Texas Inmate Keith Judd Gets 40% of Votes Against Obama in WV Democratic Primary http://t.co/OxooOUmJ via @HuffPostPol #teaparty #tcot

Amen!: Want to eat healthier? Pick up some fast food and skip the restaurant: http://t.co/ou61JC4M via @lifehacker

TSA saves America from 16yo diabetic, destroys $10K insulin pump which could have been a bomb http://t.co/IDUYLHmZ via @BoingBoing

Excellent analysis of the Greek elections http://t.co/IahYJM03

Most polar ice ever recorded since record keeping started, both north and south poles http://t.co/bTxsl0l6 #ClimateChange #WarmingHoax

Inspiring! Video of disabled Gulf War vet who lost 140lbs + went from crutches to sprinting by practicing yoga? http://t.co/tM8ZS9TU

Socialist Hollande in, Sarkozy out, as France elects a new president – http://t.co/Ka8HYDCU http://t.co/AYSHoSLn

#Debt to GDP Ratios plus #Unemployment Numbers http://t.co/fCE1th4A #tcot #Obamanation #Economy #BankruptingAmerica

Reagan Vs. Obama – Social Economics 101 – YouTube

One of my favorite financial analysts is John Mauldin, both for the thoroughness of his research and his perceptive thoughts. Today he posted the extracts of an analysis of the recent unemployment report by from Philippa Dunne & Doug Henwood of The Liscio Report. The article is chock full of excellent information, but this struck a chord (emphasis added):

• The household survey was weaker than its establishment counterpart.Total employment fell by 169,000 – or 495,000 when adjusted to match the payroll concept. (The yearly gain in the adjusted household measure, 1.5%, has nearly come back into line with the payroll gain, 1.4%, after three months of strong outperformance. This is a reminder not to take these departures too seriously, unless they’re sustained for more than a few months.) The employment/population ratio fell 0.1 to 58.4%, 1.0 point below where it was when the recession ended, and where it was in September 1983. There was substantial labor force withdrawal in April, with the participation rate falling by 0.2 point, 2.1 points below where it was when the recession ended.

• The longer-term picture of labor force withdrawal is kind of shocking. Total household employment is down by 4.4 million since the Great Recession began in December 2007, and the number of unemployed is up by 4.9 million. The civilian population is up 9.6 million – but the labor force is up just 447,000. The number classed as not in the labor force is up by 9.2 million – and those not in the labor force and wanting a job is up 1.7 million. In other words, just 5% of the increase in the adult population over the last 4 1/3 years has found its way into employment; the other 95% are not in the labor force.
• The unemployment rate fell by 0.1 point to 8.1%, its lowest level in more than three years. The number of unemployed fell by 173,000 – but the labor force shrank by almost the same amount, 169,000.Without the labor force shrinkage, the unemployment rate probably would have been unchanged. Within the unemployed, the number of job losers fell – but so did the number of re-entrants and voluntary leavers, suggesting that the increased confidence we saw through those indicators in recent months may be dissipating. With the quit rate down, and the long-term unemployed dropping out of the labor force, the mid-ranges of unemployment duration (from 5-26 weeks) saw an increase, as the extreme short- and long-term durations fell.

John follows up with posting a number of interesting charts from a conference he attended last week, and once again my attention was drawn to one in particular. A couple of things to notice about the following chart. First, I don’t see how Japan can survive with debt to GDP going off the chart. Second, Greece is obviously getting better but will it be enough? Third, the US is now in worse shape than most and is now virtually tied with Italy, Portugal and Ireland.

Read John’s article in its entirety on Seeking Alpha: Thoughts From The Front Line: A Graphic Presentation

Wikipedia: List of countries by public debt