Here’s the joke of the day via Steve Keen:
Ten reasons the economy is so bad (I suggest this as a top ten for David Letterman?):

#10: I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
#9: I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can you afford fries with that?”
#8: CEO’s are [...]

Jobless claims were reported as 521,000 on a seasonally-adjusted (SA) basis for the week ended October 3. This is the lowest reported figure for initial claims since January 3. The data came in lower than expectations and was matched by a drop in continuing claims to 6.04 million.
While both numbers are still high by [...]

The banks have been the ones benefitting most from free money via the Federal Government and U.S. taxpayers.  Given 9.8% base unemployment and 17.0% comprehensive unemployment, it is a bit galling for ordinary Americans that these same institutions are making record profits and poised to hand out record bonuses. Detroit is one of the hardest [...]

The Federal Reserve has just released the most recent data on consumer credit. The data show outstanding consumer credit falling to $2.47 trillion in August from a December 2008 peak of $2.59 trillion – on a non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) basis. That is down 4.4% from the year ago period, continuing the acceleration of the year-on-year [...]

This morning I again wanted to challenge my somewhat bullish medium-term outlook but bearish longer-term view on the US economy – this time by looking at the data on debt. What follows is going to be a very numbers-heavy post.  So, I apologize in advance if you are not a numbers jockey like me. But, [...]

The following is a re-print of the latest monthly newsletter from Niels Jensen of Absolute Return Partners, published with the express permission of the author. Visit www.arpllp.com to learn more about Absolute Return Partners.  You can reach the firm  by email at info@arpllp.com.
The Absolute Return Letter
October 2009
A Country for Old Men and a Bit of [...]

Earlier today we learned that the Singapore PMI was much weaker than expected for September 2009, coming in at 50.6 versus 54.4 for August. While this demonstrates that the manufacturing sector there is still rising, it is doing so just barely.  This was the lowest reading since April and should be seen as a clear [...]

Below is a wide-ranging interview with Marc Faber over four videos on CNBC TV18 in India explaining view on inflation, currencies, commodities, stocks and more.
Asset-based economy. In general, he thinks we are in an inflationary environment, whereas I think that deleveraging is secular and means any inflation is only cyclical. But he shares my belief [...]

In light of recent comments made by both living former Federal Reserve Chairmen, I thought it appropriate to look back 22 years to the succession from Volcker to Greenspan.  What follows is a blurb from a New York Times article circa 1987, which highlights the appointment of Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve [...]

In July, I blogged on an interesting take on how employment affects equity returns during cyclical recoveries by Van Hoisington and Lacy Hunt. Their thesis was that a recovery in which employment lags the overall upturn significantly is bearish for stocks. Since then, employment has indeed lagged other economic indicators.  Witness the most recent employment [...]