Archive for February, 2008

Economists are so smart. It took the weakening labor market and a few other factors to convince 50% of them there might be trouble on the horizon.

The odds of a U.S. recession stand at nearly 50 percent amid a spate of data showing a weakening labor market, signs of more credit tightening and turmoil in the financial markets, the latest Blue Chip Economic forecast is projecting.

A month ago, economists in this closely watched forecast put the chance the world’s richest economy would fall into recession at 40 percent, but government data showing a contraction in hiring, slowed consumer spending and other reports pointing to sagging business activity have indicated a much more deteriorated outlook.

Among those economists, slightly more than 20 percent are now expecting to see the economy contract in at least one or two quarters.

I bet more than 50% of them believe man causes global warming yet have never seen any evidence proving it either way.

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Wow. An emu running down the highway. I would have loved to get a photo of that as it happened.

Authorities in east Georgia are seeking the owner of a wandering emu that made drivers gawk and clogged traffic on Interstate 20 before it was finally caught.

The three-toed emu — a flightless bird — was spotted by numerous motorists on Wednesday after it appeared in the highway median between the Thomson and Camak exits, said Law Enforcement Capt. Larry Barnard of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

“The biggest concern was the threat to motorists,” he said. “Since an emu is technically livestock it doesn’t normally fall under our jurisdiction.”

Livestock is not their jurisdiction? Isn’t the highway their jurisdiction, no matter what’s on it? If not, then I am driving a cow to work next week. Let’s see them stop me. Heck, maybe I’ll adopt the emu, if no one claims him.

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How disgusting is this? I can’t keep food in the fridge for more than 5 days without getting totally grossed out that it’s there, I can’t imagine keeping a body for 23 years.

An Australian man was convicted on Saturday of killing his wife and then hiding her body in a metal drum in his garage for 23 years.

A Supreme Court jury in the southern Victoria state found Frederick Boyle, 58, killed his 30-year-old wife Edwina Boyle in October 1983, and then hid her body in the large metal drum.

The trial heard the murder came to light when Boyle’s son-in-law opened the drum and found a bag of women’s clothing during a clean-up of the family home in 2006. Two weeks later he found human remains in a garbage bin in the garage.

Did the guy smell anything when he opened the drum? It had to stink in there. Blech.

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You may wonder why any of the car companies need 30 different models, but when you think about it 30 isn’t really that many. When you buy a pickup truck you may want small one, a medium sized one, a large one, or even an extra large one, depending on the job you need it to do. Then you must take into account that many of the larger sized ones have different sized engines, and you could have 10 different models and sizes of trucks alone.

Automaker Chrysler LLC aims to cut its product lineup by around a half and dramatically shrink its dealership network so it can sell its three brands under one roof, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the plan.

The proposal to cut the struggling U.S. automaker’s product line of around 30 different trucks, cars and sports utility vehicles across the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands to 15 or more within a few years is part of a drive to cut costs and create a leaner, more profitable company, the paper said.

Analysts welcomed such a move, saying a smaller, more focused Chrysler would have a better chance to thrive.

A smaller number would allow Chrysler to have a better chance to thrive, if they don’t cut out any of the models that people may be interested in, say five years from now. The problem I see, is how do you roll those dice? Just because something isn’t selling right now doesn’t mean it won’t be in demand in a few years.

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Who knew that the family business could be so lucrative, yet so fragile. I wonder what they’ll be doing next week? Standing in line for unemployment?

Broward County authorities said a grandmother was arrested for hiding cocaine in her bra during a drug raid in Oakland Park. Eight others were also arrested Friday at or near the home of Henrietta Corvin Daise, 62. Many of them were her grandchildren.

Jail records show Daise posted $7,500 bail Saturday.

Don’t even go there. We don’t want to know where she had the $7,500 stashed.

I have two headlines for you today.

Productivity slowed in 4th quarter

Worker productivity, the key factor in rising living standards, slowed sharply in the final three months of the year as overall economic activity weakened considerably while labor pressures increased.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, increased at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the October-December quarter, down from a 6 percent performance in the July-September period. The slowdown reflected the fact that overall economic activity skidded to a near standstill in the final three months of the year, with the gross domestic product rising at a barely perceptible rate of 0.6 percent.

and

Productivity rises as labor costs growth muted

U.S. productivity rose at a solid clip in the fourth quarter as employers sharply cut the number of hours worked, restraining growth in labor costs, according to a report on Wednesday that may ease lingering concerns on inflation at the Federal Reserve.

U.S. non-farm productivity, or hourly output per worker, rose at a stronger-than-expected 1.8 percent annual rate, keeping the rise in unit labor costs at a smaller-than-expected 2.1 percent, the Labor Department report showed.

Economists had expected worker productivity to rise just 0.4 percent, with unit labor costs — a gauge of inflation and profit pressures scrutinized by the Fed — up 3.5 percent.

Doesn’t this make you confident that our government knows what’s going on with the economy?

Just think, if she didn’t run the red light, no one would have known she was protecting the beer, doing drugs, and driving without a license. Stupid red light, causing all that trouble.

Florida police arrested a motorist they said had a 24-pack of beer strapped in with a seat belt but had a 16-month-old girl unrestrained in the back seat with the toddler’s mother.

Tina Williams was pulled over in St. Augustine on Sunday for allegedly running a red light.

A 24-pack of Busch beer was strapped in with the passenger-side seat belt, said an arrest report. The girl was in the back seat with 20-year-old Amber Tedrick, who is the toddler’s mother.

The article does not mention if the mother of the child will be charged. The last time she was seen, she was strapping a bottle of Jim Beam into a carseat in another vehicle.

I love these companies that make “dual announcements“. They crack me up.

US retailer Macy’s said Wednesday it was cutting 2,300 jobs as it vies to overhaul its operations and cut costs amid a slowing economy.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Macy’s, one of America’s best-known retailers, said the job cuts would mainly affect staff at three regional offices across the country.

“Employees laid off in this process will be provided severance benefits and outplacement assistance,” Macy’s said in a statement.

The retailer also announced it would be creating 250 new positions as part of its shake-up.

So, 2,300 people will be “let go” because the company needs to cut costs because of the slowing economy.

Yet, 250 different people will get new jobs… At Macy’s. Far be it from the powers that be to just announce 2,050 job cuts and call it a day.

Hey, if they cut that many people, who’s going to man the store when we are all out spending our “stimulus” packages?

Today was a very emotional day.

It all started at 6:30 when the alarm went off and I quickly woke up the entire family. There was never any doubt that we would all go together to take Flash to this very important appointment today.

We arrived about 20 minutes early, which was amazing seeing how the Atlanta traffic was. After completing the new patient registration form, they took us all into a small 10×15 room. I have to admire the kids for sitting there, listening to things they could not understand, keeping quiet so we could comprehend what the veterinarian was telling us.

Flash’s prognosis is not good. The deterioration in the bone is so bad that he is now at the point that just walking could cause hairline fractures and more pain. The veterinarian explained everything to us, he covered all the options. I am so glad he did.

The first thing Flash needs is an immediate amputation of his right front leg. They will have to take the shoulder and the shoulder blade too. His recovery from the amputation will be rather quick, but he will never recover from the cancer.

The veterinarian explained that there is no doubt the cancer has spread and Flash has at best 6 months to 1 year left with us. He discussed the options for chemotherapy, but even with the treatment that shows the best results, the most Flash gains is an additional 6 months to 1 year.

We will never know what Flash is thinking, or what he wants. I do know that if it were me, I would choose the quality of life over the quantity. It just seems more logical to me to allow him to live as a happy 3 legged dog for 6 months to a year, rather than have him laying around listless, drooling, in a heap of fur on the floor, too sick to notice whether or not we were even in the room.

So for now, we are planning on the amputation. He has pain pills to get him through til we can get that done in the next week or so, and after that is done, we will take it from there.

Today was a very emotional day.

It all started at 6:30 when the alarm went off and I quickly woke up the entire family. There was never any doubt that we would all go together to take Flash to this very important appointment today.

We arrived about 20 minutes early, which was amazing seeing how the Atlanta traffic was. After completing the new patient registration form, they took us all into a small 10×15 room. I have to admire the kids for sitting there, listening to things they could not understand, keeping quiet so we could comprehend what the veterinarian was telling us.

Flash’s prognosis is not good. The deterioration in the bone is so bad that he is now at the point that just walking could cause hairline fractures and more pain. The veterinarian explained everything to us, he covered all the options. I am so glad he did.

The first thing Flash needs is an immediate amputation of his right front leg. They will have to take the shoulder and the shoulder blade too. His recovery from the amputation will be rather quick, but he will never recover from the cancer.

The veterinarian explained that there is no doubt the cancer has spread and Flash has at best 6 months to 1 year left with us. He discussed the options for chemotherapy, but even with the treatment that shows the best results, the most Flash gains is an additional 6 months to 1 year.

We will never know what Flash is thinking, or what he wants. I do know that if it were me, I would choose the quality of life over the quantity. It just seems more logical to me to allow him to live as a happy 3 legged dog for 6 months to a year, rather than have him laying around listless, drooling, in a heap of fur on the floor, too sick to notice whether or not we were even in the room.

So for now, we are planning on the amputation. He has pain pills to get him through til we can get that done in the next week or so, and after that is done, we will take it from there.