Misery Index: The Obama Depression - "Private sector doing just Fine"

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Post-Election Sell Off: It’s All About Obama Says Peter Schiff
By Matt Nesto | Breakout – Wed, Nov 7, 2012 2:33 PM EST.. .




 
Talk about a short celebration. Just eight hours after President Obama walked onto a Chicago stage to give his victory speech to an adoring crowd, his re-election party would come to a crashing close. As the opening bell rang on Wall Street, investors, who only days ago sought certainty, had suddenly become skeptics. The thought of four more years was suddenly not so appealing, as stocks posted their biggest one-day drop in a year.
 
When asked if the country was on track to be better off four years from now, Peter Schiff, author of The Real Crash: America's Coming Bankruptcy, answers an unequivocal "no."
 
"If Obama thinks that Bush dealt him a weak hand, wait til we see how much weaker the hand is going to be that Obama deals his successor," Schiff says in the attached video. "We're going to be in much worse shape.''
 
How so? Well, in many ways if you follow the thinking of this well known, articulate and published uber-Bear. By Schiff's calculations, "the stock market is correct in going down" today since he says higher taxes on companies (at the corporate and/or individual level) makes those companies less valuable. So lower stocks is one area he predicts.
 
Being deeper in debt is another. In fact, he says we'll be at $20 trillion in a couple of years, and going higher from there. And this will bring upon the country's next looming crisis.
 
"I think what's going to happen in Obama's second term is going to be a currency crisis; a sovereign debt crisis. It's going to be the same thing that is happening in Europe or Greece," he says, "but it's going to be a lot worse."
 
Also, this noted gold bug is forecasting higher unemployment, higher food and energy prices, as well as sharply higher interest rates. He brushes aside the fact that a current flight to quality is benefiting both Treasuries and the dollar right now.
 
"A few years ago, people wanted to buy Greek bonds too. People want to do a lot of foolish things," Schiff fires back. "There's a lot of fools out there but eventually reality is going to set in and we're going to have a monetary crisis. We're going to have a bond crisis. And we're heading right for it."
 
This is what Schiff call the real fiscal cliff. If he's right, you've been warned. If he's wrong, it's a buying opportunity. Give us your thoughts and feedback down below.

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http://www.businessinsider.com/bernanke-housing-market-speech-atlanta-2012-11



LMFAO!!!!!   Now Big Ben expresses "concern"   - LOL!!!!!

PUMP AND DUMP SCAM W OBAMA AND BERNAKE 

[tu_holmes]

The economy is bad and less people are sendin packages, parcel, etc.   They also have a terrible benes cost problem.

The Post office was losing revenue every year.

First Class mail volume (which is protected by legal monopoly) peaked in 2001 and has declined 29% from 1998 to 2008, due to the increasing use of email and the World Wide Web for correspondence and business transactions.

That's all Obama?

[333386]

The Post office was losing revenue every year.

First Class mail volume (which is protected by legal monopoly) peaked in 2001 and has declined 29% from 1998 to 2008, due to the increasing use of email and the World Wide Web for correspondence and business transactions.

That's all Obama?

No - but the horrible economy that did not, is not, and will not recover so long as he is there is making things a lot worse. 

[333386]

The FHA is Blowing Up: Bad News for the Housing Market
 libertyblitzkrieg.com ^ | 11/15/2012 | Michael Krieger



A very important article came out from the Wall Street Journal yesterday titled “FHA Nears Need for Taxpayer Funds,” and it outlines the serious financial problems facing the Federal Housing Administration. For those that are unaware or need a refresher, the FHA has been the key element to the phony “housing recovery” the government has been trying to create. In the wake of the collapse of 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac blew up and what was left to pick up the pieces was the FHA. No private player would issue loans with down payments of 3%, but this was no problem for the FHA!

Interestingly enough, a lot of the subprime borrowers that blew up the housing market the last time became the primary customers of the FHA. Let’s see, 3% down and subprime borrowers…what could possibly go wrong?! From the WSJ:



The Federal Housing Administration is expected to report this week it could exhaust its reserves because of rising mortgage delinquencies, according to people familiar with the agency’s finances, a development that could result in the agency needing to draw on taxpayer funding for the first time in its 78-year history.
 Together with Fannie and Freddie, federal agencies are backing nearly nine in 10 new mortgages.

The FHA accounted for one third of loans used to purchase homes last year among owner occupants.

Though the agency guarantees fewer mortgages than either Fannie or Freddie, it now has more seriously delinquent loans than either of the mortgage-finance giants. Overall, the FHA insured nearly 739,000 loans that were 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure at the end of September, an increase of more than 100,000 loans from a year ago. That represents about 9.6% of its $1.08 trillion in mortgages guaranteed.

 This is a big deal. The FHA is already in trouble despite a miraculous “housing recovery” and we haven’t even hit a severe cyclical economic slowdown yet, which is almost certain to occur in 2013. What shambles do you think the housing market will be in once that happens and the last backstop to housing is broke? You can kiss this “housing recovery” goodbye. I think home prices nationally could fall 25%+ from here. For more detailed thoughts on housing read my piece from April titled Thought of the Day – House Flipping in Colorado.

[whork]

No - but the horrible economy that did not, is not, and will not recover so long as he is there is making things a lot worse. 

There is no alternative Romneys tax cuts and military spending makes Obama better for the economy

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Posted on November 15, 2012 6:47:54 PM EST by Obadiah

The Federal Reserve is asking 30 big banks to make sure their capital can withstand a deep recession in which the unemployment rate rises to 12%.

The Fed, which first required big banks to conduct “stress tests” in 2009, laid out three scenarios lenders have to test against. The goal is to ensure that the firms have enough capital to continue operations during stressful economic times.

(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...

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Fisker's Big Fundraiser is Going Out of Business
National Legal & Policy Center ^ | November 15, 2012 | Paul Chesser
Posted on November 15, 2012 6:07:22 PM EST by jazusamo



The venture finance operation that raised money for crony capitalist investorsKleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, and their green tech firms like electric car companyFisker Automotive ($193 million paid in stimulus loan guarantees) and fuel cell manufacturerBloom Energy, is shutting down, according to a Fortune report.

Advanced Equities, Inc. had recently been reprimanded by the Securities and Exchange Commission and by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for misleading investors and for breach of contract with its brokers. Fortune cited sources that said AEI brokers were told last week that Monday would be their last day. Crain’s Chicago Business confirmed that AEI was shutting down its broker-dealer business following its regulatory troubles, which “made it difficult to run the business.”

The co-founders of the Chicago-based firm, Dwight Badger and Keith Daubenspeck, received a sharp reprimand and severe fines from the SEC in September for delivering allegedly false information to potential funders in attempts to gain private equity investment. In two separate offerings in 2009 and 2010, Badger (who left the firm in June) was accused of boasting to investors that the financial condition and business orders for an Advanced Equities’ client – revealed by Crain’s to be Bloom Energy – far exceeded reality.

And in June this year Advanced Equities was ordered by a FINRA arbitration panel to pay $4.5 million to one of its former brokers, John Galinsky, over breach of contract claims. Bloom Energy was one of the companies that Galinsky raised capital for, without receiving commission, according to FINRA. After the ruling was announced, Advanced Equities reached an agreement with Badger for him to leave the firm.

“The panel finds that Respondents (including Badger and Daubenspeck) exhibited a reckless disregard for the warrant rights of the broker and breached their fiduciary duties to the broker,” the FINRA dispute resolution said.

AEI, according to GreentechMedia.com , has been sometimes referred to as a “bucket shop,” which is not complimentary. The co-founders were also accused in a 2008 Forbes Magazine article of “foisting junky startups on investors.”

“The problem with this picture is that in vaulting (Advanced Equities) to its high perch in the VC world, Daubenspeck and Badger have left a wake of aggrieved customers, furious former employees, lawsuits and more than their share of busted startups,” Forbes reported. “At least 18 former clients have filed arbitration complaints accusing the firm of wrongdoing. Separately, six brokers have alleged that AE stiffed them for millions of dollars.”

In February an investor sued Fisker and Advanced Equities for their alleged failure to perform fiduciary duties and for fraud . Daniel Wray alleged that after he bought $210,000 of preferred stock between 2009 and 2011, Fisker and Advanced Equities demanded more than $83,000 “due to Fisker’s urgent need for equity capital,” or else he would lose privileges that came with his purchase of earlier stock, which would be diluted.

“The lawsuit says Fisker and…Advanced Equities Inc., knew their promises to him were false all along,” reported the Orange County Register. “The suit seeks restitution, compensatory and punitive damages from Fisker and Advanced Equities.”

Why Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins would have anything to do with Badger and Daubenspeck as it sought to raise money for pet projects like Fisker and Bloom Energy is unknown. Kleiner’s best-known partner is former Vice President Al Gore, who is also a supporter of Fisker and purchased one of its first Karma models. In news reports Fisker has boasted raising more than $1 billion in private funds, and Bloom has been closely allied with Kleiner Perkins with hundreds of millions of dollars raised.

Another linchpin between Kleiner, Bloom and Fisker is John Doerr, who serves on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness . Doerr and his Kleiner Perkins colleagues have donated well over $2.6 million to candidates and political action committees, favoring Democrats over Republicans by a very wide margin, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Doerr also hosted a dinner for President Obama at his estate in February 2011 with several other high-tech executives, according to ABC News.

Somehow amidst these dubious actors and Obama cronies the analysts at the Department of Energy found Fisker worthy of a $529-million stimulus loan guarantee. Ever since the car company has experienced an almost comical (it would be hilarious, if taxpayer money wasn’t at stake) series of blunders, including: tworecalls;layoffs; vehiclefires; an unfulfilled promise to manufacture cars at a former General Motors plant in Delaware; state taxpayers paying the utility bills for that empty plant; and the aforementioned investor lawsuit and investigation of Advanced Equities, Fisker’s primary fundraiser. The crowning blow wasConsumer Reports’ determination in September that the Fisker Karma is the worst luxury sedan on the U.S. market.

And now Fortune has also reported that subpoenas of Advanced Equities may exist with regard to its fundraising efforts for “another well-known clean tech company.” Considering that pretty much every other company Badger and Daubenspeck helped is “unknown,” those troubles could involve Fisker.

Obviously the who, how and why of stimulus loan applicants’ private fundraising practices were not part of the due diligence review process by DOE. Advanced Equities is now shutting down, and DOE cut off Fisker’s loan after paying out $193 million due to its shortcomings, yetPresident Obama has promised more government money for renewable schemes in his second term.

Watch for more cronies and those from the bottom of the “bucket shops” to capitalize.

Paul Chesser is an associate fellow for the National Legal and Policy Center and publishes CarolinaPlottHound.com , an aggregator of North Carolina news.

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CCAC cutting hours to avoid health-care mandate
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 11/15/12
Posted on November 16, 2012 12:08:45 AM EST by knak

Community College of Allegheny County will trim hours for about 400 of its part-time workers to avoid having to provide them with health insurance coverage, the school's president, Alex Johnson, said Thursday. Mr. Johnson told members of Allegheny County Council that complying with the requirements of the federal Affordable Care Act, informally known as Obamacare, would have cost CCAC $6 million annually for part-timers who have been working at least 30 hours per week. Affected employees include both adjunct faculty and maintenance workers. CCAC has an annual operating budget of about $110 million and is facing reductions in county support for 2013 that could be as large as $2.3 million. Mr. Johnson advised council of the plan to cut part-timers' hours as part of CCAC efforts to keep its costs under control.

(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...

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The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate
 Wall Street Journal ^

Posted on Friday, November 16, 2012 8:13:37 AM


The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate

By Tom Gara

And that’s that: Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and more, announced this morning it has filed a motion with bankruptcy court to start liquidating the company immediately. A huge number of jobs are soon to be lost.

“Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce,” said CEO Gregory F. Rayburn in the statement, “and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”

In a letter posted on a new site set up to communicate with employees and suppliers through the liquidation process, Mr. Rayburn pinned the blame on its striking union:

Despite everyone’s considerable efforts to move Hostess out of its restructuring, when we began implementing the Company’s last, best and final offer, the Bakers Union chose to stage a crippling strike. This affected Hostess’ ability to continue to make products and service its customers’ needs and pushed Hostess into a Wind Down scenario. As a result, we are forced to proceed with an orderly wind down and sale of our operations and assets. We deeply regret taking this action. But we simply cannot continue to operate without the ability to produce or deliver our products.

There’s no way to soften the fact that this will hurt every Hostess Brands employee. All Hostess Brands employees will eventually lose their jobs – some sooner than others. Unfortunately, because we are in bankruptcy, there are severe limits on the assistance the Company can offer you at this time.


(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...

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Medical giant Stryker cuts 1,170 jobs, citing ObamaCare
 Fox ^

Posted on Friday, November 16, 2012 5:08:04 PM by Arthurio

Medical supply giant Stryker is the latest company to announce job cuts in anticipation of coming costs associated with ObamaCare, even though the man who inherited a fortune from the company's founder is a fan.

The company will cut 1,170 jobs, or five percent of its worldwide workforce, despite the fact that the founder's grandson was one of the largest contributors to President Obama’s re-election campaign. Medical tech scion Jon Stryker, whose net worth is currently estimated at $1.2 billion, contributed $2 million to the Priorities USA Action super PAC and has given $66,000 in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party. Stryker does not run the company.

A "medical device excise tax" included in the mandate imposes a 2.3 percent levy on medical device manufacturers and suppliers, which critics say will raise prices on everything from pacemakers to prosthetics to stents. Companies will be required to pay the tax regardless if they have a profit or loss for the year. The tax is estimated to cost the medical device industry $20 billion.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/16/medical-supply-giant-stryker-corp-makes-pre-emptive-strike-against-pending/#ixzz2CQSVGzqf


(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

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400K In Calif. Face ‘Sudden Stop’ In Jobless Benefits
 CBSLA.com) ^ | November 16, 2012 10:26 AM

Posted on Friday, November 16, 2012 4:45:40 PM by


LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The unemployment rate in California inched down slightly in October as the state Employment Development Department issued a dire warning that federal help for the long-term unemployed may soon run out.

The unemployment rate dipped to 10.1 percent in October – down from 10.2 percent a month earlier – after 45,800 jobs added to payrolls, according to the EDD’s Loree Levy.

“It certainly looks like the job creation engine is picking up some speed as we go toward the end of the year, so it’s good news,” Levy said.

Levy added the number of jobs created far outstripped the traditional rate of population growth – about 20,000 – during the same period.

Retail posted some of the biggest gains, with another 20,500 jobs added slightly ahead of the start of the busy Christmas shopping season.

“Normally we would expect a pretty strong gain in November,” Levy said. “To give you an idea, last October for instance, we saw a 2,000-job gain in retail trade, so [it was] certainly much stronger this year.”

But the otherwise positive data was overshadowed by a looming Congressional deadline at the end of the year, when the federal extension of unemployment benefits expires.

“That means no matter what kind of balance anyone has left on any kind of federal extension claim, no further payments can be made after the week ending December 29,” she said.

Levy estimated the deadline could mean a “very sudden stop” to benefits for as many as 400,000 unemployed statewide.





HOPE AND CHANGE

[Option D]

400K In Calif. Face ‘Sudden Stop’ In Jobless Benefits
 CBSLA.com) ^ | November 16, 2012 10:26 AM

Posted on Friday, November 16, 2012 4:45:40 PM by


LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The unemployment rate in California inched down slightly in October as the state Employment Development Department issued a dire warning that federal help for the long-term unemployed may soon run out.

The unemployment rate dipped to 10.1 percent in October – down from 10.2 percent a month earlier – after 45,800 jobs added to payrolls, according to the EDD’s Loree Levy.

“It certainly looks like the job creation engine is picking up some speed as we go toward the end of the year, so it’s good news,” Levy said.

Levy added the number of jobs created far outstripped the traditional rate of population growth – about 20,000 – during the same period.

Retail posted some of the biggest gains, with another 20,500 jobs added slightly ahead of the start of the busy Christmas shopping season.

“Normally we would expect a pretty strong gain in November,” Levy said. “To give you an idea, last October for instance, we saw a 2,000-job gain in retail trade, so [it was] certainly much stronger this year.”

But the otherwise positive data was overshadowed by a looming Congressional deadline at the end of the year, when the federal extension of unemployment benefits expires.

“That means no matter what kind of balance anyone has left on any kind of federal extension claim, no further payments can be made after the week ending December 29,” she said.

Levy estimated the deadline could mean a “very sudden stop” to benefits for as many as 400,000 unemployed statewide.





HOPE AND CHANGE

LANDSLIDE COMING!!!!!!!!!!

[333386]

November 15, 2012
A Country Unhinged
by Victor Davis Hanson
NRO’s The Corner

In the last week, it is almost as if the entire American moral landscape has been turned upside down in eerie fashion — in matters that vastly transcend fornication and adultery. The Petraeus-gate matter is the stuff of tabloids now; but soon the real issues relating to when and what Eric Holder knew, and by extension the president, and how exactly Benghazi (the crime of indifference to the besieged, the cover-up of the truth, the actual mission of our consulate and annex) fits into this labyrinth of deceit, both petty and fundamental, may overshadow the present sensationalism.

Nothing seems real anymore, not pre-election federal data on jobs or food stamps or the release of such “facts”; not foreign-policy information like an Iranian attack on a drone; not the supposedly competent federal relief in response to Hurricane Sandy. Even Saddam Hussein’s plebiscites could not achieve margins like the 19,605 to 0 we saw in 59 Philadelphia precincts. Does anyone care?

Susan Rice, who flat out deceived five times in a single day on national TV, is supposedly seriously being considered as Secretary of State when Ms. Clinton leaves — the latter now plans to be “busy” when hearings on Libya resume. (If a John Bolton cannot be confirmed as a UN ambassador, how could Rice avoid a filibuster?) How can anyone now read Broadwell’s book and assume the research and analysis are disinterested? How did a single Jill Kelley warrant hundreds of hours of chat time from our highest generals, engaged in a life and death struggle in the war against terror and Afghanistan? Who was not consulted, not advised, not ordered — in order to free up time for Kelley and Broadwell? How could Broadwell, without a journalistic or history pedigree of achievement, warrant such intimate briefings, so much so that she can pontificate on a CIA annex in Benghazi and purportedly have access to classified documents? If she can, who cannot? Why in God’s name does Angelina Jolie get photographed on the seventh-floor office of the CIA? Why even have security clearances when you can learn classified details about our military and intelligence on Facebook or YouTube? How can all this suddenly explode on the scene, just 72 hours after a national election, in a supposedly transparent country with a free, watch-dog media? Have we become a Russia, Venezuela, Cuba? Is there one honest person in Washington left?

When this is all over we are going to see several resignations, even more discredit to what is left of what is now largely a state-run media, and a vivid human face to all the declinist statistical talk of America in material and moral crisis. The state is set for reform like we have never seen it, from those who are not invested in Big Washington, Big Military, Big Intelligence, Big Banks, Big Wall Street, big anything that seems to have developed a toxic careerism in the revolving-door, New York-Washington corridor.

Tragedy or Tragicomedy?

One symptom of this entire tragedy (or is it dark comedy now?) is the shocking degree of casual sorta/kinda rules and protocols — strange (or rather predictable) in this era of vast bureaucratic rules. How exactly did national-security and military affairs come to resemble Keeping Up with the Kardashians?

How can some individual just call up an FBI friend (?) and thereby instigate an FBI investigation? And how did that lead to an FBI agent photographing himself bare-chested and apparently infatuated with a married mother of three? How can a PhD candidate, without any journalistic or historical credentials, become the public face of a four-star general and be privy to information to the point of hitting the lecture circuit to pontificate about a CIA annex in Benghazi? How did an early-middle-aged married mother of two suddenly morph into a court biographer who lectured on everything from military practice to leadership to national-security challenges? How can a Florida socialite by any stretch of the imagination merit a vast email correspondence with the nation’s highest ranking warriors entrusted to conduct our most critical struggles? What in the world is an “honorary consul general” and who extends such Alice Through the Looking Glass titles? Why do generals seek to go back stage to meet a Denzel Washington or have Angelina Jolie pop up for a photo-op?

I think it is impossible that an attorney general who knew of the investigation and many of the details for months did not tell his president and close friend — but then on the other hand, given all of above, who knows?

©2012 Victor Davis Hanson

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EPA rejects governors' requests to waive ethanol mandate
Houston Chronicle ^ | November 16, 2012 | Jennifer Dlouhy
Posted on November 17, 2012 1:57:31 AM EST by neverdem

The Obama administration on Friday rebuffed requests by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the leaders of several other states to waive a federal renewable fuel mandate that requires ethanol to be blended into the nation's gasoline supply.

In rejecting the waiver requests, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disagreed with the states' concerns that the mandate was spiking corn demand and prices following a drought that devastated crops in the Midwest. The EPA concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard would not cause "severe economic harm" to states and regions.

"We recognize that this year's drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers," said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "But our extensive analysis makes clear that congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, impact."

This is the second time Perry has lost his bid for a renewable fuel standard exemption...

(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...

TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; Click to Add Topic

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GE Healthcare Laying Off 10 Percent of Workforce
 Health Tech Zone ^ | November 19, 2012 | Tracey E. Schelmetic

Posted on Monday, November 19, 2012 3:01:10 PM by 2ndDivisionVet

Bad news for GE Healthcare workers in Vermont. The company, which specializes in information technology for the healthcare industry, announced last Thursday that it plans to lay off about 10 percent of its workforce in the state. The company promised, however, to try to find “alternate roles” for those who lose their jobs.

“While GE Healthcare regrets the loss of any jobs, the business needs to make tough decisions in the current economic climate,” company spokesman Benjamin Fox told the Barre Montpelier Times Argus.

It’s unclear at this time how much of GE Healthcare’s workforce these cuts represent, though the Burlington Free Press reported that in January, GE Healthcare employed about 527 people.

The company’s South Burlington, Vermont facility was founded as the medical software producer IDX Systems. GE Healthcare bought IDX in 2005 for $1.2 billion.

Vermont Deputy Commerce Secretary Patricia Moulton Powden called the job losses at GE Healthcare “tragic,” but noted that there are other high-tech companies in the area looking for talented employees.

“The only silver lining is we have a lot of employers looking for this kind of talent,” said Moulton Powden.

Earlier this month, the healthcare giant posted profits of $620 million on sales of $4.31 billion during the three months ended September 30, for a bottom-line gain of two percent but a top-line dip of 0.6 percent, compared with the same period last year. Layoffs have been common as of late across the entire medical devices industry.

[AbrahamG]

Sorry to see you did not commit suicide after the election.

[333386]

http://www.businessinsider.com/economists-on-obamas-failure-to-address-mortgage-debt-2012-11

Wow - year and a half ago they told him in the oval office he screwed up 

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Stock Market Last Push Higher Before the Big Collapse?
 TMO ^ | 11-25-2012 | Graham Summers

Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2012 5:50:26 PM by blam

Stock Market Last Push Higher Before the Big Collapse?

 Stock-Markets / Financial Crash
Nov 25, 2012 - 01:59 PM
 By: Graham Summers



With most of Wall Street on vacation, those few traders manning their desks are taking advantage of the low volume to push the market sharply higher. This, combined with a large move up by the Euro has pulled the entire risk trade up forcing the US Dollar lower.

This move was to be expected on some levels. Since 2002, there has been a rally from just before Thanksgiving until the second week of December. This year is shaping up to replay this move. Stocks and other risk assets were certainly oversold from the preceding week and needed a breather.

However, from a larger perspective there is no shortage of truly horrible developments in the world. EU budget talks failed to accomplish anything. This comes on the heels of failed Greece debt talks from last week (there is another meeting next week on this).

Meanwhile, France has lost its AAA credit rating, Spain’s bad bank plan has been dropped due to lack of interest. And then there is Cyprus Portugal and soon to be Italy’s issues to deal with.

At the end of the day, the whole issue in the EU boils down to whether or not Germany will foot the bill for everything. The fact of the matter is that it won’t. If Germany were to agree to fund things as they are (assuming nothing worsens in the EU), it would amount of over 30% of its GDP.

Never in history has one country issued a transfer of that amount to another. The single largest transfer in history (on a GDP basis) was the German Marshall Plan, which represented only slightly over 6% of US GDP.

So forget about Germany writing the check. There will be political machinations and games played to maintain the house of cards that is the EU… but when push comes to shove, Germany will leave before it foots the bill for everything.

And then of course there is the fiscal cliff in the US: the single largest tax hike increase in US history (on a % of GDP basis). Ignore the media’s spin on this, no one has a clue how to fix the problem, largely because math is not partisan and we’ve been living beyond our means for far too long to fix this with one deal.

The reality is that what we are witness today is the collapse of the welfare states of the developed world. The real solutions (defaults both sovereign and on social spending plans) are completely unsavory from a political perspective, so politicians will do all they can to avoid what actually needs to happen.

In simple terms, the great debt implosion has begun. It will likely take several years to complete, but what’s coming will make the 2008 debacle will seem like a picnic.

This is why I’ve been warning that 2008 was just the warm-up. What is coming will be far far worse.

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Propark America to lay off 186 employees in New Haven
 The New Haven Register ^ | November 26, 2012 | Luther Turmelle

Posted on Monday, November 26, 2012 3:11:22 PM by 2ndDivisionVet

Propark America, which operates 31 parking garages and lots around New Haven, is laying off 186 employees in January.

The Hartford-based company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice Nov. 20 with the Connecticut Department of Labor. The notice indicates that the layoffs are scheduled to begin on Jan. 20 and does not indicate whether all of the employees are being laid off at once.

The WARN Act is a federal law requiring employers of 100 or more full-time workers to give 60 days advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff...


(Excerpt) Read more at nhregister.com ...

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Median Net Worth In 2010 At Lowest Level Since 1969: Report


The Huffington Post  |  By Harry Bradford Posted: 11/26/2012 5:47 pm EST Updated: 11/26/2012 5:47 pm EST



Stunning new research from a New York University economics professor reveals just how wide the chasm between the rich and everyone else has grown over the past few decades.

In 2010 median net worth in the U.S. hit its lowest point since 1969 at $57,000, according to a recent study by NYU Professor Edward Wolff, who studied Americans' net worth from 1983 - 2010.

During the same period, income inequality skyrocketed in the U.S., Wolff found, largely thanks to the housing bust, which took a significant bite out of middle-class Americans' assets. Wolff found that while middle income earners lost 18 percent of their net worth, those in the top 1 percent increased their wealth by 71 percent over the same time period, according to Wolff's report.

The findings bring into sharper relief existing evidence that average Americans are getting squeezed ever tighter, while the country's wealthiest watch their fortunes explode. In 2010, the annual median wage fell to $26,364, its lowest level since 1999, according to a separate study. The decline in wages may have, in part, contributed to growing wealth inequality, resulting in a member of the 1 percent's worth equaling 288 times that of the median U.S. household, the Economic Policy Institute found in a report released in September.

The Great Recession is responsible for much of that disparity with the wealth of the median family declining a record 38.8 percent between 2007 and 2010. Those between the ages of 35 and 44 were hit particularly hard. Partly as a result, half of American households now possess just 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

(Hat tip: ThinkProgress)

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Stocks dead, bonds deader till 2022: Pimco
 MarketWatch ^ | Nov 27, 2012 | Paul B. Farrell

Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 2:00:14 PM by ExxonPatrolUs

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Big money managers are warning investors. They’re now citing the Bible: “Seven lean years.” No recovery till 2016. That was Jeremy Grantham back a few years ago. His GMO firm manages $104 billion.

Now Bill Gross and Mohamed El-Erian, the co-CEOs at the $2 trillion Pimco money managers, are citing the same biblical warning to jar investors awake and prepare for the coming lean years of slow, low growth and austerity. Except in Pimco’s new warning, the future just got much, much darker for investors — no recovery until 2022.

Earlier in the summer — back when most investors were totally distracted by campaign drama and betting heavily on a new president, anticipating a post-election bull market — many were expecting Corporate America would unleash trillions in hoarded reserves, stimulate a recovery and new bull. Back then, Reuters, Forbes, CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and rest of the obsessed media simply yawned at Gross and El-Erian’s warning that equities hit a “dead end in terms of significant appreciation.”

“Dead end?” No recovery till after the 2020 elections? Yes, one angry headline even said Gross was “faithless” with stocks. Why? Conventional wisdom tells us markets run in cycles. So investors believe it’s now time for a new bull. Gross and El-Erian disagree.

Warren Buffett and Jack Bogle first mentioned a “new normal” with slow, low growth back in 2002. It fell on deaf ears. Since the 2008 meltdown the same warnings are coming from gurus like Grantham, Gross, El-Erian and others. Ignore their warnings at your peril.


(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...

[AbrahamG]

Coming soon......  Tax cuts for 98% of this country.  Choke on that one, Bitch!

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Anthem Blue Cross seeks to raise individual policyholders' rates
 L.A. Times ^ | 11/28/12 | Chad Terhune

Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 8:30:38 PM

California´s largest for-profit health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, is seeking to raise rates an average of 18% for more than 630,000 individual policyholders, drawing scrutiny from regulators and the ire of consumers already struggling with soaring premiums. Some Anthem customers may see rates rise as much as 25% in February under the company´s proposal at a time when medical inflation is running at historic lows nationwide. The increases are among several others proposed by California insurers, including Aetna Inc. and Health Net Inc. California insurance regulators will take the next month to review whether these rate increases are warranted,


(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...

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4-Week-Average Jobless Claims At 13-Month High As Sandy Effects Gone
Zero Hedge ^

Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2012 9:01:19 AM


While any and every bad data point recently has been summarily dismissed by the 'transitory' effects of Hurricane Sandy, it appears in the deepest darkest reality that there is more of a structural trend to this shift than simply a 'blip'. Claims missed expectations and prior data was revised higher leaving the four-week-average at its highest since October 2011 jumping back over 400k.

(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...