From David Michaels at MercoPress 

Russian billionaire looses 53 million USD deposit on villa purchase

(Looses?)

 I believe that's how it's done.

 Jim Bunning

U.S. Senator from Kentucky.

Hall of Fame pitcher.

100+ wins, 1000+ strikeouts and a No-Hitter in each league.

Seemingly somewhat ill tempered, with an oversized pair of cajones.

I like him.

Always have.

The above photo links to the Baseball Almanac

With the following set of Charts, The Heritage Foundation does a very nice job of demonstrating just exactly what our issues are with respect to the deficit.

All the below charts link to The Heritage Foundation's site, and another dozen or so thought provoking items.

A new term, gaining popularity across the country was coined in 2007 by Jack Mchugh of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy located in Midland Michigan.

"Detroitification" - The process by which the private sector is hollowed out to prop up an unsustainable government establishment.

Mr. McHugh also edits Michiganvotes.org.

Both organizations are highly recommended.

The two charts and excepts below link to a brief report from Josh Barro of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research titled,

Two Americas: Public Sector Gains in Recession

The problem:  During the recession, public employees have continued to see strong wage growth, well ahead of the private sector.

From the first quarter of 2007 through the last quarter of 2009, the average value of hourly compensation (wages plus benefits) rose by 9.8 percent for employees of state and local governments, compared to 6.9 percent in the private sector.[2]

After adjusting for inflation, public employees have seen a rise in real hourly income over this period, while private employees have not. 

What should be done? 

The trend in the third quarter—when public-employee compensation was flat—shows that a freeze on public-employee compensation is possible.

States and localities should take the following steps to get employee compensation under control:

Governments should freeze employee compensation at least until public-employee wages have returned to levels matching the private sector trend.

They should take this action when negotiating new public-employee contracts.

In some states, governments may have powers to freeze pay even in the middle of an existing contract.

States should also look at reforming binding arbitration laws that force governments to pay unaffordable wage increases.

Such laws should be repealed or reformed to properly take into account private-sector wage trends and the ability of governments to pay wage increases.

Unfortunately, the trend reverted to form in the fourth quarter, with public-employee compensation again rising faster than private sector pay.

Getting budgets under control will require state and local lawmakers to put taxpayer interests ahead of the interests of public-employee unions.

New research by the UK’s University of Warwick and Hamilton College in the US has used the happiness levels of a million individual US citizens to discover which are the best and worst states in which to live in the United States.

The new research published in the elite journal Science on 17th December 2009 is by Professor Andrew Oswald of the UK’s University of Warwick and Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in the US.

Andrew Oswald/ Wu ranking of happiness levels by US State

1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
11. Alaska
12. North Carolina
13. Wyoming
14. Idaho
15. South Dakota
16. Texas
17. Arkansas
18. Vermont
19. Georgia
20. Oklahoma
21. Colorado
22. Delaware
23. Utah
24. New Mexico
25. North Dakota
26. Minnesota
27. New Hampshire
28. Virginia
29. Wisconsin
30. Oregon
31. Iowa
32. Kansas
33. Nebraska
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Washington
37. District of Columbia
38. Missouri
39. Nevada
40. Maryland
41. Pennsylvania
42. Rhode Island
43. Massachusetts
44. Ohio
45. Illinois
46. California
47. Indiana
48. Michigan (Admit it, you thought we'd be dead last)
49. New Jersey
50. Connecticut
51. New York

…“The Marxists and Maoists have become financially driven as the West became financially confused Socialist/Marxists.

Unfortunately there seems no road back.” 

 "It seems those running the lives of others need reminding that debt is the current consumption of future earnings.

They see no harm in buying the votes of current voters with future obligations on those too young to object or vote.

In that vein, I note Obama, behind closed doors on a Friday afternoon, with no cameras or 'transparency', signed an increase in the US Debt Ceiling, raising it to $14.29 billion."

R.E. McMaster is a trader who writes a daily newsletter for other traders.

My strongly held opinion is that he spends his entire day mostly scrounging for news that a trader might find useful.

I recommend McMaster Online to anyone looking for news happening "under the radar".

From McMaster Online

"US T-bonds are building a massive potentially bearish "Head and Shoulder" top. A decisive breakdown by US T-bonds below 115’00 could be devastating for US T-bonds, the door closing on low US interest rates on a weak close below 112’16."

I also caught the heads up on Citi below from McMaster's catch on it by John Carney at Business Insider.