Since the start of the year, Japan's Nikkei index has declined 13 percent, while Hong Kong's blue-chip index is down more than 14 percent. Even China's Shanghai index _ which nearly doubled last year _ has fallen 6.6 percent over the same period and nearly 20 percent from its all-time closing high on Oct. 16.

As previously noted, 1-800-RUN is now in effect. It's time to party like it's 1929.

Stock Markets Plunge Worldwide - Business on The Huffington Post

Workers' wages failed to keep up with the higher inflation. Average weekly earnings, after adjusting for inflation, dropped by 0.9 percent in 2007, the fourth decline in the past five years. The lagging wage gains are cited as a chief reason many workers have growing anxiety about their economic futures.

We're making less money. This isn't much of a shock to most people, but it sure seems to be to the people making money policy.

Gas, Food Spur Inflation Jump in 2007 - Business on The Huffington Post

Merrill Lynch is expected to suffer $15 billion in losses stemming from soured mortgage investments, almost double its original estimate, prompting the firm to raise additional capital from an outside investor.

That's Billion, with a B. 1-800-RUN.

Giant Write-Down Is Seen for Merrill - New York Times

The Local Government Investment Pool had $3.5 billion of withdrawals today alone, putting assets at $15 billion, said Coleman Stipanovich, executive director of the State Board of Administration, at a special meeting held to address the crisis. The board manages the fund along with other short-term investments and the state's $137 billion pension fund.

``If we don't do something quickly, we're not going to have an investment pool,'' Stipanovich said at the meeting, held at the state capitol in Tallahassee. The fund was the largest of its kind, managing $27 billion before this month's withdrawals.

Thus begins 1-800-RUN

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

The Fed's half-point interest rate cut last week to 4.75 percent came in response to market turbulence in the U.S. and elsewhere in the fallout from a subprime mortgage crisis. Investors this week will be looking for signs that U.S. inflation is under control. The market is also hoping that readings this week on U.S. durable goods demand, the housing market and consumer spending power will show that the U.S. economy isn't heading for recession.

Many analysts see more U.S. rate cuts ahead -- which could further weaken the U.S. currency, as investments denominated in dollars become less attractive.

This is actually going to continue to worse. The housing market shows no signs of improvement, the subprime balloon has burst and is looking worse daily, and the upshot of the whole thing is, as W said a few months ago, more people than ever own their own homes, and more people than ever are having their mortgages on those homes foreclosed.

Couple this with the actual decline in real wages (previously noted here) and we're looking at a disastrous confluence.

New Week, New Low for Dollar: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Wall Street has been pummeled as a deepening credit crunch spooked the market, and led to unease about potential losses at financial firms and funds. The Federal Reserve, which has injected some $64 billion of liquidity into the U.S. banking system since Thursday, said it stood ready to act again should market conditions warrant.

Oops. Yep, more people than ever own there own homes, and now more people than ever are going to have them foreclosed.

Stocks End Down on Credit, Consumer Woes - The Huffington Post

Virgin has previously said it intends to take delivery of all six of the $300 million Airbus A380 planes it has on order, but would not see its first one until 2013 due to problems the planemaker has encountered in wiring the mammoth planes.

Something that matters to businesses is being able to get what they want when they want it. When you're talking about an airplane, that means you're looking a ways out, but six years before the first might show up? Airbus is looking at some very serious problems.

UPS cancels A380 in new blow for Airbus | Reuters

Wage stagnation, long the bane of blue-collar workers, is now hitting people with bachelor's degrees for the first time in 30 years. Earnings for workers with four-year degrees fell 5.2% from 2000 to 2004 when adjusted for inflation, according to White House economists.

Yep! The economy is booming and we're all better off. Unless we aren't. And it turns out, we aren't.

That Raise Might Take 4 Years to Earn as Well - Los Angeles Times

That will mean that over the next year Citgo will withdraw completely from 10 states and stop supplying some stations in four additional states, Citgo spokesman Fernando Garay said Wednesday.

Chavez has long claimed that parts of Citgo's business produce losses for Venezuela and constitute a subsidy for the U.S. economy.

Interesting to see what effect this will actually have.

Citgo to stop selling gas at U.S. stations

When General Motors cites retiree costs, the giant auto maker has a point: It owed nearly 700,000 U.S. workers and retirees pensions that totaled $87.8 billion at the end of last year.

But $95.3 billion had already been set aside to pay those benefits when due.
....
GM has often said its U.S. pension plans added about $800 to the cost of each car made in the U.S. in 2004. It declines to say how much was due to executive pensions.

Well considering that the general pension fund is $7.5 BILLION over, and GM is collecting interest on it, that $800 and then some is due to executive pensions. Unions causing problems my ass. It's the fat asses in the leather chairs.

WSJ.com - As Workers' Pensions Wither, Those for Executives Flourish