By Richard Simon

(The Los Angeles Times) Reporting from Washington – Hundreds of new jobs in phantom congressional districts. Nearly 500 new teaching slots in a Chicago school district that employs only 290.

As the White House tries to show that its massive stimulus package has created or saved 1 million jobs, media outlets and critics have contended that some of the administration’s numbers are faulty.

On Thursday, a congressional committee tried to sort out the questions: Are the flawed data the result of Democratic spin meant to show that President Obama’s economic policies are working? Or are they ... Continue Reading

By Tommy Jaye

Positioning your business for the economic recovery starts now! It’s no longer “business as usual.” Small business owners and entrepreneurs take notice! Today’s market savvy customer, bruised, wary and somewhat disjointed by the recession, is up for grabs.

To all small business owners and entrepreneurs:

Know this, it’s no longer business as usual.  The economic landscape has changed forever and it will never function again as it did in the pre-recession economy.  At least we should hope not!  Easy credit, over-valued real estate and dot com mindsets (a.k.a Wall Street) were the tailwinds of ... Continue Reading

(Bloomberg) — Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly dropped in November as the loss of jobs threatened to undermine the biggest part of the economy.

The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary sentiment index decreased to a three-month low of 66 from 70.6 in October. A report from the Commerce Department showed the trade deficit widened in September by the most in a decade as rising demand for imported oil and automobiles swamped a fifth consecutive gain ... Continue Reading

“All of the components of real estate value are going in the wrong direction simultaneously,” said Ross, one of nine money managers participating in a government program to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets. “Occupancy rates are going down. Rent rates are going down and the capitalization rate — the return that investors are demanding to buy a property – are going up.”

U.S. commercial property sales ... Continue Reading

The International Forecaster

Yet another bank bights the dust, stocks have net outflows of capital, big insider sell offs and other bad moves that enable insiders to control the market, biggest S&P rally ever, Plunge protection team working overtime, Gold in a new phase

This is another victim of the FDIC Friday Night Financial Follies.

Early Friday morning, state and federal agents walked into the Bank of Elmwood and closed the failed 49-year-old independent bank after a year of struggling to improve a bleak financial situation, officials announced Friday.

The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions shut down ... Continue Reading

Forget the debate over TARP, and never mind the questions about a second stimulus. This decision is about when to pull out $1 trillion that’s propping up the U.S. banking system. And it will be Federal Reserve Chairman