DOOM - It Ain't Just For Florida Anymore

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Rhode Island unemployment fund in dire shape
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 15, 2009
By Katherine Gregg
Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE — The state fund that pays unemployment benefits is “very likely” on the brink of insolvency and potentially unable to pay benefits past March without a $15-million loan.

That was the message that top administrators of the state Department of Labor and Training brought to the State House yesterday as they sought legislative permission to borrow the $15 million, in April, from a temporary disability insurance fund that has already been tapped once this year to pay state bills and subsequently replenished.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Put on a happy face...

Texas among states facing 2009 Unemployment Insurance Fund deficits
By HEATHER NOLAN
January, 9, 2009

Every day for the last few weeks, Percy Haynes has spent hours in front of a computer at Workforce Solutions South-east Texas in downtown Beaumont searching for a warehouse or refinery job.

Right before Christmas, Haynes, 33, said he lost his job at Kelly Services, a temporary staffing agency with an office in Beaumont.

"They say jobs are available, and there's ads in the newspaper, but when I go out there, they say there's nothing," he said. "Some places have told me I'm overqualified. That's something you hate to hear."

Haynes is among thousands of job-seeking people in Southeast Texas and across the country, hoping to no longer rely on the state-funded Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund for unemployment benefits.

States would like residents to find work as well, since many are facing critical shortfalls in their Unemployment Trust Fund accounts in 2009.
According to the National Conference of State Legislators, five states have Unemployment Trust Fund accounts re-serves of less than three months to cover benefits.

Another eight states have reserves of less than six months, and six states have less than a year in reserve, according to the group.

The U.S. Department of Labor recommends that states maintain a balance to sufficiently cover benefits for one year during a typical recession.

Texas Workforce Commission spokeswoman Ann Hatchitt said Texas is not in nearly as much trouble, but the state's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund is $144 million short of what's needed to get through 2009.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

HD Interview On Economy 4

Commercial real estate 40 cents on a dollar.

[Joseph A. Ferry]

Originally Posted by jferry1

Don't worry. All will be well as of 12 noon next Tuesday. The Messiah is coming!

You'll start seeing positive stories about Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy, the Big 3, consumer confidence, you name it.

As predicted.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by jferry1

As predicted.

Gotta love the NYT

They report that 39% of poll respondents think we are headed in the right direction.

Great, but they also report that 53% think we are headed in the wrong direction?

I have to go lie down. My head seems to have picked up a spin.

[Michael Larson]

So much for upbeat news.

Mortgage delinquencies soar in the U.S.
Tue Apr 7, 2009 9:54am EDT

By Helen Chernikoff
NEW YORK (Reuters) - More U.S. consumers are falling behind on their mortgages, an indication that the housing market has yet to hit bottom, a top credit bureau executive told Reuters...............




Isn't that how we got here in the first place?