and for after the hose, I have a spare roll of duct tape, LOL.

more light reading -- Warning of ‘Financial Meltdown’ - US Senator Gregg on exit

The US is heading for a debt-driven “financial meltdown” within five to seven years, according to Judd Gregg. . .

In a robust and at times testy video interview for the Financial Times’s View from DC series, Mr Gregg also complimented China for showing rising alarm about the US’s mounting levels of public debt.

“We have had China say that they are looking for other places to put their reserves and that is probably a smart decision on their part,” said Mr Gregg, who will not seek re-election in November.“So the warning signs are pretty clear and the path is unsustainable and, at this point, unless we take different actions, unavoidable.”. . .continues

This article highlights something intersting. There used to be a time when savings were encouraged and living within your means was the norm. Not so today. I understand the economic theory underlining why they would say this, but it still doesn't make sense. Watch out frugal savers, the world's economists are coming for you.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022701421.html

Thats a good article.
Here is the latest on walmart, which is actually highlighting deflation, not inflation.

I think longterm trend-inflation is a very long term thing.

same store sales are down, and deflation is being blamed for part of that.

The article about Japan's economy, which I was quoting earlier, said that this is what happened there too.

For years there was much bemoaning in academia and government that Americans' saving rate was abysmal.

But our economy is 70% consumer-driven.

This past year Americans have dramatically altered their behavior -- much higher saving rate and significant paying down of household debt.

And that worsens the unemployment situation.

Consumer confidence tanked last month and home sales in January were the lowest in a half-century. GDP at the end of 2009 finally went into positive territory in a significant way but in the 4th quarter that was mostly a consequence of replenishing inventories that had been drawn down in the previous quarters.

A rocky road ahead for America's workforce, probably for at least a few years. The last economic bubble is still deflating.

Deflation does seem the greater near-term threat to the economy. Inflation will surely shoot up at some point in the next several years.

If the government would exercise even a modicum of restraint when the economy next begins a sustained expansion then we could begin to get a handle on the deficits.

The public need to be educated on this one and the root cause eliminated to improve employment prospects for everyone.

I am really surprised that the recent Senator that held up the extension of unemployment benefits for nearly one million Americans after they had run out after 6 months hadn't taken note of the following;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK1nwC59-JQ

Sometimes the unemployed just need a little nudge to solve the unemployment situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVfvYiWcA-E&NR=1

A bit on the role and benefits of unemployment insurance.

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news...d-benefits/513/

There are two fundamental aspects to the unemployment equation: jobs lost and job creation.

What's striking about this recession, compared to other recessions, is the dearth of job creation since the end of 2008. In the 1st Quarter of 2009, 50,000 fewer jobs were lost than in the 4th Quarter of 2008. But the unemployment rate shot up because there were 1 million fewer jobs created in 1stQ 2009 than 4thQ 2008. Half a million fewer jobs were lost in the 2nd Quarter of 2009 than in Q4 2008. But there were also over 300,000 fewer gross jobs created in Q2 2009 than in Q4 2008.

The job loss figures are dramatically improved from where they were a year ago when we were losing 600,000+ jobs a month. We're now teetering around the point where we should go into positive territory in the next few months, maybe next month. But the expectation for Friday's release of the initial monthly employment figures for February is that the number will again be negative. Though not as horrible as last summer or spring. We'll know in a few hours. And then the numbers will be revised again in a few weeks.

Lack of job creation is the problem. It's nowhere near where it needs to be. We can speculate about why. Credit is still relatively tight but, moreover, there's an aversion to debt. Companies have been hoarding cash for the past year. Employers have varying views of future trends in consumer spending, taxation and regulatory burdens and other factors that affect costs.

Two million unemployed have given up looking since last May so they aren't factored into the current unemployment rate, which would be well over 11% if the labor participation rate hadn't dropped 2% in the recession.

The officially unemployed have now been out of work -- on average -- for over six months. That shatters the records since this particular data first started being collected in the late 1940s. In normal times, unemployed persons are out of the workforce for an average of 8 weeks before they find a new job.

Our economy needs to generate, on average, over 150,000 jobs each month just to absorb the constant new entrants into the workforce. We're going to need 10 million new jobs to get back anywhere near full employment. Nearly all of that has got to be private sector. We'll need three or four years of 4% or more GDP growth to accomplish that.

Even when the economy is considered to be very strong, there's a lot of churn in jobs. Millions of jobs are lost, in good times. Some businesses fail, others layoff. People quit. But there is nearly always a lot of job creation going on. Mostly in small businesses and young businesses. Nearly all the net new job creation in the past 25 years was by businesses less than five years old.

Employment figures are always a lagging indicator. The Fed released the latest "beige book" and there are signs of modest improvement in 9 of the Fed's 12 regions. Manufacturing figures are indicating growth. But until job creation is bringing millions of people back into the workforce, there will be significant downward pressure on prices.

I'm the eternal optimist when it comes to this country. It's going to be a slow slog but we'll come out of this, eventually.

I dare not say much more lest I teeter on the political.

The unemployment rates for more educated and skilled workers are significantly lower than the overall unemployment rate. So if you can burnish your pedigree and skills, now would be a very good time to do so.

There is a point where a survival discussion does need to go political, but we don't need to name names. The subject of inflation is tied to monetary policy and that is political.

Jobs were created, but they were/are in the public sector and consume funds rather than create wealth. Jobs which will actually be a positive for the GDP were not created. Until the private sector has the confidence to take risk and lose the aversion to taking on debt, we are going to stagnate. We may not be able to recover until a number of personalities change in DC. Dagny needs new neighbors.

Edit:
Just a few quick headlines from Drudge at this moment in time:
9.7%... 36,000 JOBS LOST IN FEB...
Unemployment Rate Including Discouraged Workers Rose To 16.8%...
Federal pay ahead of private industry...

The last article is well worth the read.

"Until the private sector has the confidence to take risk and lose the aversion to taking on debt, we are going to stagnate."

The private sector has no control over how our economy is being handled. With the number of private businesses that have failed in the last year, expecting others to put themselves in the same condition is ridiculous. Loans require collateral. Small businesses do not control a manipulated economy -- our economy controls the businesses.

The people who have brought this country to its knees haven't changed a single thing.

Sue