My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Downgrade Fever is Catchy edition

Live by the Euro, die by the Euro. On Friday S&P downgraded nine Eurozone countries including former Blue Chips France and Austria.

Remember when Junk Bonds were cool? Mister we could use a man like Michael Milken again.

(By popular demand, Chloe is back for an encore this week. I think she's on the phone with her broker…)

And what did I tell you, the unemployment figures were indeed revised upward, and then spiked this week to 399K.

That's two big jumps in a row. Can Barry make it three? You know he can!

Oh, and by the way, December retail sales were "weak," the worse they've been in seven months. Santa kept his wallet in his pocket, unless he spied some really deep discounts. Alas, low margins do not a recovery make.

In response, CIT Group is cutting off supplier loans to Sears.

The company had a disastrous holiday shopping season, with revenue at stores open at least a year falling 5.2 percent during the eight weeks ended that ended Christmas Day. The figure is a key indicator of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

There's a Sears Hardware in West Caldwell. It never has anything I need.

I think that's a metaphor for the Obama Administration.

Moochelle's demonization of snack foods claimed another victim. Hostess filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The legendary maker of Twinkies, HoHos, and DingDongs is a casualty of the anti-obesity zealots.

"Twinkies is a well-known brand, but did you ever hear somebody talk about Twinkies in a positive light?" asked Ted Gavin, head of the bankruptcy practice at NHB Advisors, a turnaround consulting firm in Philadelphia.

Hostess makes Wonder Bread too. Another staple of our childhood, about to be sacrificed, and for what? 550 people will probably lose their jobs, because regardless of what the First Lady might tell you, kids don't want to eat carrot sticks and multi-grain cardboard masquerading as "bread."

Speaking of bread, and circuses: Barry and TurboTax Timmy plan to borrow another $1.2 trillion dollars, and "invest" it in round 3 of Quantitative Easing.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said that sustained high levels of unemployment, as forecast by many Fed members, "does make an argument that we should have more stimulus."

The death throes of the Keynesian spendaholics are not going to be pretty.

Is there more bad news? You betcha.

November's trade deficit rose to 10.4% as U.S. exports cratered. Again.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that total November exports of $177.8 billion and imports of $225.6 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $47.8 billion, up from $43.3 billion in October, revised. November exports were $1.5 billion less than October exports of $179.4 billion. November imports were $2.9 billion more than October imports of $222.6 billion.

China makes, America takes.

I think it's time to say "screw it all" and hit the beach. Because Chloe is definitely an argument for "more stimulus."

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Previously:
My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Short Term Gain For Long Term Pain edition
My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Year End Wrapup Unhappy New Year Edition
My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Debbie Wasserman Schultz Reality Check edition
My Weekly Obama Jobs Report: the Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics edition
My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Incredibly Shrinking Labor Force edition
My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, Our Dickensian Future Edition

UPDATE 11 Feb 2012 10:49:
Pics removed due to DMCA takedown notice. Sorry.

Posted at 12:24 by Chris Wysocki   [/economy]   Comments | Perm Link |
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