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!!!

Terrorism Alert!!!

(via Fox News, Hot Air & Ace of Spades)

Suspicious packages from Yemen (as many as 10-20 sought) on UPS International cargo planes from Yemen through Europe to Newark, NJ, Philadelphia, NYC.

Wires attached to toner cartridge and white powder from a Yemen flight stopped in the UK with a Chicago destination.

Suspicious package outside Maine courthouse.

Marine Corp Museum shot at... again... in D.C.

Is this all being coordinated?

"Punish your enemies" and make 'em "sit in the back"???

(both stories via Gateway Pundit here & here)

So, this is what "The One" is saying in the final week of the mid-term campaign:

“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2."

He also said this:

"We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back."

Oh, reeeeeeeeally!!!

TUESDAY... VOTE!!!

Fannie & Freddie returning to the trough...

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac now want an ADDITIONAL $215 BILLION in bailout cash from the Feds. Un-effing-believable.

NPR Waving (goodbye to) a Magic Juan...

As Bill Kristol calls 'em, "National Politically-correct Radio... unfair, unbalanced and afraid," NPR fired liberal Fox News commentator Juan Williams for making statements backing up Bill O'Reilly regarding Muslims and 9/11.

As Bernie Goldberg states:

"So Juan Williams is fired for saying something the liberals at NPR find controversial?... One more piece of evidence that liberals have forgotten how to be liberal."...

"These are the kind of people who brag about how open-minded they are -- as long as you agree with them. And here's the dirty little secret: lots and lots of liberals feel the same way Juan does when they get on an airplane. And a lot of those liberals work at NPR. Juan's 'crime' was saying it out loud."

BofA refiles, and plans to restart the FORE process...

Bank of America re-files 102,000 foreclosure applications in 23 states that require a judge/court review, and plans to restart the foreclosure process again. the other 27 states will also slowly begin again as each of those states has it's own unique process to follow. This will also open up the foreclosures of new homes that are "under water," and add to the foreclosure glut.

FORE-GONE CONCLUSION...

September foreclosures hit an all-time one-month high, going over 100k for the month:

Banks foreclosed on 102,134 properties in September, the first single month above the century mark, RealtyTrac said. There were 347,420 total foreclosure filings in September, 3 percent higher than August and 1 percent higher than a year earlier...

For the quarter, there were 930,437 foreclosure filings, an increase of 4 percent over the prior three months... The firm said foreclosures could spike after a brief lull if lenders are able to quickly resolve the paperwork questions.

"However, if the documentation issue cannot be quickly resolved and expands to more lenders we could see a chilling effect on the overall housing market as sales of pre-foreclosure and foreclosed properties, which account for nearly one-third of all sales, dry up and the shadow inventory of distressed properties grows - causing more uncertainty about home prices," [James] Saccacio said.

So, we had as many foreclosures in just one month last month as we had in ALL of 2005.

Meanwhile, remember those TARP contracts to FannieMae and FreddieMac???

The Treasury Department has relied heavily on private companies and troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to manage the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, a report released on Thursday said.

The report by the congressional panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), said that the $437 million in Treasury contracts to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and private companies to manage critical aspects of the bailout program raised a number of concerns about public oversight and conflicts of interest.

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...)

Nine Years Later (9/11)...

Michele Malkin on the "Monumental Shame" nine years after the worst attack on American soil.

Gateway posts about another dry-run in Amsterdam.

The One takes AZ to the woodshed at the United Nations. (WTF?)

Meanwhile, back at the Ground Zero mosque... we have the imam saying it's not hallowed ground. And we have his biz partner being a 9/11 "truther".

And here's a list of the 10 worst terrorist attacks since 9/11.