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It's Summertime, Summertime - The Jamies; A Summer Song - Chad and Jeremy; Beach Baby - First Class; Coney Island Baby - Julien Neel; Feelin’ Hot, Hot, Hot – Buster Poindexter; Gimme Dat Ding - The Pipkins; Girl from Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto / Stan Getz; Good Day Sunshine - The Beatles; Hawaii Five-O Theme; Heat Wave - Martha and the Vandellas; Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly and the Family Stone; In the Good Old Summertime - Julien Neel; Kokomo - The Beach Boys; Love Letters in the Sand - Pat Boone; In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry;...

<p>Totally Fried Kool-Aid is the latest rage in all things awful to eat. Making its debut at the San Diego County Fair (better known as the Del Mar Fair to locals), the Kool-Aid ball has seemed to capture the country’s insatiable urge for making their meals as processed and fake and fattening as possible. Well done, us!</p>

IEA asks for release of emergency oil reserves NHK has learned that the International Energy Agency is finalizing talks to release emergency oil reserves of its oil-consuming member nations to help stabilize crude oil prices. The autonomous organization of 28 major oil consuming countries, including Japan and the United States, is said to be close to securing agreement for the coordinated operation. The release operation, the first of its kind since 2005, is being planned ahead of an expected rise in gasoline use in the northern hemisphere during the summer holiday season. Rising crude oil prices since January, due mainly...

What Happened to the White House's "Summer of Recovery"?By Elizabeth MacDonald Published June 17, 2011 | FOXBusiness **SNIP** June 17, 2010 -- The White House declares: "This summer is sure to be a Summer of Economic Recovery" Summer 2010 -- Summer of Job Losses "The point of my talking to you today is that, although more people are going to be put to work this summer" -- Vice President Joe Biden, June 17, 2010. The job losses came in as follows, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: June: -192,000 July: -49,000 August: -59,000 September: -29,000 Job Creation "The pace...

THE ECONOMIC ICE AGE 10 June 2011 by Cullen Roche Some pretty interesting thoughts here from Societe Generale on the economic “ice age”. This is what their analysts refer to as the period after a bubble bursting has occurred. They’ve used the same Japan analogy that I am fond of. Pretty pessimistic thoughts (more so than mine), but I think they’ve got the macro situation understood better than most: “In the aftermath of last week’s stunningly weak economic data the market is now beginning to acknowledge that, without a further round of QE a relapse back into economic stagnation or...

Were all the great summer songs written decades ago? Click back for what's a mostly nostalgic sonic step into the sweltering season—with songs from The Drifters, Dolly Parton, the B-52's, and yes, The Fresh Prince. The Lovin' Spoonful: "Summer in the City" (duh!) The Drifters: "Under the Boardwalk" Martha & The Vandellas: "Heat Wave" "Summer Lovin'" from Grease! Sly & the Family Stone - Hot Fun in the Summertime Bananarama: "Cruel Summer" DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: "Summertime" Dolly Parton: "Sweet Summer Lovin'" The B-52's: "The Summer of Love" Janis Joplin: "Summertime" The Who: "Summertime Blues" Sha Na...

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries did not reach a new agreement on oil production quotas at Wednesday's meeting in Vienna. Oil prices rebounded in New York and London after the news. Oil prices had been declining in anticipation that OPEC members might work out a deal to boost production. The OPEC nations pump about 40 percent of the world's oil, and the organization's quotas officially limited members to producing a bit less than 25 million barrels a day. Some OPEC members have said the international energy markets are well-supplied with oil, and blame high prices on "speculation"...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Oil prices breached the $100-a-barrel mark Wednesday after OPEC said it could not reach an agreement about raising crude production. U.S. crude jumped $1.70, or 1.7%, to $100.81 a barrel. Oil prices were trading down about $1 just before the OPEC announcement. The price of brent crude - the European benchmark - rose 1.2% to $118.20 a barrel. OPEC's quarterly meeting was widely watched by analysts. The cartel had been under intense pressure to raise production as oil prices approached $120 a barrel last month. But cartel members were unable to reach a decision to do...

Mauna Kea, the highest island mountain in the world, is cloaked with snow--a sight you don't normally see during the early summer months. Video at the link

No American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent. Seventeen months before the next election, it is increasingly clear that President Obama must defy that trend to keep his job. Roughly 9 percent of Americans who want to go to work cannot find an employer. Companies are firing fewer people, but hiring remains anemic. And the vast majority of economic forecasters, including the president’s own advisers, predict only modest progress by November 2012. The latest job numbers, due Friday, are expected to provide new cause...

As the summer travel season approaches, airline industry experts predict that soaring fuel prices and a sharp pickup in passenger demand will push airfares up 15% over a year earlier — to levels not seen since before the economic downturn. Fare hikes have already begun, with six of the nation's largest airlines each raising rates at least five times since Jan. 1 for nearly all routes. By the time the peak summer travel season rolls around, travel industry experts predict, domestic airfares may reach an average of nearly $390, up from a low of $302 two years ago.

Joe Biden update: Now, he takes lead on budget talks too; what's left for Obama?Political commentary from Andrew Malcolm March 3, 2011 | 2:54 am What isn't Joe Biden in charge of these days? For someone who was brought on board the presidential train in 2008 to lend some experienced gravitas to the ex-state senator savior's ticket and add a humorous effing gaffe here and there, the vice president seems to be running most everything these days for this Democratic White House. Everyone remembers Biden's crucial congressional role in smoothing the way for the vast stimulus spending bill two years...

Summer of recovery? Checking stimulus state by stateBy Adam Bitely ALG Posted Sep 27, 2010 @ 10:40 AM Washington — Continuing on Americans for Limited Government’s series investigating the effects that the “Summer of Recovery” and the “Stimulus” had on the states we covered Montana, Oklahoma, Idaho, Rhode Island and Utah over the past week. With news this week that the recession ended in 2009, it is hard to notice any “recovery” in the states we have examined. Further, with the most recent release of the unemployment situation state by state for the month of July, it is more evident...

Did YOU have a Recovery Summer?

Biden, Strickland march in Toledo's Labor Day paradeMonday, September 06, 2010 Democrats facing plenty of anger over the nation's economic hard times along with troubling poll numbers called in Vice President Joe Biden to energize party loyalists at a Labor Day parade on Monday. Biden spent the holiday in this prized swing-voting state with Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who is facing an uphill re-election bid just two years after Democrats here helped elect President Barack Obama and seemed positioned to lock up political control. The vice president dashed along the downtown parade route, shaking hands and hugging supporters, many of...

As the first family has traveled up and down the Eastern seaboard (and occasionally beyond) for various summer excursions, they’ve given us a number of picture-perfect moments. Remember when the president and Sasha took a dip in Panama City Beach, Fla.? Or how Michelle Obama strode through the streets of Marbella in southern Spain? Not to mention the almost-famous bike ride President Barack Obama took (in long pants!) at Martha's Vineyard. Malia made it to the Vineyard too; sadly, however, we didn’t get a peek of her at sleepaway camp. With summer coming to an end, POLITICO takes a look...

'Recovery Summer' Ends With Economic Potholeby Scott Horsley September 3, 2010 Whatever happened to recovery summer? This was supposed to be the season the economy heated up, thanks to a wave of public works projects, funded by the government's stimulus program. But summer is coming to an end, and the recovery has not taken root. (The Labor Department on Friday reported a slight rise in the unemployment rate to 9.6 percent in August as more people were looking for work.) And before long, stimulus dollars will be fading like autumn leaves. None of that is encouraging for President Obama, who...

Per CNBC TV.

“Welcome to Recovery” –Treasury Secretary Tim F. Geithner, (Op-Ed, August 3, 2010) CLAIM #1 – A January 2009 report authored by Christina Romer, President Obama’s chief economist, and Jared Bernstein, Vice President Biden’s chief economist and economic policy advisor, predicted that the $814 billion stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8 percent. * America’s Reality: Since the stimulus was signed into law, the unemployment rate reached a 27 year high of 10.2 percent. Currently, the unemployment stands at 9.5 percent and has not dropped below 9.5 percent in 12 months. CLAIM #2 – On February 17, 2009, President Obama stated,...

So this is the economic growth that by far the largest Keynesian stimulus in American history produces? President Obama’s $814 billion in stimulus, a more than $1.3 trillion annual deficit for the second year in a row, has produced what the administration has declared is the long awaited "Summer of Recovery." Last fall the economy grew at a reasonable 5 percent annual rate, though even that was not particularly fast for a "recovery." Yet, it has dropped since then: during January through March, the growth rate dropped to 3.7 percent and April through June, 1.6 percent. But Americans didn't need...