News

Gear up, kiddies.  We’re going on a nature hike.  I’m going to show you how we “grow toilet paper” out here in East Texas.  Your ass should thank us.  Seriously (well, partly, anyway…). Let’s begin with some reality about economic Depressions.  When  times are good, prices for wood, harvested from small tree farms like ours, … Read More

Is there a logical limit to the Fed’s Making Up Money interventions?  Briefly – as in flash-in-the-pan Making Up Money under the guise of playing Modern Monetary Theory seems to work.  The Fed throws how much?  $6-trillion is it?  And the price of paper goes up. But, in the long run, is it viable?  We … Read More

Reader Note 1:  Posting in sections this morning due to power outages (multiple) from high winds in East Texas overnight.  Thank God for solar back-up and a big battery bank. AYFKM?  Fed Inflation 37.2% Most recent “sliding window” view of the (not really) “Federal” Reserve’s money-printing party shows underlying (with the emphasis on  lying) approaching … Read More

Three quick items on the agenda this morning: Jobs outlook continues to deteriorate.  As you would expect with our lifestyle being jacked… Financial instruments have detached from Reality.  As you would expect when money is being made up – mostly for the Rich Through it all, it’s still possible to live the  iWAMP Life.  A … Read More

One of the most important topics once you reach the “ripe old age of 50” as many of our readers have. Surprisingly, it’s less a matter of how much money you have.  Really more a matter of managing yourself and expectations. Today we talk about the Art of Retiring. To where?  While “big city life” … Read More

There seems to be something almost magical about 7.42 percent.  Because here we are, rallying in the face of calamity.  Although our first-leg down from the all-time highs was much larger than ’29, so too our bounce seems somehow  drawn towards that 7.42% rally of the first leg down in 1929. You’ll remember what happened … Read More

I have made (yet another) pledge to myself to write shorter columns.  “Save the juicy stuff for  Peoplenomics subscribers,” I tell myself. And yet,  Peoplenomics is only a couple of days per week, so occasionally – like  today – we will offer remarks that are “out in the clear.”  Like my mentioning last week that … Read More

Quiet morning here at the ranch.  Very satisfying day Saturday, though.  And all thanks to two simple concepts:  Trust the science and multi-task your life. Let’s start with the science part because it’s an area where people seem to have a lot of trouble.  Whether you’re talking a mechanic’s project, the finery of HF radio … Read More

A look at some future “bounding problems” ahead for young people. Which from our standpoint, lately, is anyone 50 or younger… On our podcast this morning, some discussion with Canadian author, broadcaster, serial entrepreneur and religious studies expert Chris Tyreman – who will give us some perspective on Covid-19 from north of the border.  Podcast … Read More

The IISM Manufacturing Index and fresh Construction Spending are likely to influence the market very short-term today, but there are three socioeconomic questions that are much more important than, oh, even a pending Boeing layoff in the Seattle area coming shortly, says the rumor mill… Can the Economy “paper-over” the collapse of underlying values? Who’s … Read More

Finance First I would not be surprised to see the market end the week about where it was after the Fed announcement Wednesday (more save-the-bankers, crap).  Sent out an email to a few colleagues: “The Wednesday close of my Aggregate Index was 0.317 percent (3-10ths of 1 percent) above a picture perfect Fibonacci retrace of … Read More

Another one of those [possibly meaningful] lucid dreams of mine.  This time it’s about who “owns the future.”  What’s interesting is that ownership of that may be up for grabs.  In the charts, we’re wondering when Wave II up (from the Feb. 19 high to the A-Fool’s low was 1-down and since we’ve been in … Read More

Wow – but remember, this is FEBRUARY data so virtually NO IMPACT of the CV-19 pandemic showing here: YEAR-OVER-YEAR  The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 4.2% annual gain in February, up from 3.9% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came … Read More