From the LA Times: California faces a projected deficit of $21 billion Less than four months after California leaders stitched together a patchwork budget, a projected deficit of nearly $21 billion already looms, according to a report to be released Wednesday by the state's chief budget analyst. ... Read more

David Leonhardt writes in the NY Times: A Stimulus That Could Save Money White House officials are now looking at creating a new version of cash for clunkers — this time for home weatherization. ... [John] Doerr calls his proposal, which would give households money to pay for weatherization pr ... Read more

From the WaPo: House shifts focus to 'jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs' "It's jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs," Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) ... said ... "Members of this caucus feel ... that a jobless recovery is just simply unacceptable to us." And Reuters list some possible items "under consideration": U.S. Hou ... Read more

Earlier I posted a graph on capacity utilization: Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization Increase Slightly in October Spencer at Angry Bear is tracking the recovery in industrial production compared to previous recessions.As the chart shows, this changes the impression the previous repor ... Read more

Yeh, it's on the NGD theme again. Here is the GBG-NGD ratio chart. I already owned the under performing GBG but decided to add based on its nominal chart and based on the ratio to the already sold NGD. GBG, he of the diluted stock but desirable US and South African properties. addthis_url = l ... Read more

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York failed to exercise existing powers to force the American International Group Inc.'s creditors to accept losses as the insurance giant threatened to collapse last year, according to a new oversight report . Neil M. Barofsky, the inspector general for the Tr ... Read more

From DataQuick : Southland home sales up again, drop in median price smallest in 2 years Southern California home sales rose in October as prices showed more signs of firming. The median sale price fell by the smallest amount in two years, the result of a shrinking inventory of homes for sale an ... Read more

In 1999, the price of gold bottomed after having ridden the post-Volcker era down along with treasury yields. This was due to the sound policies the former Fed chief rammed home and the confidence that ensued. Enter the Maestro, Greenspan, who inherited the benefits of this sound policy and us ... Read more

Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows the builder confidence index from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The housing market index (HMI) was at 17 in November. October was revised down from 18 to 17. The record low was 8 set in January. Th ... Re ... Read more

You know, I sit here and twittle my charts and bitch about this and that, but there are some real heavy weights out there who really know how to get to the point, whether written or spoken. Like Karl Denninger for example, flipping the bird to China in this open letter . "Let me give you a piece ... Read more