funny pictures and bizarre news

The borrow-and-spend bubble has popped.

• The U.S. Conference of Mayors predicts 1.4 million additional foreclosures in 2008, triggering devaluation of mortgage-backed securities in the hundreds of billions.
• Credit continues to contract because banks do not yet know how degraded their loan assets will become.
• The Federal Reserve is fighting the credit crisis and potential deflation with massive injections of money, thereby weakening the dollar and fueling inflation.

The U.S. government is living beyond its means.

• The government spends $1.3 billion per day over what it takes in.
• The U.S. debt grew 9.5% last year, surpassing $9 trillion at the end of 2007 — about $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.
• U.S. government liabilities, including net social insurance commitments, now total $53 trillion — $450,000 for each household.
• To bridge the gap, the Federal Reserve “prints” more money.

As more dollars are created and put into the economy, the purchasing power of all dollars is reduced.

• The dollar is backed by only a promise, so it is easy to create more dollars (at the stroke of a keyboard) when spending exceeds income.
• The total number of dollars grew 11% in the last year to $12.6 trillion.
• As of December 2007 the amount of money is growing at an annualized rate of 14.7%.

The purchasing power of the dollar is falling at an accelerating rate.

• The Farm Bureau’s survey shows the cost of a basket of 16 basic grocery items rose by 10.9% in the first three quarters of 2007.
• A gallon of gas is up 39% from a year ago.
• Health insurance premiums rose at double the rate of inflation in 2007.
  
• The dollar is hitting new lows against foreign currencies.

It looks as if San Francisco is about to lose its most eligible bachelor. Mayor Gavin Newsom, 40, proposed to his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Siebel, 33, while they vacationed over the weekend in Hawaii, and she accepted, said Stanlee Gatti, a friend of the couple who spoke with the mayor after he proposed.

A date has not been set, Gatti said.

It would be the first marriage for Siebel, 33, and the second for Newsom, whose four-year marriage to Kimberly Guilfoyle ended in divorce in March 2006.

AP Photo: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom smiles as he campaigns in San Francisco in this Nov….

The two were introduced by mutual friends in October 2006. Siebel, who lives in Los Angeles, stood by Newsom after he publicly admitted in February that he had a drinking problem and had had an affair with a former staff member’s wife.

Siebel has a recurring guest spot on the NBC police drama “Life.” She also appears in the 2007 film “In the Valley of Elah,” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron.