(Picture from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)

Young Oklahoma mother; age 18, penniless, stranded in Imperial Valley, California. (Circa March 1937)

AP (spit) - Canada’s unemployment rate has slipped to 8.2 percent as the economy gained 21,000 jobs.

Financial Times - FedEx warns on US recovery

Gallup - Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval (not good for the messiah)

Market Watch - Steep drop in credit-card balances driven by companies charging off bad debt

Bloomberg - U.S. Economy: Sales Rise as Buyers Overcome Snow, Job Concerns

Zero Hedge - UniCredit Bank Warns Of Plunge In Sterling And Gilts, As Britain Is Next Country “To Be Pummeled By Investors”

The Market Ticker - What The Lehman Report Proves: Financial Insolvency

Before It’s News - Haiti presents Obama with $14bn Bill for vision of a rebuilt Caribbean paradise

The Automatic Earth - A good deal on a bridge in Brooklyn

Econ Browser - Durable Goods and the Collapse of Global Trade

The Market Ticker - What’s our credit limit again?

CNN (spit) Money - The percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year, according to a survey released Tuesday. The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009.

The Washington Times - Last year’s underdog became this year’s front-runner Tuesday when Doug Hoffman - whose 2009 congressional race became a rallying cry for the “tea party” movement - announced he would seek the Republican nomination in New York’s 23rd District.

Money News - Japan’s Economic Growth Weaker Than First Estimated

Breaking Travel News - A rare chink of sunshine in the otherwise gloomy skies over the global aviation industry has been provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) today, as the organisation halved its loss forecast for 2010. The Montréal-based group now predicts the industry will lose US$2.8 billion over the course of 2010; compared to the US$5.6 billion loss forecast in December 2009 (break out the party hats).

Business Insider - Peak Oil Demand Is Coming, But Here’s Why It’s Not Good News

Money News - China’s Inflation Surges, Spurring Overheating and Tightening Fears

My FOX NY - The number of products being recalled because of Salmonella fears continues to grow.  More than 100 products have been recalled so far.

Naked Capitalism - The Empire Continues to Strike Back: Team Obama Propaganda Campaign Reaches Fever Pitch

The Pragmatic Capitalist - CHRISTOPHER THORNBERG: DOUBLE DIP IS COMING IN 2011

Global Security - Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell says it is no longer selling gasoline to Iran, the latest in a growing number of oil firms to halt supplies to the Islamic Republic.

NY Times - Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China

Yahoo Finance - U.S. Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High

Bloomberg - The U.S. Senate approved a $138 billion measure that would extend unemployment benefits and provide additional aid to states in lawmakers’ second major effort this year to boost the economy.

The Economic Collapse - How do you save a city that is dramatically declining like Detroit?  Well, for the mayor of Detroit the answer is simple - you bulldoze one-fourth of the city. 

Before It’s News - Pelosi We Have To Pass HC Bill To Find Out What’s In It

Bloomberg - Unemployment decreased in nine U.S. states in January, led by an improvement in Michigan that demonstrates factories are driving the economic rebound (THAT’S proof?)

Zero Hedge - ABC Consumer Comfort Index Refuses To Budge, Near 2010 Lows

National Jewel Network - The Diamond Bourse of Canada, a first for the country, will be fully operational by the end of the month in Toronto, bourse officials announced earlier this week. Since the official opening of the country’s first diamond exchange in January, its management and staff have been working hard to put the finishing touches on the bourse’s location in downtown Toronto.

Woodpile Report - Ol Remus’ weekly report.

SHTF Plan - Food Security Threat: Goverment Set to Ban Public Fishing, Individual Food Production

Bloomberg - Fed’s Evans Says Low Rates Needed for ‘Some Time’

Before It’s News - The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 22% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19

Mean ‘ol Meanie - It’s official! Michelle Obama is an idiot

Zero Hedge - ECB Warns Germany’s First Quarter Growth May Be Negative

Before It’s News - GATA Claims To Have Evidence Of “Massive Physical Short Gold And Silver Positions That Can Not Be Covered”

SHTF Plan - The subject of unemployment is the centerpiece of our modern economy. Let us imagine an economic discussion between a “liberal” and a conservative…

Telegraph - China ready to end dollar peg

Econbrowser - The Global Financial Crisis: Explaining Cross-Country Differences in the Output Impact

The US Daily - Jobs outlook may be too optimistic: SF Fed study

**The Mayor is trying to gauge the popularity of Green Shoots & Leaves. If you have a second, which you no doubt do, could you tell me whether you read this segment or not, please. The entire Mitchievillian government appreciates your participation.

USA Watchdog - New Real Numbers, Deficits, unemployment getting worse

Truth Alliance Network - Gendercide: The war on baby girls

The Housing Bubble - The Perfect Storm Of Stupid In California

Market Skeptics - It Will Be Far Worse Than The Great Depression

The Market Ticker - Oh, China Has Been Lying About Growth Too? Gee, who would have thought a communist dictatorship would pull something like President Obama has, but on a grander scale?

Before It’s News - In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.

USA Today - The economic recovery effort has not slowed consumer bankruptcy filings. They surged 14% in February compared with a year earlier, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ah yes, more of them green shoots).

University of Florida - 680 Tree Fact Sheets

Yahoo Finance - Regulators on Friday shuttered banks in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Utah, boosting to 26 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year following the 140 brought down in 2009 by mounting loan defaults and the recession.

The Market Ticker - It’s Called DEFLATION Folks

Bloomberg - President Barack Obama’s budget proposal would generate bigger deficits than advertised each year for the next decade, with the 10-year shortfall totaling $1.2 trillion more than the administration estimated, according to the Congressional Budget Office (a trillion here, a trillion there - soon we’ll be talking about serious money).

Seeking Alpha - Market talks center around the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) these days. While they fill headlines, there is one Eurozone country that may be a stealth ticking bomb: Austria.

Bloomberg -  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may force lenders including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. to buy back $21 billion of home loans this year as part of a crackdown on faulty mortgages.

Blacklisted News - To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon.

My Budget 360 - The Middle Class Financial Compact Being Washed Away – Income Dilution and the Saving Disparity. 57 Million Households Live on $52,000 Per Year or Less.

Zero Hedge - As Extended And Emergency Unemployment Benefits Finally Begin Expiring, A Much Different Employment Picture Emerges

USA Watchdog - New Real Numbers

Bloomberg - U.S. Economy: Pending Sales of Existing Homes Decline

Politico - First-term Rep. Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, saying his doctors have told him that he can’t continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.”  But several House aides told POLITICO that the House ethics committee has been informed of allegations that the New York Democrat, who is married with two children, made unwanted advances toward a junior male staffer.

Before It’s News - Since 2001, The U.S. Has Lost 42,400 Factories, 90,000 More Set to Close

Before It’s News - Fannie to Buy up to 200,000 Delinquent Mortgages in March

Global Economic Analysis - Range of snow impact on jobs, have your snow job decoder ting handy?

The Economic Collapse - The 2009 Financial Report Of The U.S. Government Is Out - America’s Economic Goose Is Cooked

Money & Markets -The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal by President Barack Obama to give people on Social Security a $250 bonus check.

The Automatic Earth -  Swaps and robbers

Business Insider - Why The Situation In Japan Is About To Get A Lot Worse

Zero Hedge - Greek Prime Minister: Greece Faces “Bankruptcy” Without Radical Action, Country Is In “Wartime Situation”

Yahoo finance - OTTAWA - The number of Canadians who filed for bankruptcy was up by more than a quarter last year, but both business and personal bankruptcies fell for the third straight month in December (this is being reported as good news, you know, framed like “bankruptcies are going down…blah blah)

The Market Ticker - Speculative Premium - And Why The Markets Will CRASH

Whiskey and Gunpowder - Paul Ryan Could Save America

Bloomberg -  China’s hidden borrowing may push government debt to 96 percent of gross domestic product next year, increasing the risk of a financial crisis in the world’s third-biggest economy, Professor Victor Shih said.

My Budget 360 - Commercial Real Estate Problems in Financial Purgatory – $3.4 Trillion Debt Market and Expansion of Interest Only Loans to Finance CRE Deals. CRE Debt Found its way into Pension Funds.

Before It’s News - Commercial Real Estate Crash Will Take Down 2,000 Banks

Seeking Alpha - Will Poland Start the Shale Gas Revolution in Europe?

Before It’s News - An updated investigation report on the scandal known as “Walpingate” adds fuel to the suspicion that President Obama may have fired Gerald Walpin, an independent inspector general, as an illegal act of political cronyism and revenge.

Seeking Alpha - Rate Hike Coming for Canada?

Telegraph - Bad debts hit record highs (UK)

Bloomberg - Commercial Mortgage Default Rate in U.S. More Than Doubles

Money & Markets - Nine Shocking New Predictions for 2010-2012

Woodpile Report - the must-read weekly report

Yahoo News - Canadians became slightly more positive in February about the outlook for the economy but remained anxious about personal finances and job prospects in the short term, a consumer confidence survey showed on Monday.

Las Vegas Review Journal - J.C. Watts: the mother of all bailouts to come

Bloomberg - GMAC’s Carpenter Gets Pay Package Rivaling Blankfein

Market Watch - Pull over, General Motors; Ford Motor Co. has taken the lead in monthly U.S. vehicle sales for the first time in a dozen years, leaving its crosstown rival and a broken-down Toyota in the dust.

Mean Ol Meanie - A Quick Linkdump of Important Stuff

Seeking Alpha - Don’t Bet on a Recovery

Zero Hedge - Greek Prime Minister: Greece Faces “Bankruptcy” Without Radical Action, Country Is In “Wartime Situation”

The Market Ticker - Speculative Premium - And Why The Markets Will CRASH

Reuters - Clinton says U.S. deficit now a security issue

The Market Oracle - Crashing Towards a New World Social Order 2012

SF Gate - Has the Golden State gone bust?

Before It’s News - Store or Starve: A beginners guide to food storage

Bloomberg - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly dropped 7.2 percent in January to a seven-month low, indicating a lack of job growth is undermining government incentives to bolster the housing market.

The Coming Economic Depression - There is No Means of Avoiding The Final Collapse

Zero Hedge -  Is Ben Bernanke The Second Coming Of Rudolf von Havenstein, The Central Banker Responsible For Germany’s Hyperinflationary Collapse (And Ostensibly WWII)?

John Galt - L0oking at some deadly charts

Before It’s News - Obama Finds Something to Cut Out of Big Government

WSJ - The car bomb that exploded in the Northern Ireland city of Newry Monday night highlights the resurgence in activity of Irish Republican splinter groups determined to wreck the province’s fragile peace process with an increasingly sophisticated use of explosives (wars and rumours ofwars).

Bloomberg - Fannie Taps Treasury for $15.3 Billion More After a 10th Loss

Telegraph - California is a greater risk than Greece, warns JP Morgan chief

The Market Oracle - U.S. GDP Contraction Double Dip Recession Coming In Second Quarter 2010?

Before It’s News - Stimulus added no verifiable jobs according to congressional budget office

The Economic Collapse - 15 reasons why Obama’s declaration “that a sec0nd depression is no longer a possibility” is dead wrong

Rasmussen - Only 10% of voters say Congress is doing a good or excellent job (which means 10% of Americans are high).

The Automatic Earth - Bumping along the bottom of the credit cycle

The Market Ticker - Durables Goods - Oops

Nolan Chart - Real, Uglier American Unemployment

Yahoo Finance - Freddie Mac lost almost $26 billion last year, ominous news for taxpayers who are footing the bill to rescue the mortgage finance company and its sibling Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac, which has lost a total of almost $80 billion since the housing crisis started in 2007, is bracing for more pain. The McLean, Va.-based company said a record 4 percent of its borrowers are at least three months behind on their payments and facing foreclosure (good times are here again, folks, now go out and spend spend spend!!!).

Telegraph - World economy to be hit by several sovereign defaults, Ken Rogoff warnsSeeking Alpha - Recent Stats Indicate U.S. Economic Recovery Was an Illusion

Yahoo Finance - The number of “problem” U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign the industry’s recovery is still shaky, regulators reported on Tuesday.

The Market Oracle - Sultans of Swap - Explaining $605 Trillion of Derivatives!

Zero Hedge - Record US Debt Vs. Keynesianism: A Bloomberg Presentation

The Pragmatic Capitalist - Steel imports climbed to $1.4B in January.  This was a 7.2% improvement month over month, but down 52% year over year – a clear sign that while things are improving we remain a long long way from recovery.

Before It’s News - New Obama Logo/Islamic Crest DoD Patches?

Seeking Alpha - Bottomless New Home Sales

Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report - Remus is on fire this week - another great read

U.S. Census Bureau News - Sales of new single-family houses in January 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 11.2 percent (±14.0%)* below the revised December rate of 348,000 and is 6.1 percent (±15.1%)* below the January 2009 estimate of 329,000 (no matter how you slice it, this is an absolute disaster of a report).

Before It’s News - Stimulus added no verifiable jobs according to congressional budget office

Reuters - U.S. states face a total shortfall of at least $1 trillion in their funds for employees’ pensions and retirement benefits, and their financial problems are quickly mounting, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States on Thursday.