It is a sad commentary on how bad things have become when even the most pessimistic forecasts are found to be too upbeat. That’s the situation with the latest unemployment statistic. The jump in jobless claims was the worst since late 1982 at the bottom of what was then the worst recession since the Depression […]

As we head to the last weekend before the holidays let’s recap a couple of stories: First, as expected, the White House stepped in and lent money to GM and Chrysler. The amount seems small to me. $17.5 billion is chump change to companies who are bleeding red ink the way those two are. So […]

Just to annoy you all I thought I would point out how little Goldman Sachs paid in income taxes this past year. Here’s the news report from Bloomberg: Bloomberg.com: U.S. During the election campaign John McCain made much of Obama’s efforts to straighten out and make fair the income tax code. Among other points McCain […]