Will the real economy please stand up? (iTulip)
Consumer credit drops for 11th straight month (Zero Hedge)
A good explanation of the unemployment situation (Zero Hedge)
Average length of unemployment hits new record (Business Insider)
Government to pay for 50% of all health care costs by 2012 (BusinessWeek)
Social security next in line for a bail out? (Yahoo)
The bonus outrage (Boortz)
Is US bullying Toyota because of the government stake in GM? (Google)
Winners and losers under Obama’s new tax plan (Darwin)

As the market continues its move lower (as of writing, the Dow is down about 45 today, below 10,000), I’m starting to become more focused on some positions that I want to accumulate.  One of these has been Philip Morris Int’l (PM).
For a potential play, you can now sell a January 2011 put with a $40 strike price for $3.20 premium.  Note that you can collect $320 on essentially $4000 in cash (for every put contract) which is an 8% return.  It’s actually slightly higher since the time to hold …

A down 3% day in the S&P 500 Index serves as a painful reminder that we still have huge, huge challenges as an economy.  We’ve had several large moves lower in the past couple weeks which have had the impact of reminding people that this so-called recovery might be anything but.
If you haven’t heard, the government underreported job losses by close to a million units over the past year.  Basically, something like an additional 800,000 jobs were lost that we not reported.  For anyone who has been skeptical over government …

Today, I present an entry in the Financial Plan Writing Contest. Just a reminder that you can win $250 by participating.  Here are the brief guidelines, to read the full description of the contest, click the link above.

Answer the question: What is your financial plan for the next 10 years?
Be sure to to hit on things such as income, job security, budgeting, expense management, real estate, investing, retirement planning, etc. – the more detailed within specific areas the better!
Be sure to discuss how the economy might affect your plan – …

The following video is an excellent explanation of why the biggest issues and problems that we face as a country are NOT a partisan issue.  Dylan Ratigan (formerly of CNBC) does a great job of explaining how the corrupt partnership between Wall St. and Washington D.C. will continue to bring down America.  Ratigan, who can be characterized as a Glenn Beck like populist but for the liberal left, is a supporter of many of Obama’s policies; yet, he accurately recognizes the bigger issues and is not afraid to criticize Obama …

Following up on my look at unemployed Americans, I read a great piece over at Market Oracle on the future of unemployment benefits that I want to comment on.  This article gives a great look at the reality of unemployment and the large scale economic ramifications of the ugly situation we find ourselves in.  I will provide some of the highlights of the piece here.
The author poses the question, will unemployed receive benefits indefinitely while major employers continue to ship jobs overseas?  Then he goes on to observe the following:
There …

Deflation is the word that economists dread.  Deflation keeps Central Bankers and politicians up at night.  Deflation is the force behind the printing press.  If you look at where deflation is mostly found, however, you might come to a different conclusion about how you should feel towards this force.  You might even learn to embrace it… who knows.
What Is Deflation?
Deflation is basically falling prices due to falling demand.  Isn’t that a good thing?  If that was your response, clearly, you haven’t received an education in economics.  Please let the following …

Ten Common Excuses That I Use And Hear Others Use
“I’ve been frugal this week… I deserve X”
“I won’t buy Y, so I’ll buy X”
“X was on sale!”
“Well, you bought Y, so I bought X” – usually directed at a spouse
“X will last several years, so its a good investment”
“We need X” – we should all clarify the definition of need
“We made more money this month, so I can afford X”
“Things are getting better, so I’ll buy X”
“We deserve X, we don’t buy much for ourselves these days”
“We need to take …