The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash.

The bleak warning of social and financial meltdown, delivered today in Tokyo at a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign wealth fund managers.

Dr Faber, who advised his audience to pull out of American stocks one week before the 1987 crash and was among a handful who predicted the more recent financial crisis, vies with the Nouriel Roubini, the economist, as a rival claimant for the nickname Dr Doom.

Speaking today, Dr Faber said that investors, who control billions of dollars of assets, should start considering the effects of more disruptive events than mere market volatility.

“The next war will be a dirty war,” he told fund managers: "What are you going to do when your mobile phone gets shut down or the internet stops working or the city water supplies get poisoned?”

However, despite fears that Boomers will trigger a collapse of Social Security, experts say the system can and will survive for decades and generations to come.

Congress made significant fixes to Social Security during the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s, and there appears to be a slowly gathering political will to make it solvent for the next 75 years.

The sharp drop in the work force - 661,000 fewer people - showed that more of the jobless are giving up. Once people stop looking for jobs, they're no longer counted among the unemployed.

When discouraged workers and part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs are included, the so-called "underemployment" rate in December rose to 17.3 percent, from 17.2 percent in November. That's just below a revised figure of 17.4 percent in October, the highest on records dating from 1994.

According to the government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.

The number dwarfs the statistic most people pay attention to—the U-3 rate—which most recently showed unemployment at 10.2 percent for October, the highest it has been since June 1983.

The difference is that what is traditionally referred to as the "unemployment rate" only measures those out of work who are still looking for jobs. Discouraged workers who have quit trying to find a job, as well as those working part-time but looking for full-time work or who are otherwise underemployed, count in the U-6 rate.

With such a large portion of Americans experiencing employment struggles, economists worry that an extended period of slow or flat growth lies ahead. (Source : CNBC )

U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, according to a government report on Friday that fueled fears the weak labor market could undermine economic recovery.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was the highest since June 1983 and payrolls had now dropped for 21 consecutive months.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected non-farm payrolls to drop 180,000 in September and the unemployment rate to rise to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent the prior month. The poll was conducted before reports, including regional manufacturing surveys, showed some deterioration in employment measures. (Yahoo )

And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults - aged 16 to 24, excluding students - getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession - in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.

Job market not likely to recover until 2014

Unemployment for teenagers stands at nearly 26 percent. More than 758,000 workers are so discouraged they quit looking for jobs altogether, by far the biggest such number since the Department of Labor started tracking it in 1994. Damage continues to mount in the manufacturing, financial and construction sectors.

In all, some 14.9 million people are out of work and looking for a job.

Payroll Losses Slow, Jobless Rate Up

The pace of U.S. job losses slowed in August while the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high, signaling the recovery from recession will be slow to develop.

Employers cut payrolls by 216,000, fewer than forecast, after a 276,000 drop in July, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 9.7 percent; the so- called underemployment rate -- which includes part-time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- reached a record 16.8 percent.

The Youth : Terrible unemployment rate

 Pity the unemployed, but especially pity the teenage unemployed.

Your faithful webmaster is STILL one of the unemployed I've applied to a dozen places, and only gotta a few call backs. The only problem is that the call backs were to tell me "sorry sir, we're not hiring at this time". These new numbers and predictions really worry me. I sure as hell can't make it til 2014 without a viable job... I don't think my friends that got laid off can either. Something has to break...

Higher oil prices brought on by a rapid increase in demand and a stagnation, or even decline, in supply could blow any recovery off course, said Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the respected International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, which is charged with the task of assessing future energy supplies by OECD countries.

In an interview with The Independent, Dr Birol said that the public and many governments appeared to be oblivious to the fact that the oil on which modern civilisation depends is running out far faster than previously predicted and that global production is likely to peak in about 10 years – at least a decade earlier than most governments had estimated.  

The U.S. Labor Department says unemployment is over 10 percent in more than 16 states last month. The rate in Michigan surpassed 15 percent, the first time any state hit that mark since 1984. Home to the nation's struggling auto makers, Michigan has been clobbered by lost factory jobs. Its jobless rate of 15.2 percent in June was the highest in the country, but the record-high for the state was 16.9 percent in November 1982.

Your faithful webmaster is one of the unlucky ones...

The Labor Department report, released Thursday, showed that even as the recession flashes signs of easing, companies likely will want to keep a lid on costs and be wary of hiring until they feel certain the economy is on solid ground.

June's payroll reductions were deeper than the 363,000 that economists expected.

However, the rise in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent in May wasn't as sharp as the expected 9.6 percent. Still, many economists predict the jobless rate will hit 10 percent this year, and keep rising into next year, before falling back.

All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.

The bank did not provide a specific estimate, but bank officials said its economists would be publishing one in the next several weeks.

Until now, even extremely pessimistic forecasters have predicted that the global economy would eke out a tiny expansion but had warned that even a growth rate of 5 percent in China would be a disastrous slowdown, given the enormous pressure there to create jobs for the country's rural population.

The World Bank also warned that global trade would contract for the first time since 1982, and that the decline would be the biggest since the 1930s.

Jobless rate jumps to 8.1 percent in Feb., highest since late 1983; employers cut 651,000 jobs

The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs amid a deepening recession.

Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a wave of layoffs unlikely to ease in the coming months.

-=> DEBATE THIS TOPIC ON OUR FORUMS!

It has a profound impact on all life on Earth, yet for decades it has been conspicuously absent from public debate.

Most natural scientists agree our growing numbers and our unchecked impact on the natural environment move us inexorably toward global calamities of unthinkable severity.

They agree the need to address population has become desperate.

Yet many environmentalists avoid the subject, a few objecting strongly to any focus on our numbers.

Some activists insist acting to influence population growth infringes on human rights; they maintain that it is best to leave the problem alone.

Household names from electronics retailer Philips, construction equipment maker Caterpillar and upper class retailer Fortnum & Mason are slashing jobs in one of the worst days for workers in recent memory.

Thousands of the job losses are due to hit in Britain with steel giant Corus axing 2,500 British workers as it cuts its global force by 3,500.

The scale of the challenge world leaders as they grapple with the worst economic downturn since the second world war was underlined as Gordon Brown today issued a stark warning that the global economy will be undermined unless countries work together to tackle the financial crisis.

The price of New York oil dropped to below 34 dollars a barrel -- the lowest level since 2004 -- as weak global demand overshadowed a record cut in output that was announced this week by the OPEC cartel of major oil producers.

"The global recession continues to sap demand... Even after OPEC cut production by more then two million barrels, oil prices have fallen below the 40 dollar per barrel level," said BetOnMarkets analyst David Evans.

Olivier Blanchard also warned that the institution does not have the funds to solve every economic problem.

"The worst is yet to come," Blanchard said in an interview with the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper, adding that "a lot of time is needed before the situation becomes normal."

Asian and European stock markets were down sharply Monday amid growing alarm over the world's financial system after a seismic shake-up on Wall Street, with Lehman Brothers saying it would file bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch being sold to Bank of America.

 Source : Yahoo News

Britain is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years which will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, tells the Guardian today.

In the government's gravest assessment of the economy, which follows a warning from a Bank of England policymaker that 2 million people could be out of work by Christmas, Darling admits he had no idea how serious the credit crunch would become.

 Source : Guardian UK

China is set to overtake the US next year as the world’s largest producer of manufactured goods, four years earlier than expected, as a result of the rapidly weakening US economy.

The great leap is revealed in forecasts for the Financial Times by Global Insight, a US economics consultancy. According to the estimates, next year China will account for 17 per cent of manufacturing value-added output of $11,783bn and the US will make 16 per cent.

 Source : FT.com

Oil futures blasted to a new record over $122 a barrel Tuesday, gaining momentum as investors bought on a forecast of much higher prices and on any news hinting at supply shortages. Retail gas prices edged lower, but appear poised to rise to new records of their own in coming weeks.

Oil prices have nearly doubled from about $62 a barrel a year ago, which Goldman sees as a sign that the world is in the midst of a "super spike" in oil prices. Analyst Arjun Murti said in a research note released Monday that prices would ultimately force demand to fall sharply.

 Source : Yahoo Biz

Gas prices rose further into record territory Monday, pulled higher by resurgent oil futures and a growing belief that gasoline supplies are falling as the summer driving season approaches.

Oil futures, meanwhile, jumped by more than $2 a barrel as traders bet the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates. Comments from OPEC suggesting the cartel plans no production increases also boosted oil prices.

At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of gas jumped 3.6 cents over the weekend to a record $3.339, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's 58 cents higher than a year ago. In New York Mercantile Exchange trading, May gasoline futures rose 2.68 cents to settle at $2.7835 a gallon.

 See Also : Iran to OPEC: Stop Oil Sales in Dollars
 Source : Yahoo Business 

Lloyd's of London warned yesterday that an absence last year of natural disasters or man-made accidents was putting pressure on firms to reduce premiums in 2008.

The world's oldest and biggest insurance market said that though the lack of major disasters had allowed firms to push up profits 5% in 2007, underwriting margins were being squeezed. Almost half of the 320-year-old market's business was conducted in the US last year. It is a major insurer of the Florida seaboard and oil rigs in the gulf of Mexico. In 2005, a series of natural disasters culminated in Hurricane Katrina clattering into New Orleans. The clean-up bill pushed Lloyd's into a £103m loss.

However, two years of relatively few claims for environmental damage have increased competition in the sector. "On the back of a good performance in 2007 we need to sound a note of caution for 2008 because of softening market conditions and because of the financial turmoil we have seen," said Richard Ward, chief executive of Lloyd's.

 Source : Guardian UK

The dollar has plummeted against all major currencies on dire US retail sales and fears that the Federal Reserve may need to slash interest rates further to stop the downward spiral in the credit markets.

The greenback broke below 100 yen in a day of wild trading, setting off alarm bells at Japan's Keidanren industry lobby. It touched a record $1.5620 against the euro and came within a whisker of parity with the Swiss franc for the first time in history. The plunge came amid an investor flight into commodities, seen as a way of insulating wealth from the dollar's decline. In the US, crude oil reached a record $111 a barrel despite rising inventories.

 Source : Telegraph UK

Wall Street joined the global equity market sell-off this afternoon while the FTSE 100 ended the day down 1.5% as fears over a weak dollar, credit market turmoil and impending recession continue to rattle nerves.

Markets in Asia, Europe and the US have all been sold off over the last 24 hours. The dollar is also coming under significant pressure, not helped by more bad news from the US economy today, this time on high street spending. Meanwhile oil and gold have shot up to record highs on the back of the weakening US currency.

The dollar fell below 100 yen for the first time in 12 years today and hit a new record low against the euro amid fears in currency markets that the US financial system is vulnerable to the recession spreading from the crisis-hit housing sector.

 Source : Guardian UK

The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 0.7 cent overnight to $3.222 a gallon, 69 cents higher than one year ago, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Last May, prices peaked at $3.227 as surging demand and a string of refinery outages raised concerns about supplies.

That record will likely be left in the dust soon as gas prices accelerate toward levels that could approach $4 a gallon, though most analysts believe prices will peak below that psychologically significant mark. In its last forecast, released last month, the Energy Department said prices will likely peak around $3.40 a gallon this spring; a new forecast is due Tuesday.

Retail gas prices are following crude oil, jumped 24 percent in a month on its way to setting new inflation-adjusted records four times last week. On Monday, crude prices surged to yet another record after the Commerce Department said wholesale sales jumped by 2.7 percent in January, their biggest increase in four years, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

 Source : Yahoo News