HARBINGERS

Saudi Arabia recently said it could live with oil at $50/barrel now aims this morning to cut production by 300,000/barrels per day driving oil prices back above $60/barrel-- Not exactly a kiss on the cheek from the Prince of Saudi Oil to George Bush and his drive to avoid the odds long possibility of earning lame duck status via the midterm elections still a month away-- The fear driven inflationary run-up of oil prices over the past several years have given the citizens of the OPEC world a comfortable boost in income to which they have most probably grown accustomed-- Any cuts to such new found comforts obviously could lead to an endangerment of the well-being of those at the ministerial levels of Royal governing or at least a fear thereof adding to the incendiary cauldron of tension that seems in no hurry to depart the Middle East--

Goodyear Tire and Rubber workers 15,000 strong have struck 16 plants as talks have failed-- Analysts expect Goodyear will lose upwards of $43 million per week during the walkout but they appear game to bring down costs at the expense of American workers-- Union members may see temporary workers hired in what they see as a last stand to prevent further plant closures in America and the continued outsourcing of middle class jobs going overseas-- If sales of gashog SUV's ride the downward slide and more and more auto plants shut down as planned at the Big 3 whose factories are going to order new rubber anyway??-- In the mounting evidence of an economy enterering an undeniable slowdown not mild in magnitude , these labor struggles presage a troubling development in the body politic-- Since neither party robustly defends American labor workers should probably not entertain hope for help via the ballotbox this fall-- Since many thousands upon thousands of workers are having difficulty keeping up with mortgage payments the management/labor wars once of the past may soon be rekindled anew and to a higher and more violent caliber--

Fed Chairman Bernanke sees the Housing sector undergoing 'a substantial correction' which means the fed will probably not interrupt its cessation of higher interest rates even though the threat of inflation continues its worrisome spectre-- Some abysmal numbers from August haunt the realm of Real Estate--California = 30% drop in sales-- Florida = 50% drop in sales as well as 6% drop in median prices-- Massachusettes = 20% drop in sales followed by *5 decline in median prices-- Compounded by declines in mortgage applications as well as serious declines in orders for durable goods-- Spending growth and higher personal income failed dismally to materialize-- This statistic is beyond ominous

Profits from current production (corporate profits with inventory valuation and
capital consumption adjustments) increased $22.7 billion in the second quarter,
compared with an increase of $175.6 billion in the first quarter.
Current-production cash flow (net cash flow with inventory valuation and capital
consumption adjustments)--the internal funds available to corporations for
investment--increased $1.1 billion in the second quarter, compared with an
increase of $125.3 billion in the first--

Goldilocks has been bitten by one of those nasty bears-- There are no headlines announcing new hirings in the tens of thousands--The numbers for September won't be available until later in the month but trend reversals don't seem to be the order of the day-- By then we could all be out On TheNickle--