Soullfire's Mission: Financial Freedom!

Another 651K jobs lost in February brings us up to these current record levels. In addition, the January jobs loss numbers were revised upwards to include an additional 161K jobs going bye bye.

Now here's the nasty little secret that's not being proclaimed loudly in the news- the 8.1% figure only reflects those who are receiving unemployment compensation. It doesn't include those who are under-employed, as in working a part time or lower wage job out due to the shrinking market as well as those who have given up looking for work and are no longer getting unemployment compensation. Include these folks and the "true" unemployment rate jumps to around 15%. Not good. It's at the point where just about everyone knows someone who has been impacted by layoffs, if not themselves.

The New Dollar Menu Grows

Company	3/6/2009 Closing Price	Closing Price 1 Year Ago (3/6/2008)
American International Group:	$0.35	$42.88
CitiGroup:	$1.03	$21.17
General Motors:	$1.45	$22.35
Bank of America:	$3.14	$36.52
Alcoa:	$5.22	$38.37
General Electric:	$7.06	$32.86
Dell:	$8.37	$19.43
American Express Company:	$10.26	$41.29

Meanwhile the number failed banks going under FDIC continues to grow:

Bank Name	Closing Date
Freedom Bank of Georgia, Commerce, GA	6-Mar-09
Security Savings Bank, Henderson, NV	27-Feb-09
Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, IL	27-Feb-09
Silver Falls Bank, Silverton, OR	20-Feb-09
Pinnacle Bank of Oregon, Beaverton, OR	13-Feb-09
Corn Belt Bank and Trust Company, Pittsfield, IL	13-Feb-09
Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast, Cape Coral, FL	13-Feb-09
Sherman County Bank, Loup City, NE	13-Feb-09
County Bank, Merced, CA	6-Feb-09
Alliance Bank, Culver City, CA	6-Feb-09
FirstBank Financial Services, McDonough, GA	6-Feb-09
Ocala National Bank, Ocala, FL	30-Jan-09
Suburban Federal Savings Bank, Crofton, MD	30-Jan-09
MagnetBank, Salt Lake City, UT	30-Jan-09
1st Centennial Bank, Redlands, CA	23-Jan-09
Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA	16-Jan-09
National Bank of Commerce, Berkeley, IL	16-Jan-09

That brings the failed bank count up to 17, in a little over 2 months into the new year. For comparisons, in 2008 there were a total of 25 banks that failed, and just 3 for the entire year of 2007.

I find it humorous that there are folks trying to blame Obama for this wreck even though he's only been in office for about all of 6 weeks and the market was already well into free fall under Bush. You really have to wonder about people who think things can magically change overnight with a new presidency- as in if McCain were elected instead, the current situation would be drastically different and life would be rosy. These folks need to get a dose of common sense - we didn't get here overnight, and no one should expect any quick fixes. The problem is too many people tend to ignore finances and have little understanding even now about what the problems are. Of course when the Fed Chief Bernanke continues to pump misinformation out like saying the economy may turn around next year when he really has no clue, it just makes it harder for people to get to the truth.

Labels: bank failure, banks, dollar stocks, job loss, unemployment