Anyone prepared to call the end of financial turmoil?

Joblessness is Here to Stay
Short-term prospects may be brightening, but high unemployment will be a fixture for the foreseeable future.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/226426?GT1=43002
You know things are bad when the nation loses 11,000 jobs in November and Americans are overjoyed. Sure, unemployment has come down a meager 0.2 percent to put us at 10 percent, but that's still the worst level in decades. And more important, there's no real end in sight. Even if jobs start to come back sooner than expected—which may happen as more stimulus money starts to kick in—U.S. unemployment is likely to remain high for years to come, as much as 7 or 8 percent even into 2014. "The average American will not be better off in five years—unemployment will remain high and wage growth will continue to be flat," says George Soros, who forecast an "age of wealth destruction" four months before the crisis hit.

But in this recovery, flat is the new up.
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Argentina's president fires central bank chief over foreign reserves
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's dismissal order stems from the bank chief's refusal to release $6.6 billion to service foreign debt. He had refused to resign.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-argentina-bank8-2010jan08,0,2744612.story
Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, fired the nation's central bank chief Thursday after he refused to release $6.6 billion in foreign reserves to service the nation's mounting foreign debt.

But questions over the legality of Fernandez's action have raised the likelihood of a double-barreled political and economic crisis.
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Venezuela devalues currency for 1st time since '05
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100109/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_venezuela_currency;_ylt=AsVZj1VlasCpYJxoleRRsHpvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJtY2pmbTduBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTA5L2x0X3ZlbmV6dWVsYV9jdXJyZW5jeQRjcG9zAzMEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDdmVuZXp1ZWxhc2No
President Hugo Chavez announced a currency devaluation Friday for the first time since 2005, setting a two-tiered exchange rate designed to help Venezuela's oil earnings go farther domestically while holding down prices of priority imports like food to counter soaring inflation.

Chavez said the bolivar will now have two government-set rates: 2.60 to the dollar for transactions deemed priorities by the government, and 4.30 to the dollar for other transactions. The devaluation dropped the currency's value by 17 percent or 50 percent, depending on the tier.

The higher rate, which he called the "oil dollar," will double the paper value of Venezuela's petroleum earnings when converted to local currency. Oil accounts for about half the government budget, but that income has been squeezed by lower world oil prices and declines in output in the last year.

Chavez said the priority exchange rate will be allotted for food, health care products, school supplies, machinery and equipment for economic development, among other things.
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No Shock: Stimulus Is A Money Loser
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=517874
Economic Recovery: The results are in, and last year's $787 billion stimulus not only failed to do what it was supposed to do, but it has also turned out to be one of the worst investments in economic history.

Remember the debate in 2008 over the bailouts then being put together by the Treasury, the Fed and the Democratic Congress? Proponents often raised the possibility that any bailout would make money for taxpayers.

Didn't work that way. As we've discovered, the American people aren't just saddled with the ongoing costs of the various and sundry stimulus programs. They're also taking huge losses in doing so.

On Tuesday, the Treasury estimated that taxpayers had lost $68.5 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2009, on the Troubled Asset Relief Program and that the losses could go as high as $120 billion.

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You would think President Obama's jobs speech would be about the American people and reviving the economy. Think again...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9UIpW_3P5s

This is interesting:
http://www.thinkinboutstuff.com/images/Unemployment%20Rates%2016%20over.jpg

its ALL bush's fault....well i'm sure big oil companies helped him. :O)

good observation, dieseldog,

unemployment
is a result of the financial crisis
is a result of the sub prime mortgage bubble
is a result of the US housing boom
to which Bush said "If houses get too expensive, people will stop buying them... Economies should cycle."

I don't say that Bush is the origin of the problem. but he didn't recognized it, or simply ignored it. and by doing so, it is (partly) his fault.

but, no, I don't think big oil helped him there.

We need to watch carefully for the next bubble - I predict it will be sub-prime carbon credits :-)