• 1)  Former Soviet Nations Aren’t Banking on the Dollar

“WASHINGTON, D.C. — The dollar is not king in most former Soviet nations. In its place, Gallup surveys this year show residents in 12 of 15 countries are more likely to view their own local currency or the euro as the most profitable and safest to keep their money in.”

• 2) Economic Conditions Snapshot, December 2009…McKinsey Global Survey results

“Further, executives expect greater future volatility in exchange rates as well as significant changes to global exchange rate arrangements in the coming years–only 18% expect that the U.S. dollar will still be the dominant reserve currency in 2025.”

• 3)  Japan Plans $11 Billion In New Stimulus Spending

“The move demonstrates how the government, faced with falling public approval and increasingly entrenched deflation, is trying to spur growth ahead of an upper-house election next year.”

…………………….3A) Japan govt approves tax plan amid debt worries

“”Market players are assessing the government’s stance on fiscal discipline while watching whether it can stick to the 44 trillion yen target,” said Koji Ochiai, a senior market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities.

“They also want to see its long-term fiscal reform plan. If the government fails to meet expectations, the market will react negatively and send bond yields higher.”"

• 4) New Jersey Leads Municipal Bond Downgrades as State Aid Shrinks

“Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) — Bond ratings of New Jersey towns and cities are being reduced faster than in any other state as property values slide 11 percent and Governor Jon Corzine lowers municipal aid to cope with a $1 billion budget deficit. ”

• 5) One in five commercial properties in Boston left vacant

“Nearly 20 percent of the Hub’s commercial real estate is vacant, and rents have dropped dramatically since the fourth quarter of 2008, according to new data.”

“The latest data reveals rents fell and vacancies increased in every major Boston sub-market, including the Financial District, Back Bay, Seaport, Charlestown, North Station and South Boston.”

• 6) Commercial Real Estate Sector Not Likely to Rebound Next Year (San Diego)

“REAL ESTATE: Tenants Win Rent Concessions, Landlords Try to Keep Buildings Occupied

Commercial real estate professionals in San Diego County are bracing themselves for more lean times in 2010, as the recession continues to fuel high vacancy rates and a tight credit market makes it difficult to refinance loans.”

• 7) More budget hits on the way for Hawaii

“Gov. Linda Lingle, trying to close a $1.2 billion budget deficit through June 2011, said yesterday that she would delay tax refunds from April until July and ask state lawmakers to scoop hotel-room tax revenues that now go to counties.

Lingle would also raise taxes on insurance commissions, stop paying life insurance premiums for state workers and retirees, and end the state’s reimbursement of some Medicare costs for the spouses of retired state workers.”

• 8) Santa Clara County bus, light-rail cuts coming

“Valley Transportation Authority plans cutbacks of 8 to 16 percent due to huge budget gap

Starting Jan. 11, VTA will reduce service to help mitigate a projected $70 million budget deficit in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.Weekday service will be cut 8 percent, Saturday service 10 percent and Sunday service 16percent.The deficit is the result of a continued loss of state transit funding and a decline in sales tax revenue, VTA spokeswoman Jennie Loft said.”

• 9) Small-business bankruptcies rise 81% in California

“With credit tight and consumers still pinching their pennies, many business owners find they can’t go on.”

“”While bankruptcies are up, overall, small-business closures are up even more,” Headd said.

California has been particularly hard hit. The latest data show small-business bankruptcies up 81% in the state for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, compared with the previous year. Filings nationwide were up 44%, according to the credit analysis firm Equifax Inc.

The actual number of small businesses in trouble is probably higher, experts said, because many owners file for personal bankruptcy rather than seek protection for the business.”

• 10) Schools need post-stimulus plan, comptroller warns (New York)

“ALBANY — School districts in New York face a funding gap of at least $2 billion when federal stimulus money runs out in less than two years, possibly leading to an average property-tax increase of 7.7 percent, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned Monday.”

• 11) German union warns of 750,000 job losses

“Berlin - Germany’s biggest industrial union warned Tuesday of the threat to 750,000 jobs in the nation’s key engineering sector with Europe’s biggest economy facing only a muted recovery from recession. Indeed, a leader of the powerful IG Metall union Detlef Wetzel told the daily Berliner Zeitung that despite the expected modest economic pickup next year between 20 and 30 per cent of the German engineering sector’s capacity would not be utilized.

“We see about 750,000 jobs in danger in the short term,” Wetzel told the newspaper with IG Metall counting among its 2.4 million members workers employed in several of Germany’s major exporters including carmakers such as Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG.”

• 12) Ominous finances (Opinion…Pittsburgh)

“Ominous finances: The City of Pittsburgh will be forced to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy if it stays on its unsustainable fiscal path, say the Allegheny Institute’s Jake Haulk and Frank Gamrat. Only then can it effectively deal with its legacy costs and excessive spending, they note. “Perhaps a wise judge can fix what the city itself is incapable of doing or unwilling to do,” Messrs. Haulk and Gamrat add. It’s a sobering sentiment this Christmas week. But the time for boldness is now.”

• 13)  New low again on daily Presidential Tracking Poll

“Approval Index rating of -21 That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President”

• 14) Beware the Taxpayer Bailout of Underfunded Teamsters Pension Funds (Mish)

“Flashback May 15, 2009: Troubled trucker YRC to seek $1 billion pension bailout.

Struggling No. 1 U.S. trucking company YRC Worldwide Inc plans to seek $1 billion in bailout money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to help it cover pension obligations, a move analysts say is unlikely to succeed as the company has no financial charter.”

• 15) Against Jobs? (Ben Johnson)

Who is against jobs in the United States? The big banks, Wall Street, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Business Roundtable, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, Corporate America, the President of the United States, Congress of the United States. Everyone is crying for jobs, but no one seems to understand why there aren’t any.

• 16) ABC News: Is The US Preparing To Bomb Iran? (M.W.)

Is the U.S. stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities? The Pentagon is always making plans, but based on a little-noticed funding request recently sent to Congress, the answer to that question appears to be yes.

- Saxplayer00o1