Statistics Canada today released retail sales numbers for December 2009, saying total sales in the country were up 0.4-percent over November to $35.3-billion in the month.

The biggest segment that had the most sales growth was the “general merchandisers” segment, which includes department stores. Sales in that category were up 3.3-percent.

Automotive sales were up 0.9-percent to $11,670-million in December, while gas sales were up 2.2-percent $4,031-million. Gasoline sales have had positive growth for the last five consecutive months.

Food and beverage store sales were down to by 1.3-percent to $8,133-million in December.

Statistics Canada said six provinces in the nation experienced a net increase in total sales.

See this table for complete information on sales in each respective category.

The Obama administration today unveiled a proposal to create new economic incentives that are aimed at assisting middle class Americans during this difficult economic time.

President Obama is proposing to double tax credits, force the creation of IRAs (these are workplace retirement savings vehicles) in firms for employees, and to limit student educational loan payments at 10-percent of total annual gross income, additional tax-cuts for families that are overseeing the care of elderly relatives, among other initiatives.

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The Bank of Canada today gave an updated outlook to Canada’s economy for 2011.

The top bank implied interest rates would remain close to zero post Q2 2010 despite the economy slowly growing in 2009.

The bank noted despite marginal growth in 2009, stimulus capital is still necessary to maintain the current growth. The top bank estimated Canada’s economy was operating at about 97-percent of full employment in Q4 2009.

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We’ve seen a lot of things happen in 2009, some things were expected, some were not, some were shocking, and some were simply never seen or heard of before.

From the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history, to the global financial credit crisis, to historic health care reform championed by the first black President of the United States.

A lot has happened in 2009, and we’ve compiled it all up for you with the top 8 topics of the entire year.

1. The Global Financial Crisis

With the near collapse of the global credit market, and unprecedented actions being taken by global leaders to stave off a global economic meltdown, the financial crisis was plastered in the media almost every day and even became a primary presidential voting issue, thereby making it the story of 2009. With billions provided in emergency bailout loans to financial intermediaries, Wall Street was still paying millions in bonuses with outstanding government loans, while millions of Americans faced forclosurer and high unemployment rates. The Obama administration later moved to block $165-million in AIG bonuses alone and later blocked bonuses from being paid while the financial intermediaries had outstanding government debt. Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway even reported its biggest loss ever (only its second loss in its history). There were also opportunities for firms to act on, such as Disney who acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4B. Despite households losing significant amounts of money primairly from their positions in risky equity positions, some did profit (though not for too long)…Bearnie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison following a conviction for operating the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history that saw $50 billion defrauded from investors.

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President Obama just finished delivering a speech from NY’s Federal Hall, a day before the anniversary of the collapse of Goldman Sachs.

Obama urged Congress to pass a sweeping bill by the end of this year to help ensure firms don’t make irresponsible trades or make irresponsible lending decisions.

Obama said, “I did not run for president to intervene in financial markets,” but gave a stern warning that, “Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.”

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According to new data released today by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), July marked the fastest sales growth in homes that we’ve seen in the last two-years.

In July, the annual rate of home sales hit 5.24 million homes (7.2-percent up), beating analyst expectations of only 5 million units. Just a month before, in June, that number was 4.89 million.

The rate also grew consecutively in the last four-months, the last time there was a four-month consecutive upswing was in June 2004.

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American International Group (AIG) has just posted the biggest U.S. quarterly loss ever recorded in history, a whopping $61.7 billion ($22.95 per share) Q4 2008 loss, compared to a $5.3 billion ($2.08 per share) loss in Q4 2007. The American government has also opted to give AIG $30 billion in new loans. Q4 2008 revenue was down $23.8 billion. AIG’s insurance division reported a loss of $2.8 billion with premiums down 16.3% to $9.2 billion. For all of 2008, AIG posted Read the full story

The Canadian Fed today announced plans to introduce a $3 billion emergency economic fund where the money will become available in late March. The move comes as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the current economic situation is urgent and money to flow is much needed.

Obama today announced his first federal long term 10-year budget. The budget calls for $3.6 trillion in total spending for 2010, while it believes it will receive $2.4 trillion in revenue.

Te budget forecasts the deficit will top $1.75 trillion (12.3% of U.S. GDP) in 2009 and hopes to slash that in half by 2013. The White House is forecasting unemployment to top 8.1% in 2009 and fall by about 5.5% by 2014. The budget also assumes real GDP to fall by 1.2% in 2009, but grow substantially by 3.2, 4, and 4.6% over the next three years respectively. Read the full story

Reports indicate Obama is expected to announce former Secret Service agent (worked 1970-1991) Earl Devaney as the chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board to oversee the $787 billion economic stimulus package recently passed. You may remember Earl Devaney was responsible for exposing corruption which led to the conviction of lobbyist Jack Abramoff on corruption charges. More as information breaks.