Dow tallies biggest first-session-of-year point drop ever
U.S. stocks on Wednesday started off 2008 with a whimper instead of a bang as escalating commodity prices and a gauge of manufacturing activity fueled worries about the economy, propelling the Dow to its steepest start-of-a-year point drop ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) fell 220.9 points, or 1.7%, to close at 13,044, after falling as low as 12,991.4 during the session.

The Cost of a Free Lunch (Reason Online, thanks to Economist’s View)
[David Cay Johnston:] What I’m asking in [Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (and Stick you With the Bill)] is: Are you better off than you were a generation ago when Reagan was elected? Government is just as big, there are vastly more regulations, and as I show, we have many new rules and regulations that handcuff the invisible hand of the market and instead, in subtle, sometimes hidden, ways, extract money from the pockets of the many and funnel it to the politically connected few. It’s the very thing that Adam Smith said would ruin the benefits of markets.

Monster online jobs index falls in December
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of U.S. online labor demand plunged in December to its lowest level since January 2007, as a year-end seasonal slowdown met further moderation in online recruiting, a report showed on Thursday.

Jobless benefits fell last week
WASHINGTON - The number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week although much of the improvement reflected unusual factors related to the Christmas holiday.