Breezing Through the Business Section

I'm just tired of the cesspool of rot and corruption (as well as the gobs of $$$ they talk about while we all struggle; see above post). By the time I get there, I'm chock full to the mouth of agenda-pushing bile.

Here's what I could stomach today.

"Mass. feels sting of inflation, job cuts" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | August 15, 2008

If you've always felt it costs more to live here, you're right. But soaring gasoline prices, high housing costs, and rising food prices were not the only bad news for the local economy.

The state reported yesterday that Massachusetts employers shed nearly 3,000 jobs in July, the first monthly job losses since April and another sign that the national economic downturn is taking a toll here. Rising inflation and declining employment are making the state's economy look more and more like the nation's.

Leisure and hospitality, which includes hotels and restaurants, cut 2,500 jobs in Massachusetts in July, while retailers cut 100. Retailers have shed 5,500 jobs over the past year. Other key sectors losing jobs in July were manufacturing, which shed 2,400; professional and business services, 700; and construction, 500.

Education and health services, which includes universities and hospitals, added 3,600 jobs, and financial services added 100. Employment in information, a technology sector that includes software, was flat. Despite a slight decline in the unemployment rate, to 5.1 percent from 5.2 percent in June, Massachusetts' jobless rate has risen sharply in recent months, up a percentage point since April.

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"Existing-home sales fall to 10-year low; Realtors report median price plunges 7.6% in 2d quarter as slump deepens" by Bloomberg News | August 15, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Prices are declining with the United States on the brink of a recession, consumer prices rising and 30-year fixed mortgage rates at a six-year high last month. A third of all sales in the quarter were foreclosures or "short sales," in which lenders took a loss on a property, the Realtors said. Bank repossessions almost tripled in July from a year earlier, RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of foreclosure data, said in a separate report yesterday.

"It's getting worse," Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's executive vice president for marketing.

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"Wal-Mart profit jumps 17% in second quarter" by Associated Press | August 15, 2008

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. raised its full-year earnings forecast yesterday after second-quarter profit rose more than expected, helped by tight inventory controls and a renewed focus on low prices that is attracting financially squeezed shoppers worldwide.

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And out....