Friday morning headlines

Stocks taking hit: At least the terrible job numbers were pretty much expected. The Dow is off around 100 points in early trading.

Higher gas prices: Great - the only decent part of the economy is shifting upward. The Auto Club reports that the average price of regular in the L.A. area is $1.88 a gallon, up 7.4 cents from last week. From the release:

"The California Energy Commission reports that refineries have slashed their production of regular unleaded gasoline since the start of the year, likely in response to the lower prices," said Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring. "Also, news reports indicate that a Bakersfield refinery has stopped producing gasoline after its parent company declared bankruptcy. With the tighter supply, wholesale prices are up and that is pushing up pump prices."

KB improves results: It's all relative of course - the L.A.-based homebuilder's fourth quarter loss was $307.3 million, which compares with a loss of $727.7 million a year earlier. CEO Jeff Mezger says the company is doing what it can, though he expects the housing market and general economic conditions "to remain difficult, or possibly worsen." (AP)

Krugman down on Obama plan: The NYT columnist says it's just not enough to deal with what he says is the most dangerous economic crisis since the Great Depression.

To close a gap of more than $2 trillion — possibly a lot more, if the budget office projections turn out to be too optimistic — Mr. Obama offers a $775 billion plan. And that’s not enough. Now, fiscal stimulus can sometimes have a “multiplier” effect: In addition to the direct effects of, say, investment in infrastructure on demand, there can be a further indirect effect as higher incomes lead to higher consumer spending. Standard estimates suggest that a dollar of public spending raises G.D.P. by around $1.50. But only about 60 percent of the Obama plan consists of public spending. The rest consists of tax cuts — and many economists are skeptical about how much these tax cuts, especially the tax breaks for business, will actually do to boost spending.

How much did Katzenberg lose?: The DreamWorks Animation CEO is out $20 million from the Madoff scam, sources are telling the LAT's Tom Petruno.

Burkle buys into grocer: The L.A. billionaire has disclosed a 7 percent stake in Whole Foods. You may remember that he held an 18 percent stake in Wild Oats before it was acquired by Whole Foods in 2007. Whole Paycheck has posted seven straight quarters of profit declines. (Bloomberg)

Buyers for Circuit City?: The company, now in bankruptcy protection, says it has two interested parties. No names were mentioned, but any deal would be a surprise for many on Wall Street who felt the retailer was a goner. (DealBook)

Minkow at it again: The ex-felon and ex-Valley boy who has turned fraud fighter says that the homebuilder Lennar is a Ponzi scheme. He has a new site, Lenn-ron.com, that supposedly lays it all out. Lennar says the allegations are nonsense, but the stock is way down this morning. (Clusterstock)

Don Callender: He is the son of Marie and really got the OC-based restaurant chain going in the 60s and 70s. The family sold off the company years ago; it's now mostly owned by private equity firm Castle Harlan. (Desert Sun)