And so, the predicted gradual softening of the economy is starting to materialize in order to fit with the Chairman's world view (and to set the stage for QE X with a healthy helping of LSAPs). The January Chicago PMI just printed at 60.2, missing expectations of an increase to 63, and down from December's 62.2. And it gets worse: the employment index was the lowest since August at 54.7, while the order backlog number came at 48.2, the lowest since October 2009. This also means that the upcoming manufacturing ISM will also likely be a miss. What recovery again? Or is it China's turn to bail out the world all over again
"Courtesy of reszatonline, who brings us the following allegory by way of Tim Coldwell, we are happy to distill (no pun intended) all of modern economics and finance in a narrative that is 500 words long, and involved booze and broke alcoholics: in other words everyone should be able to understand the underlying message. And while the immediate application of this allegory is to explain events in Europe, it succeeds in capturing all the moving pieces of modern finance." read more
Miley enjoying a giant chocolate phallus.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times (9/6/01), 5,243 Illinois teachers failed their teacher certification tests. The Chicago Sun-Times also reported, "One teacher failed 24 of 25 teacher tests – including 11 of 12 Basic Skills tests and all 12 tests on teaching learning-disabled children." Yet that teacher was assigned to teach learning-disabled children in Chicago. Departments of education have solved the problem of teacher test failure. According to a New York Post story (11/14/11) titled "City teacher tests turn into E-ZPass," more than 99 percent of teachers pass. read more
*Initial claims drop from revised 402K (as expected) in last week, to 352K this week, 50K swing in one week, on expectations of 384K. All in the seasonal adjustment, which tries to compensate for the 124K drop in Non Seasonally Adjusted claims. Fired bankers and everyone else no longer registers to the B(L)S.
*This number was below the lowest Wall Street estimate of 363K.
Continuing claims: 3.432MM, below expectations of 3.590MM, previous revised naturally higher from 3.628MM to 3.647MM. The reason? People on EUC and Extended benefits in last week: +105,000. More and more people move away from 6 month support to extended 99 week cliff.
I already know quite a few people benefiting from Obamacare.
#126 | Posted by danni at 2012-02-10 03:51 PM | Reply | Flag:
At the expense of whom?
There are two parts to every transaction... If one person is receiving a benefit, another is losing something.
So, the more important question is, at the expense of whom?