As the summer draws to a close, the unemployment rate has stepped up 0.3%, to 9.7%, a level last seen coming out of the horrendous double-dip recession of 1980-2. Yes, private payrolls shed less than 200,000 jobs in August, which is a vast improvement over the nearly 750,000 jobs shed in the opening month of the year. But as summer draws to a close, look around and realize nearly one in 10 of your neighbors is chewing on their fingernails and trying to hustle up a new gig. Perhaps we should rename the recent holiday Unlabor Day, in honor of those sweating out one of the toughest job markets of the post-World War II period.

From a mainstream economic perspective, it should be renamed Leisure Day, as unemployment is interpreted as an individual choice of leisure over paid labor effort. Of course, only a tenured professor could be expected

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Medtronic Inc. (MDT) recently announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Physio-Control Inc., has received 510 (k) approval from FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for its next-generation LUCAS Chest Compression System, LUCAS 2.

The device was manufactured by Jolife AB, a company specializing in developing and manufacturing the LUCAS Chest Compression System, and distributed exclusively in the U.S. by Physio-Control under an agreement with Jolife. LUCAS 2 also received the CE Mark in Europe and marketing approval in Canada a few days ago. Medtronic expects to start marketing the device in the U.S. this fall. Medtronic is one of the world's leading medical technology companies, specializing in implantable and interventional therapy devices and products.

LUCAS 2 is an automated, battery-powered chest compression device that gives consistent, uninterrupted compressions to patients in cardiac arrest. This facilitates the return of spontaneous blood circulation in patients. The battery is Lithium Ion that

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I am passing on the mic to FT's columnist Wolfgang Munchau this afternoon. Consquently, I think this is a very well argued piece which gets to the heart of the matter on the global economy as well as, in this case, the German economy. The points emphasised by Munchau are very close to the the ones emphasised my Martin Wolf and Paul Krugman; both of whose points I have dissected before; e.g. here. Especially, I think Munchau gets to the crux of things when he speaks of the implied symbiotic relationship between exporters and importers and how it is the latter group which may in fact suffer the most as we venture onwards in this mess of a financial crisis. Germany of course provides an ominous example here.

I have added the piece below (with my emphasis) ...

Let me attempt, perhaps foolhardily, to map out a scenario of

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By Cees Bruggemans

The green shoots are apparently reaching higher.

A cyclical gear change is underway, in which 2Q2009 will show much less of a GDP decline than 1Q2009. Either 3Q2009 or 4Q2009 will probably show the first cyclical uptick in our output, heralding renewed expansion.

In the US, the May non-farm payrolls gave their first positive surprise, declining by ‘only’ 345 000 jobs. The market had expected a decline of 550 000, which would have been a more modest improvement from the 660 000 average declines these past six months.

The April payroll decline was simultaneously revised down by 25 000, reinforcing the perception of reducing job losses. As job losses are a lagging indicator, these changes reinforce the view of the US economy stabilizing and shortly (3Q2009) coming out of recession.

US unemployment in

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Surge of CTIC on PIX301 Trial Data: Sustainable?Pixantrone is more efficacious than comparators but with safety concernsYesterday afternoon (June 1), Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTIC) presented updated final results of its pivotal phase III EXTEND (PIX301) trial of Pixantrone in relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) at the 2009 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting held in Orlando, Florida.The PIX 301 EXTEND trial was a phase III single-agent trial of Pixantrone for patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive NHL who received two or more prior therapies and who were sensitive to treatment with anthracyclines. The trial enrolled 140 patients and patients were randomized to receive either Pixantrone (N=70) or another single-agent drug (N=70) currently used for the treatment of this patient population and selected by the physician.Efficacy data encouragingThe efficacy data were encouraging. Patients treated with ...

By now, you have surely heard that our elitist banks passed their recent government sponsored “stress test”? Forget about it! Relying on this incestuous bunch to grade themselves is like putting Madonna in charge of screening convent applicants. Take no comfort in shams of this nature.

There are bigger fish being fried. The entire American nation is in the crosshairs and will be severely tested like never before.

Very few people comprehend the scope of the problems that continue to unfold. The Dow is up a couple of thousand points so everything must be normalizing, no?

No! Look deeper.

The US Hits the Treadmill

The core of our problems lies deep in the roots of the overall system.

The US economic model has been extremely flawed for more than an entire generation. Our “money” holds no intrinsic value. We follow the consumption mantra instead of the production model. ...

Thoratec Corporation (...

Thoratec Corporation (...

Taipan daily editor Justice Litle responds to some of his readers’ investment queries below. Is this the perfect time to get into the market, or is the market still a no-go zone?

In honor of this historic day – not to mention the risks of an unchecked majority in the senate – we’ll start things off with a little humor.

The inspiring message above is brought to you by despair.com, a tongue in cheek purveyor of de-motivational goods. If you’re getting ready to draw up your Christmas list, one of despair.com’s “government” plaques might be just the thing for the cranky libertarian in your life. (Nothing wrong with being cranky I might add.) Or if you work in a “progressive”

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Sell euphoria, buy despair. That simple maxim will make you more money than anything you ever hear on CNBC or from a broker. This year’s astonishing events should be enough disabuse anybody of the naive idea that markets are efficient and rational. The euphoric bubble in the commodity markets in the Spring was a wonderful shorting opportunity; now the cathartic despair apparent in equities should prove a decent buying one. In my last post, I predicted that we would begin to see direct capital injections to bank balance sheets, rather than the crazy Paulsen plan to rig the derivatives market. The UK yesterday became the first country to take this route, investing up to £50bn in stakes in leading UK banks. It is a model that will be followed widely I expect, most importantly by the US, and is exactly the simple and effective solution I’ve advocated here for …