I'm still here... :-)

Real life takes over sometimes. Posts to come in Feb.

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

The next year or so will continue to be rough going, with unemployment remaining high, a further housing market collapse, coming inflation, fuel/energy price spikes, etc. But, eventually, it will get better.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, despite these troubled times. And may your New Year be better, brighter and more prosperous.

Keep the faith, and don't give up hope!

God Bless!

End-of-Year Post...

Consumer confidence down "unexpectedly" while housing prices drop:

Consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in December, while prices of single-family homes fell almost double the expected pace in October, tempering growing optimism on the economy's recovery.

Home foreclosures jumped in 3Q:

The regulators said one reason for the increase in foreclosures is that banks have "exhausted" options for keeping many delinquent borrowers in their homes through programs such as loan modifications.

Newly-initiated foreclosures increased to 382,000 in the third quarter, a 31.2 percent jump over the previous quarter and a 3.7 percent rise from the same quarter a year ago, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said in a quarterly mortgage report.

The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million, a 4.5 percent increase from the second quarter and a 10.1 percent increase from a year ago, according to the regulators.

The blizzards kept consumers from buying:

A blizzard in the U.S. Northeast this weekend postponed about $1 billion in holiday retail sales by keeping shoppers out of stores in the days after Christmas, research firm ShopperTrak said on Wednesday.

The snowstorm shut roads and canceled flights in New York City and created havoc across the Northeast, where shopper traffic was 11.2 percent below ShopperTrak's expectations for Sunday December 26 and off 13.9 percent on Monday December 27.

Ninety-eight of the TARP'ed banks are close to failing (despite the bailout):

The total, based on an analysis of third-quarter financial results by The Wall Street Journal, is up from 86 in the second quarter, reflecting eroding capital levels, a pileup of bad loans and warnings from regulators. The 98 banks in shaky condition got more than $4.2 billion in infusions from the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

What's coming to your local hotels and malls:

The United States is stepping up security at “soft targets” like hotels and shopping malls, as well as trains and ports, as it counters the evolving Al-Qaeda threat, a top official said Sunday.

And the internet and the so-called "net neutrality" law: link 1, link 2, link 3.

National Insecurity...

A Mexican drone invaded USA airspace, but nothing to see here... look away, look away.

Meanwhile, TSA deploys scanners at bus stations. and gropes grandma while an Iranian-American gets thru with this wonderful little mistake.

*sigh*

End-of-Year Econo-mishmash...

Fuel prices are a-risin' (national average at $2.99 as of yesterday, and oil price for barrel is currently at $91), adding inflationary pressure.

Stocks are flat due to lower than expected GDP growth.

Mortgage apps fall again.

Good news, though, is that Senator Reid pulled the pork-filled spending budget. (Republican pork was $1 billion, Democrat pork was almost $52 billion.)

Good news, though, is that the GOP landslide last month forced The One to continue the Bush tax cuts for 2011.

UPDATE: Durable goods drops and November consumer spending stays flat once you factor in inflation. Stag-flation, baby!

Ewwwww... The EU Mess

Spain's about to be downgraded by Moody.

Same with Portugal.

Portugal has since been downgraded by Fitch.

Ireland drops down, too.

All this is following Greece.

We all saw this coming way back in April and June, remember?

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......

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.