The American dream is drowning in debt, says Andrew Gordon. The middle class are being squeezed as tumbling asset prices hack away at household wealth. And things won’t change unless the government steps up to the plate.

More from Andrew at Investor’s Daily Edge:

We’re in a “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” economy. And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.

Our economy floats on the whims of the American consumer. When they feel confident about the future, they spend. The more they spend, the better the economy does. This is oddly true even if 80 percent of the spending is on goods from Asia.

Right now the American consumer isn’t feeling so confident and the economy is suffering as a result.

But if we spend more, we go more into debt. We’re already spending more than we make. And the

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Avanex Corporation, a global provider of optical network solutions, today announced the appointment of Dr. Giovanni Barbarossa as CEO, President, and Director. Dr. Barbarossa has been with the company for 8 years, serving as Chief Technical Officer and Sr. V.P., and, since July, as Interim CEO. He has also been named as a member of the Avanex Board of Directors.

Prior to Avanex, Dr. Barbarossa held senior management roles in the Optical Networking Division of Agilent Technologies, and in the Network Product Group of Lucent Technologies. Before that he was with AT&T Labs, and a research associate with Bell Labs. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Glasgow, U.K., and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bari in Italy.

Paul Smith, Avanex Board Chairman, commented on the factors involved in the decision, including Barbarossa’s company and industry knowledge, and his strong relationships with customers. “During

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What will Paulson say?   Dollar remains well bid…   How long for Safe Haven buyers?   G-20 Schmee 20! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Well… Nothing has changed since I left you last Wednesday. The awful economic data just keeps piling on, and the dollar gets bid up on safe haven purchases. We did see the Eurozone and Japan announce that they are in a recession… Chris was kind enough to leave me the following, so here’s some more Chris….

“The dollar weakened slightly after the US Industrial production numbers showed a rebound in October. The 1.3% monthly gain sounds great, but it followed September’s drop of 3.7% due to the Gulf Coast hurricanes. After adjusting for the effect of the hurricanes and a strike at Boeing, output dropped .7 percent during each of the past two months. The trend continues to be very weak, and the recession which currently grips the US is now expected

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Today before the bell, MyECheck announced that Simon Properties Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG), the largest U.S. publicly traded real estate company, signed an agreement to utilize the company’s comprehensive suite of electronic check processing services. Through this agreement, Simon Properties’ customers will be able to use their checking accounts as a method of payment.

Simon Property Group, Inc., an S&P 500 company, operates from five retail real estate platforms: regional malls, Premium Outlet Centers, The Mills, community/lifestyle centers and international properties. Currently, the company owns or has an interest in 379 properties comprising 258 million square feet of gross leasable area in North America, Europe and Asia.

MyECheck’s patented system provides businesses with the most flexible means of payment processing for its customers. The system is capable of clearing checks from every U.S. checking account, unlike ACH, and only costs a fraction of the

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The G20 Summit was first proposed by the UK and France during the first waves of the global economic meltdown. It was long anticipated as a coming together of the major nations in the world to discuss necessary changes to help better regulate international finance, attempt to help stabilize the current turbulent markets, and discuss ways to have additional oversight on the international playing field.

After unprecedented global cooperation of bank bailouts and stimulus packages during the crisis, there was much debate about the outcome of the summit this past weekend. Unfortunately, world markets reflect a relatively negative viewpoint of the outcome– falling multiple percentage points in Europe (-2.4% UK, -3.35% Germany, -3.3% France), the Middle East (approx. -1.0% in Israel, Kenya, and Egypt, and 6% in Saudi Arabia), and mixed returns in Asia (+3/4% in Japan,

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GreenChek Technology (GCHK) is a maker of a hydrogen-generating system that helps internal combustion engines burn fuel more cleanly and efficiently. The company’s Onboard Hydrogen Generation (OHG) system produces and then injects hydrogen gas into a regular internal combustion engine. Hydrogen enhances the combustion process by allowing a more complete fuel burn while significantly reducing harmful emissions typically consisting of unspent fuel. GreenChek has operations in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe.

The Onboard technology is also used for emissions reduction technology and fuel economy enhancement in trucks, locomotives, and automobile engines. Independent studies have shown that GreenChek’s technology lowers emissions by as much as 50%, reduces fuel consumption, increases horsepower, improves engine life, reduces maintenance costs and requires only minimal driver maintenance and intervention. The company is forming partnerships with Fortune 500 companies such as TNT and Norbert Dentressangle Group, as well as with the French government and conducting field

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This week is shaping up to be another active one on the bailout-and-financing front. First and foremost, Congress returns to work this week to consider a once-unthinkable proposal: Put up billions in taxpayer-backed loans so that Detroit’s “Big Three” can be saved. Expect a fight, however, as the bailout debate finally moves past banks to focus on General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler Corp.

The situation is dire. GM is burning through cash at a pace that could mean bankruptcy, and all three players are struggling with high costs, weak vehicle sales, frozen credit lines and dwindling cash reserves calling into question whether they can survive much longer without government help. The answer, of course, is that they probably can’t.

But it’s here that the debate turns political, the Detroit Free Press reports. Congressional Democrats are pushing for some form

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Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. (CEMI.OB), a company that develops, manufactures, and markets simple and cost-effective testing devices, recently announced its financial results for the third quarter 2008. Chembio is focused on high-quality rapid testing kits for detecting diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis to the worldwide market.

In the third quarter 2008, Chembio recognized total revenue of $3.52 million, which is a 52% increase compared to the same period in 2007 of $2.31 million. The company’s positive revenue numbers were mainly due to the company’s strong sales of its HIV testing kits in the U.S. and in Africa along with its increased sales in Brazil, Asia, and the Middle East.

The company increased its technical and manufacturing capacity over the third quarter, while reducing SG&A expenses. Chembio managed to reduce overall SG&A costs by 3.5% over the period. By controlling its SG&A costs and increasing its sales numbers, the company was

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This article gives you a very clear picture (pardon the pun) of the horrible air pollution in China. "A noxious cocktail of soot, smog and toxic chemicals is blotting out the sun, fouling the lungs of millions of people and altering weather patterns in large parts of Asia, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations."

This article gives you a very clear picture (pardon the pun) of the horrible air pollution in China. "A noxious cocktail of soot, smog and toxic chemicals is blotting out the sun, fouling the lungs of millions of people and altering weather patterns in large parts of Asia, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations."