New jobless claims around 460,000. Nobody has a clue exactly how many people are unemployed. How can we find that data? Easy. It's called tax returns. Or tax non returns. Surely our transparent government will supply the data...ahhh..who cares...it's Christmas Eve. A couple thousand years ago- a man was born. The son of God and his name was Jesus Christ. And although he committed no crime he was executed by man. Each year at this time we celebrate his birth. The American version of Christmas is that we go out and waste a lot of money buying worthless shit for our families and friends. I guess this is the capitalist way of celebrating the life of a man that had absolutely nothing to do with the wanting of materialistic crap. Today I will finish buying worthless shit for my family. They will pretend they love it. I will pretend to love the worthless shit they buy me. I will be thankful that they are all alive and well, reasonably happy, and each year as I grow older I look at my ...

This piece is classic. I shall save it for later. Geithner "believes" job growth will resume in the spring. I couldn't resist posting it here. Why? Why would anyone hire as soon as this spring. More taxes? Health care costs? Banks that aren't lending? A consumer less recovery? Just who is going to start spending and what are they going to spend? You can drink this Kool Aid if you want...take a sip here if you'd like: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091223/ap_on_bi_ge/us_geithner_economy

Sorry for spamming the followers today. A lot of interesting stuff. This article is about President Transparency. He talks a great game of transparency but alas he doesn't show up with one. http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/mr_obama_tear_down_your_wall_o.html Another great article from a writer who thinks deflation is still a possibility and looming at American Thinker. Deflation is my secret fantasy. That and a night with Janine Lindemulder. Love to see all those debt holders, including Frankie, circling the drain...that at the same time Janine shows up with a box of toys and a bottle of viagra in one hand, her clothes in the other. Be like those ballplayers in "Field of Dreams." Is this heaven?

I snitched this online poll. Another 25,000 delusional people. Don't you guys know? The recession has been over for two months. Man of the Year- Ben Bernanke said so. To be sure, I think people suffering through hard times are more inclined to participate in these polls. Just a guess, maybe wrong. Answers at the bottom. Savings Center poll 1. How has the recession affected your finances? 1. My situation is dire. 2. My pocketbook is feeling a pinch. 3. I'm doing about the same. 4. My bottom line has improved. 2. Do you think the recession is going to get worse? 1. Yes. 2. No. 3. I don't know. Vote to see results Click here to see results without voting 1. How has the recession affected your finances? 1. My situation is dire. 25% 2. My pocketbook is feeling a pinch. 43% 3. I'm doing about the same. 27% 4. My bottom line has improved. 5%...

Gosh, how can this be? For many months I have been ranting about this Depression. Why? Because politicians and government workers have been manipulating every conceivable number and understating how severe this economic situation has been. It is politically expedient for them to do so. To tell the truth, to state publicly that you are inept and have done an absolute shit job of running this country, well that kind of honesty probably won't get you re-elected. And it shouldn't. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34519544/ns/business-washington_post A perfect example of this happens today. The original and hugely inflated GDP number for the last quarter is about to get revised downward again. It was manipulated by government giveaways like "cash for clunkers." My thought on this is simple. If you are going to engage in dishonest conduct, one time aberrations like "clunkers", then all auto sales associated with clunkers should have been eliminated from GDP numbers. Ju...

Well at least they didn't say she died of natural causes. http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=448013&GT1=28101 Latest newsflash. Now they are. http://omg.yahoo.com/news/actress-brittany-murphy-dies-in-la-at-age-32/32971?nc Look- here's the deal. I grew up in a world when telling the truth mattered. When people committed suicide, it got printed that way. When they died of alcohol and drug overdoses it was stated. I have great compassion for the families who suffer a terrible loss. It is absolutely gut wrenching and I have seen it many times, firsthand. But those people die in vain every time we decide to filter and obscure the truth and the cause of their deaths. I had a near and dear friend tell me once that alcoholism and drug addiction often result in jail, hospitals, and death. He was right. He graduated about three months later. He did not die in vain. Someday, maybe we will reconsider telling the truth as something that has greater value than some minority o...

Frankenstein Government can't rein in their spending, so now they are on the attack looking for tax "cheats" and offering rewards. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/RatOutYourNeighborsGetPaidByTheIRS.aspx Fortunately, they have a two million dollar threshold which pretty much insulates anybody who knows me, friends patiently waiting on a torn bar stool and the promise of two for one well drinks at the Vista Bar. Maybe I could get a job as a tax cheat informant. Maybe infiltrate some lavish parties, spark a conversation or two about Cayman bank accounts. I 'd have to be discreet. Use my head lest I stumble into Mayor Johnson or any of Obama's cabinet appointees. Wind up like that poor sap Walpin. Maybe I could focus my efforts on elite republicans. Barack would like that. The only tax cheat I am concerned with is a government that stole my taxes to bail out bankers, insurance companies, and car manufacturers. Using my tax dollars to buy cars and hou...