Regulate The Regulators: Every scandal produces new levels of regulations and additional cadres of secret police who raise business costs in the name of compliance with "da law". Countless hours of non-productive time are mandated by broad-brush policies and procedural requirements that do little to protect the consumer --- in many cases they simply annoy the people they are supposed to assist.
The evidence has been clear for the past few months that the U.S. economy was accelerating in the second half, and toward the close. The jobs market, long a lagging indicator, is showing some signs of catching up. Expectations had been high for Friday morning's December jobs release, thanks to the ADP report on Thursday that suggested the private sector created 325,000 jobs in the month.
After having its credit rating lowered to junk status, Hungary is the latest European country to see its borrowing costs climb higher.
The country was downgraded by Moody's Investors Service from Baa3 to Ba1 with a negative outlook a week after it had to ask the International Monetary Fund ("IMF") for help.
This morning we got an announcement from the "troika" that Greece would get the €8 billion ($11 billion) in aid it was promised under the first Greek bailout in 2010, with the payment likely coming in November.
Hopes of an eventual reconciliation between North Korea and South Korea were given new life after envoys from the two countries met to discuss North Korea ending its nuclear arms program.
The major stocks indexes have traded in a wild range over the past two weeks. The stock market has rallied sharply higher in early July, just after the second Greek bailout in two years was passed. Now the major stock indexes decline sharply as more European Union problems emerge. The United States also has its own soap opera going on. The U.S.
The United States of America in now drowned in debt by $14.39 trillion. This debt, is obviously at an all time high for the country. The politicians from both parties seem to only care about winning elections and really do as little as possible to solve the problem of a debt burdened America.
The chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Ben Bernanke, just began his testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ironically, when the chairman began his testimony spot oil prices just dropped sharply intra-day trading below the psychological $100.00 level. Yesterday, the major stock indexes sold off violently while Chairman Bernanke testified in from of the U.S. Senate.
While the markets are being slammed on the back of Libya, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) are spiking dramatically higher. This is a clear reaction to a major spike higher in oil. Libya is the largest producer of oil in North Africa and accounts for about 2% of the worlds output.
