12/15/09 Midday Report: Porter trims forces to 4 as commodities laugh at competitivie advantages

The big news today is that wholesale inflation is up 1.8% and manufacturing in the US is churning out more goods people can't afford to buy, especially if prices have to be raised now that input costs/commodities are moving up faster than expectations (weird that expectations were wrong, though much less weird than the new hair trend sweeping across the US).  With the continued increase in commodity prices, unemployed aging workers are rushing to their dentists to have their gold/silver/mercury fillings pulled to sell them on the black market.

In world markets,  Greece is the latest country now seemingly assfucked (which apparently the Greeks actually enjoy, so kudos to them on that) as their credit rating was downgraded last week by Fitch from "you need a little perfume" to "take a fucking shower."  The Greek prime minister George Papadapolis has said he will cut Greece's current 12.7% budget deficit to 3% over the next few years by exporting more baklava, feta cheese, and Greek Helmets.

And in stock news, WFC becomes the latest bank to raise money to pay back their TARP funds in order to be able to pay bonuses to all of the employees who didn't destroy value (surely someone gave a small business loan that worked out, I mean they are getting free fucking money.  Even Bernie Madoff could make money doing that.).  At this rate, the banks will have their balance sheets all squared up in no time so they can continue to not lend to consumers and businesses without having to worry about the pesky government.