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Economy - Economics USA



Mish: Bankruptcy Filings Reach 6,000 A Day
• Michael Shedlock / Mish
Interview with Future Prediction Expert Gerald Celente
• LewRockwell.com
Oil spikes above $70 for first time this year
• MSNBC“There’s this feeling of ’here we go again’ with what happened last year,” Kloza said. “It hurts discretional spending. It leaves people to think about not taking those summer vacations.”
Gas prices added another 2 cents overnight, climbing to their highest level in more than seven months to $2.592 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of gas costs 48.2 cents more than it did a month ago, but it’s $1.397 cheaper than last year.
This week, Goldman Sachs revised its forecast and predicted that oil would rally to $85 a barrel by the end of the year as the economy stabilizes and OPEC production cuts take hold.
The forecast assumes, however, that the Or

Birth Death Adjustment Goosed NFP
• Ritholtz.com/blog/
Consumer Bankruptcy Filings up Sharply: 124,838 filed in May
• CalculatedRiskblog.com
China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds
•Friday’s statement by China said any investment would be made according to its usual criteria of “safety and reasonable returns”, but made no mention of Beijing’s wish for more power in IMF decision-making, in return for financial support.
Safe, which controls almost $2,000bn of China’s foreign exchange reserves, added it was ready to help the IMF explore more ways to raise finance.
Mr Lipsky said the Chinese and Russian proposals were part of a commitment made during the London G20 summit in April to augment IMF resources by $500bn, and that the IMF “absolutely welcomes” the commitments.

Stuck at Unemployed: When A Layoff Becomes a Lifestyle
• Washington PostA record 27% of the nation's 14.5 million jobless have been unemployed for 6 months or longer. Their unemployment benefits expire, their homes falling into foreclosure and their lives upended.
The ranks of the long-term unemployed are not expected to recede until job growth picks up in earnest, and if past recessions are any guide, that's not likely to happen for at least another year.
Bank of America Wins Right To Seize Social Security Benefits To Pay Overdraft Fees
• ConsumeristThe California Supreme Court has effectively reversed a 2004 San Francisco trial court decision that ordered BofA to pay $284.4 million in damages to more than 1.1 million customers. The California Supreme Court ruled that banks can tap Social Security benefits in bank accounts to cover bounced-check fees, a practice consumer advocates say is abusive because Federal law prohibits Social Security benefits...

The Economic Crisis and Why it's Happening Part II: Deflation, Hyper-inflation, and a Call to Ac
• The Patriot's CornerI published this on March 3rd, but I read it again today and I feel it has just as much, and maybe more, relevance today than it did then.

The Economic Crisis and Why It’s Happening
• The Patriot's CornerI published this article in February, but I still feel that it is applicable to what is happening today

SEC Charges Former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo with Fraud
• www.transworldnews.com/The Securites Exchange Commission (SEC) formally charged former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo and two other company executives with civil fraud.
The SEC also charged Mozilo with illegal insider trading, an agency spokesman said Thursday. Civil fraud charges also were filed against Countrywide's former Chief Operating Officer David Sambol and ex-Chief Financial Officer Eric Sieracki.
Countrywide Financial, the California-based mortgage lender, was a key component to the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, which was the beginning of the financial decline and c

The Daily Show helps us pick some smart investments in these uncertain times,....
• The Daily Show
Mortgage crisis robbing seniors of golden years
• USAtoday.com/money/
Jobs Contract 17th Straight Month; Unemployment Rate Soars to 9.4%
• Michael Shedlock / Mish
House Bill Proposes Commission to Explore National Servitude
• InfoWars.com
Benefit Spending Hits $2 Trillion: One in nine Americans on food stamps.
• Michael Shedlock / Mish
Jesse: Non-Farm Payrolls Trend Mismatch
• Jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
State Revenues Buffeted by Downturn
• NY TimesThe report, by the National Conference of State Legislatures, also provided a scorecard for how well drafters of state budgets read the recession’s economic tea-leaves — and the short answer is, not very well.

US retailers report May sales declines
• APU.S. retailers reported same-store sales fell in May below expectations, as pressures like rising unemployment continued to curtail consumer spending. Luxury chains and department-store operators continued to be the weakest sectors, with discounters and teen apparel retailers such as The Buckle Inc. stronger. Cheap chic discounter Target reported a bigger drop than analysts expected, as appare

Unemployment Claims: 621 Thousand
• CalculatedRiskblog.comContinued claims declined slightly to 6.73 million after increasing for 19 consecutive weeks. This is 5.0% of covered employment.

Phoenix, Arizona: May bankruptcy filings top U.S. average
• AZCentral.comFor the second straight month, the Valley recorded more than 2,000 filings. The May total of 2,042 was up 104 percent from a year earlier and represented the highest year-over-year percentage increase of 2009.

Suicide Rates Show More Colorado Farmers Losing Hope
• By Miles Moffeit, denverpost.comThe phone calls usually come in the evening after the machinery goes silent on farms across the country. The callers speak of dwindling cash flows, crumbling marriages. Some admit they're holding a loaded gun. Across a wide swath of rural America, increasing numbers of farmers are considering taking their lives. The nation's largest network of crisis hotlines for agricultural workers reports a spike of 2,000 calls through May compared with the same period last year — a 20 percent increase

The Barter Economy Returns
• MintBartering predates any modern form of currency, and arose naturally in the ancient world as the primary means of economic exchange. Today, there are a number of barter systems in place alongside replacement currencies that operate on a local level in cities or small rural villages. Whether these approaches come from a hot Web 2.0 startup or a tiny Thai village, they are changing the economic landscape. Here’s a look at some of the most promising.

U.S. to unveil regulatory reform plan June 17: source
• ReutersThe Obama administration plans to unveil on June 17 its sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, according to a source familiar with thinking at the U.S. Treasury Department.

ADP Employer Services: Department of Records Revision
• Jessescrossradscafe.blogspot.comThis pervasive pattern of 'good numbers' that result in stock market rallies and the massaging of public opinion, only to be replaced by downward revisions thirty days later, with little notice or quote, is cynical manipulation of the media at best, and a dangerous...

U.S. recovery hopes face doubts on jobs, mortgages
• ReutersThe United States may have hit a bump on the road to economic recovery, according to data with half a million private sector jobs lost in May and mortgage applications falling last week in the face of rising interest rates. The reports illustrate the policy dilemma of the Federal Reserve, which has committed trillions of dollars to keep market interest rates low, only to watch them shoot higher in recent weeks.

The National Debt Road Trip
• 10000 PenniesHow do the Obama deficits compare with past presidents? And how did the national debt get so big anyway. This video tries to answer those questions by looking at the debt as a road trip and seeing how fast different administrations have been traveling.

Foreclosures Unending
• arcleinA continuing steep drop in home prices combined with rising unemployment is powering a new wave of foreclosures. Unfortunately, there’s little evidence, so far, that the Obama administration’s anti-foreclosure plan will be able to stop it.

Reporters With Pom-Poms Cheerleading the Recovery
• Counterpunch.com/Rather, the reason that most homeowners aren’t buying a lot right now is the same reason that homeless people don’t buy a lot of things: they don’t have the money.