The Independent

“Has there been one financial leader to say this is really excessive? Wake up, gentlemen. Your response, I can only say, has been inadequate.” Paul Volcker, former Fed Chairman, Dec 8, 2009From The Times: ‘Wake up, gentlemen’, world’s top bankers warned by former Fed chairman Volcker “I wish someone would give me one shred of neutral evidence that financial innovation has led to economic growth — one shred of evidence,” said Mr Volcker ... He said that financial services in the United States had increased its share of value added from 2 per cent to 6.5 per cent, but he asked: “Is that a reflection of your financial innovation, or just a reflection of what you’re paid?” And from the Telegraph: Ex-Fed chief Paul Volcker's 'telling' words on derivatives industry    "You can innovate as much as you like, but do it within a structure that doesn't put the whole economy at risk." ... Mr Volcker argued that banks did have a vital role to play as holders of ...

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.

John North More: Bio , abc7.com News Team    SACRAMENTO (KABC) -- When you pay money to your insurance company, you could be financing investments in the government of Iran. California insurance companies admit they have $12 billion in investments in Iran. The insurance commissioner wants them to divest. And he's threatening to revoke their licenses to operate in California. The legislature outlawed investments in Iran but left a big loophole. Scenes of protests in Iran are familiar to international viewing audiences. So are the allegations that Iran continues to violate its citizen's civil rights as it moves toward a nuclear capability. California Insurance commissioner Steve Poizner has been trying to enforce a new law designed to pressure Iran into changing its ways. The law prohibits insurance companies from investing in Iran. Poizner says there is a huge loophole. ...

1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour of every day. 2. This results in $20,928 profit every minute! 3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year. 4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined. 5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer.  And most speak English 6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World. 7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years. 8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).. 9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.. 10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago. 11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population i...

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that Housing Starts dropped a whopping 10.6 percent in the one month period October 2009 versus September 2009, and fell 30.7 percennt below an already awful number last October 2008. This is in spite of the $8,000 first time home buyers credit the Central Planners decided was a key stimulus tactic. New Building Permits fell 24.3 percent from last year's lousy October number. Mortgage Applications fell 2.5 percent last week. Clearly the Central Planners' stimulus plan is not working. The reason is simple, they have targeted a small minority to get the trillions of dollars of government spending, and have failed miserably in conducting a strategy that would get cash into the hands of all American Households. If you have a clunker and are willing to buy a tiny car with a certain gas mileage performance, if you are buying a new home for the first time, or if you are one of the largest financial companies on earth, you get the money, and...

First time unemployment topped 10% for the first time since 1983 (see chart below courtesy chartoftheday.com), well above the Administration’s peak estimate of 8.5% they projected in February. Temporary employment, typically a leading indicator of hiring, rose for the third straight month, increasing 33.7K in October. Without that increase the employment picture would have been significantly weaker. Unofficial estimates of the “underemployed”, i.e. those wishing to be employed full time but unable to obtain employment, rose 1% to 17.5%. The second chart below, courtesy of Barry Ritholtz, shows the number of unemployed longer than 27 weeks, dating back to 1948. Even if the economy stabilizes and hiring moves back into a 150K-200K per month range, it could take 3-5 years to achieve prior levels of employment.

Paul B. Farrell Oct. 20, 2009, 8:08 a.m. EDT Death of 'Soul of Capitalism:' Bogle, Faber, Moore By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Jack Bogle published "The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism" four years ago. The battle's over. The sequel should be titled: "Capitalism Died a Lost Soul." Worse, we've lost "America's Soul." And worldwide the consequences will be catastrophic. That's why a man like Hong Kong's contrarian economist Marc Faber warns in his Doom, Boom & Gloom Report: "The future will be a total disaster, with a collapse of our capitalistic system as we know it today." No, not just another meltdown, another bear market recession like the one recently triggered by Wall Street's "too-greedy-to-fail" banks. Faber is warning that the entire system of capitalism will collapse. Get it? The engine driving the great "American Economic Empire" f...

Robert McHugh, Ph.D. The Labor Department reported Friday that Unemployment for September rose to 9.8 percent. One out of ten Americans who are seeking work, are out of work. If laid off full time workers settling for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate in the U.S. is now up to 17 percent. If we include discouraged workers who are no longer seeking employment (they are not included in the Labor Department's unemployment figures), then the unemployment figures rise to 10.1 percent and 17.3 percent. The problem is getting worse, and evolving into a crisis of Family Household income. Consumers account for 70 percent of all spending, of GDP. The Labor Department reported Friday that 263,000 more people lost jobs in September, non-farm payroll job losses, but actually the number was even worse than reported because the Labor Department reduced the actual number of job losses by "let's pretend" jobs that they imagined in their deepest melatonin dreams wer...

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Issues Statement on Release of Tax Commission Report Sacramento -- In response to the release of the California Tax Commission report, Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, released the following statement today: We are pleased that the California Commission for the 21st Century Economy has arrived at proposals which do no violence to Proposition 13. It should be noted that the original charter for the commission was to deal primarily with the issue of revenue volatility. Of the three major revenue streams to government in California, the property tax under Prop. 13 is the most stable. Thus, it has not only saved taxpayers from being taxed out of their homes, it has proven to be a moderating influence during economic turmoil. It should also be noted that revenue volatility is, by itself, not a problem. It is only a problem in California because our politicians do not have the discipline to save money in boom years. As you ...