Report: Job cuts spiked in January

After the holiday season, it's not much of a surprise that retail was a big part of the cuts. The cuts in the financial services market does make one wonder about where that industry is headed in 2012. CNBC:

The number of job cuts announced by employers jumped 28 percent in January, led by retailers and financial firms, according to the latest report by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Still, job losses announced last month were the lowest on record for a January, the month that typically sees the greatest number of layoffs, the firm said. Employers last month said they planned to cut 53,486 positions, compared with 41,785 job cuts announced in December. The January job cuts were 39 percent higher than during the same period a year earlier, when employers said they planned 38,519 cuts.

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Video: North Koreans do "Take on me" on accordions

I love the first comment on YouTube:

Yes, but you see, the great leader Kim Jong Il composed this song back in the 80's. It was a huge hit all over the world.

The second one's not bad either:

"Uh, Jan Di you were a little flat on measure 47. I'm afraid we're gonna have to put you down."

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More Brubeck in 5/4: Castilian Blues (live)

My favorite Brubeck tune of all time, "Castilian Blues" is from Brubeck's third time-change album, following the ground-breaking Time Out and its signature track, "Take Five".

The album version, which I can't find on the Tubes, has the sweetest Paul Desmond solo in the world (seriously). This live-for-TV version has a killer drum solo. (Imagine drumming free-lance in 5/4. No wonder Brubeck says in his intro that the group had to work up to this stuff.)

Enjoy:



If you want to count along, it's not hard. The 5 beats are divided 3 + 2 through most of the piece. The bass player lays down a consistent ground rhythm to keep everyone oriented. When Eugene Wright is in the shot, listen to his beat. Everyone else is listening to him, including the drummer, Joe Morello, who almost flies away near the end of his solo.

Advanced project for music students: Listen for the use of a minor second as a three-beat harmony in the last phrase (it's the "clunk" Chopsticks-like accompaniment you hear briefly as two next-door keys are played at the same time). Nicely written — that's part of the composition, not the improvisation.

(And if anyone finds a YouTube-like link to the album version, please post it in the comment. I'd like to put it up for contrast — with credit, of course. My thanks!)

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US automotive manufacturers back in profit

This is the industry Mitt Romney and the Republican party wanted to leave to die. Guess what, Obama's rescue plan worked and as a result half a million Americans kept their jobs and are paying taxes rather than collecting welfare. [Salon]

The numbers are hard to argue with: After the major automakers released their January sales figures, Autodata Corp. estimated cars raced out of lots at an annualized sales rate of 14.18 million vehicles for 2012. That’s the best month of sales — excluding August 2009′s Cash-for-Clunkers — since April 2008. GDP forecasters are likely rejiggering their first-quarter estimates even now.

Just how does the GOP think it can get away with having proposed the hugely unpopular and expensive TARP bailout of the banks who caused the financial crisis with their fraud and opposed the hugely successful bailout of the auto industry?

Oh silly me, they plan too lie about it knowing that the New York Times, Washington Post and the rest of the establishment media will never call them on it. Read the rest of this post...

Clinton calls for united front against Syria

The UN option has never really been an option so this is the best hope for achieving pressure against Assad. It's not a great option but since invading Syria is even worse, it's about the only viable option. The Guardian:

Hillary Clinton has called for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite against President Bashar al-Assad following China and Russia's veto of a tougher UN response to his regime, which she described as a "travesty". Speaking in Sofia a day after the collapse of the UN security council resolution, the US secretary of state said the international community had a duty to halt ongoing bloodshed and promote a political transition that would see Assad step down. She said the "friends of Syria" should work together to promote those ends. Clinton was harshly critical of Saturday's veto by Russia and China that blocked UN action against the continuing violence in Syria. "What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," she said.

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Krugman: "We're already in a new great depression"

Via Digby, we find this, from The Professor's latest trip to Euro econ meetings. These are his reflections.



Who knows? He could be wrong.

Update: Keep in mind, World War II was a lot of things. Among them, it was the mother of all government-spending stimulus programs. The Keynesisans were right.

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