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Serious Prepping Notes: “Wearable Wealth”

There is much ground to be covered this morning, what with Syria developments,the Kerry Clock, and even our trading positions as we try to beat the Grim Reaper of Wealth and life savings. So buckle-in and bean-up…this is one of our most interesting mornings in a long while…Oh, did I mention the next mass-killing/terrorism likely date is October 8 based on some new insights into futuring as part of our Nostracodeus project? This is 9/11/13 and 12 years after 9/11/01….so you do see what’s missing, right? More for Subscribers To Subscribe, CLICK HERE Need Logon Assistance?

Someone’s Lying About the Economy

Either the US Treasury is lying, or the Congressional Budget office is lying.  You see, the Treasury Debt to the Penny makes it look like the Debt Ceiling is being nicely observed. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, spending in August (as quoted in this article over here) was $331 billion and the income to pay for that was a mere $185 billion.  You can’t have it both ways.

You have exactly three choices here:

  1. Treasury is lying about the public debt and has opened a second set of books to cover up the accounting lie.  This would be a felonious act in private industry, but since this ain’t private, it’s the most likely answer I can come up with.
  2. The second choice is that the Congressional Budget Office could screw up and misplace $146 billion dollars.  In my book, the odds of this are close to zero.
  3. The third choice is “depends what you mean by lying” since government is losing its grip on reality, the concept of truth and lie have been tossed out the window and no longer apply.  Except to you and me, of course.  Since if we tried to file a tax return on this kind of accounting back-up,  care to guess what would happen?

As long as we’re hanging out the dirty laundry this morning, the Fed’s Consumer Debt (credit if you’re a member of the banker class) came out Thursday and it shows revolving credit use (yeah, plastic) was down 5.2 percent in June, but non-revolving debt (like student loans and mobile home loans) were up 9.5%. 

Psychographic implications?  We live in a land of thrifty dreamers. (Which is more proper-like that crack-headed voting monkeys.)

Still, the “Peace Rally” should be off and running this morning for another triple digit effort.  We might see some cooling later in the day, but the 1,685 range in the S&P seems like a slam dunk in here.  Then we’ll have to reassess matters if the world doesn’t blow up unexpectedly over the weekend, or something.

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Coping: Rambling Investigations

Sometimes I just have to listen to the I-Ching inbox when it does something out of the ordinary, which it has in the past couple of days, and therein lies the tale.  There’s a bunch of disconnected parts to this story, so let me take it one step at a time…as it really will make sense, if discussed in stepping-stone fashion.

1.  The single organization tool in Windows 7 (haven’t looked at 8 on my other computer which is just for travel, but I assume it’s there, too) is something called “Sticky Notes.”  It looks like this on my left monitor where I have my never-ending list of things to do:

 

2.  Now, one of the notes on the monitor reads like this:

To understand this little project, all you need is an electronic function generator, about 30-feet of wire, and some knowledge of the Schumann Resonance which you can glean from Wikipedia over here.

Basically, the Schumann Resonance is that underlying 7.83 Hz frequency which is formed by lightning resonating in the Earth’s atmosphere.

What I’ve been thinking with is the idea of mildly overwhelming the Schumann Resonance with something locally generated at a slightly lower (or higher) frequency, in order to determine whether there might be biological effects.

3.  Where my poking around at Schumann gets interesting (research-wise, since nothing big seems to have happened yet in terms of reaction) is that there is a lot of ancient literature (Biblical and other) which gets to the idea of some kind of physical “connector” to Universe. 

Oh, sure, it’s dressed up in a lot of mumbo-jumbo, but seems to me that there really is something to the idea of sacred geometry and – when you go looking – you can even find ways to build your own “Holy of Holies”

You can go looking for visuals over on Google and there’s a ton of them, but notice they all seem to have an oblong shape to them and they have some “resonators” installed at key places.

4.  I can’t find the reference from when I was searching for the information a number of years ago (and found it) but as I recall, the resonators in this were the two kinds of cubits:  In each corner of the “Holy” there was a royal cubit, and exactly mid-way on each wall was a sacred cubit. 

I’ve been thinking over the idea that the Ark of the Covenant was some kind of ‘power station/transceiver devices which seems (from the design descriptions) to be akin to the Orgone accumulator units which has been built by Wilhelm Reich prior to the suppression of his work.

The idea is that IF you could build a “Holy of Holies” which would concentrate whatever that ethereal energy is, and then further refine/capture using an Orgone generator, you could seriously connect with Universe/Ruler of All, etc.

Except, of course, there are a million stumbling blocks, not the least of which is getting the dimensions anywhere near right.

5.  So off goes an email to Chris Tyreman, who’s the director of The Chronicle Project with a research request for anything they might have stumbled on to help better nail down the length of both the royal and sacred cubits.  It helps to know that the Chronicle Project is retranslating the bible using a kind of encryption system which is built into ancient Herbraic languages.  So this is what came back:

Unfortunately, the exact length of the cubit (Amaha in Hebrew, which means…to construct) is unknown and as time went on, different nations adopted different cubits. So it requires some work to reconstruct the most likely length of the original cubit but more, how it was constructed.

Since Babel was built soon after the flood, it is reasonable to assume they were still using Noah’s cubit.

Their cubit is as such: Babylon (old) “kush”

“2000 – 1600” BC 500mm (approx) 19.69 in

The one in Ezekial: Hebrew (Ezekiel 40:5) roughly 518mm 20.4 in The cubit for construction in Egypt…20.65

Which one was Noah’s? In 2 Chronicles 3:3, which reveals that Solomon used a long cubit in construction of the temple and in Ezekiel 43:13 an angel used the long cubit.

That aside, the question remains as to what was used to create the cubit. Once that is understood, which of the cubits the ark was built with will become evident.

Chances are, the Babylonian cubit is probably correct as this area was founded by Namarada (Nimrod) shortly after the flood

Knowing that the Hebrew language and lunar measurements were created as a perfect system by Creator, several things should be taken into account.

1.

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Desperation Rebel Moves?

An unusual mid-day update: While the corporate MSM is giving wide play to the fact that Russia is now urging the Syrians to give up their chemical weapons to international control, a move which would defuse the situation ahead of Kerry one-week deadline, we are faced with an even more desperate reported moved by the rebel forces, which are desperate to drag the US/West into their conflict as al Qaeda’s hand in the background continues. Specifically I’d refer you to the RT report claiming “Syrian rebels plan chem attack on Israel from [inside] Assad-controlled territories.” Such a move would, indeed be desperate, but should it occur, the Israelis would immediately launch a counter-attack, which would then suck in Assad’s main forces, and the US, in turn, would be sucked in to side with Israel and about all that’d be left then would be the open question as to when to put on flash-goggles. But for today, things have taken a more reasonable track:

Modest Rally Before “War Anyway”?

?Sometimes The Onion gets it exactly right.  For example, the September 5th headline “Poll: Majority of Americans Approve of Sending Congress to Syria.”  But this morning, with the Fearless Leader speech on Syria about 30-hours ahead, we are sorting through poll results that all show more of less the same thing.  “CNN poll: Public against Syria strike resolution.”

Of course, there are others, too: A poll in the UK shows Brits aren’t willing to be hornswoggled, either.  All of which leads to a curious result in a Gallup poll which is out this morning as it shows an even closer margin:  51% against and 36% for with the largest segment against mentioning “None of our business” while those in favor citied “Prevent it from happening again/prevent terrorism” most highly.  Which has to prove that a huge number of Americans are still a) asleep and b) willing to go with any policy which can be wrapped up in enough warm & fuzzy “anti-terrorism” lingo.

What’s more, a thoughtful NY Times report by Jonathan Tepperman this weekend “Weighing War, Peace and Polls” got to the idea that poll results can change quickly.  Since Tepperman is the managing editor of Foreign Affairs which is the publication of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) we have to infer that what Tepperman’s OpEd sets us to expecting will be a big press publicly by the Obama administration in tomorrow’s speech.

The best outcome, from the administration’s standpoint, would be a watered down House statement which offers something in the way of slippery wording which the House can say is a “decisive position” but which has enough Clintonesque to it that it would contain enough “depends what you mean by…” wording to it, so that Obama would be unfettered and House members running for election could simply say “Well, our statement didn’t vote for war, exactly….”

In other words, make the wording acceptable so it can be sold to both sides, depending on how obfuscated the measure’s real intent is.  What we need is a vote, not necessarily clear and direct speaking by the House.    So if the House statement turns out to be a masterful job of weasel-wording, don’t be the least bit surprised.  Weaseling is what happens in Washington on most issues of any importance (which you’d expect from a lawyer/professional weasler-class chamber) so why should this be any different?

The poor people who trade Asian markets apparently don’t “get” this yes.  Just overnight, the Chinese Hang Seng was up about 130-points, India rose 1.5% and Japan was up nearly 2 1/2 percent.  Europe, being a little more “swave and de boner” about such colonial parliamentarian antics is actually down in England, France, and Germany…because – near as I can figure it – they don’t think the House decision will be decisive and (after Fearless’ speech tomorrow night) the public will be confused, bewildered, and dragged into war while we try to sober-up and figure out what just happened.

Still, the market futures were pointing upward, however modestly, still hoping that reason will prevail, although the odds of that are low since Obama has already reserved his right to ignore the House vote anyway.  And besides, tick-tock as the Israelis still have an Iranian nuclear issue to deal with and Syria is a kind of early-warning system which shares (near as we can figure from what’s public) air defense information with Tehran.

We’ll have to see how well Obama can do at pitchman tomorrow night, but a crafty House document which will be initially cheered, should then give way to an attack within a couple of weeks as the imperial presidency itself – or a LIHOP/MIHOP with all that military hardware floating in the Eastern Med seems as good a bet as any to provoke an American response if the House doesn’t line up for warfare.

Oh, and if it comes to that, president Assad of Syria is telling interviewer Charlie Rose “expect everything” in return.  This while John Kerry is starting a “one week clock” on Syria to turn over chemical weapons.

Did I mention Dow futures are up 25?

An Israeli Mistake in the Making?

A headline this morning on the Israel National News site that “ADL Director Abe Foxman tells IDF Radio White House called him directly.  Analyst: Jewish groups “courting disaster.”

Also in our scan this morning, the Times of Israel report “Gold treasure trove unearthed at base of Temple Mount.”

Another Davos Meeting

It is perhaps significant that another set of sessions will be held in Dalian this week with China  reportedly planning to “…stay the course on sustainable growth.”  Which gets us to a bigger topic – has the world sort of run out of “low hanging fruit” for growth for a while?  More on that in the Coping section following our morning review of formative news…

More after this…

Spy-minded Net Use

A word to the wise from our Winnipeg news analyst fellow:

Dear Mr. Ure,

Have a look at this BBC report of university researchers seeking to identify and geo-locate anti-social tweets in the UK. An aim included in a research document released exactly one year ago outlined the pursuit of “a computer-based environment that best integrates the technology in order too be as unobtrusive as possible”. One could surmise that progress conceivably meets or exceeds sponsors’ expectations. Netizens may wish to moderate their behavior accordingly in advance of further program expansion.

The best net-use advice I can think of is to “Write everything like it was going to be read to a military tribunal in an attempt to prosecute you for being anti-America” however strangely that will be interpreted in the period ahead.

But still, realize (like by constant critic Bruce down in Ecuador would point out) that sometimes the guillotine operators kill for sport, too.

Warfare on the Web Next

Something to be incredibly aware of is the arrival of low-intensity conflict on the web as the Syrian Electronic Army is reportedly behind a number of attacks and with a reported FBI advisory out on the group.

Although some reports of the SEA are dismissive, some, like Congressman James Langevin of the Democratic Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, are clearly worried.  So if the power goes off, have that AM radio so you can determine how widespread the outage is, should one happen as a result of hack attacks on power infrastructure.

Constitution Shredding

We note that Washington DC has reportedly denied a permit for 9/11 bikers to hold an event in a few days, but plans are moving ahead anyway.  Planned as a counter to the “Million Muslim” March” seems to be there’s an old saying being proven again.

“In America everyone is equal…just some are more equal than others.”

Trend-Spotting

If you’re tempted upon reading the NY Sun  report “Collapse of American Influence Recalls disintegration of Soviet Union, Fall of France,” try to remember that writer Conrad Black is not only a good writer and historian but just got out of the  big house back in May of last year.

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Coping: Our “Least-Cost” Futures

Ever cheerful and chipper, Oilman2 has his game on and keyboard warmed up already this week, as he contemplates something he calls simply The Descent, which is a nice “tone-setter” for the week.

Jim Kunstler wrote a short bit this summer about the possibility of Japan descending to a lower energy state with reduced chaos and fuss. He asserted this because prior to western civilization forcing itself onto their culture, they had a stable and very artistic culture, albeit they too maintained a savage edge in certain respects. However, living on an island is similar to what we are faced with as a human culture – there must be a certain degree of ‘unfairness’ in life – everyone cannot be on top and there are definite limits for each of us based on the circumstances of our birth.

Jim Kunstler’s post is over here.

I think this thought train needs to be run with the US in the passenger car. Our society, like many others born of western civilization, is relatively shiny and new. We have barely 2 centuries of history, and that history is far from a reign of peace and artistry. Our country was born just before the industrial revolution, and acceded to powerful status on the back of cheap coal and oil, and a plethora of natural resources.

Oil has peaked, decent coal has peaked, uranium has peaked, most metals have peaked and we are staring down an unavoidable descent in standard of living and eventually population. Maybe not in our boomer generation, as we are winding down our years, but our children and grandchildren will live in a far different world.

Because our country rode the crest of the industrial revolution, and bore the sparkling banner of ‘new technology’ with both military and energy dominance, we have long bathed in the highest living standard on the planet. This cannot stand in the face of ever declining petroleum availability – we have no choice but to dial things back dramatically over the next decades.

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An Important Reader Note and Peoplenomics Update

A kind reader (Julie, thank you) pointed outed out that we had somehow slipped a bit and had links in articles opening in the same page this week – causing lots of back and forthing which I fixed this morning for the Friday post, if you haven’t read it yet, and if should be back to opening in new windows from here on…until it happens next time, of course!

OK, on to the next topic…Peoplenomics this morning if important for people trying to save a little money for a rainy day – or retirement…

The Most Difficult Market Judgment of the Year

This morning, as we will discuss in some depth in our ChartPack section, there
looms one of the ugliest cash and account management decisions of the year,
thanks to Syria.  Plus, along with that, we’re also starting to see some of
the more unexpected impacts in other areas starting to come into view as well.
But before Mr. Jolly gets into these light-hearted topics, we’ll do our usual
Mrs. Olson’s with two eggs over easy and a side of death, doom, and disaster
first…

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Which Job Report to Believe?

Before we roll in to this morning’s job numbers from the feds, a quick look at the Gallup Poll data on the payroll to population poll is instructive.  According to the numbers they released Thursday, the percentage of the US population actually taking part in “work” is down to 43.7%, which is nearly 20 points below what the government has been selling; generally in the 60’s.

The roughly equivalent number on the federal side is the Labor Participation Rate, which last month was at 63.4%.  There are always bound to be some differences in statistical methodology.  Why, even when I run exactly the number numbers, I often come up with different results – and that’s in my own data!  So no wonder, there’s a good bit of jobfusion.

Still, knowing that Gallup says 8.7% unemployment, it’s fun to read this morning’s job report:

“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 169,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in retail trade and health care but declined in information. Household Survey Data Both the number of unemployed persons, at 11.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 7.3 percent, changed little in August.

The jobless rate is down from 8.1 percent a year ago. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.1 percent), adult women (6.3 percent), teenagers (22.7 percent), whites (6.4 percent), blacks (13.0 percent), and Hispanics (9.3 percent) showed little change in August.

The jobless rate for Asians was 5.1 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In August, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about unchanged at 4.3 million. These individuals accounted for 37.9 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed has declined by 733,000.

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Coping: Getting Mine on Healthcare

Long time reader John thinks I got something wrong yesterday by posting a reader note about dialysis and healthcare reform.  He offers a very detailed (and worthwhile) discussion:

Longtime (7 years or so) reader of UrbanSurvival here, George. I have enjoyed your columns and take seriously what you have to say, even though I do find myself disagreeing with some of the things you post. I have found most of what you write to be well sourced and at least checked to some degree of accuracy. But this caught my eye, and I hope you will read on and see why I am so upset that you did not verify before allowing this to be posted to all your readers.

If I can be shown to be wrong I will gladly admit it and consider any factual counter arguments, as I am  just that sort of individual.   (So am I – g)

Regarding your Thursday’s main column. Your reader Susanne wrote in saying:
Change.org just had a petition from a woman who will no longer get kidney dialysis after Oct. 1.
Note there is no such petition to be found on Change.org’s site. Ask her to cite and or supply a
link or exact copy of said petition. I have been all over their site and can find no archived or current
petitions saying what she claims. I for one would like to know the particulars, since I have several
hard core right wingers who have sent me many un-substantiated emails citing similar claims or
that their policies are going up based on Obamacare.

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War, Popcorn, G20, and Compliance

I’ve decided to moderate my outspoken criticism of the pending attack on Syria, since it is obviously baked-in-the-cake now, given that the US Senate breaks its own freaking rules in its headlong rush to war.  The UN report not being in doesn’t seem to mean bupkis, and China this morning has sided with Russia over Syria which is significant since if China were to vote with its wallet (by not buying our “bond” offerings) we’d soon enough implode financially and the Rest of World (RoW) knows it.

Oh-oh…al Qaeda-linked rebels attacking a Christian village?  Tisk, tisk… Rebels executing folks?  Oh my…This is moderation, Mr. Kerry?  (…ahem…)

Although I bemoan the fact that the corporate coup d’état has overwhelmed the democratic republic formerly known as the United States of America, it wasn’t until just yesterday that alternative media boss Matt Drudge explained in simple enough terms in a Tweet  that we’re down to two political parties in America, the Authoritarians and the Libertarians.

And this has caused some to continue the thought by extension in articles like: “GOP Will Die Unless It Embraces Liberty.” (The answer?  They seem to be politics as a religious party to oppose an atheist party, as well…extremism isn’t limited to the sand box.)

However, as I point out in this morning’s Coping section, the public has already been outbid….and the Wayne Madsen piece, over at Strategic Culture that paints a picture of “American Generals Stand between War and Peace:” is likely closer to the mark than what passes for news (mostly war-cheerleading) on the MSM.

One school of thought from a reader?

“I see this from the very cynical realpolitik viewpoint that the Assad/Iran/Hesbollah side has been gaining too much ground lately, and we’d like to see more of a multilateral stalemate, so it’s time to break some of Assad’s toys to even the odds. “

Probably the best assessment came from a reader Jeffrey (an attorney type, but we won’t hold that against him in this case):

It is not about morality; it is about an effective foreign policy.  If morality were a useful motive for military adventures, we would be at war with one third of the world on an ongoing basis, something we clearly cannot do.  There is nothing to be gained in a limited military strike and much to be lost, including the very real possibility of much wider engagement with Russia directly, an outcome clearly disproportionate to what is stake in Syria.  Moreover, taking up arms on behalf of the rebel forces, when they are substantially supported and populated by radical Islamic elements opposed to our interests and those of our allies, is fundamentally counterproductive and foolish.  The amateurish commitment of the President to drawing lines in the sand over a battle that is not ours should not be allowed to commit us to engaging in acts of war.  That is why the Constitution places the war making power in the Congress and not in the President.  Again, just because he is a damned fool does not mean that we should endorse his foolishness.  American arms should only be committed when there is no other course, where defense of our people is at stake or where a clear advantage is to be gained in carrying out our policy by military means.  The proposed military strikes do not meet any of those tests.  Even though we have disagreed in the past, I am indeed shocked that you are in favor of this proposed military adventure.

But, as I said….get over it.  There is some perceived corporate value in ramping up the war hysteria and, as usual, you have to think deeper:  Let me see if I can help?

What Is Being Hidden?

This may seem like stating the obvious, but here’s the fact:  Obamacare is now less than a month from happening and what could be better that a nice, potentially escalating, external war to prevent a critical mass of the American public from saying “This is bullshit, I’m not doing Obamacare!”

With war in the headlines doing anything anti-government (even thinking outside the box) becomes much less desirable and, with it, the sell job for Obamacare done by former president Bill Clinton becomes all that much easier.

Without war in the wings, millions more would pay attention to Freedomworks campaign to “Burn Your Obamacare card.”

Can’t have that, can we?  “Must have  compliance…Must have compliance…” (*..it sounds better done in a Homer Simpson voice…)

Bury the Budget, Too

Then there’s the matter of the federal budget.  While it should have been completed long ago (since it is legally required of congress, but since when does this matter anymore?) this one has been supplanted with continuing resolutions because we’re now at the fiscal point where we need to fish or cut bait.  Real and permanent cuts in spending because we’ve papered over about as far as we can…

With a good war percolating, there’s no telling what manner of screwings can be written into the new budget which no one will be looking at because the two or three open thinking slots most people have for news items could be occupied with top-of-mind grabbers like imminent war, a couple of forthcoming Hollywood scandals and one or two other “random” events.

Preoccupied with texting one-another, people will blow off structural damage to America, content in the mistaken belief that if it was important, it would be the lead news item.

“Must have compliance, must have compliance…”

But war’s all a coincidence, you understand, right?  LOL…

And Then There’s the Crash

We note that in long wave economic studies, there is a tendency for major market declines to get organized and appear about 55-days after a significant market peak.   Since the market peaked on August 2, our Peoplenomics subscribers have been marking time until September 26th plus or minus a couple of days, which is when the markets ought to be imploding down to the S&P 1,540 level after we get past the current sideways Wave 2 we seem to be in now. (No, this is not investment advice,but watch closely to see if it works out this way…)

What Else is there?

Well, another story that has disappeared from the MSM is the ammunition shortage.  We’re only a couple of months from deer hunting season in a big chunk of the country and surprise, surprise, the ammo shortage has been pushed into Mainstream invisibility.  Oh, sure, good articles like “Ammunition shortage affecting law enforcement agencies” are about if you take time to go looking for them, but in the main, the disarming through huge government ammunition buying (while we have other pressing financial needs of the country) seems to have gone “Poof!”

The federal militarization of the local police is continuing unabated…with SWAT teams serving warrants for even petty matters.

In short, it’s all about distraction and misdirection and so as of this morning I am lining up like a good, patriotic American:  “Bring on the air power, and let’s get ready to nuke those Ruskies back into the stone-age if they don’t like us “standing up for what’s right.”

Privately, of course, I’m more sane that that.  But I’ll wrap myself up in the blanket of conformity and admire Senator Cruz who points out “We’re not al Qaeda’s Air Force.”  Pretend he didn’t say that, OK?

Instead, let’s here more rah-rah for attacking a country which hasn’t attacked us.  For the fine irony of being led into war by a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and for the utter delight of corporate profits to come.

“Must have compliance, must have compliance…”

More after this…

Job Cuts Rising

OK, you know this already because I told you about the Gallup Poll a while back which showed unemployment running 8.9%.  While we wait for the Bureau of Labor Make-believe to come out with new figures tomorrow showing otherwise (a hit of windowpane and ViceGrips helps), we are stuck with reporting this morning’s Challenger press release on August Jobs Losses”

Monthly job cuts surged to the highest level sinc February, as U.S.-based employers announced plans in August to slash payrolls by 50,46, a 33.8 percent increase from the 37,701 planned job cuts announced in July, accor ding to a report  Wednesday from global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

Job cuts last month were 57 percent higher than a year ago, when employers announced plans to reduce payrolls by 32,239.

This marks the third consecutive month in which job cuts outpaced the comparable period from 2012.

August ranks as the second largest job-cut month of the year behind February, when announced layoffs reached 55,356. Employers have now announced 347,095 job cuts so far this year. That virtually matches the 352,185 job cuts announced from January through August 2012.

Then there’s the ADP National Employment Trends report…bottom line?  Saved by the service sector/shopkeeper economy:

Stock futures are flat to down a tad.

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Coping: Why Voting Doesn’t Matter

I suggested the other morning that there would be little point in voting hence forth, since Congress has been mostly bought and paid for.  Naturally, this rubbed a few people the wrong way because it’s a sad assertion to make, but the facts keep piling up, nonetheless.

The year 2013 is barely halfway through, in terms of DC lobbying reports, and yet as we see on this page – maintained by www.opensecrets.org – the spending already lies somewhere between impressive and prodigious.

A few of the headliners up toward the top of their report here, which is sorted by number of finance reports filed, not by total dollars spent:

Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America  has spent about $10-million so far this year.  They were in the vicinity of $18-million in 2012.

#2 on the list have invested more than $10-million this year and north of $14-million last year.

Verizon was a shade over $7-million, doing $15-million last year…

AT&T has spent $8-million.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has spend $8.8-million this year.

General Dynamics is in for $5.5-million.

Microsoft: $5.49 million.

Lockheed-Martin: $7.6 mil.

Individually, you can see that that contributions at this level may not seem to frightening, but when you add it up, company after company, group after group, you can see where special interest money really begins to add up.

On each of the OpenSecrets pages there are 50 listings on each page 26,015 reports which specify an agency.  But only 9.258 total clients.

But now we can take this, realizing we’re only part way through 2013 and assume that each client spends $2-million (just a guess thumbing through reports). 

The astounding result?  $18.516 billion being spent (ball park) on lobbying this year by nearly 10,000 special interest promoters…lobbyists.

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Breaking: [Russia:] Syria Nerve Gas Similar to “Rebel-Made”

Just breaking is a report from Russia Today that headlines “Russia releases key findings on chemical attack near Aleppo indicating similarity with rebel-made weapons”.” According to their report there are three main points made by the Russian Foreign Ministry: Shell used in the indictment was not part of standard Syrian military arms. RDX (hexogen/cyclonite) was used as the bursting charge and is not used in standard military chemical munitions. Soil and samples according to the Russian report contain “non-industrially synthesized sarin and diisopropylfluorophosphate” which was used by Western countries to produce chemical weapons during WW II”.

Peoplenomics: Playing the Markets by Prophesy?

Some mental tuning is in order this morning as the world is engaged in a massivehand-wringing festival over what happens next in the Middle East – and byextension – what will happen to life savings and the sunset of civilization ingeneral. Then we cast a steely eye on the matter of whether this could bethe “End of Days” period. Odd for an economics-oriented site I’llgrant you, but you “must be present to win” in markets, and if theworld’s going to end, some consideration of how to gracefully withdraw frommarkets and where to deploy life savings would make sense. Why, that’s just thekind of chipper and cheery good news that just makes you want to spring out ofbed this morning, isn’t it? First coffee and assorted headlines and thennotes on what to watch for.