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Signs of the Times for Fri, 03 Feb 2006

By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
Fri Jan 27, 9:36 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The economy slowed to a near crawl in the final quarter of 2005, a listless showing that was the worst in three years. However, growth was respectable for the year and is expected to perk up again soon.

Gross domestic product clocked in at an annual rate of just 1.1 percent from October through December. That marked a loss of speed compared with the third's quarter's brisk 4.1 percent pace, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

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By STEVE QUINN
AP Business Writer
30 Jan 06
DALLAS - Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday _ $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year _ as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and gas prices and demand for refined products. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations and Exxon shares rose nearly 3 percent in morning trading.

The company's earnings amounted to $1.71 per share for the October- December quarter, up 27 percent from $8.42 billion, or $1.30 per share, in the year ago quarter. The result topped the then-record quarterly profit of $9.92 billion Exxon posted in the third quarter of 2005.

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Comment: Now THAT'S obscene. Put that together with the money that has been spent on fighting a war over non-existent WMDs, and divide it up among the U.S. citizens...

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
30 Jan 06
WASHINGTON - Americans' personal savings rate dipped into negative territory in something that hasn't happened since the Great Depression. Consumers depleted their savings to finance the purchases of cars and other big-ticket items.

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Comment: And we all know what happened after 1933, don't we?

The Housing Bubble 2
January 29, 2006
The Santa Barbara News Press ran this report on area home sales. "Home sales across most of Santa Barbara County fell last month, but median prices appear to be holding steady. On the South Coast, which has ranked as the most overpriced home market in the nation this year by at least two research firms, resales for single-family homes were flat in December compared with a year ago, according to data reported to the Santa Barbara MLS. For all of 2005, sales dropped more than 12 percent."

"Since hitting a high of nearly $1.48 million last September, the South Coast median price has retreated and hovered around $1.25 million in the past three months."

The paper dropped this little bombshell in the fourth paragraph. "Over the past several years, the News-Press has obtained sales and median price data for the South Coast from the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. The group recently told the News-Press that it now refuses to make this data available to the newsroom. Other associations of Realtors across the county willingly continue to share sales and price information with the paper."


Heather Stewart, economics correspondent
The Observer
Sunday January 29, 2006
Prices climb ahead of critical week as nuclear row escalates. Opec says it won't increase quotas to cover for production shutdown

Oil markets are braced for a nail-biting week, as world leaders demand action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions, and analysts warn that crude prices could reach $90 a barrel if the oil-rich state retaliates by blocking supplies.

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By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
01/29/06
Defense Secretary Pushed for New Powers to Better Deal With Emergencies

Congress has granted unusual authority for the Pentagon to spend as much as $200 million of its own budget to aid foreign militaries, a break with the traditional practice of channeling foreign military assistance through the State Department.

The move, included in a little-noticed provision of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act passed last month, marks a legislative victory for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who pushed hard for the new powers to deal with emergency situations.

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Comment: Despite all the talk of impeachment, Bush and his gang are just marching right along, hoarding more and more power...

By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent
The Independent
30 January 2006
The most potent threats to life on earth - global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict - could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion - $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) - of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claims today.

The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned.

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Comment: Unfortunately, the UN's "brilliant plan" involves the same problems that got the world into its current mess: corrupt political and economic systems run by psychopaths where debt is an integral component. Guess who will be raking it in?

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