Economics Update

I've never been entirely sure why, but Fridays tend to be OMFG kinds of days, and this one is a doozy.

We have the jobs report out, and it is unbelievably grim, with 533,000 job losses, and the unemployment rate going from 6.5% to 6.7%.

By way of perspective, the so-called experts has predicted job losses of "only" 335,000.

It's the worst monthly job losses since 1974.

The numbers are actually worse, since this does not count the 422,000 people who just stopped looking for work.

BTW, the unemployment number quoted, the U3 is considered, by me at least, to be over restrictive and understate unemployment. The broader U6, it hits 12.5%:

The U-6 rate only has comparable history back to 1994, but November’s rate is by far the highest since then and the swift rise to that elevated level also far surpasses similar moves during the recessions in 2001 and 1990-91. Previously, the Labor Dept. kept a similar gauge with history back to 1970, showing a high of 14% unemployment during the deep recession in 1982.

The U-6 rate rose sharply in November, from 11.8% in October, and is markedly higher now than the 8.4% recorded in November 2007.

It sucks north of the border too, where Canada Lost 70,600 jobs, which is more on a per capita basis...but Steven Harper wants to try Hoovernomics for a few months to see if it will fix things, which is why the hereditary enemies Liberal, NDP, and BQ parties are trying to desperately form a coalition government to kick his ass to the curb.

Given these numbers, it's no surprise that a record number of Americans are on food stamps.

Meanwhile, in real estate, delinquencies and foreclosures hit record highs, loans in foreclosure are now at 2.97%, and delinquencies rose to 6.99%.

Meanwhile, it's clear that the central banks are pushing on a string, and the Bank of England is looking at finding new ways to give away money, because rate cuts are not working:

The Bank of England is working on radical plans to inject cash directly into the British economy as a last resort to reverse a slide into recession, a newspaper reported on Friday.

...

The Daily Telegraph said the Bank was "working on radical plans to inject cash directly into the economy -- the nuclear option to be used only when interest rates approach zero." The report said the Bank was considering engaging in "quantitative easing" -- printing more money to reflate the economy.

"Measures under consideration include direct purchases of assets, such as government debt or commercial investments, by the Bank or the Treasury, as well as expanding the Bank's balance sheet, a means of pumping extra cash into the banking sector," the newspaper said.

This is end of days economics.....They are literally considering throwing money out the window.

Meanwhile, the markets behaved in ways that make no sense to me, once again indicating that anything beyond simple index funds is not a good investment option for me:

• Treasury yields rose, as money flooded the stock market...on the worst jobs news in decades.
• The Dollar rose because people were fleeing in a blind panic to what they consider a safe haven.
• The Japanese Yen rose sharply

because....Honestly, I have no clue as to why.
In the meantime, oil fell to $40.81/bbl, the lowest since December 10, 2004, and Gasoline?: $1.773/gallon retail.