by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

LONDON, England - January 9, 2011 - The U.S. is drifting from a financial crisis to a deeper and more insidious social crisis. Self-congratulation by U.S. authorities that they have this time avoided a repeat of the 1930s is premature.

There is a telling detail in U.S. retail chain store data for December. Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities points out that luxury outlets saw an 8.1% rise from a year ago, but discount stores catering to America’s poorer half rose just 1.2%.

WASHINGTON - January 7, 2011 - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sketched a more optimistic view of the economy Friday but said the Fed's $600 billion bond-buying program is needed because unemployment will likely stay elevated for up to five more years.

WASHINGTON - January 6, 2011 - More people applied for unemployment benefits last week, one week after applications fell to their lowest level in more than two years.

CHICAGO, Illinois - January 5, 2011 - Three dollars a gallon for gasoline may start to sound good by comparison this summer. With rising global demand for oil, gas could reach $4 a gallon in the coming months in some states, according to fuel forecasters.

NEW YORK - January 5, 2011 - World food prices rose to a record in December on higher sugar, grain and oilseed costs, the United Nations said, exceeding levels reached in 2008 that sparked deadly riots from Haiti to Egypt.

An index of 55 food commodities tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization gained for a sixth month to 214.7 points, above the previous all-time high of 213.5 in June 2008, the Rome-based UN agency said in a monthly report. The gauges for sugar and meat prices advanced to records.

LONDON, England - January 4, 2011 - High oil prices threaten to derail any possible economic recovery among developed nations this year, the leading energy watchdog has warned, putting pressure on the OPEC oil cartel to increase production.

Over the past year, the oil import costs for the 34 mostly rich countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have soared by $200 billion, to $790 billion at the end of 2010, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency.

NEW YORK - January 4, 2011 - The number of Amerikans filing for personal bankruptcy topped 1.5 million last year, as high long term jobless rates and depressed home prices drove more households to seek court protection.

Personal bankruptcies rose to 1.53 million, up 9% from 2009, the highest level since a revamp of the law took effect in 2005, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, an association of attorneys and other bankruptcy professionals, and the National Bankruptcy Research Center.