From CNN.COM:
Job loss leads to spending guilt for holiday season
(CNN) — There won’t be any brightly wrapped packages under Annette Peterson’s Christmas tree this year.
Peterson, a 34-year-old from French Lick, Indiana, was out of a job as of the end of last week, and there’s no extra money to buy presents.
“It’s really tough,” said Peterson, […]

(by the time you read this, this number will be outdated)
From MSNBC.COM:
Bush expected to approve stimulus plan
Congress passed deal aiming to speed rebates to taxpayers
WASHINGTON - Congress, facing the prospect of an election-year recession, passed an emergency plan Thursday that rushes rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most taxpayers and $300 checks to disabled veterans, […]

From MSNBC.COM:
Bush calls for $145 billion stimulus package
President sees tax rebates as priority
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday called for about $145 billion worth of tax relief and other incentives to stimulate a sagging economy and fend off a possible recession. He said a growth package must include tax incentives for business investment and “direct […]

By Restless
When President Ronald Reagan passed there was a State funeral and a ceremony that lasted for days. And days. It was endless. The talk on talk-TV was that of a savior’s passing. Where would we be if Ronnie had not been our Leader? There was talk about a new dime with his image on […]

 
So let me guess…
First, you wanted to get rich quick.  The .COM bubble had burned you on the stock market, so you needed something else.
Second, you heard all the stories; your friends, family members, and co-workers, were making tons of cash on real estate, many of them changing careers to become real estate agents or […]

By Restless
From Daily Reckoning Australia:
Last week, we met with our new partners from India. One thing that surprised us was the Indian labour market:
“Yes…there are more than a billion people in India…” said our partner, “but just go and try to find someone. The labor market is very tight. People who have been to business […]

By Restless
When you’re in a restaurant, ever wonder what’s going on in the kitchen? Here’s one possibility:
In a restaurant somewhere in New Orleans, black women were working in the kitchen being paid $10/hour.
They were all fired and replaced by undocumented workers who were paid $8 an hour.
Later, they were all fired and replaced by Brazilian […]

By Restless
A Pyramid Block by Block

You buy a house for $300,000. Several years later, it’s appreciated to $400,000.

You take out a $100,000 2nd mortgage.

Your lender bundles it together with other mortgages and sells the bundle to S&W Financial.

Using your bundle for collateral, S&W gets a loan for a million that it invests in a leveraged […]

By Restless
My discovery of the wonderful world of podcasts keep expanding. First it was democracynow, broadcasting an hour per day from nyc on everything, I mean everything, it’s so great. Then I started getting into the BBC, 30 mins./day, some world news, but lots of UK news. I love the debates they have. No shouting […]

By Restless
One of the good things about the aftermath of the Vietnam War fiasco, the Watergate break-in and Nixon’s resignation, was an opening up of government. The secretiveness of the Nixon Administration was too much. Laws were passed to open up all the processes of government and laws were passed to restrict the spaying activities […]

This has to be the best speech I’ve ever seen on C-SPAN.
The arrogance of the Republicans, on all topics; Iraq, tax breaks for the wealthy, runaway debt, corruption, ethics, and so on has led to their demise.
Thank you America for finally waking up.

By Restless 
This just out from Ron Galloway, about our largest employer:
It’s official. Management at Wal-Mart has had a complete psychotic break with reality. Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Wal-Mart “using a new computerized scheduling system, will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on the number […]

 
By Restless 
In a recent der Spieglel article, Gabor Steingart breaks out the components of our (the U.S.’s) dilemma. First, there are 3 unique characteristics of our national character:

 
Pro
Con

Optimism & daring
Nowhere in the world as high; dating back to the birth of our nation.
Optimism to the point of naiveté as many citizen’s financial condition worsens

Radically global
Dominant […]

 
It would appear that the new Congress will finally be raising the federal minimum wage, nine years after it’s last increase in 1998.
I wrote an analysis about the disparity between congressional pay hikes (which are almost annual these days) .vs. the minimum wage non-hikes last summer.
Over on finepoll.com you can vote and be heard […]