Are The Flowers Blooming Yet?

BP has made some substantial profits and raised their dividends for investors and many of those investors are public service unions and public service pension funds. The doomsday in the Gulf simply did not happen and most mitigation is complete.

Gisele has managed to throw her hubby’s teammates under the bus by blaming Brady’s inept performance on others. As a power couple they are very low on my list and certainly make all three Manning’s - Archie, Peyton and Eli look All American with their selection of spouses that happen to have a wee bit of common sense.

Tom Brady will be 35 years old and can certainly beat up on the 25 teams in the NFL that are just pedestrian but against the big boys with crushing defenses Brady is just an average QB at this stage of his career. He is certainly on the downhill side and has stated he wants to “play into his 40s.” For you movie buffs he is non Ron Catlin.

Greece is once again controlling the markets world wide with their on and off again approach to austerity. The usual comments by the financial talking heads is that Greece is symptomatic of the rest of Europe. The Greek government is stuck between the EU and their own austerity program causing strikes and civil unrest.

I converted from Comcast to Verizon and IMO that is like would you rather be hung or shot? But one difference I did notice is Verizon has a real orderly control center in the basement. Nice boxes with no wires all over the place like Comcast had.

Pitchers and catchers report in two weeks.

Downward mobility. That is the economic phrase being tossed around regarding job creation. The jobless figures are now 8.3% or a U6 of 15.1%. Closer examination shows declining wages in these new or revived positions. The AFL-CIO has spoken out about it. A weakness that hopefully will change.

Europe is about to enter a second recession and England is a clear sign it is on its way. A small drop in GNP for the 4th quarter of 2011 signaled the Bank Of England to infuse more cash into the economy but with the staggering debt of Greece being only the first of many European countries on the brink trouble is ahead. Unbridled socialism comes with a heavy price tag.

Latest Obama budget is at 3.8T. So much for austerity.

Lots of rumors running around semi quaint Middleboro on who is running for state rep.

A fifteen acre park in Boston needs six folks with 100K+ salaries including a director making more than the mayor to be run? The Greenway is an example of pork gone wild.

“T” is in debt but makes a bundle of new hires? Amazing.

President Obama has reached or is that dropped to a new low. His loyalist are organizing “Truth Teams” that should number around (hopefully, for them) about two million to “help” and “educate” in swing states. Attack watch is special. Reminiscent of the old Soviet apparatchiks monitoring the housing blocks for non-compliance. Report your neighbor!

The economy is ticking slowly upward and still remains fragile. Unemployment is at 8.3% and the U6 is at 15%. A manufacturing report comes in positive and is offset by lackluster retail sales. New jobs are created and what transpires is downward mobility in their wages. Commodities go up and up and a visit to the super market shows that. Fuel costs represent an 800 pound gorilla. Hosing confidence (builders) is on a five month upward trend. Stocks have appreciated but earnings are flat and that could translate into contraction in manufacturing. Then Europe is a mess. The trend is at least up - slowly - rather than down.

The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas is noted for their high caloric food. A gentleman in his 40s was attacking the 6,000 calorie burger with its twelve slices of bacon when nature took its course - he had a heart attack. No word on his condition.

Middleboro is still not out of the running for a casino. Looking at the latest rumors about a 100 cities and towns remain a possibility.