The latest release, which is the eighth installment in the franchise, surpassed the billion-dollar mark faster than its predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops, which didn’t reach the threshold until a month after release.

In fact, in a demonstration of just how popular the franchise has become, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 generated more than $1 billion in sales faster (by one day) than James Cameron’s blockbuster film Avatar.

It’s unclear how many copies this latest installment has sold, with Activision Blizzard remaining tight-lipped. But analysts expect the number tops 16 million.

Black Ops, which became the top-selling video game of all time, has sold about 25 million copies since its release last year. So MW3 seems well on its way to knocking its predecessor from the top spot.

In making its decision, Standard and Poor’s concluded:

We think the Belgian government’s capacity to prevent an increase in general government debt, which we consider to be already at high levels, is being constrained by rapid private sector deleveraging both in Belgium and among many of Belgium’s key trading partners.

In our opinion, protracted political uncertainty remains a risk to its creditworthiness, in particular given i) the likely slowdown in economic growth we anticipate for 2012, ii) increasingly difficult financial market conditions affecting most of the eurozone governments and iii) a high level of government debt and its rollover ratio and contingent liabilities related to the financial sector.

Helped by what we consider to be relatively robust economic growth of around 2%, we expect Belgium’s budget deficit in 2011 likely to be around 3.6% of GDP, which is its 2011 budgetary target. However, we believe that the beneficial effect of favorable budgetary performance on the debt trajectory has been more than offset by the additional cost of the sale of Dexia Bank Belgium to the Belgian state in October this year. The related cost increased Belgium’s debt by 1.1% of GDP, and increased contingent liabilities via the ceiling of related sovereign guarantees to Dexia SA and Dexia Credit Local by about €54 billion. This raises the future amount of outstanding sovereign guarantees to the financial sector to around €90 billion or around 24.5% of GDP at the end of 2011.

€90 billion converts to about $119 billion — a significant chunk of change for any country, more so for one lacking a government and with a gross domestic product (GDP) of about $467 billion.

Welcome to the beginning of the end of the eurozone as we know it.

“Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, who outlined an emergency plan two days ago, isn’t wasting any time taking action” in tackling his city’s financial crisis, our colleague Micki Maynard at the Changing Gears project reports. “Today, Bing said the city will lay off 1,000 employees, or about 9 percent of the city’s payroll, by Feb. 25.”

Bing (D), writes the Detroit Free Press, said in a statement that the layoffs “will be strategic. We will limit the impact on residents, protecting core services like police and fire protection as much as we can.”

Wait, you mean it’s possible to retain proper government roles while also significantly reducing the size of government? Why, it’s almost as if government is too big. Mind: blown.

Why the sudden urgency? I mean, announcing layoffs shortly before Christmas isn’t the best option. Well, as soon as April (jobs will be cut in February) Detroit will face a cash flow shortfall of $45 million, “at which time it would be insolvent”. City council members will announce their own plan, possibly including even deeper cuts, on Monday.

 The numbers released Monday are a new supplemental poverty measure aimed at providing a fuller picture of poverty of America. They are higher than the official 2010 poverty rate of 15.1 percent, or a record 46.2 million, that was reported in September.

Much of the increase in the new measure comes from rising everyday costs, such as out-of-pocket medical expenses, that aren’t factored into the official rate. Americans 65 or older had the biggest poverty jump – 15.9 percent, versus 9 percent under the official formula.

Wait, I thought ObamaCare was supposed to fix that! Next you’re gonna tell me ObamaCare is nothing more than another government dependancy program intended to lay the foundation for single-payer health care moving forward. You crazy kids.

Considering how few jobs were actually created, the drop in unemployment is likely due to workers giving up their searches and dropping out the workforce. That reduces the pool of unemployed “workers” and would lower the rate officially, though obviously with harsh repercussions on the economy.

More: CNBC confirms analysts were expecting a job creation number upwards of 100,000 for the month. Stocks are now expected to open lower on discouraging jobs data. Quoth CNBC: “The unemployment rate is stuck at 9.0 percent where it likely will be for many months to come.”

The Hill reports:

The Obama administration’s goal of stimulating the economy with “shovel-ready” energy projects was unrealistic, the Energy Department’s internal watchdog said Wednesday.

In testimony before a panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman said the department faced a series of logistical hurdles as it worked to dole out $35.2 billion in Recovery Act money for projects ranging from home weatherization to environmental cleanup.

“The concept of ‘shovel-ready’ projects was not realized, nor, as we now have confirmed, was it a realistic expectation,” Friedman said in written testimony.

Democrats continue to insist their Keynesian policies are the solution to getting the economy back on track, even after Barack Obama admitted “shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected”. In other words, his plan to stimulate the economy by pumping taxpayer money into it to directly create jobs failed.

In fact, Obama is back and trying to get another unfunded, $400 billion+ Stimulus 2.0 through Congress. He and his Democratic allies want us to again fall for the myth that government creates jobs by taking wealth from the private sector to give back to the private sector, minus overhead bureaucratic expenses.

Put together, almost 26 million Americans are either unemployed, marginally attached to the labor force, or involuntarily working part-time—a number experts say is unprecedented.

“The labor force is substantially underutilized relative to what we experienced in most of the post-World War II period,” says Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at accounting firm J.H. Cohn and former deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Labor.

Hey, I know. Let’s keep overburdening the private sector with never-ending regulations, taxes, and mandates. And then we can see how high that unemployed/underemployed number can go. 30 million or bust!

Or, we can free up the free market, cut taxes for businessmen and investors (and people in general), reduce the regulatory load, and spur the economy through proven, market-driven solutions. I know, crazy idea. But maybe we can give it a try.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, is overseeing a rising Misery Index, which combines unemployment and inflation data. In other words, things are getting worse not better. And more importantly, the American people feel as if things are getting worse or going nowhere.

An unofficial gauge of human misery in the United States rose last month to a 28-year high as Americans struggled with rising inflation and high unemployment.

The misery index — which is simply the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates — rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday.

But don’t worry, because some economists expect respite in coming months. Why? More good news:

Weakness in the jobs markets also accounts for some factors that could push inflation lower in coming months, economists say.

“With households facing weak wage growth and tight budgets, it is difficult to see a sustained, broad-based increase in prices,” said Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Neil Dutta.

So the good news is the misery index may fall. The bad news is it’ll fall because Americans won’t be able to afford stuff to buy. Yay mixed results!

Stanford—Hoover economist Thomas Sargent, a leader in the field of macroeconomics and the rational expectations revolution, was named cowinner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences today.

Sargent, 68, has been a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution since 1987. He is a professor emeritus in Stanford’s economics department and a professor at New York University.

The Nobel committee named Sargent for his “empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences noted in announcing the award. Sargent shares the prize, including the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million), with Christopher Sims at Princeton.

“Thomas Sargent has shown how structural macroeconometrics can be used to analyze permanent changes in economic policy,” the Nobel announcement said. “This method can be applied to study macroeconomic relationships when households and firms adjust their expectations concurrently with economic developments.”

Sargent is a veteran of the United States Army and received his doctorate from Harvard University.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be “absurd” in application and “impossible to administer” by its self-imposed 2016 deadline. But the agency is still asking for taxpayers to shoulder the burden of up to 230,000 new bureaucrats — at a cost of $21 billion — to attempt to implement the rules.

The EPA aims to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act, even though the law doesn’t give the EPA explicit power to do so. The agency’s authority to move forward is being challenged in court by petitioners who argue that such a decision should be left for Congress to make.

The proposed regulations would set greenhouse gas emission thresholds above which businesses must file for an EPA permit and complete extra paperwork in order to continue operating. If the EPA wins its court battle and fully rolls out the greenhouse gas regulations, the number of businesses forced into this regulatory regime would grow tremendously — from approximately 14,000 now to as many as 6.1 million.

So they want to spend $21 billion to fund 230,000 additional bureaucrats — all to regulate something they have no legal authority to regulate.

And, of course, that $21 billion in costs doesn’t include damage inflicted upon the economy though a new regulatory regime. That number will almost certainly dwarf the direct expense to taxpayers.

FRANKLIN – In the business of selling sentiments, there’s a card for everything, from traditional occasions to unique needs: cards with sound, cards for holidays, cards for losing a tooth.

But losing a job?

Yes, now there’s a card for that too.

Hallmark recently rolled out a new line of layoff greeting cards. Stores have a specific section for job loss and recession humor, offering words of support and encouragement. With the unemployment rate at nine percent, the company says customers called-in the need.

One card reads “Don’t think of it as losing your job. Think of it as a time out between stupid bosses.”

Stores report the cards are selling well. Sadly.

Asked by CNBC if he believed the US risks falling into a double-dip recession , Soros said: “I think we are in it already.”

Soros also says the financial situation in Europe is even more dangerous than the collapse of Lehman Brothers. He also said a number of smaller European nations could default and leave the single-currency system, which would make sense.

“This is a major announcement and breakthrough for our state, and shows that we’re doing the things it takes to make Florida the most attractive place for business to grow,” Governor Scott said. “My primary responsibility as Florida’s governor is to be our state’s chief advocate for job creation. That’s why I focus every day on economic development issues and identifying opportunities like this one to bring to Florida.”

Time Warner will make a $5 million capital investment in the Sunshine State. State and local authorities have offered tax incentives to the company to stimulate the job creation.

The company’s CFO John Martin says the Republican-governed state is “a great place to do business” and comes with a “a talented work force”. To the state he says:

You have created a business environment where we can feel good about investing today with an eye towards growing in the future.

Enterprise Florida President & CEO Gray Swoope says the announcement is “a major score” for the state’s professional services sector, and he joined Martin in crediting the state’s “business friendly environment” for the success.

Now we have a Democratic president who thinks the best way to stimulate economic growth is to take more money from the private sector and demonize business, while expanding welfare and running up huge debt.

And by the way, Kennedy’s plan worked. Not only was the economy stimulated, but tax revenues increased. From the Heritage Foundation:

Tax revenues climbed from $94 billion in 1961 to $153 billion in 1968, an increase of 62 percent (33 percent after adjusting for inflation).

Why, it’s almost like cutting taxes increases economic activity, which in turn generates more tax revenue. What an amazing idea! Someone should let the Obama Administration know.

A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often solicit new investors by promising to invest funds in opportunities claimed to generate high returns with little or no risk. In many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier-stage investors and to use for personal expenses, instead of engaging in any legitimate investment activity.

Yep.

Social Security takes payments in exchange for promises of future returns, then uses those payments to provide promised returns to earlier-stage investors. The government also uses that money for other expenses, including general funds. Investors are promised high returns with little to no risk.

If Social Security were a private sector endeavor and voluntary, its perpetrators would have been sitting in a prison cell a very long time ago. But instead it’s mandatory and endorsed by the federal government, so everything is apparently fine and dandy. Does that make sense to you?

Via Steven Crowder.

The application relates to Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB but excludes Saab Automobile Parts AB and overseas subsidiaries.

Netherlands-based Swedish Automobile said the purpose of the proposed reorganization was to secure short-term stability while Saab Automobile awaits additional funding.

Saab Automobile has formulated a reorganization plan, including efforts to reduce its cost base, that will be presented to its creditors in more detail within three weeks of the filing.

Production at the company’s Trollhattan plant had already been halted since April due to unpaid bills.

Does this suggest that cutting taxes…stimulates economic growth? And creates jobs?

And that higher taxes suppress economic growth and kill jobs?

Mind Blown.

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has proposed a hiring spree of 7,000 jobs in California if state leaders put a recently enacted online sales tax on hold for two years.

The offer comes as California contends with the second-highest unemployment rate among U.S. states and broad anxiety about the national economy.

The tax, which took effect on July 1, requires retailers outside of California to collect sales taxes on online orders made through California-based affiliates. If it is not enforced until 2014, the largest Internet retailer also would drop its effort to put a measure to California voters that would repeal it.

Democrats who control the state rejected the offer following a meeting with the California Retailers Association. The special interest group, composed of brick-and-mortar retailers, supported the tax hike in an effort to destroy the online company, which has seen tremendous success.

Apparently Democrats aren’t that interested in creating jobs. I mean, job creation sounds nice, but what’s the point if it costs you political support from special interest groups attempting to manipulate the market and destroy competitors? Too high a cost…for politicians.

It’s an historic failure. The last time zero net jobs were created was during World War II. 1945 to be specific. For those unable to do the math, we’re talking 66 years since the last zero month.

This pretty much guarantees Obama will be seeking reelection with an unemployment rate in the height 8s or low 9s. No president since FDR has been reelected with an unemployment rate that high.

And FDR was at least doing something. Obama offered no comment on the number as he took off for a weekend retreat at Camp David. What leadership!

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he wants his new economic adviser to give him guidance based on what’s best for the country, not politics.

Obama says that Alan Krueger will fill a crucial role on the White House economic team. Obama tapped Krueger Monday as the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

And now flashback.

It turns out in 2009 Krueger’s big idea was a $500 billion per year consumption tax. That’s right; a half-trillion dollar tax on consumers and producers. That was his big idea to get the economy turned around.

In March of this year, Kreuger predicted a steadily-declining unemployment rate moving forward. We all know how well that prediction turned out. Not so much steadily-declining as jumping and then stagnating.

This is the new guy to whom Barack Obama will turn to get the economy moving. A guy whose grand plan is a half-trillion tax on companies and consumers, and whose unemployment predictions have already been proven inaccurate.

— The likelihood of a recession within the next 12 months is 26 percent. In June, the economists had put the likelihood at 15 percent.

— The economy will inch ahead at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-September quarter and 2.2 percent from October through December. Though stronger than the growth for the first half of 2011, that isn’t enough to lower the unemployment rate much, if at all. And next year will barely be stronger.

— Weak consumer spending poses a “major” risk to the economy. In June, Americans cut their spending for the first time in nearly two years. And consumer spending fuels about 70 percent of the economy.

— The unemployment rate will end this year at 9 percent and 2012 at 8.5 percent. Those rates are slightly less than July’s 9.1 percent. But they’re more consistent with a recession than a recovery.

— The Fed’s efforts to keep interest rates at record lows may not succeed in promoting growth or easing unemployment. But its low-rate policies will likely boost stock prices.

The economists do foresee economic growth, job creation, consumer spending and home prices all rising over the next year. But the gains they expect are so slight that many Americans won’t notice.

Worse yet, these projections are actually relatively optimistic compared to projections by the financial sector. Economists at JP Morgan expect almost no economic growth and a spike in unemployment to 9.5% over the next year.

The first, Republican governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, focused on cutting spending and reducing the size of government.

The second, Democrat governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, has hiked taxes significantly and recently announced plans to hike taxes even further.

Now we’re starting to see the results of these plans.

Virginia, which took the spending cut and government reduction plan, just announced a $544 million surplus. That’s in contrast to the $4.2 billion deficit former governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, left behind.

Maryland, which took the tax hikes and more tax hikes plan, is facing another $1 billion deficit next year. They’re looking at yet more tax hikes in yet another attempt to close the gap.

The stark contrast in outcomes is amazing.

The plan to cut spending and reduce government resulted in a half-billion dollar surplus. The plan to hike taxes resulted in a billion-dollar deficit. Additionally, Virginia has a state unemployment rate of 6.1%. Maryland suffers from a 7.2% unemployment rate.

So which plan should the federal government pursue? One that takes more money from the private sector, suppressing economic growth in order to fuel an unsustainable beast? Or one that cuts spending and reduces the size of government in order to restore fiscal sanity?

The majority of economists say it’s the latter: Spending cuts and government reduction. And recent real-world results demonstrate that their instincts are right.

It’s time to cut reckless spending and reduce the size of government. We need a plan to reduce the number of government agencies, reform entitlement programs, and cut non-defense discretionary spending (defense has already been severely cut this year).

Enough pussy-footing around the issue. It’s time to get serious. It’s time for proven solutions.

The majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics believe that the federal deficit should be reduced only or primarily through spending cuts. The survey out Monday found that 56 percent of the NABE members surveyed felt that way, while 37 percent said they favor equal parts spending cuts and tax increases. The remaining 7 percent believe it should be done only or mostly through tax increases. As for how to reduce the deficit, nearly 40 percent said the best way would be to contain Medicare and Medicaid costs. Nearly a quarter recommended overhauling the tax system and simplifying tax rates and exemptions. About 15 percent said the government should enact tough spending caps and cut discretionary spending. . .

In short, a majority of economists want spending cuts, entitlement reform, and no new taxes. Or exactly what conservatives (and Republicans) have been pushing for years now. It’s a bad day for tax-and-spend liberals.

Moody’s Analytics, a sister company to credit-ratings company Moody’s Investors Service, now expects real gross domestic product to increase at an annualized rate of about 2% in the second half of this year and just over 3% next year, compared with its estimate a month ago for growth of 3.5% for the second half of this year and through 2012.

The firm attributes most of the expected decline to a loss of business, investor and consumer confidence, noting the economy’s improving fundamentals such as the strengthening of business’s balance sheets and consumers’ strides in cutting household debt.

In short, a crappy economy.

Moody’s also says it predicts a 1-in-3 change of another recession within the next 12 months. The ratings agency also says the chances of any significant economic growth or job creation have “diminished substantially”.

The “company” is drowning in debt and can’t pay its benefit obligations to power-hungry unions. Fewer and fewer Americans utilize the snail-mail, 49-cent service, instead resorting to free and instant email and web delivery.

The business model is outdated and unsustainable. First Class mail is rarely utilized, and package delivery is better performed by the private sector with its myriad of options and sustainable business models.

Even the “company” admits, in its own unintentional way, that times are changing and the need is fading away. There are now plans to shutter thousands of post office locations and layoff more than 220,000 workers (it has more than a half-million employees) over the next four years.

Billions in debt. Thousands of locations being shuttered forever. Obligations that can never be fulfilled. A failing and outdated business model. Anywhere else but in the government these are factors leading to bankruptcy and often liquidation. But it’s the government so the unmitigated failure is subsidized and its inevitable death tortuously drawn-out.

Of course, closing the “company” is a source of public controversy. After all, hasn’t the USPS been around since the very founding of America?

No. In fact, the current incarnation of the Postal Service was only established in 1971 through the Postal Reorganization Act. Not 1791 — 1971. You probably have a coin in your pocket that was minted before the birth of the current Postal Service.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to establish mail routes and all that, true. But it doesn’t require Congress to bailout failed, specific business models only created through acts of Congress 40 years ago.

In fact, the old Postal Service established by Ben Franklin no longer exists. That one was called the United States Post Office Department, and it existed from 1792 to 1971 — just shy of 200 years. That version had historical precedent and custom. This version is modern and an unmitigated failure.

So if it’s tradition keeping you from supporting the abolition of the United States Postal Service, keep all of that in mind. We haven’t had the traditional, historic Postal Service in about 40 years. That age of Franklin’s organization is long gone. This newer version is a departure from the past and pariah on modernity.

But we’re so indebted to Beijing, apparently, that we need to abandon our long-standing ally by denying her the military equipment she needs to defend herself.

But we said no. Why? Because Barack Obama has decided that we’re too weak to tell China “no”. China. The same country that hacks our computers and has established a plan to take down our electrical grid should it feel the need to do so. China. The country that paid Pakistan for access to our stealth Blackhawk that crashed in Abbottabad.

TAIPEI – Bowing to Chinese pressure, the U.S. will deny Taiwan’s request for 66 new F-16C/D fighter aircraft, a Taiwan Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said.

“We are so disappointed in the United States,” he said.

A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) delegation arrived here last week to deliver the news and offer instead a retrofit package for older F-16A/Bs that includes an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

Sorry, you’re not allowed to purchase a new vehicle. But I’ll tell you what, we’ll give you a Garmin and change out your oil. An official says the weak offer is, “meant to soften the blow of denying new planes to Taipei”.

Cowardice.

And you know what’s worse? An independent report concluded that Taiwan’s proposed purchase of new planes would create 16,000 jobs and generate $768 million in new federal tax revenue. You know revenue — that thing we need so badly that apparently we need to raise taxes in the midst of a recession. That stuff. $768 million more of it. And 16,000 jobs.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior month. The gauge was projected to decline to 62, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey…

“The mood is very depressed,” said Chris Christopher, an economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Consumers are very fatigued and very uncertain. In the short term, people are going to pull back on spending.”

And no wonder. Not only did the stock market fall by more than 400 points on multiple days, but unemployment remains at 9.1% and inflation is on the rise. Fuel prices also remain high and housing prices are falling.

What’s there for consumers to be confident about these days?

But hey, let’s keep pushing more unsustainable mandates and regulations on our private sector. Let’s keep handing unions more power so they can make the sector even less competitive globally.

That should fix things. Or not.

Gee. I don’t know. Maybe because:

• The world’s biggest economy was just downgraded.
• Italy, an economic powerhouse, may default on its debt and can’t be bailed out.
• Rumors are swirling that France may see banks collapse or the country downgraded, too.
• Britain is on fire.
• China’s economy is slowing down.
• Germany’s economy is slowing down.
• America isn’t even adding enough jobs monthly to keep up with population growth.
• No one is sure the U.S. government will follow through on the promised spending cuts.
• The president seems totally incapable of leading the country.
• Consumer confidence is collapsing.
• New and daunting regulations and mandates are being added by the government every day.

Any one of those factors would cause panic. Add them all together and you have the perfect stew for 400+, 500+, and 600+ daily drops on the Dow.

Remember how the Troika said Greece has its “budget situation” under control, and as such is a worthy recipient of the second €120 billion bailout tranche? Then perhaps they can explain to us how the following makes sense: according to Bloomberg, Greece’s state budget deficit widened to €15.5 billion in the January to end-July period from €12.5 billion euros in the year earlier period, according to an e-mailed statement from the Athens-based Finance Ministry today.

It seems the situation in Greece isn’t as under control as we’ve been told. “Austerity” is looking a lot like “spending a crapload more money than we have”.