By Les Dunaway
The monthly unemployment numbers came out from the DOL this week. They were summarized in the media as a drop from 9.1 to 9.0. Many people reacted with surprise as such a drop was counter-intuitive, especially when the reported jobs-created was 80,000 – somewhere between a third and a half of what’s needed to reduce unemployment.
I’m happy to report that the confusion was simply government book-cooking, … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
This morning about 6am, as I do each week day, I read the Financial Times “Asia: AM” which looks at what’s happening in the Asian and European markets. The top story was “EU reaches agreement on Greek bonds”.
The top line on the “agreement”, which has not been agreed-to by anyone at this point, is that all holders of Greek-debt bonds will get new bonds – whose … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
I’ve read the Wall Street Journal most every weekday for 20+ years. Being a money junky, I also read Forbes, Financial Times, … Over the past few weeks, when we’ve had some of the worst market swings in memory, the discussion has recognized that the world, not just the US, is hanging on the edge of a really nasty depression. That’s to be expected and isn’t news … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have brought up a subject that needs more scrutiny. A member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, who dissented from the report, summarizes what happened in the Oct 12th Wall Street Journal.
Judging from the squealing from the left, below, he struck a nerve. Take a look a these videos, in light of what we know now, and see if … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
We lost a great one today – Steve Jobs lost his long battle with cancer. Our world is poorer without him. [WSJ] [Forbes]
I want to talk, not about the Mac or the iPad or … that Steve and his coven of heavy-techies created, but rather a basic principle the Macs have followed.
Open the box
Plug in the cord
Turn it on… Read more...
By Les Dunaway
In a debate co-sponsored by NYSE and Corporate Responsibility (CR) magazine’s COMMIT!Forum the Agenda 21 people made clear their agenda – the destruction of capitalism. Of course, anyone who has looked at the website wasn’t surprised.
[Reuters report] [Advisor One report] … Read more...By Les Dunaway
Well, we now have President Obama’s plan to “to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working”. A long list of business leaders had little hope that the speech would contain anything substantive. They were proven right. What we got was more of the same, both in terms of the programs offered and the tax increases to pay … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
The past weeks have made it clear that there’s a lot of folks in our country who don’t understand that the liberal give-away is over. The time that Maggie Thatcher foretold when she said “The trouble with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money” has come.
I’m not referring to those who are simply in denial. I’m talking about people who … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
Well, Charlie Rangel thinks Congress looks like a ‘bunch of clowns’ for not raising taxes. I got a news flash, or two, for you Charlie. First, yes, many in Congress do look like clowns for their complete lack of understanding of economics. Second, they’ve been looking like clowns for decades. Oh, and by the way, there’s several in the Executive Branch wearing fright wigs, rubber noses and … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
Well, it happened. Just as the warnings foretold. When will there be some sign of adult behavior in Washington? During the debt cap discussions, the rating companies wrote to the President, the Senate and the House and pointed out that just raising the debt cap would not prevent a rating downgrade. Think about it! Would you see it as positive if your dead-beat neighbor bragged to you … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
Well, it’s been a rough week! With every indication of more rough times to come.
The economy continues to sputter and 1Q11 was worse that we thought [read]
There’s lots of punditry about what the debt ceiling impasse will mean:
By Les Dunaway
This past week has produced demagoguery and asinine statements which will echo down the centuries. However, for all its entertainment value, the conversation has resembled an ER team arguing about what color sutures to use in closing bleeding self-inflicted gashes. It all reminds me of a joke my nurse mother told about a patient who said to the doctor “Doc, it hurts when I do that.” To … Read more...