2. Why the real unemployment is at least 15%? Because the 9.5% only includes those who are drawing unemployment, it does not include those who are past that, those who are dejected and not looking for jobs any more, those who are in jail, those who are homeless, and those who would like to work but are forced to be “home-makers.”

3. Are the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies really decoupled from the West? If so, how will they pull us out of the ditch we are in? Also, if they are really decoupled, why do those stock markets go down 40 to 50% when Dow goes down 40%? Is it prudent to invest in BRIC stocks?

4. Dr Bernanke’s recent thrashing at the hands of lawmakers during his Congressional testimony regarding BOA's acquisition of Merril Lynch: It feels good to know that some bankers (as in the CEO of BOA) got thrashed by the Fed, but did Dr. Bernanke and other Federal Reserve executives prop up the worse bankers (as in the employees of Merrill Lynch) in the process?

We analyze all the above in enough detail to keep you entertained throughout this 20 minute long podcast.

1. Campaign finance (discussed in depth in the last podcast): It is a social evil, so what can you do? Don’t contribute to it, for the politician will take your 25 dollars, but since the banks have contributed more, will favor the banker. Proof? The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, of course.

2. Analysis of the 101 page Financial Regulatory Reform document: The report is a summary of why the financial meltdown occurred. It promises future benefits to consumers through a Consumer Finance Protection Agency (CFPA); but the Indy-Macs of the world are bankrupt and gone. What could have been a better boost to “C” or Consumer spending in the macroeconomic equation GDP = C + I + G? The report also talks about a new Financial Services Oversight Council, which will be chaired by the Treasury Secretary. But the current secretary has a track record of supporting banks like Goldman. Is the needed Will lacking in the current administration to do meaningful reform?

When the intent is not right, how can the results be? When the dust settles, the bankers will gather again and say: Let’s make some more money. They will appoint a few hundred lawyers to find loop-holes in the laws, so that they can bypass the regulations, if at all there will be any. If the past is any indication, the treasury secretary will join the party, just as Rubin and Summers have done in the past. Where is the fundamental change that President Obama promised the people? Listen to the podcast, which is less than seventeen minutes long…

1. Goldman returned the $10 billion from TARP, but when will the bank return the $12.9 billion from the AIG handout? The bank escapes the authority of the newly appointed compensation czar, and is on course to pay nice bonus to executives who mis-managed the business...the government is giving up $1.8 billion in interest payments from these banks? So what did we the people gained by helping banks like Goldman? Foreclosed homes making us sleep in our cars? 20% of us digging into our retirement savings to get by? While our tax dollars go towards the payment of the Goldman bonus?

2. Campaign Finance Reform needed: In 1999, members of Congress who supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act received twice as much money from commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance companies as those who opposed the measure. This act de-regulated the banks, which were being regulated by the Glass Steagall act since the great depression. Result? In 10 years, we have the great recession! As long as the financial institutions keep placing the politicians in power, the main street will keep buring.

3. The neighborhood stabilization program is worth tapping into for buying foreclosed properties. However, home prices are declining, and the government will not bail you out if you falter in your mortgage payments. Tread with caution; buying foreclosures also means shouldering the underlying hidden debts attached to the property!

4. At 8800, Dow Jones is 37% down from its all time highs, and 37% up from its 52 week lows of 6440. Before getting excited about the stock markets, let's research whether in the long run, bonds have out-performed stocks (we will bring the results of this research in a future podcast).

Listen to the ten-minute podcast for the details.

1. GM Bankruptcy: At $91 billion in assets when going bankrupt, GM was way behind Lehman Brothers, which, while going bankrupt, had assets worth $651 billion! Hummer sold to Chinese machinery maker. GM Michigan jobs decimated 90% in last 30 years.

2. Analysis of the 100 day report from the US Treasury: Taking $27,000 per person and giving back only $65/month? And the rest goes to Bankers' bonus payments etc.? Is giving each American a $27,000 bailout a better option instead, for it will bring up the C in the macroeconomic equation GDP = C+I+G? Also, will the $8000 tax credit for first-time home-buyer a fail-safe plan, like the TARP bailed-out Wall-Street Banks' escapades?

3. Unemployment is now at 9.5%, foreclosures keep rising (1 in 73 homes), and another 1.5 million to join the ranks of the homeless in the next 2 years?

4. Introducing APT (Arbitrage Pricing Theory), and application thereof to two job-loss scenarios: software jobs going to India and auto manufacturing jobs (the latest being Hummer from the bankrupt GM) going to China. In which scenario can the administration do something meaningful?

5. Defining the greedy parasites / hypocrites who set policy as toxic oxymorons or "toxy-morons" and appealing to their higher natures not to loot the working poor and not to give the loot away to rich bankers.

The people are suffering, but the policymakers in Washington believe that looting from the working-poor and giving to the rich-bankers is the way to improve the economy! Listen to the podcast for the details...

1. Worst recession in 50 years: last two quarterly declines are at 6.3% and 5.7% respectively!

2. Worst unemployment in 25 years: At 9%, the unemployment numbers are at 25 year highs, formal unemployment numbers for the month of May to be announced this Friday by the Commerce Department

3. Federal Reserve's plans to load up the asset side of its balance sheet with toxic assets from the likes of Fannie and Freddie, and to drive down mortgage rates; is not working: markets are dumping Mortgage bonds, and US Treasuries. If yields on these bonds keep rising, the Fed can't stem the looming inflation!

4. Listening to "experts" can be great folly: The markets have come up 30% (Dow Jones) to 40%(Nasdaq) since March lows. However, to go past the all time highs of more than 14,000, the Dow Jones Industrial Average will need to climb another 65% from where it is today(at 8500). So, the bear market continues, and reflects the present state of the economy.

5. Is the current policy to stem bank jobs while letting Chrysler and GM go bankrupt radical change, or is it same old, same old? What is the current status quo, and what to do to change it?

6. One in 8 mortgage payments is behind schedule. Nearly half of all foreclosures are now prime mortgages, not sub-prime! Banks are robbing Americans twice, first by issuing a loan and pocketing nice cash bonus off the MBS (mortgage backed security) trades, and then by foreclosing your home when you can't pay and selling it again. As a first time buyer, should you give 30 years of your life and your income to that unscrupulous financial institution, just so that you can "buy" that first home?

Listen to the podcast for the details...

1. GM to close down 1100 dealerships, Chrysler to shut down close to 800 dealerships

2. Goldman Sachs passes stress tests, and stresses that the 2009 bonus payments will be as good as 2008, "banks too big to fail" fail the tests, and will need more taxpayer handouts...

3. Unemployment climbing to 8.9%, real unemployment at 15%. Foreclosure filings for April at an all-time record high for the month. In otherwords, unlike what the Kudlows and the multi-million-dollar salary pocketing journalists think, the economy is getting worse.

4. Is America on the wrong track? Auto manufacturers go bankrupt as American jobs shift to China and Japan, while the Washington policy makers who came from Wall-Street try to save the bank jobs.

5. Three questions you can ask President Obama on Economic Policy Making in your next town-hall meeting...

Listen to the podcast for the details...

1. The Chrysler Bankruptcy, 23000 hourly workers fired by GM, looming closedown of Boston Globe, etc

2. Details on the $14 trillion value drain currently underway from Main Street to Wall Street. Included are $5 trillon from stock market declines, plus $8.7 trillion in Federal Reserve and Treasury bailouts. This mammoth amount equals 1 year of US GDP (gross domestic product).

3. Some local news: For 20 business days ending April 8th, home prices in Silicon Valley fell almost 36% compared to the same time period last year in Santa Clara county, and foreclosure related default notices went up 25% for the month of March, compared to March of last year.

4. Dow climbed, and gold and bond gave way. Gold closed at less than 900 dollars per ounce, for a weekly decline of almost 3%.

5. Sage statements by Warren Buffet's deputy, the 85 year old Charles Munger.

Listen to the podcast for the details...

1. The SIGTARP (Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program) report which was out this week has opined that pPIP and TALF programs are open to FRAUD risks. in particular, the pPiP program is open to fraud, waste, and abuse, as per SIGTARP! We have been saying something similar in our last two or three podcasts. Are the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in collusion to bail out Wall Street at the cost of causing havoc to the residents of the main street?

2. Some local news: For the month of March, home prices in Silicon Valley fell almost 40% compared to the same time period last year; this is a very significant drop in the affluent Santa Clara valley / county.

3. The Dow's 6 week climb was halted, and it fell 55 points for the week. Gold climbed from about 870 to almost 913 dollars per ounce.

4. Concluding thoughts regarding Fed's multi-trillion dollar commitment to buy assets from every-one --- Fannie and Freddie, Money Market Funds, the trillion dollar TALF program --- if these assets turn toxic (the ones related to mortgage already are), will they poison the other assets which will sit next to these toxic ones in the already beefed up Fed balance sheet? And what it might mean for our progeny...

Listen to the podcast for the details...