Blog Readings: generally bearish.

What I read Today on blogs

Double Digit unemployment rates in America. Seven states in the USA have more than 10% unemployed, while the rate for the country reported by the government is 8.1% but a far better approximation is 14.8%.
My Notes: Since we do not have such number for India, it is difficult to say how bad the situation is.

Wage Deflation sets in
Facing a steep drop in revenue, The New York Times Company plans to cut the pay of most employees by 5 percent for nine months, in return for 10 days’ leave, and will lay off 100 people and make other budget cuts, executives said on Thursday.

Paul Krugman writes: Was I being unfair ?
A reader writes in to complain about today’s column, in which I compared the supposedly productive activities of financial wizards to the sleight-of-hand of stage magicians. As a magician, he resents being compared to investment bankers.

My Notes: When you listen to the ‘advice’ of fund managers & brokers on TV, always ask yourelf who benefits the most by following that ‘advice’. You may be surprised to realize it is not you!

We’re not quite as healthy as we thought we were. Oops.
J.P. Morgan Chase Chief Executive James Dimon said…that March was a little tougher than the first two months of the year….Bank of America…CEO Kenneth Lewis also said that March had been a tougher month for his bank. [Convenient that they decided to dump this information on Friday afternoon, and at the close of a very good week].
Readers may recall that a few weeks ago, those two CEOs—along with Citi’s Vikram Pandit—said the first two months of the year had been very good:

Contractions: Roubini is not bullish. He thinks US stocks will continue to fall (and that the current rally is but a passing phenomenon), US banks (including some major ones) will fail, and the economy will continue to deteriorate through the end of 2009.

Green Energy:
After several gloomy months, experts say that the stimulus package is beginning — just beginning — to revive interest in wind and solar power.
My Notes: Suzlon is a wind power company. Track it.
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Mustafa, thanks for your help. I did manage to put the subscription links for posts and comments in the right sidebar. If you can write a brief comment on how to use RSS readers to enhance your blogging experience, most readers will benefit. Thanks, again.