President Obama's anti-drilling argument uses false statistics, argues CNBC's Larry Kudlow. The president argues that America uses over 20% of the world’s oil, but has only 2% of the world’s known oil reserves. Patently untrue, says Kudlow. The U.S. has 1.4T barrels of recoverable oil, which is enough to meet all U.S. oil needs for about the next 200 years, without any imports. [View news story]
Our oil will go to the highest bidders. A billion more Chinese and Indians who want to drive.
Online sales jumped 24.3% this Black Friday. Department stores led the way with a 59% jump in online sales. Stronger than expected demand suggests there may be a disconnect between what consumers tell pollsters and how they actually spend. [View news story]
Depression era parents,it hurts to buy, pounded in me as a kid.
If a CEO was running the show in the U.S., the option on the table would be to raise taxes and cut spending at the same time, Buttonwood writes. It's not only the rapid pace of government spending that has led to ballooning deficits, but tax receipts have fallen off since 2000. Will anyone in Congress dare suggest the idea? [View news story]
Tax revenue lowest compared to GNP since 1950. Both parties have to get realistic.
Whatever the practical impact of OBL's death, it opens the door for the Obama administration to declare victory and exit Afghanistan, posits Stratfor. As for reprisals by al Qaeda, if Bin Laden's cover was compromised, one has to wonder how effective the rest of the organization can be. [View news story]
And what intelligence will be gathered from the laptops found at the compund.
"Price fixing at its worst," JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon says of debit-card interchange fee limits set for later this year. The "middle of the night" change - which could slash the $12B/year in fees that banks get by 84% - "penalizes us for having debit cards." A delay campaign may be bearing fruit as the Fed is behind schedule on the caps. [View news story]
Correct, not enough players to make free enterprise "free".
Yes, two of the Fed's most-watched data points show rising inflation but not the third: labor costs. The Fed believes price pressures without wage pressures are not sustainable, Societe Generale's Aneta Markowska writes, so it will not raise rates until it sees confirmation in the labor market - unlikely before the middle of 2012. [View news story]
If the US was still by far the dominate economic power, I would agree. Without a strong US consumer, commodities would fall. But, the world has changed, there billions more consumers out there whose wages are rising, spending more, and driving up commodity prices. What we get for touting democracy and capitalism and wanting them to spread throughout the world.
Don't be fooled by talk that TARP is nearing breakeven, Barry Ritholtz writes. TARP + GSEs = $256B in the red, not counting "lost income from savings, bonds, etc., the increased costs of food and energy due to inflation (the Fed has done this on purpose as part of their rescue plan), the higher fees the reduced competition of megabanks has created, and the future costs our moral hazard." [View news story]
Do the math - entitlements are the only place where real cuts can be made.
Rep. Darrell Issa, incoming head of the House's top investigative committee, asks companies to tell him which government regulations are too onerous for their liking. Issa recently sent letters to more than 150 businesses, trade groups and think tanks asking for their help in "identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth." [View news story]
We could save a lot of money by bypassing the sewage department and dumping everything straight into the river.
The "new voodoo" economics favored by Republicans is even more hypocritical than the old myth that tax cuts pay for themselves, Paul Krugman writes. The incoming House majority plans to make changes in the “pay as you go” rules that require spending hikes to be offset but not revenue losses from tax cuts, he says. "Banana republic, here we come." [View news story]
So, you think we can shrink taxes to zero and all will be OK? We have to do what works, not what fits our ideology. If you invest based on ideology, you lose.
Weekly Unemployment Claims Down a Whopping 34,000; Insured Unemployment Rate Slightly Up [View article]
I see more people around me finding jobs. But, I live in an unusual area. That being said: we hire a number of temps because of our erratic production schedule. Through the years, the temps have ranged from walking of the job to working their kiesters off hoping to land a permanent job with us. I can always ascertain the state of the employment situation in my area by observing the temps.The temps we hire are still working their butts off.
President Obama's anti-drilling argument uses false statistics, argues CNBC's Larry Kudlow. The president argues that America uses over 20% of the world’s oil, but has only 2% of the world’s known oil reserves. Patently untrue, says Kudlow. The U.S. has 1.4T barrels of recoverable oil, which is enough to meet all U.S. oil needs for about the next 200 years, without any imports. [View news story]
Online sales jumped 24.3% this Black Friday. Department stores led the way with a 59% jump in online sales. Stronger than expected demand suggests there may be a disconnect between what consumers tell pollsters and how they actually spend. [View news story]
Beware the Wall Street Parrot [View article]
If a CEO was running the show in the U.S., the option on the table would be to raise taxes and cut spending at the same time, Buttonwood writes. It's not only the rapid pace of government spending that has led to ballooning deficits, but tax receipts have fallen off since 2000. Will anyone in Congress dare suggest the idea? [View news story]
Whatever the practical impact of OBL's death, it opens the door for the Obama administration to declare victory and exit Afghanistan, posits Stratfor. As for reprisals by al Qaeda, if Bin Laden's cover was compromised, one has to wonder how effective the rest of the organization can be. [View news story]
Why You Should Hold Your Dividend Stocks in Tax-Sheltered Accounts [View article]
"Price fixing at its worst," JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon says of debit-card interchange fee limits set for later this year. The "middle of the night" change - which could slash the $12B/year in fees that banks get by 84% - "penalizes us for having debit cards." A delay campaign may be bearing fruit as the Fed is behind schedule on the caps. [View news story]
Yes, two of the Fed's most-watched data points show rising inflation but not the third: labor costs. The Fed believes price pressures without wage pressures are not sustainable, Societe Generale's Aneta Markowska writes, so it will not raise rates until it sees confirmation in the labor market - unlikely before the middle of 2012. [View news story]
Don't be fooled by talk that TARP is nearing breakeven, Barry Ritholtz writes. TARP + GSEs = $256B in the red, not counting "lost income from savings, bonds, etc., the increased costs of food and energy due to inflation (the Fed has done this on purpose as part of their rescue plan), the higher fees the reduced competition of megabanks has created, and the future costs our moral hazard." [View news story]
Something Spooky About the Way This Rally Is Unfolding [View article]
Brace for higher food prices now that demand for corn has pushed U.S. supplies to their lowest point in 15 years. No fun for shoppers, but consider these seven reasons investors should embrace inflation. [View news story]
Rep. Darrell Issa, incoming head of the House's top investigative committee, asks companies to tell him which government regulations are too onerous for their liking. Issa recently sent letters to more than 150 businesses, trade groups and think tanks asking for their help in "identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth." [View news story]
The "new voodoo" economics favored by Republicans is even more hypocritical than the old myth that tax cuts pay for themselves, Paul Krugman writes. The incoming House majority plans to make changes in the “pay as you go” rules that require spending hikes to be offset but not revenue losses from tax cuts, he says. "Banana republic, here we come." [View news story]
Weekly Unemployment Claims Down a Whopping 34,000; Insured Unemployment Rate Slightly Up [View article]
Valuing Market Worries: The Year in Review (And Why We've Still Not Reached a Market Top) [View article]