Pinnacle Entertainment , operating casinos in regional U.S. markets, posted a wider fourth-quarter loss, due mainly to costs related to opening a new casino, while Harrah's, which operates Las Vegas Strip resorts like Caesars Palace and the Flamingo, posted a fourth-quarter loss, burdened by impairment charges and losses at its properties in Illinois and Indiana.

Gary Loveman, Harrah's chief executive, said on a conference call that results at regional casinos were "mixed," while in Las Vegas "the gaming business has held up well, but room rates are off a bit."

Boyd Gaming Corp , which owns and operates 17 casinos in seven states, posted a 45 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit.

Boyd, which is building Echelon on the Las Vegas Strip, said net income fell to $31.2 million, or 35 cents per share, from $56.3 million, or 64 cents per share, a year earlier.
From All Bets Are Off: Casinos Feel Economic Pain

House discusses $15 billion mortgage bailout

House members are discussing a tentative plan would allow the government to purchase up to 1 million mortgages over five years in an effort to help struggling borrowers avoid foreclosure and financial markets avoid more credit-related losses. The loans would be bought by the Federal Housing Administration, a Depression-era agency that insures loans made to borrowers with poor credit.

The effort shows that the housing crisis has evolved to the point where government officials are considering bailing out large groups of borrowers and Wall Street investors.

Now there is an operative phrase: Wall Street investors. I am too sure that Congress wants to bail out ordinary people, except that some of these people vote; however, the Federal Reserve was created to protect the big financial institutions and after already plunging hundreds of billions of dollars of imaginary money into the system to protect Citigroup, Bear Stearns and the like. Congress now wants to do its part. Will the quid pro quo show up as campaign contributions, money in offshore accounts, hmm? Just how in the hell long can a government, which is now spending $3 TRILLION a year, keep inventing new money? (which makes the old less valuable) And where is the money coming from for the economic stimulus plan? Water on the moon? "Money from nothing" seems to be this government's mantra--Democrat and Republican alike.

I did not get an adjustable rate mortgage or any other such nonsense, did not use a credit card as if it was a gift card, did not trade up to a new vehicle every year--I still drive my '92 Ford, and I am sick and tired of all the whining people who now can't make ends meet and the politicians who want to make it all better with free money. That's my life that all these foolish losers on Wall Street are also affecting and they get a bailout for being stupid and greedy. I think we need a national anthem. Throw all the bums out and start again.

Tony Blair has been holding discussions with some of his oldest allies on how he could become full-time president of the EU council, the prestigious new job characterised as "president of Europe". For more go to: I'll be president of Europe if you give me the power - Blair

And I imagine that fellow Bilderberg Group invitee, Bill Clinton, after taking care of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Slobodan Milosevich for the Europeans, expects someday to be "President of the World." I wonder if his wife, "Big Sister" Clinton will be or has been invited to participate in Bilderberg "open and frank" secret meetings.

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.

From the article Senate Democrats adding to stimulus:

Senate Democrats will move to add to a $150 billion economic stimulus package rebates for senior citizens living off Social Security and an extension of unemployment benefits, setting up a clash with the White House and House leaders who are pushing a narrower package.
...
The president and House leaders agreed last week on a proposal to provide rebates to 117 million families and to give businesses $50 billion in incentives to invest in new plants and equipment. The goal is to help head off a recession and boost consumer confidence.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., quickly said the Senate would consider adding to that plan, including extending unemployment benefits, boosting home heating subsidies, raising food stamp benefits and approving money for public works projects.

Ah, Congress works in mysterious ways...every opportunity is seized (hey, an exception to the i before e except after c rule--a teachable moment) to put back what the 1990's took away. And though I am just a poor boy from a poor family--means I might actually qualify for those food stamps in this economy, but I won't partake--I won't get much more than the $300 for my teenage son (That will be about three weeks of groceries with his metabolism.), since I am not in the income bracket that would buy a "consumer good" such as a flat screen TV or invest in propping up the one legged stock market. Actually, I suppose some people might use the checks to pay off some of that credit card interest and never buy goods with it.

Plus, I really can't wait until June--or August or September after the tinkering--as the kid wants to eat right now.

Jerome Kerviel, the rogue trader blamed by Société Générale for massive fraud, was taken into custody in France.

If he had really been a supercriminal, I would have thought he would have a couple new identities and left for some fun in St. Kitts.

From Biggest Drop in Existing Home Sales in 25 Years in the New York Times:
Sales of existing homes fell in December, closing out a horrible year for housing in which sales of single-family homes plunged by the largest amount in 25 years. The median home price dropped for the entire year, the first time that has occurred in four decades.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 2.2 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units.

For the year, sales of single-family homes were down by 13 percent, the biggest drop since a 17.7 percent plunge in 1982. The median price for a single-family home dropped 1.8 percent to $217,000.

That was the first annual price decline on records going back to 1968. Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said it was likely that the country has not experienced a decline in housing prices for an entire year since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

That 40 acres and a mule in Missouri is looking better every day...grow some tomatoes, sweet corn, milk the cow, gather eggs, just like my grandfather did 75 years ago.

When we crash, everybody follows. Proof that we still wield the most impact on the whole world.

From the L.A. Times (also suffering from its own little meltdown as the Tribune monkeys with it).

Stock markets worldwide on Monday suffered one of their worst routs since the 2001 terrorist attacks on growing fears that U.S. economic woes could turn global boom times to bust.

Foreign markets, most of which had been sliding in recent weeks along with U.S. shares, faced a barrage of selling that left many of them down more than 5% for the day, and some down as much as 8%.

The German market dived 7.2% -- the equivalent of the U.S. Dow Jones industrial average plummeting 871 points. Stocks sank 5.5% in Hong Kong, 7.4% in India and 6.6% in Brazil.
...
"The U.S.' problems are stretching out globally," said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at investment firm RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Conn. "Clearly these markets are very vulnerable, plainly nervous -- and uncertainty rules."

In Business excerpt:
The developer of Lake Las Vegas, Transcontinental Corp., in Henderson is in default on a $560 million loan and has until the end of the year to find buyers for its remaining undeveloped land or the development could face foreclosure, a Lake Las Vegas official said.

A group headed by investment banker Credit Suisse has, for now, waived any default obligations, after Lake Las Vegas, the lake resort community did not meet its debt obligation on a sales volume quota by Sept. 30,

Housing foreclosures, projects abandoned, Lake Las Vegas in default, Cosmopolitan in default, and the new Town Center looks to be a giant "white elephant;" will anyone doubt that the recession is already here?

An excerpt from Merrill Loses $10 B;

Merrill Lynch (MER), the world's largest brokerage, lost nearly $10 billion in the last three months of 2007, its biggest quarterly loss since it was founded 94 years ago, after writing down $14.6 billion of investments slammed by the ongoing credit crisis.

Merrill became the third of the five biggest Wall Street investment banks to post a loss for the quarter after taking massive write-offs related to the shrinking value of securities backed by mortgages that have soured as borrowers have been unable to make payments on time.

Just seems to prove Zounds's Law; Most people are paid an amount of money directly proportional to the amount of damage they can do. Overpaid Wall Street "Wizards" have cost billions; minimum wage earners eat the damage in the form of costly bailouts which deflate the dollar and increase the cost of living.

State of our country;
Going down...down, down, down, down!

Here's an excerpt from Citigroup Loses $9.8 Billion; Will Cut Jobs:

Citigroup announced a steep cut in its stock dividend and another big investment by foreign investors on Tuesday after taking more write-downs related to subprime securities and posting a $9.83 billion loss for the fourth quarter.

Beginning what is expected to be a grim week for financial company earnings, Citigroup said it was writing down $22.2 billion because of soured mortgage-related investments and bad loans. The bank is also cutting its dividend by 41 percent and obtaining a $12.5 billion cash infusion to strengthen its balance sheet, including big investments by its former chairman, Sanford I. Weill, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

Facing rising expenses and deepening losses, Citigroup is expected to embark on a major cost-cutting campaign that could result in at least 4,000 layoffs. And thousands more could be in the offing in the coming months.

Housing starts are the lowest since 1992.

And the country still seems to be run by drunken frat boys with M.B.A.'s who have been running a financial con game on the whole country knowing that the Federal Reserve was designed to facilitate the elimination of small businesses. And today we have basically the same crop of corrupt and inept politician's running for office--who in this country wants to be President with a depression coming except those simply hungry to have lunch with the lobbyists?

The Consumer Price Index was at the root of the market's weakness for Friday as total CPI and core-CPI, which excludes food and energy, were higher than expected for November. Apparently, inflation woes worry investors that the Federal reserve won't lower rates any farther.

What the Fed has done as reported by the L.A. Times as "an act of global economic cooperation ...[is announce] an agreement with four foreign central banks to create a new method for injecting billions of dollars into the world's financial system to break up a potentially crippling logjam in credit.

The Fed said that it would lend at least $40 billion to cash-strapped U.S. banks starting next week and could supply considerably more. In addition, it will temporarily make $24 billion available to the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank to help meet demand for dollars in Europe.

By acting in conjunction with those institutions, as well as the Canadian and British central banks, the Fed is seeking to alleviate a problem that could hurt the United States as it struggles to avoid slipping into recession. "

Hey, what's a few more billion dollars pumped out to devalue the dollar--I mean alleviate the credit crunch and save world financial institutions? Now that everyone else's money is worth more, we might see some of the wholesale buying of U.S. property that we saw with Japanese investors in the 1980's. From housing bubble to commercial bubble, what will the "experts" at the Fed think of next? How about calling a recession a recession? Or how about bailouts as bailouts for only the big financial institutions? When will the big institutions really pay the price of bad management? Not while there is a Federal Reserve, period.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 1.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million units.

The median price of a home sold last month declined to $207,800, a drop of 5.1 percent from a year ago, the biggest year-over-year price decline on record.

Bear Stearns Cos., the nation's fifth-largest investment bank and one of the hardest hit by bad loans, announced it will cut 4 percent of its staff in further fallout from the summer's mortgage debacle.

Locally, Nevada continues to lead the the nation in home foreclosure rate

Amid all this is it surprising that the New York-based Conference Board said this week that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 87.3, marking a four-month slide and continuing down almost 8 points from the revised 95.2 in October?

And the job picture in Clark County is...
Hot Jobs from LasVegasNow:
Front Desk Clerk (Palms Place)
Bell Person (Palms Place)
Beverage Manager (Palms Place)
Bartender (Palms Place)
Food Server (Palms Place)
Retail Manager (Palms Place)
Retail Clerk (Palms Place)
Housekeeping Manager (Palms Place)
Condo Housekeeper (Palms Place)

If these are the top jobs in Las Vegas and Clark County then there is no need for colleges in Nevada and we can eliminate the Nevada System of Higher education, formerly the University and Community College System of Nevada before the name change in 2004,--hmmm...when something is failing, like CCSN (Community College of Southern Nevada), a name change seems to be the answer--completely as part of Governor Gibbons's budget cuts.

Plus, if these are the top picks, what is left at the bottom? ...cigarette butt picker-upper and crazed, obsessive, alien news reporter--oh wait, one has already been filled.
Are UFOs Coming to Nevada? by George Knapp
Cattle Mutilations by George Knapp

In the wake of the subprime loan debacle, with the value of the U.S. dollar plummeting as against the euro, OPEC members are talking about converting their cash reserves to the euro and away from the U.S. dollar.

Comments about the U.S. currency came during a weekend summit where the heads of state of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sought to find ways to mitigate the adverse effects of a weak dollar on revenues.

Oil is priced in U.S. dollars and the currency's depreciation has contributed to rising crude prices and eroded the value of national dollar reserves. Cartel officials have resisted pressure to increase oil production to ease prices.

The fallout from the "financial wizardry" of our lending institutions is now seen throughout the economy with layoffs in the construction industry, loss of revenue from lack of sales of construction materials, a devalued dollar, soaring inflation--if you put the "volitiles" like energy and food back into the equation, and a perfect opportunity for the rest of the world to pile on and crash our economy. OPEC can convert dollars to euros; the Chinese can also with the huge trade imbalance we have with them, further devalueing the dollar as countries compete to unload dollars for a finite number of euros--again basic economics.

My last comment is for the ordinary citizen: you voted the bozos into office--both Republican and Democrats--you spent more time thinking about which SUV to buy than which candidate to vote for, and apparently are more interested in O.J. Simpson and Brittney Spears meltdowns than how your Congress is working. Enjoy the recession...you've earned it!

Citigroup, which announced Prince's resignation on Sunday, had said it may write off $11 billion of subprime mortgage losses, on top of a $6.5 billion write-down already reported last month.

Robert Rubin, a former Goldman Sachs partner and U.S. Treasury secretary who chaired Citigroup's executive committee, was named chairman, after Chairman and Chief Executive Charles "Chuck" Prince quit.

The L.A. Times reports that the write-off underscores the fact that, almost a year into the sub-prime crisis, the brightest minds on Wall Street still are unable to get a handle on their companies' financial exposure.

Earlier, Merrill Lynch & Co ousted Chief Executive Stanley O'Neal following a $8.4 billion write-down that was more than 50 percent higher than the investment bank had forecast.

So the "brightest" minds are unable to get a handle on this? This just proves what I saw some years ago on college campuses; the two easiest disciplines for receiving a degree were in education and business. I remember dozens of business majors as frat boys who measured success by the number of kegs consumed and the ensuing vomiting. So, perhaps these are the "brightest" minds now in charge. No wonder we have problems; they missed the classes on responsible lending. Of course, I am just whining because I didn't take those easy courses and go into a business where I could run a company into billion dollar losses and "retire" with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation. Luckily, I am not one of the Nevadans facing foreclosure in the foreclosure capital of the U.S. who "benefitted" from those "brightest" minds.

Business Press reports southern Nevada office vacancies reached 12.24 percent in the third quarter amid a housing market downturn, acording to Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based economic research firm. The Las Vegas valley had 44.1 million square feet of office space at the end of September, and despite two million square feet worth of absorption for the year-to-date, vacancies still increased by 2.2 percent in the third quarter over last year.

Oh well...we have gotten used to seeing buildings implode here in the valley; now we get to see a whole market give it a try. And while we have these big casino projects being built, the gambling money is now going to Macau, which is using sports stars like tennis' Roger Federer and basketball's LeBron James to outstrip the Vegas Strip. Once the fire starts, we won't even have the water to put it out, but nothing is "wrong" in the valley except prostitution isn't legal according to Oscar.

A barrel of crude oil hit a new all-time high of $85.92, the energy sector now up 0.9 percent, while the Dow is sinking like an anchor.

What I wonder is how much the billions of dollars donated by the Federal Reserve to "poor" companies like Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, etc., which resulted in a devaluation of the dollar and saving the big boys while smaller mortgage companies folded and lost jobs, have contributed to the rise in oil prices.

We are under assault by a few corporations bent on world domination--there are only approximately eight oil companies really pumping and buying the oil, four or five pharmaceutical companies, four of five major financial institutions, four or five communication companies, the U.S. Supreme Court has recently struck down a long standing anti-trust ruling precedent, our politicians stuff their pockets with kickbacks and bribes, and the general population watches American Idol, Entertainment Tonight, and ESPN. Compare the fall of the Roman Empire concurrent with Colliseum events and the hiring of mercenaries to hold the empire together and the correlations with our own society are eerie and depressing.

In a response to Senator Lieberman's request for an analysis of the impact on the U.S. if the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 (bill S. 280) were to be passed the E.P.A. wrote the following:
...emmissions under S. 280 would be approximately 1-3 percent lower than 2000 levels in 2030 and 1-5 percent lower than 1990 levels in 2050.
...reductions in Gross Domestic Product would range between 1.1 percent and 3.2 percent. (If enabling technologies are widely available.)
...gasoline prices would increase $0.68 per gallon and electricity by 25 percent by 2050. (That would only be the cost of the bill--not other factors that might lead to $10-20 a gallon gasoline prices.)

The E.P.A. analysis does not try to calculate the cost to the U.S. if higher operating costs cause these business to move overseas nor the cost environmentally if they move to countries with little or no environmental protections at all. In another letter to Senator Spector the E.P.A. reports that Bingaman-Specter (S. 1766) requires a smaller percentage reduction of emissions in covered sectors, but since S. 1766 has broader coverage than S. 280, the total abatement achieved by both bills is similar.

According to the Commerce Department sales of new homes dropped by 8.3 percent in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000 homes, the lowest level since June 2000.

With the credit problems, the sub-prime lending fiasco, loss of jobs in the construction market, plummeting value of the dollar fueled by a bailout of the largest financial institutions coupled with a seemingly reckless half point drop by the Federal Reserve which seems designed only to bolster the stock market, record crude oil prices, and a plethora of presidential candidates already bought by special interests, 2008 looks like a good year for a recession. It also looks like a good year for Democrats to win the White House. They don't fix recessions; they ride them out and then take credit, but that's just good politics.

From WTOP.com; Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress on Wednesday that the federal government will hit the current debt ceiling on Oct. 1.

The current debt limit is $8.965 trillion. Unless Congress votes to raise that ceiling, the country would be unable to borrow more money to keep the government operating and to pay debt obligations coming due.

The Senate Finance Committee earlier this month approved increasing the limit on the national debt to $9.82 trillion.

That is about $30,000 per person already, so what is another $850,000,000,000 or $2,900 per person?

Forbes is reporting on a quarterly report out of the University of California says the US economy, while not technically in a recession, is having a 'near recession experience.'

The UCLA study released today predicts real US economic growth will be just above 1 pct in the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2008, and says the deterioration of the housing market is to blame.
....
The forecast predicts the US economy will return to a 3 pct growth rate by 2009, and that the Fed will cut the federal funds rate to 4 pct by the end of this year, more than a full percentage point lower than the current 5.25 pct.

But in other news today the dollar fell to an all-time low against the euro today and oil prices surged to a record, suggesting that a weaker American economy will be accompanied by higher prices for energy and other imported goods.

Early this afternoon one euro was trading at $1.391, up from $1.384 on Tuesday evening; the euro is up 5.4 percent against the dollar so far this year and about 1 percent so far this week. Crude oil prices were up 2.2 percent, to $79.91 a barrel

Home market crash, credit crash, rising oil prices, rising product prices, and poisoned toys from China. If we don't see a recession, it's still going to be tough Christmas season.

OpinionJournal.com is reporting the forces of the status quo at the World Bank now have another target in their destructive sights since getting rid of Paul Wolfowitz: The corruption fighters at the bank's Department of Institutional Integrity

OJ reported at the time that the fight over Mr. Wolfowitz had little to do with his girlfriend and everything to do with his anti-corruption efforts.

The controversy began with a 2005 report by the bank's Institutional Integrity unit into pharmaceutical drug procurement as part of the bank's Reproductive and Child Health I Project in India (or RCH I). The 16-page report was never been made public but OJ has included a link so that readers can see the whole report.

The key quote from the executive summary: "Evidence summarized below indicates that RCH I was subject to systemic fraud and corruption through i) bribery of Procurement Support Agencies (PSAs) and government officials; ii) falsification of performance certificates; iii) collusion among bidders; and iv) coercion of companies by cartel members and PSA officials."

The report cites "substantial losses" into the tens of millions of dollars or more, as well as evidence of corruption risk at other health care projects in India "representing over US$2 billion in Bank funding." It concludes that the findings are "sufficiently grave" to merit sanctions against specific individuals and companies.

Mr. Wolfowitz was thus presented with a plan for the bank to finance phase two of the RCH project without so much as a mention that there had been problems in RCH I. When he learned of the corruption findings in mid-2005, however, Mr. Wolfowitz decided to suspend further bank lending to that India project until the matter was cleared up.

After India's government committed to cleaning things up, Mr. Wolfowitz lifted his suspension and in August 2006 the bank decided to fund stage two and other health projects, to the tune of $672 million. But only a year later, this past July, did the bank get around to debarring two of the offending Indian companies, Nestor Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Pure Pharma Ltd., from bank contracts--and then only for three years and one year respectively.

It's pretty clear that the amount of profit {theft} that is available in the world markets must make International bankers drool in their villas. After the scandals in the United Nations, including the oil for food policies, the thought of one world government, one world bank, and the few who would enslave the rest of the world makes me just a bit paranoid--or a lot!

So what do people in some of the major countries think about globalization? Let's look at a recent Harris Poll conducted in July of 2007.
Globalization:
"Do you think Globalization is having a positive or negative effect in [your country]?"
Base: All EU adults in five countries and US adults
Great Britain France Italy Spain Germany United States
% % % % % %
Unweighted base 1040 1020 1084 1116 1046 1054

Positive effect 15 18 25 17 36 17
Negative effect 53 53 55 54 42 45
Not Sure 32 29 20 30 22 38
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

And how about those corporate executives who make millions, cook the books so that they qualify for extra large {more millions} bonuses, while cutting jobs, health care, and product quality by buying Chinese. What do people think about the corporate executives?

"In your opinion, do senior executives in your country earn too much each year in salaries and bonuses, too little, or about the right amount?"

Great Britain France Italy Spain Germany United States
Too much 79 % 54% 74% 72% 79% 77%

In a letter to an associate President Franklin Roosevelt wrote in 1933: "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I both know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government since the days of Andrew Jackson." (pg. 4, The Shadows of Power by James Perloff) It is a logical step to then own all governments, control all lending, and manipulate all economies; but hey, what's a conspiracy theory or two among friends...or are we?