The employment market is pretty grim. We’re talking a double digit unemployment rate – and that’s just the base rate. The comprehensive unemployment rate is now 17.5% in the US.  This is a fact not lost on our politicians. Today, Barack Obama signed a bill that extends unemployment benefits and home buyer tax credits. But,, [...]

Average weekly hours a record low of 33.0. Stock futures now down. The household survey says we have lost 1.3 million jobs in three months. 17.5% U-6 unemployment. Median duration of unemployment is now 18.7 weeks from 15.4 just 3 months ago – ugly.
Here is an excerpt from the release (bolding added).
The unemployment rate rose [...]

I was reading Kid Dynamite’s account of the recent Treasury – Finance Blogger meeting after having read a bunch of others (see them all in Abnormal Returns’ Nov 4th links). And I was struck by his characterization of the thinking at Treasury in regards to the financial crisis. I want to highlight two points and [...]

I have been reading press accounts of the GM decision to back out of the Opel/Vauxhall sale to the Magna/Sberbank consortium from various countries. There are a lot of different perspectives on this event in the U.S., Belgium, Spain, Germany, Russia, the U.K and elsewhere, because a lot of players are involved.
The conclusion I [...]

The Department of Labor data released this morning indicated that 512,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment insurance in the latest week.  This is down 20,000 from last week and marks the last data points we are to get on employment before tomorrows employment numbers are released.
All indications are that the number will come in [...]

Be sure to see William Shatner’s poetic reading of Levi Johnston’s tweets below. Pretty funny.
Buffett Revisits Hunting Ground for Survivors: Alice Schroeder – Bloomberg.com
"Buffett isn’t as bullish as he sounds."

Clever fools: Why a high IQ doesn’t mean you’re smart – New Scientist
I have always said George W. Bush is NOT dumb. He is just wilfully [...]

The Motorola Droid is the so-called iPhone killer. Is it the real deal?  Mossberg seems to think so.

See also: Motorola’s Droid Is Smart Success for Verizon Users – Walt Mossberg, WSJ

Why aren’t more municipal bonds being downgraded by the ratings agencies Fitch, Moody’s and S&P?  If you look at sovereign debt in revenue-constrained countries like Greece, Portugal or Ireland, the ratings agencies are issuing warnings. 
But, states and municipalities are suffering from the same revenue constraints. Tax revenues have plunged. Governments have shut down services [...]

That’s all you need to know.
Source
FOMC statement – Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

I was interviewed on the BBC last night about the GM/Opel/Vauxhall deal. I am waiting for video before posting any more about it.  My general feeling, however is GM’s backing out is being driven by reflation as GM no longer needs to sell Opel/Vauxhall in this economic environment. Quite frankly, I think it is a [...]