Mortimer Zuckerman: Those Jobless Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look

Still above 8%—and closer to 19% in a truer accounting. Here’s a plan for improvement.

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As the Romney-Ryan ticket inches ahead in the polls, one of the little noticed implications just may be the avoidance, at least for a time, of World War III.

World War III? How does that work?

According to high-level U.S. intelligence sources, Israel will likely unilaterally launch a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities and is basing the timing of that strike, in part, on the U.S. presidential election. Sources say Israel is more likely to consider delaying the strike until spring if they are optimistic that there will be a leadership change in Washington.

Read the rest here.

Gotta love the optics of the Democrats booing “God” and “Jerusalem” when the floor vote was taken to add the language back in the platform. To be honest though, is this really a revelation? Anyone who pays attention knows the Democrats worship at the alter of Government…

Obama had seen the language prior to the convention, a campaign source said, but did not seek to change it until after Republicans jumped on the omissions of God and Jerusalem late Wednesday. And even then, it had to be forced through a convention hall full of delegates who nearly shouted down the change.

Mr. Market loves cronyism:

Mr. Market seems to be screaming “four more years.”

According to a new report by Capital Economics, it appears investors would prefer President Obama to stay in office for another term as opposed to Mitt Romney getting elected.

“The close relationship between President Obama’s chances of re-election and the level of the S&P 500 appear to suggest that the stock market favors a Democrat as president,” says Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Toronto-based Capital Economics.

Read the rest of the article (well worth a read) here.

Bloomberg joins the fact-checking fray:

In the heat of the presidential campaign, both sides have made statements that don’t square with reality. Here’s a look at some claims compared with the facts.

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Believe it not, from the NY Times:

The Democratic Party platform, released this week during the convention in Charlotte, N.C., contained a number of exaggerated or misleading claims in civil liberties and housing.

Read the rest here.

Worth a look here.

Bill Clinton is giving the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight.

The idea is to make people feel nostalgic for the last time when the economy was really booming, and hope that some of that rubs off on Obama.

However, in the New York Post, Charlie Gasparinouses the occasion to remind everyone that the seeds of our current economic malaise were planted during the Clinton years.

Will the futures markets be watching closely for clues?

When President Barack Obama takes the stage Thursday night at the Democratic convention, he’ll probably know a secret about the economy that you don’t: the contents of Friday’s employment report. But don’t expect easy clues in his big speech.

Read the rest here.

Gee, you think they can get Obama’s college transcripts?

Mitt Romney’s tax returns are reportedly in the hands of a team of hackers who are planning on releasing them publicly at the end of the month unless a ransom is paid.

The group allegedly obtained the files from PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Tennessee office on Aug. 25, in what was described as a Mission Impossible-like caper on PasteBin:

Read the rest here.

The excellent, must-read article and accompanying graphs is available over at Zero Hedge.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Organic produce and meat typically isn’t any better for you than conventional varieties when it comes to vitamin and nutrient content, according to a new review of the evidence.

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(Reuters) – Moody’s Investors Service has changed to negative from stable its outlook on the Aaa long-term issuer rating of the European Union (EU).

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The US housing market’s correction after that bubble appears to be finally at an end. This shows up in house prices, where the latest reading of the Case-Shiller 20-city index this week showed an increase over the past 12 months.

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(Reuters) – A contraction in China’s factory sector activity intensified in August as both output and new orders dropped while manufacturers cut prices to compete for business, a survey showed on Monday.

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A reporter from France 2, Nicolas Geay, claimed he had exclusive information from a source, according to which he “could now reveal” that blood samples taken earlier during Armstrong‘s career had been retested under the authority of USADA and “ultimately came back positive”.

USADA is expected to send the final report to the UCI in two weeks time, according to French television, and make it public at the same time in order to put the governing body of the sport under pressure to ratify their life-time ban for Armstrong.

Read the rest here.

“After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of the self. So I devised another experiment where everyday I took a different drug and drew myself under the influence. Within weeks I became lethargic and suffered mild brain damage. I am still conducting this experiment but over greater lapses of time. I only take drugs that are given to me.”

Read the rest, and see the art, here.

Among the many things we are left to consider in the wake of the Eliot Spitzer scandal, there is one I still can’t quite get over: the staggering price of a high-end call girl. What service can anyone provide to justify up to $5,500 an hour?

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Zac Moffatt, digital director for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, argues that Obama’s digital team is running much the same playbook they did in 2008 — something he believes will give the Republicans an online edge in 2012.

“Obama’s campaign is still running their Facebook campaign like it’s 2008,” Moffatt tells Mashable when asked about Obama’s reputation as the “social candidate.” He compares the Democratic campaign to the historical rise and fall of successful technology companies.

Read the rest here.

“What they’re going through seems like the Greece situation a couple of years ago, and there are concerns that if it’s not addressed soon enough, it could move further to the same vicious cycle,” Thanos Papasavvas, strategist at Investec Asset Management, told CNBC Europe’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday.

Read the rest here.