January 2010 Archives

If you haven't seen the video (embedded above) with Peter Schiff, Euro Pacific Capital president, then I urge you to view it. He articulated his bearish case on Monday, 4 January 2009. For those of you who are tuning in via email or RSS and are unable to see the embedded video, please select the video link to Peter Schiff on CNBC Fast Money.

Barry Ritholtz over at The Big Picture showed a series of unemployment charts. Again, if you haven't seen them, visit Ritholtz's site and view the charts. For a picture story, I especially like the last graph from Calculated Risk. The unemployment graphs reinforce Schiff's thesis of a challenged consumer.

I enjoyed reading John Mauldin's 2010 Forecast: The Year of Uncertainty (PDF, 203 kb). Mauldin chose a very appropriate title. In his article, Mauldin discussed the unemployment and what it might mean for the economy in 2010.

All three sources—video, charts, and 2010 Outlook—point to unemployment being a pivotal challenge in 2010. Unemployment is unacceptably high, especially when you consider the U-6 unemployment statistic at 17.3%. 2010 is indeed the year of uncertainty.

Happy New Year 2010!

I wish everyone much happiness, health, and prosperity. Many people found last year, 2009, difficult and challenging. So I hope that 2010 is a much better year, one filled with more joy and optimism.

I further wish our NATO troops well and hope we can make substantial progress toward resolving conflicts. Too many people are suffering.

On Thursday, 10 September 2009, I photographed Calgary model Anya near Bow Falls in Banff National Park. If you click on my Flickr profile link, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more of my pictures.