Covering the Global News Shortage

The market is set to go up about 60-points on the Dow and the price of gold is still pegged right around $1,200 bucks.  No news is….er…a problem.

Other than some war ships about to show up off Yemen (with could become interesting) and one of China’s biggest real estate outfits being on the financial ropes, there’s not much else to cover for a site that is ostensibly about  the economic long wave.

Since neither of us likely is a high enough roller to be playing in the Chinese real estate markets, this really leaves the Yemen story front and center.

‘I’ll see your puny armada and raise you a nuclear powered aircraft carrier’ is the US position, with the Teddy Roosevelt trying to send a message to Iran that the US will not let the Iranians offload arms to Houthi rebels in Yemen, because that would piss off the Saudis.

On the other hand, though – and where this gets to be a big bluff in Texas Hold ‘Em terms – is that the Obama administration is absolutely desperate for a big treaty win with the Iranians.

So here’s the play:

If the US doesn’t stop the arms, the Saudis will be made, but if we do, then we are head to head with Iran and that will mean no Iran nuke deal for the WH.

Iran’s river card, just turned, is calling for a ceasefire in Yemen, which will allow their arms to be offloaded during a peace-break, which will last all of 12-minutes, or so, before the fighting resumes.  We’re gonna be played again, brothers and sisters.

While “the Big Stick” (which is what CVN-71 crew refer to her as) is perfectly capable of splashing anything it pleases, the Obama posse will have a real challenge trying to figure out how to play this hand.  It’s an important one that leads up to the finals of the World Ending Poker.

I bet’cha that player in the Kremlin is watching for tells.

Older News

A 93-year old German who is accused of being the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz”is in court today.  This is all part of a story that began in 1933, so moving right along…

Bird Flu

Yeah, 5.3 million birds will be destroyed.  About the most exciting economic angle to it will be more business for the booming chicken development in the Dallas-Houston corridor.  And maybe the price of eggs will drift higher.

Another yawner, though…eminently missable.

Sacrificing Sheriff Joe

With the Obama administration unable and unwilling to actually enforce existing laws along the US border, we note that Sheriff Joe will be in court today for ignoring a “racial profiling” ban from the FedGov which could get him fined.

This will not change the fundamental problem of the leaking border, but it will give the liberals who essentially argue the “no borders” case, a chance to highlight their cause.  “Profiling” is a hot, emotional term, after all.  And finding Joe guilty, why, that’d be sweeter than s free lunch.

But the real deal in Washington is the matter of law.  And there, a bill has been introduced  in the Senate that would give states their own border enforcement options if the Feds don’t get it fixed. 

This is not making huge national headlines, but sitting back and watching from afar, it has become clear that the battle between the imperial president and the obstinate right is beginning to draw lines and warm up.

Let me see if this makes sense:  You know the President is supposed to negotiate treaties with foreign countries.  There has been talk that the pending Trade bill will be a Trojan Horse for immigration reform, but as you’d expect, the WH denies it.

The WH is playing congress, of course.  The whole Iran deal will come down to approval by the Senate which must concur.  It won’t.

What’s more, the GOP/righties, have recently fired a volley (invisible to many observers) with the recent appearance of the Israeli prime minister.

But get this:  Now, the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is due to come pow-wow with Congress, not the WH.  That will come up a little more than a week from now (it will be real news, maybe).

What this begins to suggest is that the House and Senate may be growing some cajones.

And as power struggles go, the real story will be to watch and see which corporations and which K Street mafiosos are writing what checks and deals since both political parties are pulled by the same string – money.  Politics has become the corporate collection agency – tax the people and dispense the booty to the corps on demand.

Whether it’s too big to fail, eminent domain, or whatever…the invisible hand is the corporate hand.

All too big to fail, don’tcha know?

Mobilegeddon?  It Ain’t

I just checked UrbanSurvival and guess what?  Despite talk that Google’s mobile-leaning algo update would end life as we know it (or some lesser variant thereof), we are still showing for our mobile users as:

Not everyone is going to like the changes, but as a check of Google’s Page Speed Insights shows us, our look ahead approach to the future has kept us reasonably accessible and maybe what so many are fearing, isn’t something to be feared at all.

Sweet.  Although we still have a couple of issues we’re working on.  First is the small tap-target size.  Use a stylus.  Get new glasses.  Buy a larger phone with a better screen.  It’s your problem, as well as ours, right?  We’re partial to big screens and lots of ‘em…

The second problem is the damn alarm clock that gets us rolling around 4 AM every day.  Haven’t found a plug-in for that one yet.

More after this…but no sign of the world ending, or much else in the way of real news to spoil what should be a fine day for Spring Fever…  Have a snooze and dream of being replaced by a robot…