could increase further because of rising oil prices stemming from the unrest in Libya and the Mideast, a U.N. agency warned Thursday.

Skyrocketing food prices have been among the triggers for protests in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, and raised fears of a repeat of the food price crises in 2007 and 2008...

The Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement that its food price index was up 2.2 percent last month, the highest level since January 1990 when the agency started monitoring prices.

It also was the eighth consecutive month that food prices had risen, the Rome-based agency said. In January, the index had already registered a record peak.

The increase was driven mostly by higher prices of cereals, meat and dairy products, FAO said. Sugar was the only commodity of the groups being monitored whose price hadn't risen.

Global oil prices, which increased on concerns about the potential impact of supply disruptions following unrest in Libya, are a crucial variable...

Oil prices affect food markets in many ways, from production to transport costs. When oil prices are high, there is a bigger incentive to produce alternative fuels such as ethanol, which is made from crops such as corn. Increasing demand for alternative fuels made from crops drives up food prices.

Peachy!

Bernanke's An Idiot...

You probably already knew that, but his latest utterance kinda seals the deal on that sentiment for me:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a fairly upbeat assessment of the economy on Tuesday, saying the recent surge in oil prices is unlikely to have a major effect on growth or inflation as long as higher prices do not become sustained.

Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee he saw increasing evidence that the economic recovery has enough momentum to become self-supporting. But job growth remains far too anemic, he said...

... "We do see some grounds for optimism about the job market over the next few quarters," Bernanke said, citing a steep recent decline in the jobless rate among other factors.

Bernanke said downside risks to growth had diminished and, for the first time, stated that the risk of deflation was now "negligible." The threat of deflation, a downward spiral in wages and prices that could derail the economy, was a key justification for the Fed's bond-buying spree...

... [Bernanke] reiterated a warning that a failure by Congress to raise the government's debt ceiling could lead to a debt default that would have dire consequences for the economy.

"It would be extremely dangerous and very likely a recovery-ending event," he said.

You're kidding me, right? Rising oil prices won't have an effect on the economy? And, just at this moment, oil passed $100/barrel. The only things not in inflation mode are housing (because that bogus bubble burst, and the stale air from that false inflation is still deflating), and wages (how many of you who had wages cut in recent years have gotten any of that back - even partially?). Unemployment has not really recovered. And raising the debt ceiling - AGAIN - would be a friggin' disaster.

Yeah... okay.

No, Bernanke, we are NOT in a deflationary mode, nor were we threatened to be getting into one. INflation and HYPER-inflation, quite likely. Almost certainly STAGflation, with wages and unemployment stuck, and fuel/energy and food prices skyrocketing.

Let's read the definition of Stagflation on WikiPedia, shall we?:

Economists offer two principal explanations for why stagflation occurs. First, stagflation can result when the productive capacity of an economy is reduced by an unfavorable supply shock, such as an increase in the price of oil for an oil importing country. Such an unfavorable supply shock tends to raise prices at the same time that it slows the economy by making production more costly and less profitable.

Second, both stagnation and inflation can result from inappropriate macroeconomic policies. For example, central banks can cause inflation by permitting excessive growth of the money supply, and the government can cause stagnation by excessive regulation of goods markets and labor markets, Either of these factors can cause stagflation. Excessive growth of the money supply taken to such an extreme that it must be reversed abruptly can clearly be a cause. Both types of explanations are offered in analyses of the global stagflation of the 1970s: it began with a huge rise in oil prices, but then continued as central banks used excessively stimulative monetary policy to counteract the resulting recession, causing a runaway wage-price spiral.

Just keep printing more dollars, Benji. That, plus more federal regulations, and rising oil prices will do the trick... make everything all hunky-dorey. Nothing to see behind the curtain... look away, look away.

*sigh*

Yep! Just as I had expected. Jimmy Carter 2.0.

Econo-collapse...

So... consumer confidence rose... to a 5-month high!!! WOW!!!

Umm... five months ago consumer confidence was at 54.3. June... of this year... 54.3... and it's now at 54.1. As the article states oh so elegantly:

It takes a level of 90 to indicate a healthy economy, which hasn't been approached since the recession began in December 2007.

Could it be that, even though the administration tried to make hay out of so-called rosy job-creation numbers for last month (it was the typical seasonal temp hiring), the truth is that the unemployment rate jumped to 9.8%.

In addition to that is the fact that 2 million more people have now run out of unemployment benefits... just before Christmas. These are benefits that were extended and extended to a full 99 weeks (normally, it lasts only 26 weeks). And these people are not included in the official 9.8% statistics.

Employers added a net total of only 39,000 jobs last month, a sharp decline from the 172,000 created in October, the Labor Department said Friday. The weakness was widespread. Retailers, factories, construction companies, financial firms and the government all cut jobs.

The disappointing figures caught economists off guard. They had predicted the addition of 150,000 jobs, based on a raft of positive reports that showed busier factories, rising auto sales and a good start to the holiday shopping season in November. Yet all that failed to translate into mass hiring.

Another report states:

One of the big surprises was the loss of 28,100 retail jobs last month despite signs of a busy holiday shopping season.

Manufacturing and durable goods are down, too. As HotAir states:

These numbers show an economy in stagnation, with no real momentum in any direction.

Stagnant economy... higher inflation... stag-flation... like Jimmy Carter in the late-70s. Why, it's Carter 2.0. Hmm... who could've predicted this? Way back in March of 2009. Even further back in November of 2008.

I wonder......

4.4 + 4.8 + ? = ...

From the AP:

More people applied for unemployment benefits last week, the first rise in three weeks and evidence that companies are reluctant to hire in a slow economy.

Initial claims for unemployment aid rose by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was only the second rise in two months.

Jobless claims have been stuck near 450,000 all year. Few employers see much reason to create many jobs, and some are still laying off workers.

Seems the AP can't add:

The number of people continuing to receive benefits fell by 112,000 to just under 4.4 million, the department said. But that doesn't include several million people who are receiving benefits under extended programs approved by Congress.

The number of people on extended benefits dropped by about 340,000 to about 4.8 million in the week ending Sept. 25, the latest data available. All told, about 8.6 million people received unemployment aid that week.

Ummm... 4.4 + 4.8 = 9.2 million, not 8.6.

So, add the 9.2 million to the many more people who are no longer receiving benefits, yet are still unemployed. Add to that those who are under-employed (part-timers who would much prefer to be working full-time but can't, and those who have received cuts in pay that diminish their income and savings/buying power). And what do you get?

Via Hot Air, this article/analysis will give you a clue:

...the U6 unemployment rate, which includes the unemployed, those marginally attached to the labor force (discouraged), and those working part time for economic reasons, at 17.1%. That is the highest point over the past year, and probably since the Great Depression...

...the average recession since World War II has been 10 months, with the longest previously being 16 months. The recession began in December, 2007, 34 months ago by now...

Based on the long standing history and rhythms of the American economy, we should have had a booming recovery by now. Even more so, since the deeper the recession the stronger the recovery. Real economic growth in the first 4 quarters of Reagan's recovery from the deep 1981-82 recession was a whopping 7.7%. Even the recovery under President Ford from the deep 1973-74 recession sported real economic growth of 6.2%.

But under President Obama we are already in another downward spiral, with real growth falling from 5% in the fourth quarter of 2009, to 3.7% in the first quarter of this year, to 1.7% in the second quarter.

Thomas Sowell, in the article, is quoted as stating:

No president of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives, and all taxes are voted into law by Congress. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress before Barack Obama became President. The deficit he inherited was created by the Congressional Democrats, including Sen. Barack Obama, who did absolutely nothing to oppose the runaway spending. He was one of the biggest spenders.

*sigh*

Remember, mid-term elections are less than 3 weeks away.

FORE!!!

Even though BofA and other banks are temporarily halting foreclosures while they double-check their paperwork for "mistakes", foreclosures are up. And they're gonna get worse.

If you think the U.S. housing market is in bad shape now, prepare yourself for the "tsunami" that's coming. That's what at least one financial expert is saying.

Charles Brown of CB3 Financial says that instead of selling foreclosed homes, banks have been hanging onto them, waiting for the economy to improve. "These banks that have all this pent-up inventory will unleash it on the market, as soon as they see a minor uptick in real estate prices," Brown said, which will, in turn, reduce housing prices even further.

Experts agree that we have not hit rock bottom yet. People are still losing their jobs. Homes are going into foreclosure at a rate of 120,000 a month. Many who feared foreclosure in their future say they tried to work with the banks for "loan modification" -- but they "were denied or given the runaround," Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois said. The banks weren't working with people so they made the problem worse. "Servicers are famous for delay tactics...like claiming the fax machine was out of paper," he said.

I kept telling you people about this.

Bankruptcies are also up, as well.

And so is unemployment (via Gallup).

Meanwhile, "The One" is mulling over another stealth bailout bill.

End of Month Wrap-up...

(The first two stories via The Daily Eudemon)

Thomas Sowell speaks on Gold and Governments.

Barron's reports on world governments and currency devaluations. (with an eerie look back at the Great Depression...)

Hot Air reports that 2Q GDP was "re-adjusted" down significantly. (hmmm...)

California's unemployment now up to 12.4%.

And home foreclosures are up 25% for the year. (tick-tick-tick...)

Thursday Headlines...

Obama bans the sale of collectable guns.

Soros bails out of the stock market.

Unemployment benefits rise "unexpectedly" to 11/09 levels.

The market's getting hammered again.

Families of the 9/11 victims think Pelosi has lost her marbles.

GWB is more popular than "The One" in democratic swing districts... by 6%.

The NRSC has a greatly effective ad.

Unexpectedly...

AP news story here:

Stocks began the third quarter with more selling after disappointing reports on jobs, housing and manufacturing deepened concerns about the economy... The government said initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 13,000 last week to 472,000. Economists had forecast a drop. The report comes a day after payroll company ADP said private employers didn't ramp up hiring as much as expected last month.

Jobs & Market...

Via HotAir, the June jobs report shows only 17,000 jobs created in the private sector. All those other jobs were mostly temporary government jobs for the census.

Meanwhile, how's that stock market doing after today???

Mmm-hmm...

Housing, Unemployment & Fraud... OH MY!!!

Ace has a post on how bad the housing mess has become:

... More than 650,000 households had not paid in 18 months, LPS calculated earlier this year. With 19 percent of those homes, the lender had not even begun to take action to repossess the property — double the rate of a year earlier...

Hot Air has a post on California's unemployment numbers for April:

Unemployment claims in California hit 768,709 in April, a modern-day record and the highest during this recession, state Employment Development Department officials report...

Just two years ago in April — a year into California’s recession — the unemployed filed 254,123 claims for benefits, EDD stats show. This April, that number more than tripled as the state remained at a record 12.6% unemployment rate, third highest in the country.

And Big Government has a post from James O'Keefe and his recent fraud investigations:

On April 27, 2010, I got a job with the United States Census Bureau in New Jersey. With a hidden camera, I caught four Census supervisors encouraging enumerators to falsify information on their time sheets. Over the course of two days of training, I was paid for four hours of work I never did. I was told to take a 70 minute lunch break, was given an hour of travel time to drive 10 minutes, and was told to leave work at 3:30pm. I resigned prior to doing any data collection but confronted Census supervisors who assured me, “no one is going to be auditing that that level,” and “nobody is going to be questioning it except for you.” Another Census supervisor only said he’d adjust my pay after I gave him a letter recanting my hours.