To show you the kind of idiocy that passes for economics, The Wall Street Journal, in a story about the imminent rise in the minimum wage from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour, notes that the Economic Policy Institute “estimates that the minimum-wage increase will add $5.5 billion to the economy” which makes me laugh – Hahaha! – in a mocking-yet-scornful way as my humble way of saying, “These guys are idiots!”

JPMorgan Cuts 2,800 WaMu Jobs; GM Post $30-Billion Loss; Hong Kong Exports Sink; IGM Retains 2009 Outlook; Jobless Claims Spike; Oil Rises for Second Day in a Row

For one moment, forget about stock markets as divine measures of prosperity. Focus on the lives of ordinary citizens. We read that 28 million Americans will subside on food stamps this year — the most since Congress enacted the program in the 1960s.