Monday, November 12, 2007

Morning Blog News Update: Monday Edition

Good morning. The week before Thanksgiving week -- and it will be one of my busiest weeks ever. Today's schedule? Two cartoons, a Christmas card for the office, a T-shirt for charity, an event at 3 and a meeting at 5. Tomorrow is a cartoon, a speech in Clinton and a speech in Hattiesburg. And it continues like that for the rest of the week. But being busy beats the alternative.

Weather
A balmy high (for November) of 74 and expect a slight chance of rain (20%). Rain chances go up mid-week, capping at 50% on Wednesday night.

Veteran's Day holiday
The mail won't run. Banks will be closed. Government offices will be closed. Kiddies are still in school and the rest of us will be at work. The only thing we will get is less traffic on the way to the office.

Troops families worry during deployment
Sure, this has been going on for over 200 years, so it's not earth-shattering news, but I think it is important to remember what our friends and neighbors are going through. I've know so many Mom's (and Dad's) that have held down the fort at home these last few years -- most without any outward sign of complaint.

Worst recession since the 1930's?
Jim Melcher runs Balestra Capital Partners and is considered a Wall Street superstar. And he's saying says he's "worried about a recession. Not a normal one, but a very bad one. The worst since the 1930s. I expect we'll see clear signs of it in six months with a dramatic slowdown in the gross domestic product." Oh crap. This week will by bumpy because of continued fallout from the subprime mess. Asian markets are already down.

"Time to redefine privacy"
From the story: Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information. Can you hear me now? Yes.

Entertainment Weekly's last interview with Norman Mailer
Author Norman Mailer died November 10 at the age of 84. Here's his last interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine.

Saints roundup
If you really want to read about yesterday's loss to the hapless Rams, here you go.

The 60,000-yard man
Brett Farve passed another milestone in his roaring season. The Packers, now 8-1, routed the Minnesota Vikings 34-0. Favre was 33-of-46 for 351 yards and three touchdowns before he was relieved by his backup. Favre is also 1,105 yards from passing DAn Marino's all-time record.

4 comments:

cgamble75 said...

speaking about the recession..I have seen this coming for a while now. After Katrina, I told my husband that within 2 years we would start to see signs of a recession. Govt. funds have run out, or never came. Houses are getting repoed because folks can't afford to pay a mortgage on a slab and rent/new mortgage. Now more than ever, the middle class is slowly going away. We are turning into a society of the have and the have nots.
O.k., rant complete for the day.

Marshall Ramsey said...

You're rant is right on, unfortunately. One area to watch is Mississippi state government spending. Medicaid was covered by the Katrina money coming in. The money, as you pointed out, is drying up. You will hear the sound of chainsaws to the north from the budget being cut.

Gas prices and repo'd homes are going to drag the ecomony down though. I am about to get into hunker down mode and squirreling away some money.

watercolordaisy said...

And with all the Go Zone money drying up, so will the construction industry. Scary times.

Kay said...

We are on our way to a very deep recession. Everything cost more and salaries are not keeping up.

I hate that anyone got "stuck"with a ARM mortgage.

Marshall, you are so right. It is time for all of us to tighten our belts and squirrel away some money.

With oil at $100.00 a barrel, things are not going to get better.
It seems that our gov., did not learn a darn thing back when Carter was President. We need to come up with something that we can use instead of oil and tell the Middle East where they can go.