This'n'That; December 30th[Kennedy;obama-clinton;Numbers;UNDER-Empl;

Kennedy "Victory Tour" [Part #19] It has long been assumed in some circles that "Princess Caroline" would be the 'bagger-apparent to Hilarity's Senatorial carpetbag. The New York Times said "she seemed less like a candidate than an idea of one: eloquent but vague, largely undefined and seemingly determined to remain that way." The New York Daily News noted that she frequently used the phrase "you know" and "ums" during an interview with them. It's been three weeks since the princess expressed interest in being NY's co-senior Senator. It's been two weeks since "Princess Caroline" made her inaugural "victory tour" into the vast wasteland of Upstate. "There has been some very rough comments," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll. "I have been surprised," he said. "The welcome mat has not been out from everybody." The princess' ascent to the Senatorial Throne is predicated upon the Senate confirming Hilarity's nomination to Secretary, Conflicts of Interest. This Guy Did, Would You? There's this guy you work with who wants to advance his career. You are in competition with him for the advanced position. In the breakroom, for all [including you] to hear, he trashes you personally, your lack of experience for the new position, you are trading on your name recognition, etc. Although you have gained most of your promotions by doing the underhanded, you never-the-less deride him for the comments he's made. You go out of your way to trade barb-for-barb for nearly a year until the decision is made as to who is preferred for this advanced position. Now, the decision has been made.... HE gets the new job; you're stuck with a job you don't perform well in, nor do you represent the needs of all members of your department-only those interests of the "inner circle!!" Inspite of your vast lack of experience, HE nominates you to be one of his deputies, in charge of dealing with the outside world. This nomination has to be approved by the Board of Directors, which is expected. The new job HE has attained is a cyclical one-HE has to gain public approval in a few years to continue in the position. HE now has you right where HE wants you!! When your confirmation is received, you'll be powerless to attempt to unseat HIM at the end of this employment cycle. If you do attempt it, you'll have to announce your intentions about a year before..... when HE'll surely fire you........ You'll be unemployed...... removed from your platform within the company where you command a certain amount of [tho' misguided] respect from the "inner circle." You'll have to take your forum outside the company and without company support. I'm not so sure I'd put an adversary in a position of trust and responsibility; although this supports the saying: "Keep your friends close-keep your enemies closer." Sound familiar? Substitute obama for "HE." Substitute Hilarity for "you/your." Important Numbers From Money Magazine 80% of male millionaires having extramarital affairs plan to cut back on lovers' gifts. 57% of students are considering less prestigious colleges for affordability reasons. 83% of September airfares had a fuel surcharge; 39% of November airfares had a fuel surcharge. 5% is the expected average coach fare increase in 2009. If you "kick-the-bucket" in 2009, you can leave an estate of $3.5Million before the Federal [and some State] Government rapes it. UNDER-Employment-More Telling Than UN-Employment? [I found this article in INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY{on-line}, Posted 12/29/2008] Unemployment is rising fast, but a broader gauge is climbing even faster with gloomy implications for consumer spending and the economy. The official jobless rate climbed to a 15-year high of 6.7% in November from 4.7% a year earlier. But that doesn't include people who have given up looking for work or those forced to work fewer hours as business conditions soured. By adding underemployed and disaffected workers to the total, the so-called alternative unemployment rate stood at 12.5% in November, the highest since the Labor Department began tracking the series in January 1994. That's up from 11.8% in October and 8.4% a year earlier. "We have obviously seen a very rapid deterioration in the employment situation," said Sophia Koropeckyj, an economist at Moody's Economy.com. "There are fewer people working and the people who are working are working fewer hours." She said the alternative jobless rate could eventually hit 15%. The U.S. will release its December employment report on Jan. 9. "Our expectation is that the recession could go on for another year and the unemployment rate will not reach a peak until 2010," she said. No Part-Time Lover Employers have already shed 1.9 million jobs this year. The spike in involuntarily part-time workers suggests more cuts are coming. The number of people who could only find part-time work rose to 7.3 million in November, up by 1.6 million just from August. They now account for 5.1% of all those employed, the highest since December 1993. Employers typically offer far fewer health care and other benefits to part-time staff. "We've seen this slow rise in involuntary part-time employment since April 2006 but it really has accelerated over the past three months," said Steve Hipple, a Labor Department economist. "It does seem that it could be a precursor to layoffs." In another worrying sign, the average work week stood at 33.5 hours in November, the lowest on records dating back to 1964. Also, the number of people who have given up looking for work because they were discouraged at their job prospects has spiked 60% in the past three months to 608,000. Rising unemployment is the key reason for a recent pullback in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity. Personal spending fell 0.6% in November, the fifth straight decline. The evidence so far suggests this year's holiday shopping season has been the worst in years, if not decades. The economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.5% in the third quarter. Experts see a much bigger contraction in the fourth with some estimates ranging up to a 6% rate. "People's incomes are being cut and then that will affect their ability to spend," Koropeckyj said. "It has the effect of exacerbating the economic downturn." Yet analysts say the rising number of part-time workers signals employers are trying to retain staff rather than having to hire and train new employees when the economy rebounds. Employers have found that workers with specialized technical skills and institutional knowledge aren't so easily replaced as they may have been in years past. "More companies have recognized the damage that layoffs bring to their systems," said John Challenger, head of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. "Layoffs now cause gaps that can't be papered over." Pay Cuts Spread Package delivery giant FedEx (FDX) said earlier this month that it will cut pay by 5% for salaried employees and suspend matching contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Eastman Kodak (EK), Motorola (MOT), Ford (F) and GM (GM) are among other companies taking similar action. More firms are expected to cut wages and benefits in 2009, along with major layoffs, analysts said. But some say a huge government stimulus planned for early next year could jump-start the economy by the second half and eventually spur hiring. "Unemployment will continue to go up for a while but I do think we'll start to see by summer the beginning signs of the next period of growth emerge," Challenger said.