So Alaska is curently in a recession, from which it will never fully recover. Oh boy.

Courtesy of ADN: 

A leading Alaska economics firm predicts our recession will continue for three more years and foresees no real recovery, just decline and then a future with a smaller economy. 

Jonathan King, vice president of Northern Economics, said he feels like he is riding a down-bound train, able to see hard times for his business a year ahead but unable to do anything about it. We visited to look down the track together and think about what is coming for his and others' families. 

King presented Wednesday to the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee after Mouhcine Guettabi, of the Institute of Social and Economic Research of the University of Alaska Anchorage. The economists' teams worked independently, using different computer models, but they came to strikingly similar conclusions. 

"This is our great recession. By the time this is over, we expect to lose 6 percent of our jobs," King told the committee. 

A recession is unfolding of similar severity to what the nation endured after the 2008 financial crisis, but with a critical difference, King said. The U.S. economy recovered. He expects Alaska's economy to shrink long term to a smaller base.

At oil going for less than $54 a barrel, and no real hope that it will go any higher, there is just not enough profit in opening new fields in Alaska for drilling. (So yes Senators Murkowski and Sullivan, that means opening ANWR does nothing to save us.)

With oil off the table as the quick fix Alaska had relied on, there is really no other fallback industry which will help Alaska get back on its feet in the immediate future.

However King did offer this one possibility:

"We're one tweet away from $100 a barrel oil," King said. "All it takes is a shooting war in the Middle East and we're back in business. Which I hate to say."

Well there's a happy thought.

Personally I am fortunate to be in a recession proof job, however I know that a recession will still have an effect on all of our lives.

So for all of you considering a move to the Last Frontier, I would suggest that you alter your plans immediately. Because simply put, we can't afford you. 

Final tally, President Obama created 11.3 million jobs.

You're welcome America.

Courtesy of CNN Money: 

The final tally is in: 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama. 

The president is claiming a big victory on getting Americans back to work again. 

"Businesses that were bleeding jobs unleashed the longest streak of job creation on record," Obama wrote in a letter to the American people this week. 

He's right: The economy has added jobs for 75 straight months, although his overall jobs gains aren't as strong as some prior presidents.

Sure other Presidents had more success at creating jobs, but then those guys did not enter office with the country losing 800,000 jobs a month, and hurtling towards a second Great Depression.

Nor did they have to contend with an opposition party that was determined to undermine EVERY SINGLE policy that they put forward.

In light of all that President Obama's achievement is historic.

Under Obama households recover almost all of the wealth lost during the Bush administration caused recession.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

American households have regained almost all of the wealth lost during the Great Recession, thanks to surging stock prices and recovering home values. 

Total household net worth — assets minus liabilities — expanded 2.6%, or $1.9 trillion, in the third quarter from the second quarter, according to a Federal Reserve report released Monday. 

It was the eighth straight quarter of increases and brought the net worth for households and nonprofit organizations to $77.26 trillion at the end of September. In nominal dollars, households already recouped their lost wealth a year ago. But adjusting for inflation, Americans' net worth is still about 0.5% shy of the peak in the third quarter of 2007, just before the recession hit. 

The biggest contributor to the latest quarterly gain in wealth was the booming stock market: Household assets in the form of corporate equities and mutual funds jumped by $917 billion, the Fed said. The value of residential real estate owned by households also helped to push up net worth with an increase of about $428 billion. 

The big wealth gain was largely enjoyed by wealthy Americans who hold the bulk of stocks. But close to two-thirds of U.S. households own homes, and should housing prices continue to rise, as expected, more Americans should benefit. 

Wait, how is this possible? I mean after all President Obama is such a socialist, right?

File this under "More news the Right Wing will never report accurately."

Want to piss off a Teabagger? Sure you do!

Then read them this list compiled by the good folks over at Forward Progressives:  

Nowhere in our Constitution does it say we’re a Christian nation. 

In fact, no where in our Constitution does the word “Christian” appear even once. 

Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion—it also doesn’t specify any particular religion. 

The 2nd Amendment actually refers to a “well regulated militia.” While it says the right for Americans to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, the phrase “well regulated” obviously infers that this right doesn’t come without regulations. 

Our Constitution doesn’t mention anything about our nation having to be based on pure Capitalism. 

A corporation is an entity, not a person, and our Constitution wasn’t created to protect the rights to entities—they have none. 

Education is more important than national defense. What’s the point of a strong national defense if there’s nothing worth defending? 

There are far more poor and middle class Americans than rich. If you continue building a society based on taking from the many to benefit the few, then we’re not going to have a nation much longer. 

Rich people didn’t become rich by giving away their money, Trickle Down Economics is the biggest con our country has ever seen. 

Decades ago we all paid a much higher tax percentage, and our economic policies protected the people more than businesses. During these times our nation saw historic growth and unheard of economic prosperity. None of that was done by basing our policies on giving more to the rich. 

Perhaps most news seems liberally biased because your news sources refuse to report facts. 

Being Muslim doesn’t mean someone isn’t American. Islam is a religion, not a nationality. 

George W. Bush actually did double our national debt, President Obama has not. 

Bush also inherited a balanced budget. It was his tax cuts and unfunded wars which sent us back into budget deficits. 

Social Security and Medicare is socialism—and millions of Republican voters benefit from, and receive, these benefits. 

Health insurance is you paying for another person’s health care—in fact all insurance is you paying for someone else. 

We had record oil prices under Bush, not Obama. 

The “Great Recession” started in 2008, while Obama took office January 20, 2009—you know, after the recession started. 

If Obama is the cause of our economic problems, why do Republicans avoid, at all costs, being associated with George W. Bush?

Okay now THAT was satisfying.

Though I think reading it aloud to one of your conservative family members might result in an actual physical altercation or perhaps they will simply put their fingers in their ears and go "La, la, la, I can't HEAR you!" until your lips stop moving.

It's funny how facts have a liberal bias, don't you think?

Just another reality check.

Seriously, could ANYBODY ELSE have done a better job?

And then you throw in the never ending obstructionism from the Republicans, and it is almost enough to convince me that Barack Obama really IS "The One."

Mitt Romney, a man who NEVER lets the facts get in the way of a good political attack.

"I'm confused. The chart could not be more clear, and yet this idiot STILL doesn't get it!"

I have the theory that the President's hair did not go grey in response to the tough decisions that he has had to make during his first term, but in reaction to ALL of the insanity and stupidity he keeps having to deal with from the Right Wing.

I am not an economist but isn't this obvious to everybody?

The heck with Congress' big stimulus bill. The way to get the country out of recession — and most people think we're in one — is to get the country out of Iraq, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

Pulling out of the war ranked first among proposed remedies in the survey, followed by spending more on domestic programs, cutting taxes and, at the bottom end, giving rebates to poor people in hopes they'll spend the economy into recovery.

This is why John McCain is so vulnerable in a national election. He wants to stay in Iraq indefinitely.

Obama could easily beat him using just this one issue.

But of course Obama has much more then that at his disposal.

My government is trying to bribe me into thinking they are doing a good job.

House leaders and the administration reached agreement today on a roughly $145 billion economic stimulus package that would quickly send payments to poor and middle-class workers while offering businesses one-time incentives to invest in new equipment and write off tax losses.

Translation: The economy is broken, so we are giving you money so that can drink yourself numb and stop being afraid.

Under the plan, as many as 117 million people would get rebate checks. Individual income tax filers would receive up to $600, working couples would get up to $1,200, and those with children would get an additional $300 per child.

$600? $600? You are going to fix the recession by giving us $600?

That will only keep me drunk for a week! If you are going to buy me off you are going to have to dig a lot deeper then that! I may be cheap and easy, but I am not that fucking cheap and easy!