"Welcome To Obamaville: Colorado's Fastest Growing Community" Reads Homeless Camp Sign

This story broke in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where residents found this controversial sign at a homeless camp. Colorado's station KRDO was first to break the story, and now the station has made a "public appeal for information" on who the originator was.

Though Spencer Swann of Colorado Canyon Signs admits to the contruction of the sign,  he refuses to inform the media whom he built it for. Since then, Swann has replaced the sign with a "Please help. We need firewood, propane and canned food" sign.  Though public perception of the sign was mixed, Swann said: "I've had 100 calls today, and not a single one of them was negative." He also claimed that the originator is a person who is devoted to the homeless cause, stating: "He gives them money, he gives them food, he gives them support."

Great sign. I just wish there was a smiliar one during the Bush administration.

Bernanke's "Remedy"

In this Washington Post article, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, makes the case for "good reform" for the Fed. Covertly aiming the whole article at the two bills that would expose the Federal Reserve's secretive policies, H.R. 1207 and S. 604, Bernanke offers more of the same rather than real reform.

Bernanke writes,

" The Fed played a major part in arresting the crisis, and we should be seeking to preserve, not degrade, the institution's ability to foster financial stability and to promote economic recovery without inflation."

Ron Paul on the recession: 'None of this is behind us'

The Hill has a new article explain Ron Paul's view on our economic woes, his assignment of blame to the Federal Reserve, and his conviction that Wall Street is still "a shaky place to be."  Read it here.

Trends researcher Gerald Celente agrees, predicting that "the worst is yet to come."

Dubbed as the world's greatest trends forecaster by CNN, USA Today and CNBC, Celente insists that despite the latest market bounce, and increase in consumer confidence, the economy's fundamentals are broken.

Read his explanation for why we should not expect anything more than a fleeting, false recovery any time soon here.

Ugly

This blog post really needs to start with a giant graphic that shows just how our current recession stacks up against other post World War II recessions- in terms of percent job losses relative to peak employment prior to the start of the recession.

(click to enlarge)

Ugly is pretty much all you can say (in front of small children) when you look at the news regarding our economy, and the jobs picture in particular.  We're now into this recession 21 months on, and while our leaders claim things are on the mend, the numbers don't often lie.