Buy Gold - It’s not too late
It must still be early in the gold bubble. Two masters of the hedge fund universe, George Soros and John Paulson, have vastly increased their bets on gold.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/12/soros-paulson-novagold-markets-gold-bubble.html
New round of foreclosures threatens housing market
The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031104866.html
ECONOMY: The Great Rebound: Numbers tell story of market recovery
NEW YORK —- On March 9, 2009, it felt as if the world was ending.
The Dow Jones industrial average had tumbled to a 12-year low of 6,547, and seemed it would keep plunging. A day later, Citigroup Inc. stopped the market’s drop with news that it was turning a profit. That began the stock market’s answer to the Great Recession: the Great Rebound.
The numbers are hard to believe: The Dow has rocketed 61 percent in a year.
That’s the kind of gain that would normally come in five or six good years. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index —- which is the basis for many retirement accounts and mutual funds —- jumped 20 percent in the first 10 trading days after March low. It’s now up 68 percent.
And Citigroup? The bank that was slammed by the financial meltdown has seen its shares triple to $3.50.
There are still huge worries about jobs, deficits and the government’s role in propping up a shaky financial system. But the market’s climb means that, for now, investors are betting on a sustained economic recovery.
Here’s a by-the-numbers look at one of the most remarkable years in the history of the stock market.
— $5.6 trillion: Total gains in the stock market since March 9, as measured by the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index, which tracks nearly all U.S.-based companies.
— $5.6 trillion: The amount that stocks are still down from October 2007, when the Dow peaked at 14,164.
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_cb51b205-3e0a-5daa-8557-ba5b8a9159bf.html
Unemployment Rates by Level of Education
Unemployment Rates by Level of Education
5.0% Bachelor’s degree or higher
8.0% Some college or associates degree
10.5% High School diploma no college
15.6% less than high school diploma
as of February 2010, Bureau of labor statistics
Dean Martin - Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes
Top 100 Recordings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXFoOYxMnvg&feature=related
Buffett’s tips for new investors
The world’s most famous investor lays out his basic principles in this year’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/learn-how-to-invest/buffetts-tips-for-new-investors.aspx
Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties
The state’s jobless rate of 12.5% in January was its worst on record and fifth-highest in the nation.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cal-jobs11-2010mar11,0,3667613.story
The Changing face of American Debt
The Federal Reserve released their latest Flow of Funds report, which contains TONS of great info. Below is a look at the change in debt outstanding by sector (as a percent of GDP) over a variety of periods since 1979.
http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2010/03/debt-by-sector-timeline.html
Jobless benefits morphed into entitlement
The Senate jobs bill, approved by a vote of 62 to 36, has touched off a couple of red-hot debates.
One is how to pay for its extension of unemployment benefits for qualified jobless who have been out of work for more than six months.
The other, more thought-provoking one, is whether jobless benefits, because of multiple extensions approved by Congress, have morphed into an entitlement.
The Depression-era program was originally intended as a temporary bridge to help the jobless until a recovery put them back to work – though nearly two-thirds of unemployed workers do not qualify. During a more normal downturn in the economy, states help people who have been laid off with jobless benefits lasting 26 weeks. But now, in some of the hardest-hit states, the long-term unemployed have been able to collect benefits for as long as 99 weeks – almost two years.
Beware Of A Double-Dip Recession
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A slew of poor economic data over the past two weeks suggests that the U.S. economy is headed for a U-shaped recovery–at best–in 2010. The macro news, including data on consumer confidence, home sales, construction and employment, actually suggests a significant downside risk even to the anemic levels of growth which I forecast for H1 (the first half of the year). The U.S. faces continued challenges in H2–particularly as historic levels of fiscal stimulus fade–and appears far too close to the tipping point of a double-dip recession.