Stock futures are higher prior to the open, with the dollar significantly lower, bonds lower, oil slightly lower, gold & silver slightly higher, and food commodities are mixed.
There is no meaningful economic data again this morning, “Consumer” Credit will be released this afternoon.
Yesterday the markets finished with the major indices in an oversold condition below the bottom Bollinger bands, and with zero percent of stocks above their 10 day moving average. That makes a bounce sometime soon fairly likely, but of course we can’t be sure what is on the agenda of those who own the exchanges, own the HFT machines, and produce money from nothing while charging the people interest on that production.
Obama’s Chief Economic Advisor, Austin Goolsbee, resigned today to head back to the classroom. What, a little pressure and he folds like a cheap suit? Yeah, yeah, he did a great job with a bad situation… NOT. Another missed opportunity to the do the right thing, but Goolsbee is just another spineless man who did not possess the courage to operate outside of the central banker captured, yet failed, paradigm.
Their real effect on the economy is summed up in the following (I think) very relevant article that only partially describes the stress placed upon today’s workforce:
Economy makes people sick, literally
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In 2009, the stress caused by the recession sent Katie Pfledderer to the hospital.
Her income as an advertising executive was cut by 20% and her workload increased. To make ends meet, she had to take an additional part-time job, but the strain was more than she could bear.
"I was tired all the time and then one morning I started crying and I couldn't breathe."
Pfledderer suffered a panic attack and was taken to the emergency room. She said she had been living in fear of losing her job in the midst of the Great Recession. "It was constant concern about what's going to happen next," the 28-year-old account executive said.
As the recovery sputters, many Americans, like Pfledderer, continue to struggle in the face of sluggish job growth and falling home prices -- and that's taking a toll on their overall well being.
Thirty-five percent of middle class Americans said they or someone in their household has experienced a physical symptom of stress related to the economy, according to a recent report by First Command Financial Services, a financial service provider.
Most common were anxiety, changes in weight, sleeplessness, low energy and irritability. "These are health conditions that we want people to be aware of," said Kathryn Power, director of the Center for Mental Health Services, a division of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Power said that at the start of the recession there was a sharp uptick in the number of calls to the Center's suicide hotline. "About 30% of the calls we get are related to economic distress," she said. "They were having emotional difficulties because of fear of their financial situation, fear they would lose their job, lose their home."
Speaking of how our economy damages health, the Fukushima disaster is being dragged into the light slowly but surely. All three reactors fully melted down. Plutonium exists outside of the Fukushima plant’s ground. Radiation levels inside of Tokyo are very high in spots and the government is working hard to cover that fact up. The future sickness and suffering due to their miscues will be epic, and the proper steps to truly contain the radiation further are still not taking place, thus putting us all at risk.