News

When you read a lot of alchemy you will no doubt run across the Philosopher’s Stone references. The stone is said to have magical powers like turning mercury or lead into gold. It’s also reputed to be used in making the elixir of life which can extend/delay aging. Magick, though, runs off the rails. People … Read More

I did mention that my brother-in-law is possibly the world’s unluckiest man? Well, here’s the latest:  He was going to close on his house Thursday. Until the title company “discovered” they didn’t have a signed report from the pest control people. WTF? Day of closing? Well, not back to today or next week.  We can … Read More

So the Rich Get Richer…here’s how. As I have been telling you, the Fed is pumping money creation at a 10% annual rate (M1 Seasonally adjusted H.6 Money stocks) while supposedly running a responsible center bank. The reality always was that the Fed wouldn’t do anything prior to the election, because we’ve been saying, because … Read More

I doubt you will remember the November column in which I described an odd – middle of the night – incident in which an Indiglo alarm clock somehow set off an odd thing in my brain. I had looked at the time, and it was dark, and for whatever reason, I kept my focus on … Read More

Like this is a surprise? Against this backdrop, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent. The Committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened but decided, for the time being, to wait for further evidence of continued … Read More

This morning we line up a lot of data.  Everything from cops shooting blacks to the gasoline pipeline mess that has resulted in gas lines in the Southeast.  Then we toss in some economic data and distill it down to an economic forecast that begins to look like the leading edge of Chaos. Before that, … Read More

Remember last Friday? That’s when the consumer price report came out. You can review it here, or accept when I tell you the government is trying to sell the idea that the general level of prices is up 1.1% in the past year. Hold this number in mind now and follow along. Let’s flip over … Read More

Ever thought about writing a novel or your life story? Good – you should! If you enjoyed my first novel DreamOver, you may be pleased to hear that a second novel is on the drawing board. Come to think of it, so is the third novel. I frequently run into folks who want to know … Read More

When the Fed gets down to work tomorrow – and they are not likely to raise due to the proximity of the election, a curious story about Janet Yellen’s feelings has crossed the feeds this morning: “For Yellen, a September Fed surprise could close confidence gap…” Still, with the current expansion of the M1 (cash … Read More

A week or two back – before the gates of Hell opened to push us up past the 100-degree comfort mark – I was mentioning my research into auto body repair and shopping for a few simple tools. Although I have plans for a lot more work to come, this is how my “rough, take … Read More

Seems like a good morning to look up from the general news flow – which is way too political anyway – and look at some of the other stories going on. These are more fun to consider, anyway, since they will form our lives more than whoever ends up being the housekeeper on Pennsylvania Avenue. … Read More

BREAKING Mini-Crash Watch:   Deutsche Bank(NYSE: DB) may have a hard day ahead:  From http://finance.yahoo.com: Ever since their co-CEO deal blew up (year ago June, wasn’t it?) we have been looking for this to perhaps work into the leading edge of another Too Big To Fail hold-up/bail-in. Too early to tell.  not too early to … Read More

The whole underpinning of the UrbanSurvival ^ Peoplenomics lifestyle is the idea of living better than most by intelligently deploying our money. This doesn’t mean we sacrifice quality; nothing could be further from the Truth. It’s just we do take some pride in squeezing each nickel a bit to make it go a little further … Read More