Sunday, December 7, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Israel To Strike Iran Alone
IDF Preparing Options For Iran Strike
The IDF is drawing up options for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities that do not include coordination with the United States, The Jerusalem Post has learned. While its preference is to coordinate with the US, defense officials have said Israel is preparing a wide range of options for such an operation. "It is always better to coordinate," one top Defense Ministry official explained last week. "But we are also preparing options that do not include coordination." Israeli officials have said it would be difficult, but not impossible, to launch a strike against Iran without receiving codes from the US Air Force, which controls Iraqi airspace. Israel also asked for the codes in 1991 during the First Gulf War, but the US refused.
Record Number Of Americans Using Food Stamps
Record Number Using Food Stamps
Food stamps, the main U.S. antihunger program which helps the needy buy food, set a record in September as more than 31.5 million Americans used the program -- up 17 percent from a year ago, according to government data. The number of people using food stamps in September surpassed the previous peak of 29.85 million seen in November 2005 when victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma received emergency benefits, said Jean Daniel of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service...One in 10 Americans were participating in the food stamp program as of September, said Dottie Rosenbaum, analyst with Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank.
Canadian Bankruptcies Up 21 per Cent
Canadian Bankruptcies Up 21 per Cent
Bankruptcies in Canada numbered 9,468 in October, up 7.2 per cent from September and 21.1 per cent from October 2007, with the pain concentrated among individuals. The office of the federal Superintendent of Bankruptcy reported Thursday that 8,972 consumers filed for bankruptcy in October, up 7.5 per cent from October and 22.8 per cent from a year earlier. Business bankruptcies totalled 496 for the month, up 1.4 per cent from the previous month but down 3.3 per cent from the year-ago corporate toll. Compared with a year earlier, the month's total bankruptcies were up 50.9 per cent in Alberta, 37.4 per cent in British Columbia, 36.5 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, 21.6 per cent in Ontario, 17.4 per cent in Nova Scotia, 15.3 per cent in Saskatchewan and 13.6 per cent in Quebec.
20% Of Borrowers “Under Water"
U.S. Must Step Up Foreclosure Efforts
Foreclosures may begin on 2.25 million homes this year, more than double the pace before the financial crisis, he said. Estimates show as many as 20 percent of borrowers may now be “under water,” where their mortgage is bigger than the price of their home, Bernanke said. “Despite good-faith efforts by both the private and public sectors, the foreclosure rate remains too high, with adverse consequences for both those directly involved and for the broader economy,” Bernanke said.
Massive Job Cuts
Jobless-Benefit Highest Since 1982
More Americans are collecting jobless benefits than at any time in the last 26 years as companies rush to cut costs in a sinking economy. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose to 4.09 million in the week ended Nov. 22, the most since December 1982, the Labor Department said today in Washington. A separate report showed orders at U.S. factories tumbled in October by the most in eight years as demand collapsed at home and abroad.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Peter Schiff
"The brutal truth that no one in Washington dares acknowledge is that our systemic economic problems can only be solved by a reduction in consumer borrowing and an increase in savings. We must repair our national balance sheet and a painful recession is the only path to achieve this"
Canada Housing Sales Decrease, Values Increase?
The number of homes sold in 2008 in Canada is expected to total 440,000, a 15 per cent decrease from the previous year, ReMax said in its sales forecast Wednesday. The report also reported housing values will rise in the following regions: Regina (39 per cent) Saskatoon (24 per cent) Winnipeg (22 per cent)St. John's (21 per cent) Saint John (19.5 per cent) Sudbury (14 per cent) Montreal (12 per cent). Housing values are expected to ring in at around $300,000, a three per cent decline from 2007, the forecast said. Sales in 2009 are anticipated to mirror 2008 levels, with average prices dropping to $293,000.
Low Oil Prices,Massive Inflation In Iran
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has acknowledged publicly for the first time that tumbling oil prices are hurting Iran's fragile economy, a sensitive subject for the leader critics have accused of mismanaging the country's finances, state media reported Wednesday. Oil prices have plunged more than 60 percent since the summer as a faltering global economy reduces demand. Ahmadinejad said that will force the government of the world's fourth largest oil exporter to make painful spending cuts, official news agency IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.... Many economists believe cutting fuel subsidies will take Iran's inflation over 50 percent from the current 30 percent.
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