Stocks enter the final hour with small gains. The regional and state unemployment survey showed 30 states and the District of Columbia increasing their unemployment rate, 9 states saw a decrease in the unemployment rate and the rest no change. From a year ago no state recorded and increase in employment. The top 5 unemployment rates by state are, Michigan 14.3%, Nevada 13%, Rhode Island 12.7%, South Carolina 12.6% and California 12.5%. South Carolina and California both set new series highs in January, as did 3 other states and the District of Columbia. Like the monthly employment report labor markets remain distressed that said Census hiring should produce a nice jump in the employment figures for March and April, while temporary the cheerleaders are already pushing this for all its worth and will no doubt have a field day with it when the reports come out.
Mortgage apps increased fractionally last week as per the latest MBA survey. The 30-year contract rate was 5.01% about where it has been for a year or so. The sharp plunge in sales activity seen with the expiration of the original home buyer tax credit seems permanent, as the recent plunge in potential home buyer traffic suggests. The HAMP trial modification process has been completed by about 1/3 of applicants giving those a chance at permanent modification. The actual numbers will out late next week. While another step in the right direction there remains many, many steps to go.
The bank bailouts have no shortage of critics myself included. But there are many that argue the cost will be mitigated and that the deficits don’t matter, we just need the right tools. Pundits cite the TARP program, it’s profits and that it will lose little if any money come its conclusion. They conveniently omit the data from TALF that swelled the Fed’s balance sheet dramatically with the swapping of various impaired assets, some junk, for Treasuries. Additionally the deficit spending from the stimulus programs themselves has been substantial. For those that claim deficits don’t matter, eventually they do as too much debt leads to default and worse as many a citizen has found out the hard way of late and many more will before it is all over. As for the right tools to clean up these fiascoes, a better plan would be to simply enforce existing regulations in the first place so that we don’t have to clean up the mess, when did an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” go out of fashion?
Hi and welcome to The Profit Motive, I’m your host Caleb Lawrence. Once upon a time in America the media acted as the watchdog of the corporations and the state. In the modern era it’s all about ratings and profits, opinion has been substituted for news and frequently is presented as fact. 
