S&P employee #1: By the way that deal is ridiculous ( Read more... )

As I put it in a conversation with contessagrrl earlier, if the republic can survive 8 years of George W. Bush, we can survive at least 4 years of Obama. Probably. I can't pretend that I wanted McCain to win, but I'm far from excited about the coming Obama presidency. The bright side is there is a chance the republicans will get back on the small government ( Read more... )

Five things ( Read more... )

Today's five things:

1. Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout
Pay and bonus deals equivalent to 10% of US government bail-out package
Aren't you glad the bailout package passed? I don't know about you, but I'm sure that buying a vacation home in the Hamptons is a much better use of my tax money than something frivolous like paying my heating ( Read more... )

Ok really, I can't make fun of JD Drew anymore. I know I said this last year, but this time I really mean it. If any of you catch me saying "J DL Drew" again, slap me.

Here is your weekly dose of doom:

1. Grain piles up in ports
"There's all kinds of stuff stacked up on docks right now that can't be shipped because people can't get letters of credit," said Bill Gary, president of Commodity Information Systems in Oklahoma City. "The problem is not demand, and it's not supply because we have plenty of supply. It' ( Read more... )

Look, just stop whatever you are doing and listen to this song.

Click to view

You're welcome.

On a lighter note:

Mackerel Economics in Prison Leads to Appreciation for Oily Fillets
Packs of Fish Catch On as Currency, Former Inmates Say; Officials Carp

Unlike those more expensive delicacies, former prisoners say, the mack is a good stand-in for the greenback because each can (or pouch) costs about $1 and few -- other than weight-lifters ( Read more... )

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases monthly reports on the unemployment rate, initial unemployment claims, total workforce numbers, etc. Now the thing is, they have no way of actually know how many jobs were created/lost by small businesses in the past month, so they use something called the "Birth/Death model". These monthly jobs adjustments ( Read more... )