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“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria!”

Maybe it’s time to cue up R.E.M…

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, I feel fine.”

I’m starting to think I should get back to work on that underground bomb shelter again – not so much in case of nuclear attack – just for my family and me to live in for a while until the nation gets its act back together.

Let’s take a look at some of the fun economic news hitting the wires today…

Trump Bankruptcy

Isn’t that an oxymoron?  Apparently not.

Donald Trump‘s casino group is looking to file for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal said, less than two weeks before the new Celebrity Apprentice starts. This is among Trump’s most embarrassing failures.

Trump has experience with bankruptcy proceedings.  Tuesday’s aniticpated filing will be the 3rd time this casino group has gone into bankruptcy.   What makes this time even more embarrassing is that this is the same company that filed for bankruptcy back in November 2004, during the 4th season of The Apprentice.

Kansas Delays State Tax Refund Checks

Income tax refunds and paychecks to state employees could arrive late, if at all, after Republican leaders and the Democratic governor argued yesterday over how to solve the state’s cash-flow problem.

Payments to Medicaid providers and public schools could also be affected.

“We are out of cash, in essence,” state budget director Duane Goossen said.

The move places state taxpayers, workers and schoolchildren in the middle of a political battle over budget cuts.

Republicans, who hold majorities in both chambers, blocked Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ proposal to borrow $225 million from healthy state funds to cover shortages in accounts used to meet the state’s payroll and issue tax refunds.

Republican leaders said they had no choice.  By law, Kansas cannot borrow any more money from itself.

“Through their refusal to act today, the Republican legislative leadership is jeopardizing our citizens’ pocketbooks for no other reason than to play political games — games in which the only ones set to lose are Kansas families, workers and schools,” Sebelius said in a written statement.

Stanford Financial Group Freezes Withdrawals: U.S. Marshals Inside

The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed civil charges against Texas billionaire Robert Stanford, Stanford Financial Group, his offshore bank, two of his Houston-based companies and two other officers, alleging that they have orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar investment fraud scheme on certificates of deposit.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor issued an order freezing the defendants’ assets and appointed a receiver to marshal them. “As we allege in our complaint, Stanford and the close circle of family and friends with whom he runs his businesses perpetrated a massive fraud based on false promises and fabricated historical return data to prey on investors,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, in a statement. “We are moving quickly and decisively in this enforcement action to stop this fraudulent conduct and preserve assets for investors,” she said.

Alfredo Perez, spokesman for the U.S. Marshal’s office in Houston, said marshals entered to the Stanford Financial Group offices around 10 a.m. this morning. He said they are not removing anything from the building, but are there to make sure no one disturbs computers or documents.

A sign posted on the doors read: “We are temporarily closed; the company is still in operation but under the management of a receiver. For updated information please visit our Web site at www.stanfordfinancialreceivership.com.”

Think we’re done?  No way.

California to Begin Layoff Proceedings

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger = “You’re terminated.”

With state lawmakers still unable to agree on a budget after three days of discussions and negotiations, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is prepared to lay off 10,000 to 20,000 government workers.  He also said that his administration would halt the final 275 state-funded public works projects still in operation.

The projects, with a total cost of $3.8 billion, include improvements to 18 bridges and roads in L.A. County to keep them from collapsing in earthquakes.  Until now, they had been allowed to continue as others were halted as California was running out of cash.

“We are dealing with a catastrophe of unbelievable proportions,” said state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach and chairman of the Senate transportation committee.

Tech Layoffs Hit 300,000

Layoffs within the tech arena are picking up speed.  Since late January, when tech layoffs stood at 200,000, another 100,000 job losses have either been announced or completed.

The past couple of weeks have been especially harsh in tech world, with layoffs announced by Pioneer (10,000), Cisco (3,000), Panasonic (15,000), NEC (20,000), Electronic Arts (1100) and AOL (700). Even Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, who had been holding their own over thepast few months, were forced to slash their workforces.  Google, who was able to avoid layoffs until late January, continued giving pink-slips over the past few weeks with the company’s exit from radio. Sadly, a few start-ups weren’t able to weather the storm, with eBaum’s World cutting all of its workforce.

Hmm – maybe they should have kept eBaum on board?  Let’s home www.eBaum.tv fares a little better.

There’s more, but frankly I’m getting too depressed to keep writing.  Hey, maybe this will cheer us up.

Check out Family Guy’s spoof of Christian Bale…

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