The diesel variant scored a whopping 81% share in sales of the VW Jetta SportWagen. Nice!

The Jetta SportWagen once again posted its best sales month ever with sales of 1,982 units. Clean diesel TDI’s accounted for 81 percent of SportWagen sales, 40 percent of Jetta sedan sales, and 29 percent of Touareg sales.

“Volkswagen of America is encouraged by the momentum of our clean diesel TDI sales,” said Mark Barnes, Chief Operating Officer, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “It appears that U.S. consumers are starting to realize the many benefits of today’s clean diesels–vehicles that attain more than 30 percent better fuel economy while emitting 25 percent less greenhouse gas emission, all without sacrificing driving dynamics,” Barnes added.

Here is top 10 most expensive militay planes.

F/A-18 Hornet: $94 million

First entering service in the 1980s, the twin-engine fighter plane was the U.S.’s first strike fighter — an aircraft capable of attacking both ground and aerial targets. It has seen action in Operation Desert Storm and as the aircraft of the Navy’s Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron. The F/A-18 is also used by Canada, Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland.

EA-18G Growler: $102 million
Hot off the presses, the Growler is a lightly armed version of the F/A-18 fighter that has been updated for electronic warfare (it is currently being delivered to the Navy). Growlers are capable of not only finding and disrupting anti-aircraft radar, but also jamming enemy communications.

V-22 Osprey: $118 million
This tiltrotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but can fly faster and farther like a fixed-wing plane, was first used in combat in Iraq in 2007. The Osprey’s production has been bedeviled by design and construction problems: the craft claimed the lives of at least 30 Marines and civilians during its development alone (former Vice President Dick Cheney tried repeatedly to ground the plane). Still, because of its range and versatility, the Marine Corps plans to deploy a squadron of V-22s to Afghanistan by the end of the year.

F-35 Lightning II: $122 million
Lockheed Martin’s 2001 deal to build these stealth, supersonic fighter jets was at the time the largest military contract ever. The F-35s, intended to replace an aging aircraft arsenal, were developed as part of a Joint Strike Fighter program between the U.S. and its allies and were criticized as underpowered and overweight — and therefore easy targets. Making matters worse, from 2007 to 2008, cyberspies infiltrated the 7.5 million lines of computer code that powered the Joint Strike Fighter, raising concerns that enemies could copy the F-35’s design and exploit its weaknesses. In April 2009, Lockheed Martin said it did not believe the program had been compromised.

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: $232 million
A major step forward for surveillance and reconnaissance, the Advanced Hawkeye’s powerful new radar system will increase the range of territory an aircraft can monitor by 300%. “It can probably watch the pistachios pop in Iran,” an analyst for the think tank Lexington Institute told National Defense in July. Though development of the plane is on track and two test versions have been delivered to the Navy, budget cuts may keep the planes grounded for at least a year longer than planned.

VH-71 Kestrel: $241 million
This high-tech helicopter project, intended to replace the President’s aging chopper fleet, was running more than 50% over budget by the time Barack Obama took office. Soon after his Inauguration, the President announced plans to scrap the helicopters because of cost overruns. On July 22, however, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved restoring $485 million to fund the Kestrels.

P-8A Poseidon: $290 million
Boeing’s spruced-up military version of its 737 jet will be used by the Navy to conduct anti-submarine warfare and gather intelligence. It can carry torpedoes, missiles, depth charges and other weapons. The P-8A is expected to go into service in 2013.

C17A Globemaster III: $328 million
The Air Force military-transport plane is used to move troops into war zones, perform medical evacuations and conduct airdrop missions. There are 190 C17As in service; the aircraft is propelled by four turbofan engines (of the same type used on the twin-engine Boeing 757) and can drop 102 paratroopers at once. In operation since 1993, it has been used to deliver troops and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and Iraq.

F-22 Raptor: $350 million
First conceived during the Cold War as an airframe to vie with Soviet aircraft that was never built, the F-22 is touted by manufacturer Lockheed Martin as the best overall combat plane in the world — not to mention the most expensive. It can shoot down enemy cruise missiles, fly long distances at supersonic speeds and avoid nearly all types of radar detection. But the Senate debate over whether to build seven more — at a taxpayer cost of $1.67 billion — eventually came down to the plane’s job-creating abilities. The axed project would have employed 25,000 Americans.

B-2 Spirit: $2.4 billion

The B-2 bomber was so costly that Congress cut its initial 1987 purchase order from 132 to 21. (A 2008 crash leaves the current number at 20.) The B-2 is hard to detect via infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual or radar signals. This stealth capability makes it able to attack enemy targets with less fear of retaliation. In use since 1993, the B-2 has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The stock market, the self-regulating system of markets that may make or break individual companies and conglomerates is showing signs of worsening this week. Since the recession has not yet improved and both native and migrant workers are still feeling the heat, here’s a reality check that may spell what would be happening in the coming months ahead.

The health of the U.S. consumer

While investors in the United States have enjoyed a long weekend, they now face a collection of documents that state just how robust (pr sick) the U.S consumer is. And the signs are not encouraging. Fortune 500’s Alcoa (listed as AA) is the base marker for what could be a down-sliding week for the United States stock market.

Back in March, stocks at Wall Street showed a liveliness that made many optimistic. However, Nearing June 11, the stocks began suffering once again. While there are smatterings of stock rise here and there, the condition has generally been bad. People are simply not buying enough to improve general market conditions.

Transition, not recovery

According to Joshua Shapiro, an economist from the United States, private companies are still trying to move upward after the disaster that is the downfall of the Lehman Brothers.

If you would remember, the Lehman Brothers publicly announced their massive losses and many recoiled at the loss of invested funds, some amounting to millions of dollars. Shapiro emphasized that the small-scale changes that can be found here and there are not complete signs of economic recovery. They should be viewed not as general signs of economic recovery but of signs only of transition.

Transition may be viewed as the attempt of companies to survive; this may or may not be good. For example, one adaptive or transition mechanism of private companies is laying off employees. To cut down on expenses, some companies may lay off hundreds or even thousands of employees to survive.

If you’ve heard of what British Airways has just proposed to its employees, you would know just how bad the recession is. The massive company is actually asking for employees to work for free; while some have agreed, many are not, looking to their CEOs for answers.

Labor market, be warned

There are no clear indicators that the presently employed and the yet to be employed would be enjoying happier, sunnier days in the following months. Since there are still no clear indicators, people should look to preservation of wealth in the meantime.

Saving more money or even investing in the strongest stocks may be a good idea. Like what personal financial advisors are saying, it might be a good idea to cut down on entertainment expenses (eating out, etc.) that may accrue hundreds of dollars per month.

Doing everything to prevent the bleed-out of American domestic finances is a wise decision given the fact that there’s no assurance how long this downturn is going to last. According to Gary Webb of the Webb Financial group, confidence must increase to improve the state of the stock market.

The “jargon of the recession” is still in use because world financial conditions still have not improved significantly. For the 9^th straight month, the United States has suffered a rising rate of unemployment.

What does this mean for those who are currently employed and those who are seeking regular employment? This means that like fresh university graduates, some people might have to decide to change cities every month, because small to medium sized businesses are in no condition to accept regular employees with benefits. The small business sector, it should be noted, is reeling from the high cost of health insurance for regular employees. Whether an answer from the state itself is necessary, remains to be seen.

Massive trimming

Employers in the United States are still trimming their ranks in the effort to stay effort. While being afloat is also a contributing factor to the health of the US financial system, not employing enough of the population is also a bad sign. What we’re talking about here are not mere figures but an actual problem that involves not only individuals but perhaps whole communities.

For the month of June alone, the job trimmings have reached 467,000. In the month of May, the figure was already a disturbing 322,000 jobs lost. From the timeline of the world economic downturn, this was the very first time that a sizeable increase in the unemployment rate had taken place within only less than a month. This indicates only further problems in the coming months, because right now we should already be seeing improvements in the battered labor market of the United States.

Historically speaking

The 9.5% rise in the unemployment rate in the US is the highest in the past 26 years alone. A similar unemployment rate had been seen back in the nineties; but then again, the nineties is so far behind that statistically, the labor market of then and now is not completely comparable. There are certain projections that state that the unemployment rate would be increasing further to 9.6%.

Just how many jobs have been lost back in 2008? Unbelievably, the total damage to the labor market had been a staggering 3.1 million jobs lost, distributed throughout all existing industries and niches in the market.

Unemployment & underemployment

According to Keith Hembre of First American Funds, the figures we are seeing today are not as bad as those that have emerged in 2008, but it’s still pretty bad. It’s bad because everyone is expecting some form of recovery by now because mergers have been made and people are already re-earning what has been lost. But the checks and balances of an economy as large as the United States do not necessarily respond immediately to small positive changes.

There is also the rising concern over the rate of underemployment in the United States. It has been estimated that the rate has risen to 16.5% already, also a record high. The same applies to people who are qualified but have already given up trying to find good jobs.

From its launch in 2005, TMZ.com has grown to become the number one source for hot, fresh – in fact the freshest – Hollywood gossip in the media today. Who doesn’t know TMZ.com? Probably no one! They were the first to break the news about Michael Jackson’s death, Natasha Richardson’s fatal accident, and they even showed Rihanna’s beaten-up face photo to the world.

TMZ.com, no doubt, is stirring and steering the world of celebrity gossip today. But their triumph over other media to break the hottest news first is met with a lot of raised eyebrows. Independent as well as big media organizations are questioning TMZ’s method of getting the scoops. They say that CHECKBOOK JOURNALISM, which TMZ never denied, is bordering desperate and unethical journalism. However, it’s not illegal.

There was a good one hour period when the news about Michael Jackson’s death was only heard of and seen on the Web pages of TMZ.com. Why did it take 60 minutes for the other more seasoned and highly reputable news organizations to break the news to the world? Because they go out of their way to send their own people to UCLA Medical Center to confirm the news, holding the enter button on one of the most breaking news in 2009. TMZ.com on the other hand … well, founder Harvey Levin has this to say about it “That’s typical. No matter what they say, people know we broke the story. That’s how competitors handle it. There’s no issue about our credibility.”

Harvey Levin is known to be steadfast in all his undertakings, and TMZ.com is yet another example of his go-getter attitude. If he wants something, he will move mountains to get it. He’s got the backup to do it in TMZ.com, AOL’s and Telepictures Productions’ resources and his lawyer’s license to deter would-be lawsuit makers. TMZ.com spends close to $8 million a year to operate, but it’s worth $400 million in advertizing and TV and print business.

Not everybody is happy with this success, however.

TMZ’s way of gathering the news is not so popular among competitors and the subject of the pursuit themselves: the celebrities. Radar magazine called Levin the Sultan of Sleeze, outraged Janice Dickenson called him the lowest form of pond scum, and Alec Baldwin says Levin derives the same pleasure from sex and ruining people’s lives. Gawker.com pushed the envelope further accusing TMZ.com of stealing headlines and posting it as their own. Defending TMZ.com of checkbook journalism, Levin says his site only pays for verified story tips and photos. And as to the other accusations, it’s all part of the main game for him.

Freedom of the press, people’s penchant for celebrity gossip, and people looking for ways to earn quick money are all fueling the success of TMZ.com. With the success of the gossip site, maybe even the dissenters are disappointed why they didn’t think of the idea first. Looks like TMZ.com has legally claimed its very profitable place in the tinsel town.