no good news

From John Mauldin 2010.01.08

• credit card lending dropped $17 billion last month, the largest drop in history. And this was during Christmas!
• roughly 8% of the working population is getting some form of unemployment assistance
  
• the actual, the real [unemployment] benefits paid (Initial, Continuing, and EUC claims) hit another record of 11.268 million
• one in eight children in this country is living on food stamps

if you look at past recessions, it is not all that unusual (8 out of 11 times) for there to be positive GDP quarters in the midst of an ongoing recession. 

• year-over-year comparisons are looking better, since 2008 was horrific
• the way GDP is figured, a reduction in inventory reduces GDP. ... because inventories not falling any more, it is easier to get a positive GDP
• growth in GDP in the third quarter was attributable to the [federal] stimulus
• reduction in imports is also a positive for GDP