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While Wall St continues to speak of recovery, Main St continues to fear a "double-dip" recession.  Since the dismal stock market lows of March 2009, record fiscal stimulus, unprecedented money printing, and monolithic "Too Big to Fail" bailouts have produced an impressive 62% rebound on Wall St, though this is still about 25% below the 2007 all-time, nominal high.  In the meantime, on Main St, official unemployment sits at 9.6%, official underemployment resides at 16.7%, 40 million Americans are

Last night, the two candidates for California’s US Senate seat squared off in the first of their debates this election season. From the angle of getting on-topic answers out of the candidates, the debate was almost an exercise in utter futility, with both Boxer and Fiorina frequently going off topic to repeat campaign talking points in a manner not altogether un-reminiscent of Sarah Palin in the 2008 Vice Presidential debate. Still, mature campaign themes emerged from the event, digressions notw

The Golden State's July 2010 unemployment numbers came out in a report by California's Employment Development Department Friday, and they don't look good. With over two million unemployed, California's unemployment rate is 12.3%, which is just half a percent more than last year's rate of 11.8% during the same month, but nearly 3% higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.5% for July 2010. While some commentators might spin this as a good, or at least "not so bad" sign because it means th

A national association which represents African American police officers has officially thrown its weight behind the cannabis legalization initiative, Proposition 19. The campaign to decriminalize marijuana continues to gain momentum with black communities and law enforcement officials. The National Black Police Association (NBPA), at 15,000 members strong, is endorsing the measure. Ron Hampton, the association's executive director agrees with the NAACP (which already announced its support for

As the midterm elections draw near, both the Coffee and Tea Parties are striving to guard against other movements seeking to compromise their overall message.  While both parties are radically different in an ideological sense, both grassroots factions must deal with respective obstacles. The Tea Party, for instance, has had to address various charges, mostly having to do with racism.  For one, there was NAACP’s call for the Tea Party to denounce all racist elements within its movement.  The Te

If it wouldn’t too terribly inconvenience the California legislature when they return from their month-long July vacation - taken in lieu of working together to pass a budget - could they possibly try to pass the budget when they return all sun-tanned and rested in August? Don’t bet on it. Instead there will probably be more frenzied attacks against evildoers on The Other Side for blocking a budget, followed by more paralysis and a continued cratering of California’s credit rating. Surely it’s

These days, it seems like we are provided with new evidence of the American public’s desire for Independent and third party alternatives to the Democratic and Republican parties on a regular basis. A Fox News poll released late last week found that a 57% majority of respondents think it would be a “good idea” if a third party were formed to run candidates against the Democrats and Republicans at all levels of government. Incidentally, an astute 4% minority noted that such parties already exist

This is how leading trends forecaster Gerald Celente succinctly summarizes the current state of affairs in the United States.  Celente, a self-proclaimed "political atheist" who is often critical of Wall St and Washington DC, is not one to mince words, and his six-word description of "what's going on in America" is consistent with his blunt style. According to Celente, America's economy primarily services the big banks, continued escalation of the War on Terror is lining the pockets of the mili

For California cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, opposition to the Arizona immigration law has been strident.  Their reaction is quite typical, considering that their citizens and governments lean heavily Democratic. In cities like Costa Mesa, however, sentiments about the law lie on the opposite side of the fence, as evidenced by declaring their city off-limits to illegals.  Costa Mesa’s response is also quite typical, considering that the city resides in the predominantly conservativ

The negotiations and desperate scramble to find $20 billion somewhere, anywhere, to close the 2010 California deficit continue.  In a major body blow, the federal government has pulled $2 billion in expected funding for California after House Democrats killed a state funding package. Yes, it was killed by Democrats, apparently over jitters about the deficit. The total package was $24 billion of which California would have gotten $2 billion. This is bad news for California which was expecting th