Home Prices Chill

Hot off the press release: NEW YORK, September 27, 2016 – S&P Dow Jones Indices today released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Data released today for July 2016 shows that home prices continued their rise across the country over the last 12 months. YEAR-OVER-YEAR  … Read More

Coping: Zeno and the World’s Unluckiest Man

I double-checked with my Bro-In-Law (BiL) and he said “Sure, go ahead….” So here’s the latest on his house-search and how life works if you’re the world’s unluckiest man. As of our last mention, everything had been moving toward a close on the 28th. But because the people in the home want to move, the … Read More

Liars and Linguistics: “Secretary Clinton”?

A few points of interest about the debate tonight, starting with a discussion of positional power. If you skipped the grown-up organizational development classes in grad school, the short version is people tend to bow or bend to the will of people with power. The President of a Company directs his subordinates, but he is … Read More

Coping: Water Heater Recycling Challenge

Time for us to gavel-in another meeting of our Board of Directors.  Since you’re still reading, congratulations! You have just joined the Board. A short agenda for this morning’s meeting: We have an old water heater that came out of the Brother-in-Law’s apartment when he noticed (before disaster struck thankfully) that there was water around … Read More

Markets Face "Floptober" Says Reality Ratio

This will take a bit of discussion to fully understand.  But off in the background, I use a series of indicators and one of these relates to bond pricing as a function of stock prices.  It typically will show a peak (and / or passing) well before the stock market follows suit. Which, says the … Read More

Kondratieff & Elliott Waves: Top In?

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

Coping: World’s Unluckiest Man?

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

Does the Fed Hold 10-Million Mortgages?

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

Coping: (Woo-Woo) Personal Source Code, II

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

Fed: No Move

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

The Leading Edge of Chaos

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

Fed in a Policy Box

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

Coping: Writing a 2nd Novel, Writing Tips

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