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Unemployment Data: Are We Really Seeing an Improvement?

belief in these numbers - that employment is improving - is counter-intuitive to the fundamentals needed for "real" job growth; and said belief & media distribution will only serve to inflate yet another counter-productive bubble - one of faith of imminent recovery.

but hell, it's summer; and most folks like a vacation to disneyland before getting back to brass tacks & taxes... and flaming false hopes. sept. & oct. should be quite enlightening.

When Unemployment Peaks, The Bottom Should Follow

I'd say we're definitely well beyond the half-way point to bottom; the problem is what happens when we "get there." It's like a drowning man weighed down by a ton of debt at the bottom of the ocean. I fear the bottom, personally, because that's when reality will hit the masses.

Taking Bair's credit-increase request seriously, Sen. Chris Dodd plans to introduce a measure raising the FDIC's credit limit to $100B permanently and to $500B through Dec. 31, 2010.

500B sounds about right; until a contagion of bank runs begins; that amount will be eaten in a matter of a few days.

The Free Market Votes: Still No Change We Can Believe In

What f#$king planet are you on? "Free Market"? Ha, Ha... HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, etc, etc...

Karl Denninger's short list of what's dead if the government doesn't do something to head off the coming implosion.

With 11.5 trillion to work with, I can't help but imagine the leverage, influence & potential profits - or losses - that our illustrious 1st-tier banksters are peddling on wall street. Someone is making huge bucks on this roller coaster ride; and it sure as hell ain't main street.

House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank is pleased with offers by U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Northern Trust (NTRS) to return $6B and $1.8B in TARP money. "I'm assuming neither one would have done that if they weren't feeling that things are stabilizing." Either that, or they're scared of the gov't.

No, no... Mr. Rubble is correct: USB & NTRS are all better now. So just go ahead and dump what investment residue you have left into these sound companies. Then sleep, sleep... sleep...

Is It Time to Abandon the U.S. Dollar and Go for Gold?

"Printing money guarantees inflation." Absolutely. But we must take that statement literally. Part of the reason the USD remains strong is for the LACK of physical money. Plenty of the digital variety, but it still takes the physical stuff to conduct many business transactions. The future will see a dichotomy of adjusted inflation based on electronic vs. physical USD. The USD will remain strong for the immediate future, possibly longer.

But you can't go wrong with gold. If is slips back to $850, I'm personally going full tilt for some expected huge gains in the 3rd & 4th quarters.

Automotive Depression: Government Needs to Let the Weak Fail

"Government Needs to Let the Weak Fail." Wow - "you're" finally getting it. Let us also include the pathetic & non-existent, like BOA, CITI & yes, even JP Morgan. All three would have been distant history by now if not for continued wall street socialism.

AIG Bailout Saga in Review

"...AIG was a net seller of CDS protection..."

The above words tell the tale - AIG will never, ever be solvent again. Their outlays may very well be in the trillions. The money shite down their coffers could have at least put a solid foundation under the Big 3, salvaging millions of jobs. But hey, it's all about who you know... and pay.

What's Good for Citi - And What's Good for America

Amen. Nuff said. Won't happen till it's too late because it already is too late. Buffet is spot-on; the "chosen ones" are being rescued at the expense of all others. I've been very realistic to pessimistic about this country's future for the last five years; I am now very certain that our world is about to be rocked by social/political upheaval. Good luck with that.

There's a Whiff of Reflation in the Air

the dollar is a house of cards sitting on a wing & a prayer; one "Whiff of Reflation" and the house crashes in. all fiat currencies are disasters - always have been, always will be - because they rely upon continued debt to function. it's over folks. time to sweep away the cards & replace it with something more concrete.

Rating the Top 12 U.S. Banks - From Hidden Gems to Zombies

good analysis; but really, this is just a snapshot of the continuing tsunami; and if bankruptcies/foreclosu... do not slow down dramatically in the next 6 to 8 months, few if any lenders will go unscathed in a bad, bad way. funny how the month of september seems to be the reoccurring harbinger of gloom & doom. we shall see.

Don't Kick Yourself Later for Not Buying Gold and Silver Now

pick your poison: depression hits, currencies & markets fall, & folks pour into precious metals for security; or inflation from hell hits, currencies collapse & folks stampede into the precious stuff. the next two years will be incredible for gold & silver. maybe not momentous, as some suggest, but a guaranteed 25% to 50% haven.

America's Insolvent Banks

nationalize? but what exactly would "we" be nationalizing? tens of billions of losses? hundreds? trillions? i say let bankruptcy clean out the barn first, lest we find shite on our hands.

"Fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics," professor Bradley Schiller writes in a WSJ op-ed. "Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future."

a little "truth" is just so passe'.