Animated Unemployment
A very cool animated Graphic showing the change in unemployment over the last two years. Click Image for Animation  

Good News, Bad News for Investors on Earnings
The good news? Earnings are improving. The bad news? They are improving from an awful level, especially when adjusted for inflation. The key question from a valuation standpoint is: Will earnings recover enough to justify the markets current price? As we can see they have a long way to go. From Chart of the Day: With a large majority of third-quarter earnings in the books (87% of S&P 500 companies have reported for Q3 2009), today's chart provides some long-term perspective to the current earnings environment by focusing on 12-month, as reported S&P 500 earnings. Today's chart illustrates how earnings declined over 92% from its Q3 2007 peak to its Q3 2009 trough, which make

Investing Tip: Credit Crisis is Not Over
A recurring theme of mine has been that the housing, mortgage and credit crisis isn’t over. While panic losses are for the moment receding, the actual losses are growing and will now likely accelerate. Or, to go back to the argument I have been making for over three years now, this is not a liquidity crisis, or a panic (though these crises have raised their ugly head as well) but a solvency crisis. The solvency crisis is not a subprime crisis, the weakest hands just folded first. It is the rest of the housing market and the debt associated with it that will see the largest losses. These defaults not only haven’t happened yet, they haven’t been marked down for the most part

Deeds, not Words on the US Dollar
Sometimes you are reading something and then a quote just strikes your fancy. "Until then, whoever is our Treasury Secretary will go around the world and say, “The US is committed to a strong dollar.” And this is a valuable service. We all need fairy tales to help us fall asleep easily at night, both here and abroad."

Market and Sell Tax Scam = Hard Time
"Perhaps Mr. Lawyer's story will be a lesson for others. Stop using tax skills and the complex tax code to put together tax scams for huge profits while putting unsuspecting clients at risk." Ah, typical American story. Man finishes law school, becomes a member of the bar, is elevated to partner-in-charge at a mega law firm's satellite office, participates in the marketing and selling of a slick tax-avoidance scheme while enjoying huge profits (and perhaps commissions) and GOES TO PRISON FO