Good morning friends! In the news this morning: the showdown in Egypt, new unemployment numbers, the U.S. energy crunch, and more…
Showdown in Egypt… Pres. Obama pressing Egyptian Pres. Mubarak to resign “immediately”… Mubarak balks… proof of “waning U.S. influence” in the region… or even Western decline… Iran’s Supreme Leader satisfied, calling riots a sign of “Islamic awakening”… warns casualties will be U.S. policy and Zionism… Muslim Brotherhood agrees… and George Soros chimes in on the matter…
U.S. Budget Crisis… According to the Treasury Dept. the U.S. national debt increased by $105,835,837,302.32 ($105.8 billion) in January… total increase in spending since the beginning of fiscal year 2011… $569,428,025,119.05 ($569.4 billion).
Dems warn lack of action on debt-ceiling could lead to govt. shutdown…
Make way for the cost-cutting Republicans to save the day… Their proposal to stop those “spendthrift” Democrats… $32 billion in cuts this year… their proposal will lower this year’s projected annual spending of $3.7 trillion to $3.67 trillion… Projected 2020 Federal spending budget… $5.7 trillion.
New job opening: A politician with backbone and with no desire for a “career” in politics to turn this country around…
“Jobless” Recovery Continues… The BLS reported that the “official” unemployment rate for the month of January dipped sharply to 9.0%… 36,000 new jobs added in January… far below official forecasts of 145,000 new jobs…
Wall Street is unimpressed… especially CNBC’s Rick Santelli…
The problem… when unemployed people stop looking for jobs, the government no longer counts them as unemployed… For more, see the declining labor force participation rate, which has dropped to its lowest levels since 1984. (Shocking chart here.)
Overall, the unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8% in the past two months… the steepest two-month drop in over 50 years.
A more accurate unemployment rate released by the BLS is the U6 rate… 16.0% in January.
Meanwhile, in Canada, employment rose by 69,000 jobs – four times more than forecast… Canadian dollar soars to its strongest level against the U.S. Dollar since May 2008.
Inflation Rising… Global food prices are soaring… wheat is up 80% since last year… oil firmly above $90… producer prices up over 1% in December… U.S. import prices up… China’s CPI: 5% and growing…
In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, Bernanke denied that the Fed’s quantitative easing program is stoking inflation around the globe… a good translation of the speech here…
Energy Crunch… That the Blizzard of 2011 has taxed U.S. utility companies is an understatement… tens of thousands in New Mexico without natural gas service… after being denied power by Mexico, Texas is asking customers to conserve natural gas… outages in Arizona… shortages in San Diego… record use in Utah…
Investor Concerns Mount… This week, emerging market funds have witnessed their biggest weekly outflows ever. The reason? Uprisings in the Middle East, record food prices, growing inflation, and the list goes on…
Finally… Teens, keep your pants pulled up on the streets in Long Beach, CA this month… See why here…
Why So Serious?… Here’s a sampling from some of the late shows this week…
“While in Egypt, CNN’s Anderson Cooper was attacked and beaten, which raises 2 questions. Is it safe to send our media into these places? And how do we get Glenn Beck over there?” –Conan O’Brien
“Today Al Gore blamed the current snow storms on global warming. Al Gore said, ‘a rise in global temperature creates havoc ranging from hotter dry spells to colder winters, increasing violent storms, flooding, forest fires and loss of endangered species.’ And finally Tipper said, ‘Al will you just pay the kid for shoveling the walk, please.’” –Jay Leno
“These days it seems like you can’t have an armed street mob without it turning ugly.” –Stephen Colbert
“The big rumor: Sarah Palin said she may run for president. I understand there’s an opening in Egypt.” –Jay Leno
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Jerry Robinson is an economist, published author, columnist, international conference speaker, and the editor of the financial website, FTMDaily.com. In addition, Robinson hosts a weekly radio program entitled Follow the Money Weekly, an hour long radio show dedicated to deciphering the week’s economic news.
