Quick hit observations

Some quick observations this morning.

-When the unemployment rate for July is announced later this morning, I EXPECT an increase in the unemployment rate. Don't let them continue to clobber you with the unexpectedly adjective. If every increase had been that unexpected, we should fire the economists for repeated incompetence.

-RIM has been hit in Saudi Arabia with a ban on its messaging and other applications due to 'security concerns'. People can send messages without government being able to track it. So? How about banning burkas so people can't smuggle explosives? This is either political power concentration, economic protectionism or part of a local hysteria that has swept other countries in the Middle East. Perhaps all three.

-Is all that oil in the Gulf gone? Was Tony Hayward of BP right that it is a drop in the bucket? Or is it still a disaster and just hustled off the front pages to protect President Obama? Perhaps a bit of both.