The Dow yesterday cracked the 10,000 mark for the first time in a year.
Not only did it once again crash through that magical plateau, but it closed there, ending the day at 10,015.86, up 144 points.

So why don’t I feel any better? I suppose my 401K might be better for it, but I still see an economy that’s in trouble.

10,000 is a nice number. This is not so nice: Foreclosures were up 5 percent as we went from summer to fall.

I also see a lot of people out of work. And more closings on the way. Just last week, across the river in Gloucester County, N.J., they got hit with two thunderous uppercuts in little more than 24 hours on the labor front. First Sunoco announced they would be shuttering their Eagle Point refinery, furloughing almost 500 workers. Then the United State Postal Service announced it would be closing a facility there, costing another 600 jobs.

I suppose I should be happy that the Dow is recovering. After all, that 401K is supposed to be the key to my golden years, which have not been looking all that golden for the last year or so.

But I see unemployment continuing to rise, it’s in double-digits in many areas, including Philadelphia, weak consumer spending, and a housing market that is still trying to find its way out of the doldrums.

I also notice that among the first to reap the rewards of this market upswing are many of the banks that got us into the financial dilemma in the first place.

Everyone keeps saying the recession is over, that the economy has turned the corner.

Could have fooled me. Next up is the Christmas holiday shopping season.

Even while so many workers are getting the heave-ho-ho-ho.
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We interrupt Red October to bring you this weather bulletin: We might be looking at a White December, January and February.

And in the meantime, we’re going to get wet. Real wet.

The region is bracing for a double-whammy, courtesy of Mother Nature. A nasty Nor’easter is expected to batter the region much of the day. And that will just be Round 1 of the wet, raw, cold weather. Round 2 will arrive right on its heels, giving us a second dose of wet weather that is likely to drench our weekend.

The unusually early storms are expected to do some serious damage down at the beach, washing away much of those annual beach replenishment projects in which tons of sand are pumped onto the beach to replace what was washed away last year.

Hey, it could be worse. In some areas of the Poconos and out at State College, they are likely to get accumulating snow later today.

All of this has some forecasters wondering if we are in for an especially cold, snowy winter.

Here’s the call from Accu-Weather. Don’t blame us. We’re just the messenger. They are calling for above average snow, likely somewhere in the mid-20s in terms of inches. Last year we got 23 inches of snow, most of it in March.

And one final thought. While we surrender to the nation of turning on the heat, we can sit in front of the TV tonight and watch that famously laid-back California crowd arriving in shorts and T-shirts for tonight’s Game 1 of the NLCS.

Game time temperature in LA. is expected to be 79 degrees.

No wonder they call it California Dreamin’.