Thursday, March 20, 2008

Jobless Claims Surge

Does anyone still think we are not in a recession?
New filings for unemployment claims rose more than expected last week, matching the highest level since 2005, according to a report released Thursday by the Labor Department.

According to the report, 378,000 people filed for unemployment for the first time in the week ended March 15, up 22,000 from a revised 356,000 reported in the previous week.

The 378,000 reading, which is subject to revision, matched the number reported for the week ended Jan. 26. New jobless claims last exceeded that number on Oct. 1, 2005 when they hit 385,000.

A consensus of economists polled by Briefing.com had expected to see initial jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 360,000.

The level of new jobless claims can be used as a recession indicator. "I think it confirms that we're in a recession, or at least in a period of negative growth," said Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist for Lehman Brothers.
Don't worry about this. Don't you know everything will be better when you get that $600.00 check borrowed from the financial futures of your children? These people ruined this economy and have no idea how to fix it.

The war has cost us more than $500 billion with estimates going from 1 -3 trillion by the time it finally winds down. What did you get for your money besides a lot of death and destruction? Our financial system avoided an Argentina like breakdown with the bailout of Bear Stearns but that too will cost the taxpayers 30 billion dollars. The greed and corruption of this administration knows no bounds. Soon they will leave office and a mess of monumental proportions and go nicely into retirement. Too bad they aren't going to jail where they belong.

If stupidity was an Olympic event George W. Bush would be the worlds Gold Medal king instead of just the world's laughing stock.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Here Comes The Stagflation

This report did nothing to stop the Federal Reserve Rate cut.
Inflation at the wholesale level met most estimates in February, the Labor Department said Tuesday, but core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose more than expected.

Wholesale prices rose 0.3% last month, in line with the 0.3% expected by a consensus of analysts polled by Briefing.com.

Minus food and energy, wholesale inflation rose 0.5%, an increase from the 0.4% reported for January. Analysts had predicted an increase of just 0.2%.
The problem for the Federal Reserve is that a rate cut diminishes the dollar and raises the price of commodities, without a cut we face a deeper recession. The choices are all bad and the pain for the middle and lower classes is just beginning.

Monday, March 17, 2008

A financial crisis unmatched since the Great Depression, say analysts

Once again the Robber Barons have driven us over a cliff.
A century after John Pierpont Morgan rescued the New York stock market from a 50% sell off in share prices, his blue-blooded Wall Street bank was yesterday once again at the heart of attempts to contain the deepening global financial crisis.

In an echo of the "bankers' panic" of 1907, JP Morgan responded to what is being billed as a meltdown of historic proportions by agreeing to buy its stricken rival, Bear Stearns.

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Fed and the man blamed by many for setting off the boom-bust in the US housing market, agrees with the man who broke the Bank of England. Writing in the Financial Times yesterday, Greenspan said: "The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged as the most wrenching since the end of the second world war."
I for one am so sick of Alan Greenspan. he is one of those that favors self regulation. Where exactly has that gotten us? I will tell you. It has made the financial condition of the United States dangerously similar to the country of Argentina right before their collapse.

Why is it that we are forced to bail out Wall St. but have yet to even help the poor of New Orleans? Why is it that the heads of these financial firms who are responsible for policies that have nearly destroyed our economy walked away with millions when they should be facing jail time? Its all part of the larger narrative about money in politics and the dangerous game we are playing with our nations future. We are guaranteeing that the children of today will have a lower quality of living than the past generation. Surely we can do better. It is time to demand an end to money in politics and adopt a system of public financing of campaigns before we have lost this great nation once and for all.