First an excerpt from U.S. Economy Unexpectedly Sheds 17,000 Jobs:

The economy lost 17,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported on Friday, the first monthly decline in four years and the most striking evidence yet that the United States may be slipping into a recession.

Until now, the labor market had been growing at a steady if softening pace. Many economists pointed to expanding payrolls as the final holdout in a sluggish economy weighed down by trouble on Wall Street, the collapse of the housing bubble, and a cascade of credit problems linked to soured subprime mortgages.

But the January employment report cast the job market in a startlingly darker light. Jobs disappeared across a broad spectrum of professions, with the steepest losses coming in the manufacturing, construction and goods-producing industries.

While jobs are now disappearing, it looks as if prices will continue to rise as China's inflation rises.

Soaring energy and raw material costs, a falling dollar and new business rules here are forcing Chinese factories to increase the prices of their exports, according to analysts and Western companies doing business here.

Because of new cost pressures here, American consumers could see prices increase by as much as 10 percent this year on specific products -- including toys, clothing, footwear and other consumer goods.

But my favorite corporate glutton--aside from telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, insurance, the Federal government, and doctors and lawyers as a whole--the oil industry has once again managed record profits even as everything else crumbles, partially due to increased transportation and material cost.

Exxon Mobil delivered its strongest performance ever last year, earning a record $40.6 billion in net income because of surging oil prices, the company said Friday.

That is surging oil prices that they bid up even as they pump the oil and at the same time refuse to invest in refineries or infrastructure. Oh, well, no recession for the wicked.