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- Friday about 8 AM Central Time ....some typos are fixed by
8:30 daily This site is supported by subscriptions: For additional content, please subscribe to Peoplenomics. . Content mirrored at: www.independencejournal.com, Kindle (.MOBI) version here
Saturday: This being the weekend, content is for subscribers to www.peoplenomics.com only. If you're one of them, the Saturday report is now posted and the Sunday update will be along guess when? If you're not a subscriber, drop by Monday...
Special Update Securities and Exchange Commission v. Goldman? Major fraud allegations have been leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman Sachs over their marketing of collateralized debt obligations tied to subprime mortgages. The government's press release is worth a close read:
Say, you don't suppose this could be the first of many actions in the regulatory enforcement area do you? I mean, after all, with outfits like CHINA holding US paper, seems to me that this kind of action might be the first step toward trying to head off WW III which would almost certainly follow if the US stiffs too many people with bad paper, so I figure... --- Meantime I have been hearing rumors that there are investors who are still trying to take delivery of silver bars bought on the commodity exchanges from late winter who have not yet been able to take delivery and so far....only rumors, but rumors nevertheless, that warehouse numbers and deliveries don't exactly line up...if you follow what the implications of that area... --- Meanwhile the Dow is down only 0.8% while the S&P is down almost 1.5% so can you spell "paint the tape"?
Shall We Dance? Several readers have taken me to task over the past few weeks for 'refusing to believe' that a recovery is underway. Well, fine. Worse, unless the Dow manages to drop more than 145-points today, there's a good chance this week will end north of the 11,000 mark - which my detractors point out - would not be too bad for a market which I still reckon to be on the short road to hell.
As evidence, they point to the industrial production figures out from the Fed on Thursday. Up at a 7.8% annual rate, this would seem to be extremely good news verging on runaway euphoria.
The problem is that people tend to remember back only as far as convenient and once their case in made, they stop doing research and issue a firmly held "Told you!" and that's that. No around here, though. A little more mental rigor is required...
Problem is that the data is readily available for further back periods and if I whip out the April 15, 2009 data I read where a year ago the story was what? "Industrial production fell 1.5 percent in March (remember this is 2009!) after a similar decrease in February. For the first quarter as a whole, output dropped at an annual rate of 20.0 percent, the largest quarterly decrease of the current contraction. At 97.4 percent of its 2002 average, output in March fell to its lowest level since December 1998 and was nearly 13 percent below its year-earlier level."
Although percentages hide some reality (since we've been shipping US-based jobs overseas faster than building in Haiti falls down when shaken), I have to look at one number: total percentage of industrial capacity which in March 2008 was 112.1% of 2002 baseline data, which in 2009 was 97.4% of 2002 baseline data, and which the bulls are celebrating as huge victory since yesterday was 101.6% of 2002's baseline. --- What the longer view of the Fed numbers seems to reveal is that (just jumping out on a limb here) the state of the economy is not quite peachy yet...and relative to where we were in March of 2008 sure looks like it's 10.5% below those levels of two years ago. --- Now let me confess a personal bias: I tend to take the Fed numbers pretty much as Gospel. Why? When you literally have all the money in the world and are somewhat insulated from political chicanery inside the Beltway, I figure the incentive to 'shade the truth' is a bit less intense.
So when I look at figures like the unemployment rate coupled with the productivity report, I figure at least 10.5% less humans will have jobs relative to two years. I mean if productivity is up and the utilization is down then where do jobs come from, right?
I suppose if this wasn't a warm-up-the-brain exercise for serious use later in the day, I could go off and figure out the underlying Fed data, but essentially I figure anything that come out from the other government reports that doesn't show 2008 employment plus 10.5% additional is probably a pant load of crap, since industrial production vs. 2002 is down that far.
Oh - and if the way the Dow is valued is related to production, 89.5% of the 2007 high in the Dow would cap our upside at 12,589.07 excluding monetary effects. Plus, or minus, a beer.
Don't mean to start off on such a sour note, but tacking on a couple of additional years to 20-20 hindsight really helps. The Bush administration and the Clinton administration before, and so on have been playing 'hot potato' with who's going to be caught as the last one holding the hot potato when it blows up.
Obama's got the hot potato now, and since we're nearly due for WW III anyway, as I explained earlier this week, we're to the point where economics matters less than converting any non-essentials into longer term implements of production to keep yourself and loved ones alive for whatever wide range of threats comes along.
I call this whole process the Economic Waltz...shall we dance?
Genuine Good News? Port of Long Beach shows loaded inboiund cargo for March was up 10.9% from year ago levels. 'Course last year sucked, but we'll go for a glint of hope where we find it. Port of Seattle loaded inbound was down about 7.2%
LA posts annual figures - and YoY loaded inbound is down 2.86%. Oakland and Portland are still trying to figure out how calculators work, presumably.
Rail Traffic: Recovering - Sort Of... Remember a minute ago how I was saying how the longer term view (more than going back just one year) is needed to make sense of things? Well, the folks at the Association of American Railroads are pretty sharp and you can read in their weekly traffic report how the real bigger picture is rolling:
Gold star for their PR Department. See how two years puts things into perspective a little better? These3 guys should be running things at BLS. The "L" being optional.
See Europe? No, not really...as volcanic ash gets worse. And a reader writes:
Naw...wait until May 5/6 and then July 11-ish for the real warm up acts to the November BIG TIP...this is piddling stuff. PITA from a scheduling standpoint, but really, much bigger stuff to come - including a whole slew of quakes out there yet...
Among the Bigger Tax Bites President and Michelle Obama paid $1.8 million in federal taxes for 2009...which pencils out to about 34.6 times more than we paid.
Why don't I feel better about it?
Since most of their income seems to come from book-writing, maybe I need to spend more time in front of the computer...except the days aren't long enough as is.
Meteor Or Wreckage? All over the net this morning there is buzz about whether the big falling ball of fire over Wisconsin the other night was a) a meteor or b) some fragment of an interplanetary spacecraft that was shot down and inconveniently fell to earth. Uh huh....find the wreckage and get back to me.
Evidence of Consumer Nuttiness Let me see: People would rather pay their credit cards than their mortgage? Pinch me, would you? --- Wonder if that has anything to do with Foreclosures spiking this week?
March to WW III A British dude (not sure calling a Brit conservative leader 'dude' is right, but skip that part and move along to this:) Says China requires a UK nuclear deterrent." --- Of course, around here, we know the real path to war works like this:
China, you see, has the mindset of the Middle Kingdom, which is a Chinesey version of the Islamic Dar es Salam, masters of the universe kind of thinking. Or, if you know where to look: "The common name is Zhōngguó (simplified Chinese: 中国; traditional Chinese: 中國). This translates traditionally as "Middle Kingdom," or as "central country."
Which then means what?...China will lay back from the start of WW III and will let everyone else duke it out while they do what the US did in WW I and WW II - laid back and built war-making capacity and then collected all the marbles as the victor.
Chinese aren't stupid....Besides, as will be explained in the further elucidations on chemtrails (in today's coping section), the idea of a nuclear winter would sure be one way to screw up terraforming plans of....oh, just keep reading...it all fits in a really bizarre kind of way...
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Coping at the WuJo: With Persistent Chemmie Questions A reader is not sure what I was getting at when I laid out what I thought was a pretty clear Idea for an experiment related to chemtrail observations since there is now a major volcano going off in Iceland that could impact chemical spraying:
Since I'm too lazy to type out a whole answer myself, let's begin with what a confidential (no I won't reveal the source) tells me is going on with the whole chemtrail deal - I mean just so we're all on the same page on this stuff:
Ties neatly with Cliff's early linguistics work on "sun disease", get it? So - that's one view of things and the refueling tankers as you called them, were probably leased for some ostensibly useful purpose (forest fire retardant applications) via a federal agency that protects such things, which in turn sublet the work to some group or other like a west coast aircraft operations group that did a lot of 'work for Uncle' back in Vietnam days and these, in turn fly hither and thither doing their spraying.
Or, so we hear.
Of course, there are anecdotal questions which then come up: Is this really all there is to it? Oh, you mean because the reptilians like warmer weather, is this somehow tied in to the cloaked/shape-shifters who are have infiltrated some levels of government and many other otherwise good-guy organizations and who - coincidentally, seem to have a taste for human blood (small children sacrifice, and are called by some the "Luciferians"?
Sorry...insufficient data to speculate (which is what this is, however, probably better informed than most) beyond this.
Speculate on what? Like, why would the spraying be done mostly over/ upwind of major cities? Well, out here in the rural lands, people don't do as much sunbathing and such.
So rather than have a longish conversation and waste brain clicks trying to figure out whether the global warming, interaction with atmosphere is the real driver, or whether it's just a disinfo 'shell' for an even deeper & more covert terraforming project for the reptilians is beyond the scope of Friday morning.
Oh - put on your reading list: "What do HAARP, Chemtrails, and Global Warming all have in common?" --- Having said that, this weekend Peoplenomics gets into something semi-parallel when we go over some of the findings of the small Jewish studies group which has evolved something called the Self-Defining Hebrew System which gets back to the 22-words/concepts at the root of the language.
"How the heck is that related?" Oh, those reptilian types (remember the snake in the Garden of Eden? Think reptile and it makes more sense...stuff's in plain sight when you know how to read it...) all that comes into focus as the first book of the Bible gets a reread using the SDHS and surprise! Reveals that the first book of the bible is actually a Chronicle in a number of books and...well, we'll save that rabbit hole for subscribers.
Word Up If, about here, you're thinking to yourself "Reptilians? Have you lost your friggin mind?" Then you need to go read the piece that my colleague Cliff posted this week on the hunt for "The Word".
Even if you aren't getting it yet, why do so many cultures around the world have references to things like shape-shifters and such, hummm?
If nothing else, imagine what a plot it would make for a movie: Some big-whoop politico holding a press conference and the hero (or heroine) comes into the room and loudly says "The Word" and the politico shape-sifts briefly out of being a normal human into being a repto. Make a helluva flick.
Hold Onto Your Snake Department Long as I'm giving you a bad reptiles report today, "US man arrested after police say he hit South Carolina motel guest in face with 1.2 meter python."
They sure that was a...er...snake?
And in the Really Really Gross File Leeches that live in people's noses have been found!
Cool Decorating Idea Looking for the ultimate way to flaunt your wealth? How about using uncut one dollar bills as wall paper? An uncut sheet of 32- $1 bills will cost you $55 and you can order it here. No, they don't come on rolls, yet.
Pearls before sheep.
Send your comments to george@ure.net Shop Till You Drop Department: Peoplenomics This Week Eating in the Post-Prosperity World This week's report is a triple serving of food. We'll consider start by exploring how BLS covers up food price increases you might be seeing and government somehow doesn't, how to start seriously rethinking what you eat at what price points (including what should be a fine discussion of what I call dim array (food), a systemic way of considering food's different values and then we'll get into ways to actually beat high food prices with a load of reader-supplied one pot recipes along with a couple of my own. More For Subscribers To Subscribe, CLICK HERE Need Logon Assistance? Click here. Cookie Video The folks at Maxa Research have put together a short video (sound track by guess who?) that shows the Maxa Cookie Manager. You can see it here.
I don't usually get all whipped up about software, but this is one of those dandy tools that just simply works great. First thing I put on my new computer when I got it was Avira Anti-virus and Maxa Cookie Manager (MCM). Either follow the on-screen download instructions of simply click:
Once you try it out, to upgrade to the fully functioning version, just click the upgrade button (!) on the upper right hand side for the $35 unlock to get it to remove even those nasty and highly intrusive 'non-browser specific' cookies. Bonus: You computer may run faster.
"Live on $10,000" A Year Having a hard time making ends meet? (Like who isn't, right?) A good starting point to better match up income with outgo is our $10 e-book "How to Live on #10,000 a Year...or less!"
It's an automatic download. It's written in an information dense style: The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the cheap, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you have a little hustle left. A bonus section called "How to Build Anything" should instill confidence if you've never taken on a home improvement/home creation project before, too..... Click here for the index and details.
MyGroPonics My commodity broker JB Slear and I have written a simple book to get you started on high density hydroponics. It's an example of how someone with a little creativity, access to a few 'dollar stores' and willing to try out some new farming techniques can grow an amazing amount of produce sin a very small space - like even an apartment balcony (if it gets some sunlight). Sound interesting? It's just $10 bucks here...
Pass It On A different take on things - that's what you'll find here most mornings. If you know of anyone who might also like our content, simply click here and send a link to them. Or, if you hated what you read, send the link to all your 'worst enemies'. Like they say in Burbank, "Ain't no such thing as bad press..." ---- Last week's report is here. For back issues of this site, click here.
Thursday April 15, 2010 Not Exactly a Screaming Recovery Industrial production figures from the Fed this morning:
Nope, not a great big deal. Wake me up in time to write tomorrow's report. Figure the Dow should drop back half it's gain of yesterday, or so. What goes up, gravity, yada, yada, yada.....
11,244.3 Top? Everyone's got a 'system' of picking market tops, bottoms, and entry & exit points. Mine is a kind of charting system which - when married with Elliott Wave theory and the moon is in the 7th House, and Jupiter's aligned with....er...toss in some Eye of Newt, too...does OK.
In yesterday's report I told you the future was so bright (before the open) that you might want to have welding goggles at the ready for the day's trading, and sure enough, the Dow popped up more than a hundred points. May have some follow-on today since stocks in the Eurozone have been up all night (from our time zone/perspective) partying on reports of strong economic growth in China.
Might see even more reason to move up with the Federal Reserve (which is about as reliable a name as "Friendly Mafioso's") unveil the industrial production figures in about :45 minutes. I'll try to get an update posted. But, with just the right juice, this could through gas on the bull's rally and propel us toward that 11,244 level.
Why 11,244.3 you're wondering?
We flash back to October of 2007 when the Dow hit 14,066. Then we notice that by March of 2009, the Dow had dropped to 6,627. Take the big number and subtract the small number and you get a market move of 7,439 points.
This could very well represent Primary Wave 1 down of a much larger (as in leads to World War III late this fall) move...but that's getting ahead of ourselves.
When markets make long term declines, they often will 'bounce' by various percentages. Some of the more common ones are 33%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, 75%, and 80%. Knowing that we are bouncing off that March 2009 low, we could construct a little table with some possible targets for the Dow to reach and it might look like this:
When you're making very long term gambling decisions, you make up a table like this and either add to your bets, or lighten up, depending on how close you are to this level, or that.
Several readers have been watching and placing bets along similar lines to mine. Like this guy:
First, the usual disclaimers: BAC and AXP are both well-run companies and in a genuine recovery they might be expected to do very well. --- Down at the Fed, former Bubblemeister Alan Greenspan popularized the use of the words "in our judgment". Around here, we're not quite so papered, nor quite so misleading. We do darts and guesses in the midst of hurricanes - and that'd be a good day. Don't honesty count for something, though?
On the other hand, there are some very well-respected analysts out there - like Meredith Whitney - who have figured out (as we have) that the housing market will fall again.
As always, the question is "When?"
No telling, but I see where the CBC is headlining that the "IMF predicts high unemployment to persist." Ain't that freakin dandy?
And there's your answer why the financial stocks could have significant downside. --- Put away those "future's so bright" shades - futures were down before the open this morning. (More on shady remarks in the Coping section below)
Speaking of Canada Don't know what the rules are on foreign bank accounts, been years since I looked, but the Loonie is back over par with the Dollar (except we know US paper is not a dollar - it's a fed prom note basically...)
Which MIGHT mean you could put money into a Canadian bank and have it earn interest plus a little vig (juice) for currency swing, capiche?
Terra Bites Remember the 'restrictions on travel' concept that popped out of modelspace a long time back? Well, here's the airports in London version of it, due to volcanic ash from a volcano spewing in Iceland.
Here's the cool thing about this massive ash cloud: It may give us a point of discernment from which we may be able to infer whether chemtrails are a project to cool the environment/reduce heat gain of earth on the one hand, or whether chemtrails are a population vaccine or chemical treatment regimen.
My thinking is this: If chemtrails in Europe stop with the ash clouds - then it seems likely that they are related to a planetary cooling project. On the other hand, if they continue unabated, then it become more likely that they have something to do with chemical spraying of the high density civilian population areas.
Not perfect science, of course - more like throwing a dart in a hurricane, but that's how science works and who knows? Maybe we'll be able to infer some observations and answers out of this... --- My best guess at the next big EQ in SoCal would be either the 21st, or more likely the 28th of this month. Baja is still popping off with 4.8 sized quakes today.
Where Not to Go Camping Memo to self: Do not pitch a tent on Arctic ice flow where it's going to split open under the tent...
Dancing to WW III Department Besides the accidental (yeah, sure, right...) crash of that Polish plane that wiped out top leadership of that country, there's also the little matter of what's going to happen in Kyrgyzstan where a soft revolution is underway. Since the country borders China, a check of the Chinese Xinhua news agency turns up a pretty good in depth look at things here...
Transmission Interrupted ...as Mazda recalls 90,000 vehicles for shifty problems, but not here so far as we know....
April 15th Reminder Today sucks.
If that's not clear enough, here's a link from Google's news search tool to 11,000+ more verbose ways of saying it.
Brevity works here (but only part time, as you'll notice).
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Coping: How to be an Electronics Whiz One of our local hams - relatively new to the sport - dropped by with a sick linear amplifier on Wednesday.
I can see already, this is going to get technical, so a couple of definitions along the way. Ham radio is the hobby of doing talking and digital communications without the internet over long distances. The national organization with the largest membership is the American Radio Relay League (www.arrl.org).
A linear amplifier takes a signal out of a not too big transmitter and amplifies it to much higher power.
My friend, not having a gazillion bits of test equipment - and wanting to learn how to be an electronics whiz - brought over his sick amplifier. "High voltage looks OK, the filaments of the tubes come on, so I don't know what's going on. Any ideas?"
"Any grid or plate current?"
"Nope."
"Open her up, we've gotta have a look..."
So for the next hour and a half we figured out how to open up this amplifier. Normally, this is an easy task, 3-minutes or less, but this radio was put together using odd screws that were kind of like a hex key, but nothing I had fit and even the set of Bristol wrenches didn't work (the now more or less defunct Hallicrafters radio company used these on their knobs as set screws, for reasons known only to God & Bill Halligan.
Eventually, losing patience, my friend concluded that the only way to get the last remaining screw removed would be to drill the head off it, so eventually he got the cover off.
"What do you think?"
My first guess was that the radio - which had a couple of capacitors on the input side may have simply roasted after years of use. But, no, this amplifier had been modified.
"Calls for close visual inspection of components....turn it over..." I advised my understudy...
After a bit of poking around, we discovered that there was a piece of Vector Board (good for cobbling up make-do circuits on) that a previous owner of the amplifier had used to construct a string of ten Zener diodes for a bias voltage supply.
"Look at the Zener stack and tell me what you see..." I suggested.
"Wow....one of them looks like it had a fire - there's carbon on the board around it and it looks like it's broken..."
"Presactly. Call Mouser, or check with (another club member who fixes public service radios/fire/police and such for a living) and see if you can come up with a dozen Zener diodes and some new Vector Board. Check the schematic when you get home and see how many watts these were rated for, double it, and come back with the parts and we'll build up a new Zener stack. and should work, since we'd already done the obvious like check the tubes and contacts on the transmit receive relay and all the obvious stuff." --- Sometimes, electronics troubleshooting is a real art, requiring measuring of everything to find an elusive component failure. In extreme cases, a can of circuit cooler and a hair drier (which we rename a 'heat gun' to keep it from being borrowed) is needed to replicate failure modes..
Other times, it's just a matter of taking the right cover off something and looking for a component that looks like it let the smoke out.
Whether you're looking at stock prices, pre-flighting an airplane, troubleshooting a broken appliance, or in this case, fixing a piece of ham radio equipment, about as often as not, a good look at any problem with open eyes will reveal the solution....say 50%.
Automobiles used to be this easy, too, but seems with all the electronics, there are down to about 10-15% visually evident. The rest is down the rabbit hole where the xyz computer than runs the engine management computer, that runs the vehicle control computer, that runs this....well, you got the idea. Which is why having at least one antique/pre-electronics vehicle around sure seems to make sense.
Not sure if I'm a Luddite, or just lazy...the latter I expect. --- About here, you may be wondering, "Why write this kind of drivel? I don't care about ham radio...so is there anything else to this discussion?"
Well, yes, there is. All has to do with the role of confidence when learning a new skill. My friend, you see, came over here already smart enough to fix his electronic problem...but in a way, what he lacked was the confidence to do it himself. Not self confidence - he's got a healthy amount of that. What I'm talking about is learning confidence.
Noticed it with my biennial flight review instructor. He figured I could fly an airplane, but he was there to make sure I knew what I should and - more importantly - remind me of my confidence in keeping an airplane under control + or - 50 feet of assigned altitude in high bank turns, etc...when this, or that, happens.
Same thing with my ham radio friend: My role in all this was almost Socratic, helping the student realize they already know everything and they just need to move out their boundaries a bit to conquer any area of knowledge.
Biggest confidence builder? An array of test equipment. Almost like learning amulets, if you follow. --- Which leads to my thought - which may be worth capturing: When kids are young, they seem to lack boundaries in their thinking. After getting kicked around for a few years in this, or that, there's a tendency for bounded thinking to show up. (My friend isn't heavily afflicted...which is cool...I just get to watch him discover how smart he is and I get to watch him fix what he discovers...which is really fun...).
Odd view of education, I suppose, but the older we get, and the more deeply ingrained into this method of thinking, or that, and hence the more we have our blinders put on, adjusted just so, and this surreptitiously bounds us and steals our confidence in our innate ability to solve new problems. I';m convinced aging is linked in here somehow. As long as I'm learning I figure it slows aging although I've never seen it written down anywhere.
So next time you're faced with a problem (and not just obviously toasted electronics), ask yourself this: "Do I have boundaries to my confidence in my ability to conquer this mere physical thing that prevents me from solving it to my satisfaction right here and now?"
And honest appraisal may yield surprising answers...I know that question does me a lot of good every time I ask it...and then I whip out that "Recipe System of Learning" concept I described a couple of weeks back for Peoplenomics subscribers and presto! I know what I know, box in what I don't know, go soak that up, and turn myself into a Renaissance Man with yet another skill.
Works for women, too.
You just need to remember: You have infinite personal power and an infinite personal ability to learn. It's just a mater oftentimes of reminding yourself of that.
The Zener diodes? There's just a tool to get you there.
Old Age Report I mentioned the phrase in a song in yesterday's report "Future's so bright, gotta wear shades" and improperly attributed the song to Huey Lewis & the News. And, ho boy, did I get the gates of email hell opened with that one!
Wikipedia says of the group:
Another report (from a reader) says they were originally up in Madison, WI and then moved down to Austin, or thereabouts. Band's got a website here - and since we have a rudimentary studio lashup here (16 track in with up to 96 track mixing), if they ever need studio time, they're more than welcome to drop by for free studio time out here in the middle of nowhere. BYOA & BYODC (bring your own amp and bring your own drum key). --- Don't blame me for the lapse...the 1980's disco scene was something I wasn't too familiar with in the first place.
Want my excuses? Got a boatload of 'em: When the 1980's were starting out, I was already a staid and stable married fellow. Twins were born in 1980, the eldest daughter a couple of years before that. How much knowledge of the era could there be? Working umpteen zillion hours a week in news and going to school in my 'spare time' plus all the other trappings of suburbia? Plus, the radio station I was with had gone country in September of 1975 - which is when I'd hung up my rock & roll boots.
I could bore you with all kinds of reasons why I missed the 1980's, although Elaine took most of it in, though. such is the price of studious geekdom. --- About the most important memory peg I have for the era was "In the 1980's, sex was safe and driving wasn't. Today, it's the other way around."
This is progress? Or, just proof I'm getting old?
Down At the WuJo: Crop Circle Season With summer almost upon us, or at least so it seems with temps down here on the ranch already venturing into the 80';s, time to start thinking about crop circles again, which are a kind of 'every summertime' event, seems.
One of the better article on point is called "PLANT ABNORMALITIES INDICATE PLASMA DISCHARGE IN 2009 UK CROP CIRCLES"
Seems there are two kinds of crop circles - the mechanical kind (from people going out and doing 'smash-down' copycat works. Then there's the other kind - the plasma type. And once you get there, it's a matter of wondering "Who's the intelligence behind the plasma?"
Got an interesting answer - although highly speculative - to that for Peoplenomics readers this weekend, but something to pour endless hours of reading into, if things are slow at work, or if you have given up looking for work and have figured that enlightenment might be easier to find than a job here lately.
Look - Up in the Sky! Department Item 1: Dozens see fireball in Green Bay skies. --- Item 2: I suppose this is part science, part WuJo material here...but definitely worth a read: Hewitt Heiserman's interview with Arch Crawford of the astro economics site Crawford Perspectives...
I mentioned this to you a couple of months back - basically that Arch was expecting the economy to hit the skids by late summer, but this interview gets into more of the nitty-gritty of it.
Oh - sell in May and go away - long a Wall Street adage, seems in play this year more so than most....take it for what it's worth.
Say: Did I mention we're getting close to May and 11,244?
Wednesday April 14, 2010 Special Update Your Next Earthquake Worry Window?
Late Friday, early Saturday? Or next Wednesday in what W. Coast city?
Also, our source in Poland says political candidates that could oppose the EU are crumbling right and left now. The crash was - of course - only a coincidence. Just happens to feel a lot like a NWO/One Worlder's wet dream, is all.
Bluepill: CPI Time once again to dutifully report the government's take on the cost of living. As usual, I'll remind you about the distortions implied by both hedonic adjustments, and using geometric means instead of arithmetic means, to infer what's really going on when people buy what they can. May I have the envelope, please?
Your mileage may vary, stock number 4142010, member FDIC, yada, yada, yada...
Unadjusted the 2.3% for the past year is hard to swallow, especially since gasoline is up 41.1% Year-on-Year (YoY). Used cars are up 16.3% - which leads me to suspect that Cash for Clunkers was nothing more than a way to puff up people's financial statements for the guys who run the filthy lucre departments (banksters we call 'em) so people would look like they have more money (on paper) than they do. My competing theory is that this is how the repo price of cars was kept artificially high. Sheesh!
The Blame Game Think I told you my friend Howard Hill wrote a dandy book while he was still one of the highly paid quants (hope he doesn't mind the term, but that's what I call one of the guys who brought the first PC's to Wall Street)...the book was Mortgage Market Mayhem. Never got published...BUT Howard has put a couple of chapters on his web site which will tell you more about the real causes of why America is in the crapper financially than just about anything else out there.
In particular, the chapter "The Blame Game" chapter is a dandy. But maybe before reading that one, you should start with "Roots of the Meltdown".
Every so often I call Howard and ask (to the point he's probably sick of it) "What really caused this mess that we're in?" Howard will point me at his book chapters which he has generously shared. And sometimes (while I'm trying to dial in my automatic telephone voice transcribing system), he'll send hints like this:
Just so...free money is something everybody loves, for sure. Anyway, Howard's site is a gem, unless you bump into the occasional "Sorry, George..." reference on this page or that. It's Howard I said was smart, not me.
Future's So Bright... Huey Lewis & the
News, wasn't it? "Future's so bright, I gotta wear
shades."
Hell, welding glasses today. Might want to have a pair of welding goggles ready for November, too...which gets me to my next epistle....
Poland's Role in WW III? I'll depart from my usual review of general, albeit economics-related news this morning because there's something I want to zoom-in on with you: I've got good news for you - and bad.
Talked to my friend and predictive linguistics guru Cliff on Tuesday and the way things are lining up it is starting to look like the really really BIG tipping point in the linguistics November 8-14 of this year (remembering our last big tipping point was 9/11 which set off the current round of warring and the rise of the national security state) is shaping more toward WW III than anything else. Oh - and my own research into the Shape of Things to Come report's references to an old-time socialist may be rhyming with Jean Jaurès, for reasons that should become apparent in a moment. But, instead of starting in the middle of the story, let's click back to the here & now and read up the latest dispatch from our correspondent in Poland:
Well, let's see here, what large roughly 100-year-ago events would come close to the potential of this one to set off a world war?
Are we the only ones that remember World War I? So let's see how well history rhymes in the coming months rhyme with the events leading into WW I.
If the Polish presidential plane crash (which took out their central bank president, who was no friend of the West's "easy money and we'll own you' policies from what I've read) is analogous to the tragedy of the April 10 crash.
Our first temporal marker to be looking for might be a rhyme on the assassination of a leading socialist, Jean Jaurès, which occurred on July 31, 1914, just 25 days after the Archduke Ferdinand was killed, which is you dozed off in that class was June 28, 1914.
While the linguistics point to a Frenchman and a Wild Colleen in the coming period, I'm not so sure it couldn't turn out to be something like a rhyme on the French socialist leader getting popped which was 25-days after the Archduke was capped.
And then there's the problem of historical rhymes: They are never exact. So as I was reading up on how Jean Jaurès was a left/socialist and therefore a labor leader and also anti-militarist, a rhyme today could go completely the opposite -- to a pro-militarist, hardliner, of the right, who's a corporatist too...25-days after Poland's plane crash. Place your bets?
I've circled the May 5/6 timeframe for that and know what the scary part of that is? That's when (coincidentally I sure hope!) our linguistic "building tension values" go nearly vertical. ---
Most people won't remember enough history to see how closely aligned Polish interests are with Austrian interests, and although smaller in size today, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795) was a hugely power part of central Europe.
And how does all this fit in with modern-day events? Aha! For some reason, the ancient Polish empire included lands from which legends of things like vampires and such came from. The reason these figure into our tale is that vampires were large, powerful, came out only at night and had an appetite for human blood.
Now, if you read your L. Austine Waddell books about the Aryan types (and related chalky skin, undergrounds, sunlight averse superhumans who are reputed to be going off planet about how) we could take a real turn out into the vast fields of woo woo and get totally lost. So, instead, we will click back to looking at what could come next, if the Polish plane crash sets off a larger sequence of events to come... --- So the next date after the Archduke's death of major consequence on the road to Total War, comes on August 1, 1914 - 34 days after the murder and close enough to 33 to be worth noticing on the way by. This is the date that Germany declares war on Russia.
What might a modern analog be? Oh, maybe some declaration of war between countries (your guess is as good as mine since we're so far off into the speculative weeds at this point) would be a day or two either side of May 13, 2010. --- Penciling out a little more of this potential rhyme we can look at the date of the Polish plane crash (4/10/2010) and look at the period from 11/8/2010 to 11/14/2010 which is the date of the major release language and tipping point in the predictive linguistics for this fall.
The low end of the date range would be 212 days from the plane crash date while the high end would be 218 days.
So we go back to the assassination of the Archduke and the declaration of war by Germany. We know that we've got this huge - bigger than anything we have seen before in modelspace in the predictive linguistics coming up November 8-14 of this year, so where do we go in rhyme-seeking mode? The calculations, please?
Lots of dates and ways to arrange things, but the only really safe generalization is that in this period is when the German U-Boat campaign against shipping was being escalated in intensity.
About now, you're possibly asking yourself, what would the modern analog be in terms of public fears? If the U-Boats were the weapon of public fear then, what is our modern analog? My guess? ICBM's. --- A lot of people misunderstand the predictive linguistics project, thinking that somehow Cliff can 'zoom-in' on whatever he feels like, down to the point where he gets seen by (delusional) people are some kind of guru who owes them answers about every choice in life. Unfortunately, about as small a group as we get would be on the order of a few millions, and occasionally a stand-out group of a hundred thousand might be possible. But individual stuff? No chance in hell.
On the other hand, on the really BIG stuff, like tipping points (coming this fall) the track record seems above chance so I'd be looking for a series of skirmishes and demands to be made this summer and the whole world facing degeneration into war in November, at least if I had to place a bet this morning.
If you know where to look, there are clues all over the place. Like the one in this letter from a reader under the subject line "Radiation Observation":
Just an increase in the general background? Perhaps. Or, could it be something like the global spread of eventually toxic dust from all that depleted uranium used in the Middle East that no one is talking about with any seriousness? Could be. Maybe something else, like getting closer to the galactic ecliptic? Well, that, maybe, too. Might want to start a chart...just in case we get really nonlinear here come the middle of November, just for example. --- Trouble with all this is: A nuclear war would account for a whole bunch of linguistic change: "The Gap" in the data, all the dead people globally (numbers I'm too polite to mention in modelspace that would curdle your Cheerios with trailing zeroes). So, yeah, CPI is interesting, earthquakes are significant, and that galactic ecliptic is good copy.
But, by my work, and supported by a chart of an inflation-corrected Dow and other averages since the absolute top of financial indices on a purchasing power basis, on January 14, 2000.
Since Depression 2 needs a large war to finish things up (literally and figuratively by destroying a lot of capacity not to mention humans) I notice that from the stock market top in 1929 (Sept. 3, 1929 if memory serves) to the US being bombed at Pearl harbor was 4,478 days. That means - if we're doing serious rhyming here - that we could be in WW III around April 18, 2012. Oh, about the middle of our "gap".
Or, if we count from the German invasion of Poland on 9/1/1939, WW III could have started as early as January 11th of this year.
That's a kind of broad timeline to fill in, but since we just had a plane crash last weekend, well, I'm just feeling a bit edgy, if'n you know what I mean.
Maybe we'll get lucky and just have a pole shift of something. "Third Time's a Charm" doesn't seem to fit this kind of topic. --- Our usual disclaimer applies: This could all be warrantless speculation and monkey-mind gone zonkers on too much caffeine, too early on a beautiful spring morning.
Sure as hell hope so.
But am I the only one who sees Obama signing the Fewer Nukes Deal on April 9 and the Polish cast being bumped off the next day as some kind of massively connected event sequence? Coincidence? My ass!
Where'd I put that damn crack pipe?
Terra Bites I imagine it's good news that the 7.1 earthquake which hit Wednesday morning did not hit Los Angeles (and if it doesn't strike next Wednesday, I'm sending that dream I had a while back where the sign |Wednesday - los angeles | was shown back to the manufacturer). But the bad news is there was one in China and it killed at least 400 people.
Not a 'great quake' by our standards (8.0 or 150,000 dead) but I imagine there are more than 400 more (former) humans who'd argue that point.
--- snip and save section ---
Coping: Feeble Attempts At Humor Eyeing the possibility of WW III may seem like sobering stuff, but on the brighter side of coping, Elaine & I had a good laugh yesterday as we reviewed the various ways people ask to use restroom facilities.
Don't know how we got onto the topic, but I started recalling my list of different ways I've asked "Where are your facilities?"
Decided that some of my more humorous ones might make your day brighter, but remember part of the art and science of asking where "The John" is falls as a heavy responsibility on the asker of the question - not the askee - to properly assess the audience.
I always look at such occasions as a fine opportunity from Universe to provide cheerfulness to people. But, like a comic who's getting up first at a comedy club, there's an art to sizing up the room. What you're after is the answer - and usually obtained as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it's your duty to bring laughter and mirth into people's lives, so there's got to be something 'clear' or 'humorous' in your approach.
Here are some of the ones I've discovered work well:
All of which gets back to the rest of the story: As we were sitting there after lunch chatting, I announced "Well, Back to work...just as soon as I empty my dowsing rod."
I thought that was pretty good, although admittedly male-specific.
Elaine just rolled her eyes, something that happens with enough frequency, I've suggested she make an ophthalmologist appointment one of these days. Maybe if I go along I can try out my newest line of inquiry.
Something to ponder other than WW III or the CPI, worst of all - ignoring a stock tip from Howard...although any of these pisses me off. Speaking of which: More coffee? Well, how about some bottled water, maybe? Beer?
Tuesday April 13, 2010 Common Sayings & Modern Economics The new Balance of Trade report is out this morning, so we might as well start with that:
The reason the balance of trade picture is so important is that it gives a sense of whether America is becoming more - or less - competitive. Much of economics can be understood with a few common sayings that you don't need a four-year degree to understand. Let me show you what I mean.
Of course, the usefulness of "common sayings" is something at extends far beyond the boundaries of every day business headlines. Other examples can be found in physics:
Common sayings are a very useful mental-organizing tool. As is probably evident by now, I don't use them very often, since if I did, the column would be far more clever than it is.
You, on the other hand, may have more luck with it. As an UrbanSurvival coping skill, matching up old or common sayings is a great way to keep the ultimate of all economic realities in mind:
The real riches are in your head.
Give and Take Economics Having said that, we might move to asking "What's Obama doing for me?" Turns out that your answer may have more to do with where you live and how much money you make. For example, Reuters headlines that "Richest Virginians get biggest Obama tax cuts". Texas came in second place, although we don't have enough income around here to have noticed.
On the other side of the coin, the Washington Times reports "Incomes fall 3.2% during Obama's term."
Seems that economics stories in general ought to have some kind of disclaimer like those consumer protection laws for cars: "You mileage may vary, void where prohibited, income range x to y, yada, yada, yada...."
"R" Gang Well, sure enough, the 'revolution and rebellion' meme is getting up a good head of steam now, especially since there's a report about how in Oklahoma some of the tea party types and some lawmakers are considering setting up a state militia to stop (or try to slow?) "improper infringements on state sovereignty."
Oh...you mean powers otherwise not ceded?
Job Seeking I sent a note to my EMT son yesterday urging him to go back to school and finish up his P.A. (physician assistant) long term goal. Reason? The Wall Street Journal's story "Medical Schools Can't Keep Up" and the country could be short 150,000 doctors in the next 15-years. --- I'm so old I remember a time when heavy equipment operators were in short supply...
You Know It's a Slow News Day When... CNN has an article "7 things you might not know about Starbucks..." --- But wait! Stop the presses! Word has just reached us that Nepal and China agree on how high Mount Everest is!
Ben Dover's Column See? "Spanked children more aggressive" writes Ben...er...the BBC then.
--- snip and save section ---
Coping: The Original One Pot With any luck, by now you have downloaded the free Peoplenomics report on one-pot cooking and tried something out, but if not, maybe this weekend, eh?
Forget to
mention the original and perhaps source of many recipes
of this genre - the Dutch Oven. They aren't cheap, as
cookware goes; if you shop Marshall's and such, you can no doubt
find something in ceramic which will be more suited to daily
casseroles and what-have-you (pies & cakes, maybe?). But
there's nothing like3 a real deal Dutch Oven which you can get
from Amazon for about $75; see
Lodge Logic 8-Quart Camp Dutch Oven
To be sure, there are a fair number of supposed "Dutch" ovens on the market, but if you ever had to do real fire cooking, the kind which come with no rim on the top side of the lid to hold chunks of coals, well, they might work if you're throwing together a Mulligan, but for something where top heat is important (baking biscuits comes to mind) then they're nearly unsatisfactory.
Depending on how good you are with a vise, and some rebar (or mayb e you have a friend who is a welder?) you don't really need much else. A simply tripod with a chain on it (60-70" legs seem about right) and a bent piece of rebar for lid and pot-lifting ought to get you through one meal, anyway.
What you might find interesting is that there's gotten to be something of a new social movement that's growing up around this style of 'pack-to-basics' cooking: Dutch Oven groups.
It may seem like planning waaay into the future, but the Mother Of All Dutch Oven meet ups is this October 8-10 in Doyline, Louisiana, which is the "National Dutch Oven Gathering" for this year.
Many state Dutch Oven groups are around, too. Here in the Republic, the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society notes that the Dutch Oven is the "official cooking implement of Texas" which sounds a heck of a lot more practical than declaring State Birds (except in Alaska where the state bird is the mosquito).
Turns out the LSDOS state group has three chapters in Crockett, Tyler, and Nacogdoches. On the merchandise page, the "Texas Treasury of Dutch Oven Cooking" - all 232-pages worth - sounds like it might have every possible iteration of the art possible, or at least a good start on it.
I have to confess to being something of a cookbookholic, however Elaine every so often reminds me I can't eat the books, so don't get so many of them. Given a chance, I'm sure our ultimate dream home already exists; it's just that it's hard to come by a whole library (with books) for sale.
Still, I'm holding out hope since as Depression 2 digs in, I'm sure some city, county or other such municipal enterprise will run out of money and have to sell off a library.
If you live in California, for example, and we get through the next six months without a mega quake, I might be interested in one up in the Sierra foothills when the state goes broke. Send me a note if you see one on sale - especially if it has basic plumbing to where I could rough in a shower and put a Dutch Oven cooking pit out back.
Renting books may seem like an odd business model, but only so long as the lights are on. Once they go off, you'd be surprised how useful those old-fashioned things can be - like the ones that give instruction in Dutch Oven cooking. Gives a whole new dimension to "things going to pot".
Say, is it lunch time yet?
Famine Underwear Had to chuckle at the description this morning from the Urban Dictionary - one of the best ways for the over 40 crowd to keep up with the under 40'ers.
So what is famine underwear?
If you'd sign up for their "Word of the Day" email here, I wouldn't mention these things as often...but every once in a while a catchy one comes along.
Letters From the Front During most wars (and occasionally revolutions) people receive 'letters from the front' and this one about Poland is mighty instructive:
But of course we all are supposed to believe this was all an accident, right? The fact that malware around the incident was out within hours - just coincidence, got it?
Down at the WuJo: Moving the Starting Line If this morning's column seems to lack a bit of its normal pazzazz, it's probably because I was up about half the night listening to the George Noory interview with Jay Weidner (also Bill Spillane).
What emerged from part of the interview was that (to sum things up succinctly) the idea is that every so many thousands of years, there's a big disruption on the Sun. Over time, a race of what sound like super-humans (Vril or earliest Aryans) who have chalky white skin and live mostly underground, take superior technology and leave Earth and head out to mars (Phobos?) and wait out the Sun's misbehaving and then come back and recolonize Earth.
Particularly
interesting was Weidner's reference to 1920's era
archeological work by L. Austine Waddell and a book
Makers of Civilization in Race and History
All of which would be interesting as all get-out all by itself (along with a trip to Jay Weidner's web site) except that I've been working with this small Jewish studies group which has come up with a remarkable insight into ancient Hebrew.
Essentially, the group says that in original Hebrew, there were only 22 characters and using these alone, new words and concepts could be conveyed. What has happened, over time, is that the language was 'polluted' with non-Hebrew words such that instead of being a very gracefully designed (and error-correcting, too) language, modern Hebrew has become amazingly complex. Doesn't need to be so, they point out...and I'm working on what threatens to be a longish Peoplenomics report on their research and studies because it paints a whole different kind of 'beginning' when early texts are translated using contemporary Hebrew versus the original 22-characters (as this group figures it) version.
but now, here's the thing: In their studies they have also taken a look at early texts of things like Revelations which, before going through iterations and revisions, read much differently as I was discussing with them yesterday:
So while there seems to be some concordance between Weidner's Vril/Aryan and Waddell's Aryan/Sumer description sets, there are lots of other points which may, or may not agree.
For example, in the early texts there's some discussion of an angel marching around with a sword at the gates of the Garden of Eden:
Sure, longwave economics is interesting stuff, but when an error-correcting system of Hebrew seems to bring up things like "The Supreme Ones" (plural!) as the original creators as the (Rule of All's direction) of the Garden of Eden, and Earth starts to sound like a terraforming operation, with a group of 'gardeners left behind' (that's you fallen angels, getting this?) it gets to be more interesting than most day-to-day movements in the market.
Like I said, this is turning into a little more than a short report, but considering it could be the most important area of study in life, I figure it's worth wading deep into...I'll keep you posted on progress...but one thing has become abundantly clear: There's something really big going on back at the starting line to this round of history...something really, really big.
Seems like the starting line has gotten push back a few years from where many people thought it began...
Monday April 12, 2010 Reminder! Oh crap...Absent minded George forgot to remind you that Jay Weidner will be outing the off-planet breakaway civilization guys on CoastToCoast AM with George Noory tonight. Details here... get StreamLink and here it in normal hours if you ain't with the program or night owlish...
Spinning Poland As I explained to Peoplenomics readers in Saturday's report, the word that was first put out - suggesting the president of Poland had ordered his plane to land in dangerous fog just didn't seem plausible. Too many protocols would have had to break down - and there were too many high ranking Polish officials onboard to swallow the pabulum being fed out the MSM. Sorry, just got to line up a few facts - and as luck would have it, a reader in Poland has sent in a most interesting backgrounder for us to ponder which - after you read it - you'll see points the finger for all these deaths not at the late president, but at the PowersThatBe. Circumstantial? Of course, but then isn't it always?
If your coffee hasn't sunk in yet, consider something like 'oppose the flu shot' and then 'flew' into the ground. Flu/flew - the PTB has a way with words and deeds, do they not? The "official story" may be true, but circumstantially, things don't seem entirely as they are made out to be.
The "R" Word The fugitive president (or once, anyway) of Kyrgyzstan is warning from his hideout of more bloodshed to come. Kyrgyzstan is strategically located (next to China) and has some natural gas and gold, among other things. --- Speaking of the "r" word, another reader has been watching British politics and has noticed the MSM has been 'seeding' thoughts like "Greek style unrest if Narrow Tory Win'.
Which brings us to the...
Manufacturer's Resource Wars Of course, I've been writing for years about Peak Oil, things like Matthew Simmons work, and the websites like Matt Savinar's Life After the Oil Crash, but like anything else, this is not exactly mainstream.
In fact, wonder's one observant reader, if the foreign press & Obama's energy dude figure we're screwed (recently overseas: Washington consider a decline of world oil production as of 2011) how comes the US MSM is not all over this?
Long and short of it: Whole upper crust of the Western financial world is trying to figure out how to avoid the whole of Europe from financially imploding (and then the US in turn) and with oil at $85 headed for who knows where, the PTB aren't about to let you have a piece of that. You just go to work, like a good little citizen and don't ask so many questions..;..the PTB will take care of us. It's the how that worries me, of course.
Silvery Questions Finally! Someone in the MSM work up with the NY Post this weekend getting hold of the story we told you about a while back - how a CFTC meeting managed to cut off Bill Murphy's comments and a whistleblower was glossed over. But, as the Post reported this weekend "Metal$ are in the pits" as "trader blows whistle on gold & silver price" (manipulation.).
Is the MSM on the verge of getting back to real reporting? Yes, in the case of the Post. No in the case of the rest/also rans. I mean, how many months did we sit around waiting for The Big Story on how naked short selling was scalping billions from the public? Only to have that whole scam go where?
Australia's Housing Bubble Think we had a bad one? Gotta ask how the3 foreign buyers moving into Australian property will impact the globe. A reader down under points out this article on point and says "Australian housing prices are exploding since foreigners can come in and buy with their 1% Chinese loans, leaving empty houses and waiting for prices to go up 50%. How can average people on 50-55k afford 600k to 900k houses? They cant, most live with their parents."
Hearts and Minds vs. Ink Worth reading the Fast Company article about "Google CEO's surprising comment of the day: Newspapers will thrive".
Besides things like machines picking your news for you (as Google news alerts keep track of many things for me) the interesting phrase in the article is "paywalls" - the point at which a publisher requires payment for additional content. Just like Peoplenomics.com content is behind a 'paywall' so too, newspapers may catch up to our business model sooner or later...that's only...er...9-years after the fact.
I'd mention to the papers that the way to start is to have some content (weekends around here) be 'for pay' but give away 70% of content, or so...but they'll have to learn some of this stuff on their own. What they're doing now is not my business model, LOL.
Dead Oceans Department You see the article in the Telegraph about how fishing was recently banned on the Sea of Galilee? Next thing you know, walking on it will be banned, too.
--- snip and save section ---
Coping: Lawns are Useless and More On Food Say, if you're not a subscriber to Peoplenomics.com you really are missing some halfway decent content. Oh, sure, the free side stuff is pretty good, but it's kinda like getting the hamburger without the shake and fries, if that makes sense this early in the workweek.
So...since our rainfall here in the high meat output area of the country is running about 30% behind last year (so we'll keep an eye on the national drought monitor this year) and since there is plenty of time to do something about what seems to be ahead, here is a portion of this week's Peoplenomics report ("Eating in the Post-Prosperity World"). It's a kind of soup-to-nuts on all kinds of food thinking, but remember the one-pot recipes people sent in last week? Well, there are 30-odd recipes included in the one-pot discussion.
Here's the thing: In the PDF version, the links don't work, so you'll have to do some scrolling and some copying of search terms to find some of the resources cited, but they are there for your follow-up.
Enjoy - think of it as an early Beltane gift to your family from the kind folks who subscribe to Peoplenomics and thus keep the servers and lights on around here.
One other thing to remember - and I neglected to put this into the recipes and thoughts on food this weekend is an old Asian saying: Food cooked with an angry hand is poisonous. There's a reason cultures bless their food before eating; Universe is full of subtle energies that become apparent to awake humans.
Oh, and unless you have a lawn with 18-holes in it, I'm wondering if it's justifiable when that same patch of ground could be providing food. Just something to think about as you spread thin layers of money around the house this year and get nothing but short grass instead of tall corn and fresh veggies. But, to each their own...
A reader note on topic:
That super quiet .22 round sounds a lot like CB caps from when I was a kid (which was only a couple of weeks back, near as anyone'll say.
ID Leaks My friends over Maxa Research have released an updated Privacy Test which will show you how much of your 'soft underbelly in computing' is exposed to the world. Click here to run it...
Ah, to be back in the old days of computing: Dial up and no worries. Nowadays I run a firewall, antivirus, Maxa Cookie Manager and Malwarebytes...I suppose it's no wonder computer hard drives have had to grow in capacity.
Bye-Bye Mini Fluorescent Lights? Looks like a new breed of plug&play replacement LED's may be in the market about the time those recently installed mini fluorescent lights give out in five years. Of course, we've already had some failures are one year in. some money-savers, huh?
Meantime, still happy with my 48-LED desk lamp off eBay for under $50. Hasn't helped my typing, but cheap is good.
Inquiring Minds Department Readers wanna know...
Tried that, but like everything else I tackle, I over-achieve. Had my arm in a sling for a week for all the patting of my own back....
No plans to raise subscription prices and yes I expect to be here...since the linguistics often paint the most dire side of things (not that they are wrong, just the good stuff doesn't make headlines). So I just keep planning for the worst and hoping for the best. So if I buy more solar panels, that's a good thing either way the outcome goes. Elaine and I are still talking about an 'escape pod' boat.
I keep paying taxes (government is a protection racket) so best to play along and try to live undisturbed life. Where to locate a small farm? www.unitedcountry.com is a great spot as is craigslist.
See our Independence Journal entry here: http://independencejournal.com/exurban/buyfarm.htm No machine guns, at least 1-acre per person, a well, etc. About the only pillboxes around here have vitamins in them.
bad news: If IRS disappears, your IRA funds will be worth about dust would be my guess. Ever see a vulture fly off with dinner still ont he ground?.
Thanks for being what a comedian might call a good straight man. Although not much humor in any of this...being as it's Monday and all.
I will tell you to lose that "senior citizen" mindset. You keep thinking like a junior citizen and that'll keep you young. As above, so below, know what I'm sayin?
Before the chart, a little background: Once upon a time, a long while ago, I observed during my quest for 'truth' in economics, that the PowersThatBe, the talking heads on the teeve, and the other information sources that actively engage in the programming of humans not to think, had conveniently swept several trillions of dollars that disappeared in the Internet Bubble's bursting (since spring 2000) under the rug. Surely, it wasn't unnoticed by the thousands of people who called brokers and said "Where is my money?" "Gone, but hang in there as you're a long term investor!" was about all they heard back.
So one of our charts for Peoplenomics subscribers oughta be widely circulated - it shows that if you line up the peak of the Dow in January 2000 with the peak in early September of 1929, we're on a very very close replay track. Much closer than even the chart shows if you were to back out inflation, and put in the effects of 1929 deflation, but that'd be real work, and I'm sort of lazy if the truth be told.
No, it's not a perfect replay of 1929, but history doesn't repeat exactly, it only rhymes. So think of this as the rhymes and the crimes chart:
"George, that's only a coincidence!" your monkey-mind will protest.
Why sure it is...you bet. A 9½ year long coincidence...yessir....just a coincidence, I'm sure...
Write when you get rich,
George Ure, The People's Economist
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