Crash Watch: Income Fairytales, Which Weekend War?

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Super short column today because we may be down to “short strokes” in terms of “How does all this work out?”

Data First: Inflation Shows

Labor’s out with Employment Costs – which are one of the price drivers when you go shopping:

“Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.0 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending in December 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries increased 1.1 percent and benefit costs increased 0.9 percent from September 2021.

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 4.0 percent for the 12-month period ending in December 2021 and increased 2.5 percent in December 2020. Wages and salaries increased 4.5 percent for the 12-month period ending in December 2021 and increased 2.6 percent for the 12-month period ending in December 2020. Benefit costs increased 2.8 percent over the year and increased 2.3 percent for the 12-month period ending in December 2020.

The second report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis has to do with Personal Income and Outlays (which were once called expenses, but that was too simple…):

“Personal income increased $70.7 billion (0.3 percent) in December according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $39.9 billion (0.2 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $95.2 billion (0.6 percent).

Real DPI decreased 0.2 percent in December and Real PCE decreased 1.0 percent; goods decreased 3.1 percent and services increased 0.1 percent. The PCE price index increased 0.4 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.5 percent.

Personal Income is a statistical fiction.  REAL DPI is what matters.  Pass the Astroglide?

Next weekend gets off to a slow start with farm prices Monday afternoon and a purchasing manager’s report in the morning.

Weekend War Worries

German and French markets were down more than 2% earlier today while the UK was down one and a half percent.  US futures down almost 1%, as well.

Been interesting watching the flow of news this week. Shorter running of the bears than we expected, but now a solid move lower is anticipated.

The Economic Fractalist’s comments from late Thursday warn of hard down potential today, as well.  That said, Japan managed a 2% dead cat bounce going into today.  Europe, though, plain old sucks.  Even looks like desperation BTC buying to arb up markets.  We shall see.

Radio and television have been covering the possibly pending war in Ukraine pretty well.  But online coverage by the MSM majors has been someone muted.  Could this be how both the Russians and the domestic socialists “shape” populations?

This sound like peace is about to break out?  Biden admin warns that serious Russian combat forces have gathered near Ukraine in last 24 hours | Daily Mail Online.  The 82nd Airborne reportedly is on hot standby; Russia’s been doing a “low key call-up” which is leaking on social media.

The report that three Russian landing craft (presumably loaded with Russian marines) transited the Strait of Gibraltar this week.  Which is 2,000 statute miles, 1,740 nautical or 4-days steaming which will put them on site perhaps Sunday.

Three other Russian ships are presumably headed for Cuba and we wonder what kind of “surprises” they might have aboard.  If yesterday’s column wasn’t enough of a hint.

Since we don’t watch wires like a hawk over the weekend, be sure to bookmark https://ukrinform.net as their coverage is pretty good – better than politicized ‘Merican slop.  Two examples?  Zelensky-Biden call: President’s Office reveals details (ukrinform.net) (which you may compare with White House drool on point.  And with the UN Security Council jaw-flap due, Donbas update: Invaders violate truce twice Jan 27 (ukrinform.net) is worth noting.

Russia is likely – in our strategic view – more likely to do sooner than later.  With the 82nd still here, and the US arms slow on the flow, plus the little matter of China’s snow-free winter games publicity, Putin has lots of reason to strike this weekend.  Moreover, the Ukraine National Guard is in an uproar over a recent shooting incident that will likely cause a change of command.  Again, more turbulence Putin could take advantage of.

The 1929 Comparison

Yep.  Starting to look pretty fugly.  The free-wheeling House spending plans and the easy-money Fed have wasted American resources that will be needed for recovery in a couple of years.  More than $9-trillion in excess Fed funding, alone, so far.

The good news?  The efforts to “paper over” a second Depression have at least slowed down its arrival.

Further bad news is apparent in the Elliott wave analysis of our Peoplenomics Aggregate Index.  It shows us solidly into a Wave 5 down of the larger 3.  Like so:

The main problem seen now is what?

It’s axiomatic that “Crashes don’t happen at TOPS – they happen at Bottoms and the light gray box in the lower right gives us an idea how far down Wave 3 must go to meet the Elliott rule “Wave 5’s can never be the smallest move – except in the rare instance of a fifth wave failure….”  The daily news flow would have to feature the clouds parting, sun shining and a boatload of real good news to set up a failure here.

Hunter’s Millions

Kick-ass report in the NY Post today has us wondering if we have a president or a Crook in office:  Chinese elite have paid some $31M to Hunter and the Bidens (nypost.com).

Why, it’s true!  We live under the best government money can buy!

I gotta hand it to Joe…his timing is impeckerble: Pittsburgh bridge collapses on day Biden to visit city to talk infrastructure – The Washington Post.

Seasoning

Imagine the headline: Winter Storm Kenan to Hit East Coast With Heavy Snow and Strong Winds, Including Blizzard Conditions | The Weather Channel.  My God, you’d think it was winter, or something.

Keep on Trucking…

Canadian truckers are furious with the (idiotic) crimeminister’s high-handed power grab of Covid powers.  As a result Canada truckers’ vaccine protest spirals into calls to repeal all public health rules | The Guardian

Curiously, the Mainstream Media is trying to cast this as a dangerous parallel to the Jan. 6th (instigated) events in D.C.  Opinion: Trucker convoy has evolved into something far more dangerous – The Globe and Mail.

Defenders of the Paradigm just don’t understand the world has changed and BS is out.  No longer coin of the realm unless you’re really Looney.

Off to chow and a food run.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

53 thoughts on “Crash Watch: Income Fairytales, Which Weekend War?”

  1. The Russians have been prepping for this for a while and keeping troops on standby only lasts for so long before it damages troop moral and readiness. New moon this Monday……..won’t be surprised by them going this weekend.

  2. I remember seeing a tv news report in the 1990s saying many of the bridges in Pittsburg were stressed out. Some were even blocked off to cars and other bridges were so worn out they were blocked off to people. I know many bridges were made in USA of Pittsburg steel. Steel suffers metal fatigue and now a days new bridges are made of painted rebar reinforced epoxy concrete. Epoxy concrete is basically plastic so it should last forever.

    • The infrastructure of the USA has had a failing rating for years..
      We Go to war and spend our money that way rather than focus on the USA or the citizens here..

  3. Others have noted on Ure site the very long border Russia has with China. One is queued to think (by MSM in league with politicians) that conflict is imminent. IMO, the main reason for this unholy alliance is to amp up fear among the masses. Fear (see: Covid) makes the general populace more ‘pliable’ and controllable, which is why negative political advertising during campaigns is more effective than feel good self-aggrandizement.

    My Spidey Senses, fed by routine scanning of the news and web traffic, accented by a good look at G.A. Stewart’s site, lead me to the conclusion that Putin will ‘most likely’ let Xi bask in the triumph of China’s glorious Winter Olympics before pulling the trigger on Ukraine. Moving on Ukraine before then (end of Feb) could spark tension between two nations that need each other to realize their territorial expansion ambitions.

    • Any attack upon the Ukraine will have already been agreed upon, mapped out and agreed to by both Nations – there is no snow in Beijing, no one cares about the Olympics and it would be a perfect time for China to take Taiwan. Xi doesn’t have to bask in the glory of anything if so it would be the taking of Taiwan – not the Olympics….

    • I’d like to bask in watching the Olympics myself..
      I think the only reason all the tension is because of our buildup and setting short range missile systems close to the Kremlin..today I read that we are going to send troops boots on the ground.
      The chances are that we are feeling groggy and will be the ones to jump..
      Then it will be.. for mankind..
      https://open.spotify.com/track/6zeE5tKyr8Nu882DQhhSQI
      https://youtu.be/dxJHecyYBno
      Nobody wins.. :-( we maybe vane and think we would.. but no one does.. look how long it took after the war of the ten kings in India’s history..

  4. Ahh the aftermath… is what interests the coot, the reactions..

    STD!

    Sell the dip!, U dirty pervs..yeah coot knows what you were thinking.

    Bee loooong Oil and Nat Gas, Short the SPY and hammeing Short AA..worst airline I ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Short going into the NE bombogenesis snowmeggeddon weekend event…oh nooo Winter is.

    As coot experiences real world incompetence, malfeasance, and downright shitty customer support from a public company – I short the shit out of it. Southwest was coots target earlier in year – made lots on that “shorttheshitouttaofthem” campaign. I am publicly hammering AA on investment community chat boards – even though last fiasco (trip) tickets are 100% fully refundable. They do not have a prayer in hell of ever making money, and so I ride em on down to zero, F-ing losers.
    Anyone can join the Sport – id a shitty performing company, publiclly blaming covert19 for their short comings and voila – you have a profitable Short candidate.. EazyPeazyLemonSquessey

    • Chartists Alert ! T/A alert …superimpose Comex Silver, SI=F (Line) Chart with GLD chart.

      What is the relationship tween the 2 ? Why ? Why? Why?

      Does this perfect correlation tween the 2 indicate a “way” or “method” for Controlling the Price of Precious Metals Miners Stocks????

      “Say it aint so, like WTF, over?

      Inquiring minds are strained and pained chewing on this conundrum.

      * 2 more times today and I will OWN conundrum..whoopie!

  5. Will wonders never cease? Go Fund Me actually turned loose of some of the 2 or so million$ that was sent to the trucker’s convoy in Canada. Article over on ZH.

    Blurb on FB, for what it’s worth, on the wife’s phone says over 100K trucks are now registered to go to Canada from the U.S. to take part in the convoy while the Boy-King remains in hiding. I wonder what the Polish preacher the Canuck Nazis were roughing up and had face down on the freeway is doing now? Did he ever get out of jail?

    • My understanding is that the prime minister is in self-isolation per Canada Health guidelines following a recent exposure to covid19. He will be indisposed to attend the trucker convoy protest in the capital city. The security apparatus will no doubt convey his regrets.

  7. I got up extra early this morning to drop off someone for an unreasonably early flight. I couldn’t help noticing the waning, crescent moon hanging in the eastern sky. It’s only a couple of more days to the New Moon. You don’t normally need flash goggles in such a dark night, but this may end being an exception.

  8. The Canadian exec is right about the truckers being significantly dangerous. They are. As are our own red, white, and blue patriotic American truckers.

    I’ve been flagging you guys on this issue for YEARS — folks will only take so much bullshit before they rebel. What Kali4nia has done to truckers over the last couple of decades defies rationality, and any trace of fairness. Trucker have been treated as a powerless hapless victim class by “Officials” for a very long time, The resentment runs deep.

    Backlash is a-comin’. (And we’re all gonna enjoy it together. This is only beginning.)

    • I hope they can get to the PM in Canada and hang him for treason and then head down here and get Biden! unfortunately there is MANY more that need to go along with Biden, although he is just a mentally ill puppet for Obammy and others and NOT the root cause of this evil. I don’t normally condone violence, but when one is facing a rabid dog what do you do? YUP, you got it!

    • They will only pay attention when the gasoline for the Global 8000 doesnt make to the airport in time to catch the philharmonic play in Austria. That appears to be happening now. Never mind all those canceled commercial flights[clue].

    • See Mid-Term US elections for textbook example of “violent backlash” in voting polls..

      -if there is anyone still left in USA(outside of Kalifornicated) who believes their Vote actually COUNTS for something – pretty ugly “black” humor that.

      • “See Mid-Term US elections for textbook example of “violent backlash”

        Lol.. its gonna be a landslide..a record turnout in democratic favor.. 160% or registered voters will vote lol lol if the democrats get the laws changed on who gets to count and vote there maybe 200% of registered voters voting lol lol..
        I don’t know WHO would want to be in office..other than becoming a millionaire right away.. what’s coming cant be stopped at this point

    • Teamsters and longshoremen — those were the two “rank & files” you didn’t piss off — EVER! The people running the shitshow nowadays don’t remember when the Teamsters all carried guns, and weren’t reticent about using them, when necessary (or when they felt slighted.) If I were they, I would completely circle Ottawa and neither leave, nor let anyone pass, until Justin Play-deau* crawls out of his “self-isolation” to meet with them – publicly, and on camera…

      * I had originally typed “grows a set and” in this spot. However, on second thought, I’m not sure he’s capable of producing any testosterone whatsoever.

      THIS is why, even people who fear or hate Putin admire him. He’s like the only Head of State on the planet right now, who has both the ‘nads to lead from the front, and the ability to do so.

      • :The people running the shitshow nowadays don’t remember when the Teamsters all carried guns,”

        With all the crime in the cities not to mention the destruction of police protection due to the shiztshow BLM and Antifa caused.. Teamsters still carry guns.. at least I don’t know any that don’t..with the added crime and violence they’ve even added more..

  9. Trump wanted to bring troops home for a reason. Biden ramps up (interest) in sending troops far away.

    Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake. – When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

    Will the real, dumb SOB please stand up ….

  10. And oddly enough, our CRIMEMINISTER boy king was supposedly in contact with covid and has to hide for five days, conveniently missing the truckers rally at the parliament building. What a coward. That’s what happens when you are born with a silver spoon up your ass. He called the truckers…a fringe group with unnacceptable ideas.

    • I would refuse to leave Ottawa until he meets with them. If they blockade the town, there’ll be no food or supplies in, and no yellow politicians out. By the time Justine lets hisself out of isolation, the Ottawans themselves will be ready to lynch him.

      Heard a noise today that there are 100,000 U.S. truckers rolling up to join their Canadian brethren. I wonder how much of a charlie foxtrot a 300 mile long traffic jam would cause, and how long it would take to disperse them? Maybe they can effectively shut down Ontario and Quebec. RCMP’s gonna get some overtime…

  11. Got a different take on the Ukraine possible war. Putin may just embargo the county and stop the flow of goods into Ukraine. Low risk and rhymes with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Why does he want to own the Ukraine and all the issues that go with it?

  12. A Detroit street recently heaved up. We’re told the cause was due to too much wight on the soil in the surrounding area. The buildings and stuff in the area was so heavy the dirt under the street was forced up like a zit.

    Mysterious 8-foot mound swelled up in Detroit street. Now we know why.

    “However, a city investigation found that the mound at West Fort and Dearborn streets was actually due to a “soil failure,” Detroit’s Chief Operating Officer Hakim Berry said in a statement. The ground shift was caused by heavy materials stored on ground not strong enough to hold it. ”

    https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2021/12/14/southwest-detroit-road-buckling-soil-failure-investigation/6508278001/

      • What do you think was pushing up? It could of been ” War of the Worlds” level space aliens.

      • Explosion…

        Subterranean water or gas would’ve settled back as soon as the bubble passed. Something physically put some soil in a spot underground where soil wasn’t, or expanded the existing soil by increasing the space between its molecules.

        Michigan sand has a high plasticity. You can put a pallet weighing 40 bazillion tons on it and it will eventually sink, but the ground it displaces & raises will be right next to the pallet. What’s right next to that bubble in the road?

        If something can’t have happened the way the PTB say it happened, it didn’t.

  13. “Hunter’s Millions
    Kick-ass report in the NY Post today has us wondering if we have a president or a Crook in office: Chinese elite have paid some $31M to Hunter and the Bidens (nypost.com).
    Why, it’s true! We live under the best government money can buy!”

    LOL didn’t tell anyone that the kid is still on the board of directors with a company with direct ties to the military there..
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/us/politics/hunter-biden-china.html
    I personally got a tickle out of the one that said they have hidden away in avoiding taxes money in a swiss bank account LOL…

    https://www.ournewearthnews.com/2020/10/29/hunter-biden-has-flipped-biden-family-300-million-stash-in-switzerland-unconfirmed-report/

    LOL LOL Isn’t it all the most despicable disgusting thing ever I hate to turn on any news because it gets me all flared up LOL . What I get a tickle out of is.. Trump went in as a businessman..Then he was criticized for being a businessman.. Where the other claims they are forthright ethically better and seems to be worse by all moral standards that seem to show someone without any ethics whatsoever…. I don’t really care about that money crap though or the lets by them stuff and vacations etc. though I don’t have any faith in any of them in office.. yet we keep voting in everyone over and over no matter how rotten of a job they do, so seriously we deserve anything they toss at us.. to many for sale and seriously.. I could probably be bought.. want to hear me sound like those democrats in congress.. easy peasy LOL they call it success and MONEYYYYY LOL LOL well maybe not LOL…I don’t know, deifnately no one ever tried to buy my vote .. And really who cares if the kid fries his brain with drugs and whatever else they are dumping in it..I am betting it is the really good stuff to that is how pimps get the ladies to comply get em drugged up good fry their brain so they can’t reason erode their morals… from a photo that was published it looked like he has to have a lot of damage. the photo showed that he has already had a serious case of meth mouth.. and those chemicals are taking a tole on his body don’t let anyone fool you that they aren’t .. where I get upset is with the abuse of children. In all the years that I took care of people there was only a couple that I took care of that was hard to work with for me.. and the kid reminds me of the most disgusting ones I ever took care of.
    It isn’t a secret that lobbyists and foreign govts.. spend billions of a very few people with power.. that only work a couple hundred hours a YEAR.. don’t punch a time clock.. they don’t read the bills or write them..I truly believe that its a;; a scam against the people ..
    But think about this for a minute…
    IF… someone that works less than two hundred hours a year can be bought.. what about that security guard making twenty bucks an hour that works 2400 hundred hours a year…or the container inspector. or the secretary of the secretary of defense etc. … the crane operator truck drivers.. The kid they toss money and sex.. what about that lonely night worker.. one young lady to make him happy give him someone to visit with or spend time with doing regular stuff.. oh it could be interesting.. the night worker would walk by a tainted container in a heart beat.. pay the college tuition or medical bills.. a whole lot cheaper than what they spend on a few hundred in govt. jobs..
    that sure opens a lot of doors and wouldn’t be nearly as expensive for them to.. Wasn’t that what SJ wanted to do..
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-in-talks-to-pay-hundreds-of-millions-to-immigrant-families-separated-at-border-11635447591?mod=e2tw
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/us/politics/trump-family-separation-border.html?searchResultPosition=2
    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/07/payments-families-border-richmond-520027
    what did he want them to do for that money.. when it comes to money there is usually something that you want from them..

  14. Here’s the real lowdown on Hunter Biden:
    https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-claims-about-hunter-biden-in-china/

    Of course there’s more to every story than you think, how ’bout ‘Blue Star’, now that Weiss is gone, Garland inherits the case…
    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/16/hunter-biden-probe-prosecutor-499782

    Art for the Common Man or Common Crony? that is the question with Hunter lol!
    https://nypost.com/2021/10/21/ag-garland-asked-to-appoint-counsel-to-investigate-hunter-biden/

    Shakespeare’s version of the above:
    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56965/speech-to-be-or-not-to-be-that-is-the-question

  15. This goes back a couple of days, but since nobody will go back that far I thought I would post it in today’s postings.

    RV’s
    I looked at Class A’s and C’s many years ago and HATED the thought of the actual Vehicle also being the RV. If you are on the road and the VEHICLE has to go in the shop where in the heck do you stay while they repair it?

    Instead I went with a travel trailer and couldn’t say anything bad about my experience. Did buy a used Suburban to tow my first TT with, but shoot one can get service on a Suburban anywhere, which I actually had to have done in TINY Cody Wyoming on one trip (Chevy GMC dealer there was GREAT and cheaper than back home if anybody is passing through and needs service I do recommend).

    Go with a 5th wheel (easist to tow – but need a good size pickup) or a Travel Trailer if you are going to get an RV (TT can use a pick up or a number of other vehicles – just watch the loaded weight of TT to match up to towing capacity of the tow vehicle).

    Be sure to get a good proportional brake controller (I am partial to Tekonsha – your auto dealer and even some RV places will try to sell you a fixed rate controller – RUN from them on that issue, they are IDIOTS!). Install a good anti-sway system in addition to a load leveling system if getting a TT (using the Equalizer system on my current set up) … and SLOW DOWN in the rain and NEVER speed. That TT or 5th wheel CAN whip your rear end around if it starts sliding.

    For setting up the trailer /tow combination or service on them FORGET the RV dealers for anything dealing with the travel part of the RV … go to a hitch place that takes care of the farmers and small construction guys!! Pricing reasonable and since they are setting up stuff and repairing stuff for people using it day in and day out for BUSINESS they actually KNOW what they are doing!! The ONLY thing you should use an RV repair place for are the RV specific SYSTEMS, that is if you don’t fix them yourself.

    IF you get a well buit unit it WILL last for a long time, though the parts will wear out over time – helps to be an OK fixer for little things (just replaced a water pump this past summer, took all of 5 minutes). The BIGGEST issue wrt used or older RV’s is the roof. The rubber membrame roofs only last so long 8-12 years … but “IF” done right they can be recoated once and then last another 8- 10 years. Expensive to totally rip off and replace if you hire it out ($125- $175/ft length of RV), a total PITA if you try to do it yourself.

    NEW? Look for hefty depreciation over first 5 years, then settles down. Used usually have all of those “Factory Mistakes” already repaired, but be careful if the unit is only a couple of years old, that can be a HUGE indicator of lingering UNREPAIRABLE factory build issues.

    Best USED units are those that were stored inside when not being used, heated storage best (both in snow country AND in bright sun country, those UV rays are HARD on the roofs) … hard to find but they do exist and don’t have much of a premium over those that have been outside and endured the elements.

    First one I bought lived that inside storage life cycle until I bought it, 8 years old, used one or two weeks a year, stored inside the rest of the time in a heated warehouse (guy was a contractor and was where he stored his expensive contracting equipment in the winter) Looked new, was virtually new. Kept it for 10 years. though did have to put a new controller board on the Refigerator, didn’t even have to replace the water pump. OH … paid 1/4 of the new ACTUAL cost, not the factory suggested price (it was a top end model) and traveled much of the US with it.

    NEW TT and 5th wheels are buyable from a reputable dealer for 25% to 35% off of list (at least around here). Don’t overpay for a new unit and if buying one check out the customer satisfaction reports of the dealer as well as the manufacturer since EVERY new unit has some problems which WILL require dealer service. (we have 2 National Dealers near here, you sign a contract and ORDER what you want and pick up there or they deliver – because they do NOT stock a lot for showings, only order in what people have already signed a contract for, they undersell almost anybody nationwide which forces the other local dealers to keep their actual prices low too)

    I have enjoyed my TT experiences, never had a bad unit but then again have only bought USED. When I bought I and made sure “I” went over it well AND the seller was both someone who USED, but did not OVER use it, and also was the type of person who was METICULOUS about everything around them. If they are ANAL about things like that …. well the better for you since that is how they will have treated their unit and it WILL be in perfect condition (if buying from a private seller it is easy to see how they take care of their house, their cars, etc. when you go to look at it).

    Finally be careful on the weight of the unit, either TT or 5th Wheel. Forget the unloaded weight, base everything off of the fully loaded GVW. It is EASY to get a unit that is actually TOO HEAVY TO TOW with the vehicle you intend to tow it with!!

    OH … and did I mention … I HATE the thought of my RV also being my vehicle!! I want to keep the two items totally separate for all the reasons mentioned in the thread from two days ago.

    • I agree that TTs are much cheaper than motorhomes. I also agree that it sux when your bed is attached to your only transportation.

      How would you feel about a Class-A “toy hauler” with a Smart Car, Mini, 500, or other small car in its “garage?”

      My two gripes with a TT are you have to learn how to back up fairly precisely with a trailer, and the MV you use to drag it has to have muy balls, which translates to suck mileage whether you’re dragging the trailer or running free.

      • The easiest driving trailers, and easiest to back up, are 5th Wheels because the hitch point is like a semi’s … in FRONT of the rear wheels (or close thereto). By moving the hitch point so far forward it eliminates most trailer sway, makes it very very easy to “hitch up”, and makes backing up easy as pie.

        My next trailer will probably be a 5th wheel, but for me up to this point in time a Pickup Truck was a totally impractical vehicle to drive since I need a full rear seat so I can carry at least 4 for business (even though my tow vehicle is only my business backup vehicle) … and the elongated pickup trucks with a full bed and full rear seat will NOT fit into a city parking garage parking space in most cases (sometimes for work I have to go to cities where I HAVE to park in downtown city center parking garages – and those slots are NOT long enough for an elongated pickup trucks).

        For a Class A with a garage … a small vehicle like a mini might fit inside but then your are really giving up much of the “luxury” you are trying to get with the Class A if you do that. Towing a small car makes more sense, imo, but if doing that or if driving a LONG Class A (say 35+’), for some states you now need a CDL and are treated as a Commercial Vehicle – thus subject to all the rules that apply to Commercial Vehicles (California comes to mind but they are not the only place). Check out the size of any Class A you are interested in wrt the laws of any state you may wish to drive it in. Some of those laws are very restrictive wrt the bigger Class A’s or if you are towing something with one.

        One other item of note: Many of the National Parks have a length limit of 34′ (including tongue length) for ANY RV that is allowed to camp there!! In my travels have seen some people show up at a National Park with a reservation but their unit is longer than that … and they are NOT ALLOWED to camp!!

        While for Americans we always think “Bigger IS Better” when it comes to RV’s if you want to use the National Park system, or many of the State Parks, the effective length limit is really 34′, including hitch, no matter WHAT THE SALEMAN selling the unit says (the bigger, the more expensive, the HIGHER his commission). He is not the guy who is going to be there when you drive up to the park and are told “Sorry, you can’t use that big of a unit here at Yellowstone”.

        Happy Camping!!

      • IMHO, part of teaching kids to drive should be backing up with a trailer in figure eights between pylons with a stick shift. The level of incompetence of most drivers today is amazing. I don’t recommend that for the road test, but if kids want to use their parents’ car, it’s a good standard to work with. For extra credit, do it on a hill.

        The tow car is ideally a standard shift with lots of gears, a big engine, and ideally overdrive. That kind of vehicle will give tolerable mileage if driven carefully. Diesel used to be good before EPA got their claws into it. I do like the idea of a trailer(no insurance necessary), but there’s a place for a stealth class B when you’re just single or a couple. Said class B should have a normal drive train and be heavy enough to tow with. A Ford E-350 base is reasonable. Truck campers have their place if light enough, but they’re so top heavy that they make for difficult driving in the wind. I’d avoid class A’s at all costs unless you own your own tow company or have a surname of Biden.

  16. Don’t know how yous didn’t see it . Like I said yesterday . But obviously nobody listens . Apple . Huge pennant. Yep yesterday is 2 late in markets . Ahh well very satisfying

  17. Saw the boss of the Ukraine as well . He gets on with Putin fine . Jesus Christ there has been some bullsheet spun

    • Len, there’s not a single pundit, analyst, or government official here, who can give a good reason for the U.S. to involve itself in a war in Ukraine — especially against Russia, whom we can NOT defeat on their doorstep. I don’t know how well the comedian and the KGB agent get along. It’s also not my concern…

  18. Biden Warns Russia That If They Invade Ukraine, America Will Evacuate Haphazardly And Leave $86 Billion In Weapons Behind

    As Russia appears poised to invade Ukraine, Biden today issued a forceful statement warning Putin that if he does, America will evacuate haphazardly and leave $86 billion in weapons behind.

    “Listen, folks…for real this time…no joke… I ain’t kiddin’ around here,” said Biden to a gelatinous puddle of quivering goo on the ground he mistook for the press. “If Russia invades Ukraine, we will send a bunch of troops. And then we will immediately pull those troops out and leave all our state-of-the-art weapons behind. I’m not even messing around, Jack!”

    https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-warns-russia-that-if-they-invade-ukraine-america-will-evacuate-haphazardly-and-leave-86-billion-of-weapons-behind

  19. Comrades,

    A day after president Biden announces a Russian invasion is imminent, Ukraine’s President Zelensky has departed from the script. Western governments and media are creating panic and destabilizing internal Ukrainian affairs he says.

    Does Mr. Putin like how his cards are stacking up? The next betting round is underway? Attention please from the House: paging Mrs. Nuland, paging Mrs. Nuland! Please return to the final table for an important message!

    • 10 months…

      That’s the average length of time between when Nuland focuses her attention on a nation or region, and that nation finds itself embroiled in a war.

      Once is a meaningless irritation (unless you’re one of the ones dying.)
      Twice might be a coincidence.
      Three times is a definite pattern.
      Eight times should move her to the front of the docket at the new Nuremberg Trials.

      There is a better than even probability that, if Vichy doesn’t get her war, outside mercs (Swedish Nazis again, perhaps?) will be brought in to put all that shiny new American materiel to use, shelling both the Russians and the Ukrainians until they go at each other. This was the tactic used by Nuland and Soros 10 years ago to spawn the Ukraine “civil war” which American talking heads blame on Russia…

  20. We’ve had several waves of Covid come through the office since December 1; some of the people who believed they had rev. 1 in late 2019 and 1st qtr 2020 got a second dose. I think the BA.2 variant the talking heads discovered this week has already come and gone. The associated R0 is probably equivalent to red measles, although the medicals aren’t publicly getting very numerically absolute about it.

    Andy was fussing about a drain on creativity this morning.

    You see and hear the fear everywhere. Mortality is being rubbed in everyone’s faces constantly by the media and by the people who comically refer to themselves as “Leaders”.

    Recall the litany against fear from Frank Herbert’s Dune:
    “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

    Recall FDR’s most famous motivational one liner.

    Ride above it all. Make your peace, your preparations and your contingencies, then provide support to those in your community, both physical and virtual.

  21. Isn’t it IDIOTIC that mankind always delegates too much power to a handful of “LUNYS” individuals??

    What’s wrong with US? Yes, with them others ;-).

    • The downside to “education” is the real correlation it has to the connectedness of the herd mentality that goes along with it. Witness the fraternities and sororities that are a major part of higher education. While they’re a help in moving up in the World they do NOT often foster innovative thought when disaster is more than a little apparent. The most highly educated people I know, personally, and whose publications I’ve read are the ones with the highest tendency to “go along to get along” and condescend to those that have less education and have a tendency to think for themselves. Independent thinkers in times of stress will, every single time, be denigrated and ostracized without mercy even while those in the highest places have their “ships”, their narratives, fall apart in real time. Money, power, the influence they bring will be followed by The Sheeple as their “Shining Light on a Hill” without fail throughout history. This is the underlying human fault for just about everything I’ve railed about here on George’s comments section.

      • Academics rely on government grants(for the most part) to fund their research and publications. Publish or perish, so the journals are loaded with inane articles affirming politically correct nonsense. Any alternative will nix the next potential grants. Only individuals with their own funding can write without bias, and many/most won’t even do that, but some will. The smartest won’t write anything, but keep their ideas to themselves and monetize them.

      • You do understand, that the concept of education of the masses or “public education” is less than 240 years old, right?

        “Public education” as we know it today was invented by Napoleon Bonaparte.

        It’s function, from the very beginning, was to propagandize the government to children. Actual learning of useful skills like arithmetic and reading were secondary, and suffered because they were the excuse for schooling the masses. Napoleon recognized that public opinion was a huge determinant in what a government or its leader could do or get away with, even if the leader was an absolute monarch. You can’t fight a war, or even collect the taxes to pay for one, if the peasants refuse to help, and peasants with guillotines can be downright dangerous if they’re not on your side…

    • “What’s wrong with US? Yes, with them others ;-).”

      God to I agree Choices… what in the hell is wrong with us.. we keep voting in the same people that couldn’t handle a job as a dishwasher without getting fired..
      our leader has some good advice though… lol

      HEY MAN.. IF YOUR PADDLING UPSTREAM IN A CANOE, AND THE TIRE FALLS OFF, HOW MANY PANCAKES WILL FIT IN A DOG HOUSE…
      NONE BECAUSE ICE CREAM DOESN’T HAVE BONES
      THEN THE ICONIC…
      SO THE BEST WAY TO GET SOMETHING DONE, IF YOU—–IF YOU HOLD NEAR AND DEAR TO YOU,THAT YOU UH——-UM,LIKE TO BE ABLE——-ANYWAY…

  22. Would Putin move before he’s ready in Cuba?

    Reminder that there’s a cease fire and more talks in two weeks:
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/watch-ukrainian-president-slams-biden-yesterdays-phone-call-think-know-details-better-country-just-agreed-ceasefire-biden-baselessly-warned-imminent-atta/

    If you want a taste of the American trucker and what they think then this show is worth a listen…if you can’t listen live from midnight to 5am eastern, it’s also available for a short or long listen in recorded form. I listened to this guy’s dad starting around 30 years ago. Steve, the son, was fired by i-heartless radio, 700wlw/Cincinnati, just before the 2020 election for being too conservative. I listen to the show when I’m up trading the London session and write short opinion pieces for the show from time to time. A lot of good people out there: truckers.
    https://www.overnightdriveradio.com/

  24. Putin and China, are not risk takers, they are comfortable and will not risk their replacement, should physical conflict fail.

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