The Telegraph

Bank of England chief Mervyn King:
standard of living to plunge at fastest rate since 1920s

Households face the most dramatic squeeze in living standards since the 1920s,
the Governor of the Bank of England warned, as he reacted to the shock disclosure that the economy was shrinking again.

Families will see their disposable income eaten ( Read more... )

By Glenn Greenwald

As we enter our ninth year of the War in Afghanistan with an escalated force, and continue to occupy Iraq indefinitely, and feed an endlessly growing Surveillance State, reports are emerging of the Deficit Commission hard at work planning how to cut Social Security, Medicare, and now even to freeze military pay.  But a ( Read more... )

by Gaius Publius on 5/24/2010 08:40:00 PM

( Read more... )

UGLY UGLY UGLY
If September is not revised better -and October-December come in like September- then the double-dip is clearly back on the table. There are just too many specific details in today's report  and others of this past week (I've highlighted them in red) that, if maintained for a few back-to-back months, would point to imminent relapse. ( Read more... )

For entertainment purposes, I watched a little bit of a mainstream business news media very early this morning - the practically bubble gum-chewing bubble head at the news desk was reporting how Japan "might" fall back into deflation.
(Isn't that almost like saying someone is a little bit pregnant.)

From Bloomberg: 
Japan’s Deflation Deepens as Prices ( Read more... )

CNBC:
...Wholesale prices also slid 8.5 percent in the year to August, matching a record hit in July, pointing to deepening deflation that could force the Bank of Japan to keep its ultra-easy monetary policy in place for a long time to come...
In a sign weak final demand is playing an increasing part in pushing down prices, overall final goods prices ( Read more... )

The uber perma-bears out there keep holding on to the notion that this recession is so different, it simply can not recover despite traditional leading indicators flashing a massive recovery  that while in its very early stages is now already underway (that is not hyperbole that the Leading Indicator Indexes are suggesting this).

I've sometimes ( Read more... )

Leading Economic Indexes have shot to the moon since they first began putting in a bottom right after the results of the presidential election last year, and have only grown remarkably stronger ever since. And these traditional methods of forecasting economic conditions six to twelve months out have already seen themselves somewhat vindicated: GDP ( Read more... )

Low pay even hits airline pilots - who have to live in mobile homes in parking lots ( Read more... )

( Mod note )