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Chart of the Day - Job losses are over triple the average trough

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Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls (jobs) decreased by 11,000 in November -- the smallest decline since the recession began at the close of 2007. Today's chart puts that decline into perspective by comparing job losses during the current economic recession (solid red line) to that of the last recession (dashed gold line) and the average recession from 1950-2006 (dashed blue line). As today's chart illustrates, the current job market has suffered losses that are more than triple as much as what occurs at the lows of the average recession/job loss cycle.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: All That Glitters Might Be Gold

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by Charles Maley Although Gold might be a bit stretched in the short term, it is not hard to see where it could go a lot higher in the long run. I found some interesting charts on Agora Financial website that fall into the “a picture is worth a thousand words” category. First, let’s look at the expansion in the monetary base. The monetary base is not only in a vertical ascent, but also without precedence. We have never seen anything like this. The monetary base is essentially the Federal Reserve Bank’s currency and reserves. Now, with an expansion like this you would think inflation would be rearing its ugly head, but as hedge fund manager John Paulson points out “that’s because this base money has not yet been lent out and multiplied throughout the economy. Yet the monetary base and money supply are highly correlated, almost 1-to-1 between the two.” So what does this mean? I think it means that soon or a later the money supply will follow, and if money supply grows faster th...
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This Could be the US within Years

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This Could be the US within Years Let’s see… Greece is having trouble with unfunded liabilities, runaway debt and constituents that demand they live off the public largess while much of the world recognizes that the current situation as unsustainable. I don’t see how the US is much different. While there are rosy projections that we’ll eventually be decreasing our deficit over the next few years if all goes well, what’s clear even in the most optimistic government models is that in 2030 and beyond we have a runaway situation. We’re seeing states and municipalities struggling to control debt and most of it stems from the overly generous pension and healthcare obligations they’ve made to generations of public-sector workers that is unsustainable. While the private sector has cut jobs, real wages and forced increased employee contributions to benefits for a decade, public workers have pretty much maintained the status quo as if they live in a vacuum. I can’t blame the worke...
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