An article from Reuters this morning claimed "The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week" (source) which begs the question exactly who's doing the expecting? Anyone living outside the government bubble and the ivory towers of academia knows that the job market is not improving and the recovery that President Obama is constantly bragging about has not reached the working (or suddenly not working) class of America.

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Since cost of living adjustments are tied to inflation which is negative this year, the government announced today that there will be no adjustments for Social Security recipients next year. The 2009 increase of 5.8 percent was the largest since 1982 and was due mostly to a spike in energy costs. Those costs have dropped considerably this year but since by law Social Security payments cannot go down, they will merely remain at the current rate this year. (source)

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Last Thursday, bond fund manager Bill Gross warned that the U.S. may lose its AAA credit rating. The same day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 130 points. (source) The following day, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reassured the press that the White House isn't too concerned about the U.S. losing its perfect credit rating. (source)

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