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REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. wholesale inventories fell modestly in January, while sales rose to their highest level since October 2008, suggesting that inventories would continue to support economic growth in the first quarter.

The rise in sales pushed the inventory-to-sales ratio, a measure of how long it would take to sell stocks at the current sales pace, to a record low of 1.10 months' worth from December's 1.12 months, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia posted net gains in employment in January, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, providing further evidence that the economy is slowly gaining momentum.

The state-by-state January employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics clarifies and deepens the national employment data released last week, which suggested that employers have stopped firing workers and are starting to hire.

By J. S. Kim
Seeking Alpha

Despite the fact that nearly all of the macroeconomic trends I have predicted since 2006 on my blog, the Underground Investor, have come true, the percent of people that disagree with my predictions for 2010 and 2011 still outnumber those that agree by a factor of ten to one. There is a rational explanation why the public still grants a great deal of validity to the opinions of people I like to call the “men who cried wolf” – Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geitner, Gordon Brown, Alan Greenspan, et al.

The banks that control the world’s supply of money are no better than counterfeiters – and their system of juggling debt has left the global economy teetering on the brink of ruin. Convicted fraudster Darius Guppy offers a provocative personal view

By Darius Guppy
Daily Telegraph

In 1994, there resided in the cell next to mine a certain “Tommy”. He had been imprisoned for counterfeiting Dutch Guilders to such a high standard that he had fooled the banks themselves.

By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers

ARLINGTON, Va. — Putting political pressure on the nation's banks, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair called Monday for borrowers to identify and report banks that aren't lending to consumers and small businesses.

After a speech on other topics, Bair spoke about tight credit conditions in response to a question at a gathering of business economists just outside the nation's capital.

Break down today's unemployment stats, and it looks like women are faring much better than men in the great recession. That is, unless they're single and raising kids.

By J. Goodrich
Alternet

By Victoria McGrane
Politico

If there were any question that the stakes are high for financial reform, consider this: Even the Defense Department is getting into the fight.

Pentagon brass want a new consumer watchdog agency to regulate auto dealers so they don’t rip off troops with predatory sales and shady financing deals. Democrats are hoping it’ll be hard for Republicans to oppose something Pentagon leaders want, at a time when troops are in harm’s way.

By Tanya Dawkins
YES! Magazine

So here we are. It’s as if the whole world is channeling the scene from the movie, Jerry Maguire, when Cuba Gooding Jr. jumps up and down shouting, “Show me the money!” Fund universal health care and climate policy, extend unemployment benefits, and rebuild crumbling infrastructure.

By EILEEN AJ CONNELLY
Associated Press

NEW YORK — Bank of America customers will soon be unable to spend more than they have in the accounts linked to their debit cards. It's a step that may become a common move ahead of new regulations limiting overdraft fees.

Rules set by the Federal Reserve that will ban banks from charging such fees, without first getting permission from the customer, are set to take effect July 1.

By Stephen Dinan
Washington Times

Federal investigators have received more than 730 allegations of waste or fraud in stimulus act funding so far, have canceled the contracts of some bad actors and have sent a couple of dozen cases to the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and prosecutors.

By David Swanson
Free Speech for People

The damage from the Supreme Court's decision in "Citizens United v. FEC" continues to spread as feared. Newly emboldened corporations are suing to overturn state laws that restrict corporate spending on politics:

"A pro-natural resource development group [how's that for spin?] and a Bozeman painting company asked a Helena District Court on Monday to strike down Montana’s 1912 ban on corporate donations and expenditures to political campaigns to comply with a January U.S. Supreme Court ruling."