Wildfires took a tough toll on Southern California over the weekend: Hundreds of homes destroyed, thousands of people displaced, smoked-filled skies that forced people to wear masks, freeways closed and rotating blackouts. And the fires still burn.
Could America Follow Japan Into Recession?
Japan announced Sunday that its economy contracted in the third quarter, the second consecutive quarter of decline, officially putting the world's No. 2 economy in a recession. Japan's gross domestic product fell at an annual pace of 0.4 percent in the July-September period, following a 3.0 percent decline in the April-June period.
Data being released today show Japanese companies sharply cut back on spending amid the global slowdown.The fall of Japan's economy raises some sobering questions about the health of the U.S. and the global economy.
Japan joins Italy, Germany and rest of the 15 countries that use the euro are officially in a recession, the European Union said Friday, as their economies shrank for a second straight quarter because of the world financial crisis and sinking demand. EU statistics published Friday show the euro zone shrank by 0.2 percent in both the third and second quarters compared to the quarter before. Two successive quarters of negative growth is the usual definition of a recession.
Wall Street also ended a turbulent week with another astonishing show of volatility, plunging, recovering and then plunging again as investors absorbed another wave of downbeat economic news.
Hedge fund selling in advance of a Saturday deadline contributed to the market's gyrations, which left the Dow Jones industrials down about 338 points, or 3.82 percent, at the 8,497 level. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell more than 4 percent. In remarks prepared for a central banking conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Bernanke said "continuing volatility of markets and recent indicators of economic performance confirm that challenges remain."
Bernanke on Friday also pledged to work closely with other central banks to fix global financial problems and is leaving open the door to a fresh interest rate cut to help brace the sinking U.S. economy.
Top Economists Think Recession Has Begun
A survey of the nation's top business economists finds a worsening outlook through next year. Downgrading the forecast amid the growing financial crisis, the National Association for Business Economics survey looks for gross domestic product to fall 2.6 percent in the final quarter of this year. The group's panel of 50 economists sees growth of just 0.7 percent in 2009.
Some 96 percent of the panelists believe that a recession has begun. The economists expect the jobless rate to rise to 7.5 percent by the end of next year. They look for home sales and housing starts to hit bottom by the middle part of next year.
Election Spurs 'Hundreds' Of Race Threats, Crimes
Racial incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the post-election glow of racial progress and harmony.
From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and even second-graders.
There have been cross burnings. Schoolchildren have chanted "Assassinate Obama." Black figures have been hung from nooses. Racial epithets were scrawled on homes and cars.
Layaway Program Returns To Sears Stores
Sears looked to the past Sunday, bringing back its layaway program after it was scrapped nearly two decades ago. The retail store said it decided to bring back its layaway program after noticing a strong response from shoppers to the pay-as-you-go plan at its Kmart stores.
"We saw the very positive response to our sister retailer's Kmart layaway program," Sears said in a statement. "In this difficult economic climate, extending the layaway program at Sears is an easy decision."
Most layaway programs allow shoppers to put some money down for merchandise, and then instead of using a credit card, the store holds the purchase and allows the customer to pay in increments over time. Once the item is paid off, the customer can pick up his or her merchandise at the store.
Kmart continued its layaway program for decades after most retail stores axed similar programs, but Kmart just started promoting the option for the first time in years in late October. Some shoppers said they think bringing back the layaway program is a good idea in the currently tough economic environment.
"I think it's a great idea for people to be able to make small payments to get their Christmas present," said shopper Margaret Hamlin in Atlanta. Other stores have also started to advertise layaway, including Marshalls and the Burlington Coat Factory.
Shuttle Endeavour Crew Welcomed Aboard Space Station
The crew of the international space station has welcomed aboard the crew of the shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle docked Sunday, kicking off what promises to be an "extreme makeover" for the space station to make it more livable, with accommodations for six full-time residents, not just three as now.
Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff was especially excited to see Endeavour arrive. He's been living on the space station for almost six months, and the shuttle is his ride home. He warmly greeted Sandra Magnus, who's taking his place. As the shuttle hooked up Sunday afternoon, engineers on the ground were still looking at images from Friday night's launch. They want to make sure there's no damage to Endeavour from debris at liftoff.
At least two pieces of debris were spotted, but Mission Control said so far, there's no sign of damage. Analysts will keep looking at images from near the tail of the shuttle before reaching any conclusions. It's part of the routine inspection that's been done since the Columbia disaster in 2003. Endeavour is bringing equipment that will expand the outpost into a two-kitchen, two-bath, five-bedroom home.
The Roman Catholic Church is cutting off funds to the community organizing group ACORN, citing complaints over its voter registration drives in the November 4 election as part of the reason. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development froze its contributions to the group in June amid allegations that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million.
This week, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Baltimore, Maryland, the campaign's chairman said it was cutting all ties with the group.
"We simply had too many questions and concerns to permit further CCHD funding of ACORN groups," Roger Morin, the auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, Louisiana, told his colleagues in a letter to the conference.
The CCHD has donated more than $7.3 million to ACORN-related projects over the past decade, including $40,000 to an ACORN chapter in Las Vegas, Nevada, that was raided before the election in an investigation into fraudulent voter registration forms. Among other questionable documents, the ACORN chapter submitted registration forms for members of the Dallas Cowboys football team.
ACORN contends it has tried to help head off election fraud.
"In nearly every case that has been reported, it was ACORN that discovered the bad forms and called them to the attention of election authorities, putting the forms in a package that identified them in writing as suspicious, encouraging election officials to investigate, and offering to help with prosecutions," ACORN said in an October 9 news release.
Morin said a church review completed in November found ACORN no longer met standards of further funding. The reported embezzlement dates back several years, but was only recently disclosed to ACORN board members and donors. Morin said the registration fraud complaints "raise additional serious concerns."
KLAX, KBNR, FOX News, Associated Press, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, WSB Radio
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