Labor

No it is not, a slowing economy crippled by 346% in debt/GDP; it's not the artificially high exchange rate (which was pegged to a dollar when it was plunging during QE1-3 and is now soaring) yet which China can't aggressively lower either as that would mean a disorderly flight of capital from the mainland; it's not the feedback loop of plunging commodity prices and highly levered domestic corporation which can not pay their annual interest expense payments; it's not the recently burst housing bubble; nor is it the burst stock market bubble which recently popped, or the bond bubble which is

Submitted by Jed Graham via Investors.com,

Hiring at restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality sector venues slowed markedly last year in metro areas that saw big minimum-wage hikes, new Labor Department data show.

Wherever cities implemented big minimum-wage hikes to $10 an hour or more last year, the latest data through December show that job creation downshifted to the slowest pace in at least five years.

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

Following Jason Furman's "Baghdad Bob" appearance on CNBC this morning...

http://player.cnbc.com/p/gZWlPC/cnbc_global

It is President Obama's turn to gloat over the awesomeness of a 4.9% unemployment rate (never mind the fact that the gains during his presidency have gone to low-paying jobs). A job is a job after all... right?

With a stock market screaming for The Fed to back off (i.e. desperate for bad news), Obama better be careful not to paint too rosy a picture of his "Mission Accomplished" jobs recovery...

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,