Keeping the Faith...and Shedding Science

NYT reports that "President Obama signed an executive order Thursday to create a revamped White House office for religion-based and neighborhood programs, expanding an initiative started by the Bush administration that provides government support — and financing — to religious and charitable organizations that deliver social services. “No matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone,” Mr. Obama said. “There is a force for good greater than government.” In announcing the expansion of the religion office, Mr. Obama did not settle the biggest question: Can religious groups that receive federal money for social service programs hire only those who share their faith? The Bush administration said yes. But many religious groups and others that are concerned about employment discrimination and protecting the separation of church and state had pushed hard for Mr. Obama to repeal the Bush policies. Meanwhile, other religious groups were lobbying to preserve their right to use religion as a criterion in hiring. Some religious social service providers warned they might stop working with the government if they were forced to change policies.

Obama's government has proposed some curbs on exec compensation. "The new rules would set a $500,000 cap on cash compensation for the most senior executives, curtail severance pay when top executives left a company, restrict cashing in on stock incentives until government assistance was repaid and prod corporate boards to closely scrutinize luxury perquisites like private jets and country club memberships."...(NYT. ) But this is being criticized by Dimon of Chase, Immelt of GE, and a bunch of guests on CNBC. The sheer greed of these crooks is astounding.

FT reports that "US credit card delinquencies hit a record high in January, and further deterioration is likely as the economy slows down and unemployment rises, Fitch Ratings says. Payments at least 60 days late rose almost half a percentage point last month to a record 3.75 per cent, said Fitch. Credit card lenders also wrote off loans to delinquent borrowers at close to record levels, and such “charge-offs” were expected to breach records in the coming months. Michael Dean, managing director at Fitch, said: “US consumers continue to struggle in the face of mounting pressures on multiple fronts from employment to housing to net worth.”Late payments on credit cards crept higher throughout 2008, said Fitch, but signs of borrower stress rose in the fourth quarter as late payments surged by 18 per cent. Charge-off rates in January were 40 per cent higher than a year ago at 7.5 per cent and were expected to approach 9 per cent during the second half of 2009..... Credit card lenders have also suffered as consumers rein in their spending. Fourth-quarter earnings reports from JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America showed a steeper-than-expected drop in card volumes: down 8 per cent, 15 per cent and 13 per cent, year on year, respectively."

Bloomberg reports that "Initial jobless claims increased by 35,000 to 626,000 in the week ended Jan. 31, the highest level since October 1982, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The total number of people collecting benefits jumped to a record 4.788 million a week earlier, today’s report showed. Companies from Macy’s Inc. to PNC Financial Services Group Inc. are announcing job cuts as consumers and businesses rein in spending, and that’s likely to prompt even further pullbacks in coming weeks. The government is forecast to report tomorrow that the U.S. lost 540,000 jobs in January. “It’s astonishing how quickly American businesses are laying people off,” Roger Kubarych, chief U.S. economist at Unicredit Global Research in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. “They’ve learned that they have probably had too much staff for the kind of economy they foresee and they’re laying people off left and right.”