Terrible Stats

Newspaper ad sales during the first quarter shrank 28.3%, or $2.6 billion, from where they were during the same quarter a year ago, according to a new slew of statistics from the Newspaper Association of America.

More bruising stats from the report:

* Print ad sales declined 29.7% to $5.9 billion
* Online sales down 13.4% to $696.3 million
* Classifieds down 42.3% to $1.5 billion
* Ad sales collapse 16.6% to $37.8 billion in 2008. The worst decline ever.
* 2009 revenues will likely come in lower than $30 billion, less than they did in 1987
* Employment advertising shrank 67.4% to $205.4 million
* Real Estate down 45.6% to $336.9 million
* Auto down 43.4% to $332.8 million
* National campaigns down 25.9% to $1.1 billion
* Retail down 23.7% to $3.3 billion
* "Other" down 16.5% to $587.7 million
Source

Debt Issues Resolved Temp ?

Obama to Sell B-2 Bomber Blueprints to China to Pay Off Debt

Record deficits and a crashing economy appear to be taking a toll on the young Barack Obama Administration. The Administration has been talking about hiking income taxes and perhaps instituting a VAT tax.

China is also concerned with the mounting deficits in the United States budget. China is the single biggest holder of US Treasury Bonds and is one of Washington’s biggest trading partners. The People’s Republic has had a burgeoning economy, but is increasingly wary of the falling US dollar.

While the exact amount of Chinese ownership of US treasuries is unknown, it is estimated to add up to over a trillion dollars. If China were to call in US guarantees on these bonds, economists fear it could lead to an economic collapse larger than the Great Depression.

China has recently expanded its defense budget, ostensibly to keep up with its economic growth. China is reportedly working on its own version of a stealth bomber (the US has the only functioning model) but is lagged by technological defects.Full Story

Did they do their Due Diligence ?

Northwestern Mutual Makes First Gold Buy in 152 Years

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., the third-largest U.S. life insurer by 2008 sales, has bought gold for the first time the company’s 152-year history to hedge against further asset declines.

“Gold just seems to make sense; it’s a store of value,” Chief Executive Officer Edward Zore said in an interview following his comments at a conference hosted by Standard & Poor’s in Brooklyn. “In the Depression, gold did very, very well.”

Northwestern Mutual has accumulated about $400 million in gold, and Zore said the price could double or even rise fivefold if the economy continues to weaken. Gold gained 10 percent last month, the most since November. The commodity has more than tripled since 2000, rising for eight straight years. Gold futures for August delivery slipped $4.80 to $975.50 at 4:03 p.m. in New York.Full Story