"I must admit it's getting better......!"

Headline in today's El Paso Times Business section:


FED SAYS RECESSION LESS HARSH IN '09

For those who don't have time to read more than headlines before they leave for the unemployment office and, as a result of the above news, may have reconnected with their stock broker they haven't spoken to in over a year to place an order to buy a 10,000 shares of GM, here's a few of the things the article beneath the headlines had to say:

• the Federal Reserve expects the economy to sink this year at a slower pace than previously thought
• the economy will shrink between 1-1.5 %.
• the Fed's forecast for unemployment this year has worsened (from 9.5 to 10.1 %)
• it could take 5-6 years for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of full health. (Dada adds, "if ever.")

So okay, you may have not have read the article beneath the headline today (something I suspect was the Fed's intention) to see just how much better things are getting.


Oh, and while this wasn't in that fed article, Truthout reported today "Foreclosure filings jumped to a record 1.9 million...in the first six months of the year... up 9.0 percent from the second half of 2008 and almost 15 percent from the first half of last year"!


But on the bright side, GM stock remained unchanged in today's market. If you act fast -- before the market opens tomorrow -- you may be able to place an order to unload the GM stock you bought today, your only losses being the commissions on the buy and sell orders executed by your broker, which I realize is 4 or 5 cups of Starbuck's you're out. Consider it a cheap lesson.