Ho Ho Ho

HO HO HO....Sure, the dollar is plummeting, the housing market is tanking, and the entire U.S. banking industry is all but insolvent. But at least wages and employment have gone up this year — or so we thought until the Commerce Department's latest revision of income and job statistics:

The new report concluded that personal income from wages and salaries grew at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the second quarter, far below the 4.5 percent that had previously been estimated.

The government did not explain why the revision was made....But it was most likely, said Robert J. Barbera, the chief economist of ITG, that the largest part of the revision came from a change in employment estimates.

If so, he said, he expected the government would revise its estimate of the number of jobs created in the quarter, to as little as 50,000 a month from 126,000 a month. That would indicate that the economy was much weaker than had been thought.

Apparently part of the problem is due to our old friend, the mismatch between the payroll employment report and the household employment report. More on that later, I'm sure. In the meantime, though, just another reason to feel a little less jolly this holiday season.

The other reason to feel less jolly, of course, is that Ohio State is in the BCS championship game yet again. I hope LSU kicks their ass.