• 1) $4.8 trillion - Interest on U.S. debt (during next decade)

“More than half of the $9 trillion in debt that Uncle Sam is expected to build up over the next decade will be interest.

More than half. In fact, $4.8 trillion.

If that’s hard to grasp, here’s another way to look at why that’s a problem.

In 2015 alone, the estimated interest due - $533 billion - is equal to a third of the federal income taxes expected to be paid that year, said Charles Konigsberg, chief budget counsel of the Concord Coalition, a deficit watchdog group.”

• 2) Commercial Real Estate: Empty Giant Food HQ sells for $3.3 million

“The office and warehouse project, now called Gateway Plaza, was previously owned by Preferred Real Estate Investments Inc. of Conshohocken, Pa. The company paid Royal Hold, Giant’s Dutch corporate parent, $45 million for its 104-acre campus in 2006, when the grocery chain moved to new 53,556-square-foot headquarters in Metro East office park in Landover.”

• 3) State, local budget cuts a “time bomb” for jobs

“Budget shortfalls pose a direct threat to millions of U.S. jobs, many in the private sector, as state and local governments lay off workers and cut spending on contracts and other business services, a think tank said on Thursday.

State and local governments will have to raise taxes and cut spending in the current and next two fiscal years to cover shortfalls totaling $469 billion, according to an Economic Policy Institute report.”

• 4) Recession shows shortcomings in U.S. economic data (Reuters)

“The formula the U.S. Labor Department designed to help it deliver timely, thorough monthly employment reports broke down in the heat of the financial crisis, miscounting the number of jobs by an estimated 824,000 in the year through March.

The most likely culprit is the so-called “birth-death” model, which the Labor Department uses to estimate how many companies were created or destroyed.”

• 5) Services for Providence homeless close to breaking point

“Rhode Island – After 24 consecutive months of rising demand for shelter beds, advocates say urgent action is needed to prevent the homeless from being left to fend for themselves in the bitter cold this winter.”

“All of our shelters are overflowing,” said Johnson. “We need to do something or I’m afraid we may see men freeze to death in the winter months.”

• 6) Unemployment Drives Record Mortgage Delinquencies

“Fourteen percent of all American mortgages are either delinquent or in the process of foreclosure and the outlook is that delinquencies will get worse before they get better, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey.

Job losses, not risky subprime loans, are driving up delinquencies and foreclosures to record levels. However, not until the economy begins creating more jobs than it terminates will the housing picture improve, said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s Chief Economist.”

• 7) GM bailout costs each taxpayer $12,200, National Taxpayer’s Union says

“The study, which is based on a November report released by the Government Accountability Office, found that the average American taxpaying family has invested about $800 in the auto bailouts so far. It notes that government money provided to General Motors, Chrysler and GMAC – the financing subsidiary that supports sales at both – now stands at $78.9 billion.”

• Newsom Breaks Silence; Budget Crisis Looms (SF)

“San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on Thursday called the city’s $500 million-plus deficit “staggering.”"

“At this point, we don’t have anything to cut but bone,” Chiu said. “It’s going to be the most challenging budget situation that anyone has ever seen (in San Francisco).”

• 9) Swearengin Announces Layoffs to Cut Deficit (Fresno)

“In one of the grimmest financial announcements ever made in Fresno’s City Hall, Mayor Ashley Swearengin revealed on Thursday that the city must lay off 125 employees and close fire stations to try to reduce a $28 million budget deficit.”

“And, the mayor said, things may get worse because the city faces a stunning $87 million deficit between now and 2015.”

• 10)  Play Santa: Give us a Christmas tree, Orlando asks

“To save $22,000, City Hall won’t have its traditional conifer this year unless good Samaritan helps out”

“For the first time in memory, there’ll be no Christmas tree at City Hall.

Along with the Christmas Star that’s hung above Orange Avenue since the 1950s, the City Hall tree has been one of Orlando’s most visible holiday traditions. But in a year when the city shed more than 200 workers to avoid a budget deficit, Mayor Buddy Dyer and the City Council decided a tree was a luxury. Not buying one will save the city about $22,000.”

• 11) N.Y. cash crunch worsening, no deal in sight (New York)

“ALBANY — Lawmakers left the Capitol Thursday without a deal to close the state’s $3.2 billion budget gap, and a report Friday will show that the state’s cash crunch is getting even worse.”

“Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said his office will release a report that shows New York faces a cash-flow deficit of up to $1.4 billion in late December, higher than projections from Gov. David Paterson’s budget office.

It means the state is running out of money to pay its bills, DiNapoli warned. Paterson’s office last month predicted a $1.1 billion cash-flow deficit in late December.”

• 12) State budget gap widens (Washington)

“An additional $760 million in hoped-for state revenue evaporated in the latest economic forecast, and lawmakers began talking up the pros and cons of tax increases to help plug a budget shortfall now estimated at $2.7 billion.”

““I said last time (that) everything is on the table. I think I need a bigger table now,” Moore said.”