Inflation, Expectations, and More Stiffs

by

We should begin the discussion this morning with a word (OK, several, then…) about  inter-market arbitrage.  Europe is “in the shitter” and Dow futures  +77 after blowing-off a record high Monday.

Fancy-talk.  But the long and short of it is that in today’s massively inter-wired world, you can’t look at markets  singularly.  They all  interact.

Take this morning, for example.

The typical American looks – ultra-simplistically – at the price of gold and goes into panic mode.  “ Oh my God, is the run over???”

Meanwhile, however, the globalist/neoclassicist tactician observes the global markets as a whole (see the  Peoplenomics twice-weekly Global Aggregate) and observes that things are not “happy.”

Based on early trading today (and giving U.S. S&P futures simple (equal) weighting with the RoW (rest of world), here’s what may be going on:

See the problem?  You will see there are two “sets” of what I call trading boxes to consider.  The first (green, the smaller three) argue that in Elliott wave terms, the rally in here (from the March lows) has completed.  If one believes this count, the interference is that yesterday may have been the beginnings of a larger directional move down.  Further, upside action this morning is likely to be the Fed (and G-20) trying to “buy” the alternative count.

This gets us to the Yellow trading boxes.  As you can see, there’s a way to count this as a continuation rally into late August – at which time the “real” (global) peak retest would be expected.

Two red horizontal lines, therefore, MAY describe the battle space.  The previous all-time global high is the upper red line, while the short-term bullish resistance is the lower.

In terms of futures?  Hard to call.  That’s your job, not Ure’s job.

Global Conditions Matter – Lots

When we look at the U.S. Market action Monday, what did we see (on an Aggregate basis)?  Well, a  momentary new all-time high.  But it may be a serious fake-out because lots of the increase was coming in stocks like Tesla.  Again today, we see that while tons of money are being made by T-bulls, there are headlines like “Tesla Stock Is More Than 100% Overvalued, Warn Top Wall Street Analysts” that almost sounds like shade of ’29.

Back to point:  While the U.S. continues in a “Bernanke-induced loose-money may save us” strategy, it may also only cover-up the ongoing slide in real lifestyles.

As I pointed out in a post Monday afternoon, we can see in the IMF report how the Globalist economies are attempting to paper-over the  lifestyle decline.  Faced with an 11% decline in GDP, what better cure than an 11% inflation to gloss-over – for economic simpletons – what’s really underway?

Old Man Wisdom?

One thing 71+ years of life has taught me is that stock market averages ONLY MATTER if you are playing them to make a little lunch money.  The REALITY of getting out of bed and “reporting to  The Man” daily is about  lifestyle maintenance.

Most people pay scant attention to whether a Second Depression is forming.  What matters more (in lifestyle terms) is that “well drinks” that used to be a dollar are now five.  Cars I could buy new for $2,800 in 1968 are costing $28,000 (and up from there) today.  What did we get in  actual value in return for this ten-to-one devaluation of purchasing power?

Air conditioning and power windows and door locks.  The rest is all Ben Dover, it’s the Money Stupid.  Becoming worthless just slowly enough that there’s nothing to
“jump out of the frying pan for.”  Except for idjits like us who had the good sense to tell the system to tell the world “Piss off…we’re retiring to no-profile and living in the woods.  Ya’ll have fun…..”

Consumer Prices – Foreplay

If you’re thinking “Say, that’s a pretty clever idea, papering over the Depression…think it will work?”

No, of course not – not in the long-term, any way.

But, close-in, sure!

The reason is the once-Greatest Nation – able to kick Germany’s and Japan’s asses at the same time in World War II – has bent itself over for all comers.  We gave up Production Autonomy for the Greedy Hedge Pricks (GHPs) in New York.  Since there’s 100-to-one leverage buying  influence in Congress, stupid con-artists in office (many still there, returned by stupider voters) simply allowed the “miracle of cheap communications” to kick our butts.

With most of our consumables coming from Asia, there is a 90-120 day lag between  actual prices paid today  and the “booked price” which happened 120-days ago.

Say you operated a modest country store – headquartered in, oh, Bentonville, Arkansas. for example.  You need for August to have 123,451 HD TVs for a big summer promotion.  The order doesn’t go in  now…with only two weeks to the Big Sale.  That order went in four-months ago.

That gives people in China 30-days to order components, 30-days to stuff and flow printed circuit boards and load them into televisions and box them up.  Then 30-days for transit to the Chinese port, ocean freight, and offloading in Los Angeles or the far side of the viaduct at Long Beach.

Now, though, we still have to navigate the intermodal mess:  Those TVs will be sent to the “little country store’s” distribution centers.  Then, and only then, will they be ready for dispatch (next week) so that the regional Superstore managers can get those end-cap promotions set for the August 1 sale.

This time-lag (inflation comes on slowly) example makes the point that whatever you are playing today is often priced at retail where things were a month, or two, back.  Following how this “long-chain supply channel” works?

This morning’s data reflects a lot of APRIL commitments.

Consumer Prices:  7.44% Annualized

Knowing there is a fair bit of “time slop” in how consumer prices change (come on slow when inflation is increasing; go down slowly when deflation arrives) we can now much on the presser just out of the Labor Department on Consumer Prices:

Drilling down: Page 2 here reveals Fuel Oil is down 29.9% year on yet.  On the upside? Medical care is up 6% Year-on-Year…

Don’t worry, the numbers Social Security increases will be based on, will show remarkably small increases to keep the old in their place.  Then the real inflation will be along…bank of it.

This doesn’t mean that consumer prices will go instantly to the moon.  But, we are planning to upgrade my office equipment for Urban.  A new  i-7 with 16gb and several large SSD’s will land in a week.  And I don’t see a larger 65″ UHD TV (monitor for the sight imparied me) as getting much cheaper than they are right now.

Unless, of course, CV-19 goes even crazier.  But do either of us want to hang out at estate sales?

Tearing Apart the NFIB Optimism Index

New Small Business Optimism index is out from the National Federation of Independent Business.  A little something for the Bulls:

“The Small Business Optimism Index increased 6.2 points in June to 100.6 with eight of the 10 components improving and two declining. Owners anticipate improving sales as the economy continues to re-open with sales expectations rebounding to a net 13% after April’s lowest reading in survey history (a net negative 42%). Small business owners continue to be optimistic about future business conditions and indicate they expect the recession to be short-lived.”

But a little something for the Bears:

“Down from May, 48% of owners reported capital outlays in the next 6 months, the lowest level since December 2010. Of those making expenditures, 32% reported spending on new equipment (down 3 points), 18% acquired vehicles (down 2 points), and 14% improved or expanded facilities. Five percent acquired new buildings or land for expansion and 9% spent money for new fixtures and furniture.

Twenty-two percent plan capital outlays in the next few months, up 2 points from May. Plans are trending up but remain at recession levels.”

No whiz-bang MAGA miracle in sight here.  Move along…

Is Trading “Gambling?”

American investors are a pretty  sorry lot.  The story on CNBC this morning, “JPMorgan shares jump after record trading revenue drives stronger-than-expected quarterly profit” makes it pretty clear.

There’s an article on NerdWallet that pretends the difference has to do with timeframes.  Shorter periods are trading, longer term is “investing.” OK, that works, but not  exactly.

Around here, we look at things in more casino-like terms.  Therefore, we see trading as “When the hot money thinks it’s smarter than The House.”  Investing is  Betting with the House.

Given that “JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City,” they can call themselves what they will.  And gamble all they want.

It may – in these odd times – pay off better than straight banking as we saw that Wells Fargo reported $2.4 billion loss for the quarter, cutting dividend to 10 cents.

We’re just a lot more open about calling our modest “trading”  gambling.  Maybe because we don’t have a PRSA certified PR operation to sell our goods…

In Ure Shorts

What catches our  aye this morning?

Stiffs are still piling up as the ongoing debate over CV-19 continues distracting millions.  We simply look at cases and death rates in heavy masking countries (*like Japan with only 984 deaths as of now) versus countries full of arguing idiots.  Like us.  With 135,615 deaths and still climbing.

I dunno:  Sometimes the numbers just “talk to me.”  Which is why, from mid February, we’ve been masking and bleaching everything from off property.  But, in fairness to people who detract from our data-based view:  I have the co-morbidity to worry about.  It’s called life.

Meantime, USA Today has a good round-up under the heading “Coronavirus updates: Cuomo takes heat over nursing home deaths; California tightens restrictions; New York sends testing teams to Atlanta.”

Our fearless forecast is that Globally, we will be around 30-million  cases by Labor Day.  with a global death toll of 877,881.  Here in the Land of the Free (to not mask) we project 7,985,851 positives by then.  With a total of 252,581 projected fewer taxpayers by then.

Just Beyond “19”

Speaking of Covid and Taxes, did you see where  some millionaires are stepping up to pay higher taxes?  Examples: Richard Curtis wants higher tax bill to help UK economy’s Covid-19 recovery.

If Donald Trump doesn’t stop talking foolishness pretty soon, it may come to matter that Newt Gingrich (says): Biden’s tax increase proposal would kill jobs, bring US to deep recession.  Why, one can almost see a pattern of GOP pump and dump and then democrats batting clean-up.  Question is:  Is Biden really  the best the dems can come up with?  Oh, we are sooo screwed….

The Political Correctness Wars:  The Washington Redskins are going to “retire the name.”  This sets up a “sports-domino collapse.”  The Kansas City  Chiefs I see with a name-cloud hanging.  How long before BLM forces the Minnesota  Vikings to become more racially balanced?  And yeah, only a matter of time before the New England  Patriots are banished for conspiracy to hold down the rise of ‘ Merican Marxism.”  (Like I said, we are sooo screwed…)

We’ll leave it to PETA to deal with the Tigers, Lions, Dolphins, and Bears.

“Legislating from the Bench Department. “ There goes judge Amy Berman Jackson again: “Judge asks for more details on Trump’s clemency for Roger Stone.”  I’d have to check with my  consigliere on this, but I don’t think a circus judge can question a Presidential Pardon with any  authority.  But, that doesn’t slow the “news” clowns from piling on with another blast of anti-Trump opinioids.

OK, big day. Have a great one and off to chase food and nail down more Peoplenomics  research.

Write when you get rich (or evicted)

George@Ure.net

51 thoughts on “Inflation, Expectations, and More Stiffs”

  3. In the early 1970’s there was an add for Volkswagen that stated “the only car in America under 2000 dollars.” We’ve come a long way.

    • In the 1950s you could buy either a VW Beetle or a Triumph TR-2 as a kit. I believe they were both $995 in 1954. A lot of car companies shipped cars to other countries “CKD” or completely knocked-down. Assembly of a MV in its destination country resulted in both shipping cost and tax advantages over shipping assembled vehicles from their country of origin. What made VW and Standard-Triumph unique was they would sell a CKD to an end-user (Lotus did too, with the Seven, but that was marketed as a “factory kit car” so I discount it…)

      I believe in 1960 (or ’61, can’t remember for sure) the CKD Beetle was $1195 and the fully-assembled Beetle was $1565…

  4. so with all this flation don’t you start lifting interest rates ? or is that for non amerikan places or countries that have no gurus ?

  5. “Most people pay scant attention to whether a Second Depression is forming. ”

    It is like a tornado I watched.. there was one getting ready to fly over.. I was at work so I always wanted to see a powerful tornado just to observe the workings of it.. anyway the thing got closer and closer.. and I thought heck look at the power in it.. then decided it was time to go down to safety.. went to the door.. it was locked.. and I didn’t have a key.. so I moseyed around the building to get to the open door.. but wouldn’t look at the tornado because I seriously didn’t want to see how close it was to me…. that is what they are doing.. the tornado is coming they are walking around the building or living life as normal without looking at it because they don’t want to know just how big and bad and close it is to them..

    CHINA thirty days out.. .. dam I order stuff from china all the time..
    I can get a hundred times more for my money than if I bought the same product in a local store.. take the sprayer nozzels.. in the store they are a buck twenty a piece.. I bought twenty eight of them for two bucks.. the reported value of the whole lot was two cents.. free shipping.. the bulk of the cost was in the shipping.. now.. if I was willing to pay fifteen dollars and have them expedite the shipping or upgrade it.. I would have gotten the shipment faster than if I sent a letter to myself from a state away..
    so that totally depends.. free shipping or pay for shipping.. I usually go the free shipping and order earlier than I am expecting to need it.
    I do see products drying up.. before xmas I could get a cpap machine that sells for five grand in the usa.. for three hundred ..plus they gave two mask’s your choice.. an extra hose hose extender and a years worth of filters.. today.. you would have a tough time getting the hose..
    face masks .. they were 22 cents a piece.. with extra filters and free shipping.. today.. they are two dollars to ten dollars a piece.. the fire escape hoods and blankets have increased in value by about a thousand percent since pre covid days..

  6. There are many types of virus, corona being one, which is a cold virus period. It would seem that since we have yet to conquer the common cold and as everyone has had a cold at one time or another, it would stand to reason that no matter what we do we will all get this thing in time. Best defense is to maintain or improve your daily health.

    • Longer term I am on board, we will have to learn to live with this virus as a regular part of our environment. Short term there is a lot of benefit to avoid spreading this as much as we can. First, science is still learning the best treatments. Second, try to keep hospital beds free for all medical situations including covid bad outcomes.

      We have no idea why some people have no symptoms and some very healthy middle age people are crushed by this thing (not just killed). We also see the same people getting this thing with very harsh symptoms and permanent damage more then once.

      There are many levels between hide away and don’t interact, and full bore normalcy. Personally, I want to delay my family getting this as long as possible and allow medicine to try to get ahead and continue to improve outcomes.

      I will take the steps necessary to try to avoid situations like this, because we have no idea who might be impacted…Around 5 minutes in…

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhyEBIpaIaM

      I have said may times, I believe these are individual decisions, not much government business to mandate behavior. But taking precautions (mask in public, washing hands, social distance, and avoiding those that don’t follow precautions), is so easy, why not? The downside risk of being in the 1% with permanent health impact or death is huge, for some there is NEVER normal again.

      • Why not? Numerous rigorous scientific studies show that wearing a mask does not offer any protection. A warning label on the side of a box of surgical masks that I see most people wearing states that it does not offer any protection from Covid 19. Give me liberty or give me death! No fear!

        • You need to read more deeply at PubMed and other credible sources.
          And look at Japan (masking everyone seems to work there): 984 deaths in all.

          Japan deaths (all masking) to US deaths (with “patriots unable to read data”): 136,699 deaths or 138.92 TIMES more dead.

          Population of Japan 126-million – while US Pop is 327-million. That still doesn’t :flip: the data.

          On comparable population basis, Japan would have only 2,553 deaths – still runs 1.9% of the US death rates.

          I am all about freedom – but innumeracy and false beliefs kill.

      • There could be other factors besides mask wearing in Japan that might explain the difference in mortality like diet, heredity, environment, culture or medical practices. Automatically assuming it is mask wearing doesn’t seem very scientific.

    • You may be right, but later is better. The more hosts the virus replicates through, the better behaved it’s likely to become. That’s not an absolute, but it’s standard behavior for pathogens.

      I still think Vit C, D, sun and zinc are the easy prophylaxes. Personally, I’d add the rest of the vitamins. Beyond that, you get into the experimental and/or controversial stuff.

      Copper kills viruses. There should be a way to distribute a layer on a mask or add it as a filter on a respirator.

      Paying attention to comorbid conditions(excess weight in particular) seems to help. Diabetes should be as well controlled as possible. Circulatory and hematologic issues can be complex and might be an indication for HCQ or equivalent.

      Living far from people definitely helps.

      • “I still think Vit C, D, sun and zinc are the easy prophylaxes. Personally, I’d add the rest of the vitamins. Beyond that, you get into the experimental and/or controversial stuff”.

        Don’t forget that early on they said that alcohol killed the virus, so……
        If you see me outside drunk, naked, and lying in the sun, it’s not a problem, and don’t call the authorities, I am just doing medical experiments.

      • “Copper-Fit” sells a face muff they call a “mask,” which is woven with copper-fiber. (Somebody’s also making a face muff that’s allegedly woven with silver fibers — ‘cuz the folks who know you should buy 4000 rolls of TP during a shortage, but don’t know why, also know “silver” is good, but have never heard of “colloidal silver” and wouldn’t know what it was if they had…)

  8. George, in addition to complaining (again today) about the watering down of the US dollar, perhaps you might mention the root causes:
    -Ever since Reagan {George redacted from here due to impertinent, useless, leftwing blame festival that serves no useful purpose – then he gets to…}
    -And that’s all before spending that we actually do need. Such as infrastructure, climate repair, medical care, hungry kids and macro demand. Best, Mike.

    Ure responds? WTF is “climate repair but more lefty jingoism? Sold your car yet? Walking or biking everywhere? Double-standards on the left and right about. If kids are hungry, punish their parents. Deadbeats having kids leads to Yemen-like futures.
    Stop whining and get back to work, suck it up like everyone else! Jeez, Mike – wanna go back in Penalty Box? Stick with the topic and stop placing blame or I will start laying out traitorous Obama climate scams and then using the national security state to subvert Trump’s presidency -and running the coup attempt. There was DELUSION not Collusion and on guess which side?>- Please offer non-blamatory useful solutions. It’d be a nice change. A word or two on how to do macro demand without climate impacts would be sweet. -G]

    • @mIKE

      CAUSES FOR DOLLAR BEING A POS…

      1913 Federal Reserve Act….and here we are…

      IF anyone in DC for the past 100 years OBEYED the Constitution…as in …coining of our money…we would not be headed again to REPEAT HISTORY…BUT no one OBEYS the ‘old relic’ anymore…just lip service…NEVER what it actually says…wtfover

  9. They are comparing the early “Case Count” against today’s value.

    How was this done back then? Symptoms? It sure wasn’t the PCR test that’s being used now.

    The developer of the PCR test cautioned that it was not to be used diagnostically!

    Two totally different methods that yield different results, but they are treated as the same!

    Stupidity? Intentional?

    • How to save the postal service? Go to every other day mail delivery. Every driver gets 2 routes.

      • USPS going tits-up is drama for the audience, us. Our role is to sit and whisper profound ideas back and forth.

        Poster Ray pointed out USPS is “enshrined in the Constitution.” There’s no question USPS will always get the money. 244 years and counting.

        Government is discussing our “how do we pay” conditions.

        A lump sum in today’s dollars vs more nibbles of our tomorrow dollars through higher postage prices.

        I say, remove the mask. Make USPS free and fund it by appropriation bills like the VA.

      • “Make USPS free and fund it by appropriation bills like the VA.”

        We did that for 200 years.

        The problem is the PO is a bureaucracy, not a business. It is not run in an efficient manner, by people who know how to run a business. Many of its employees are lazy and lack dedication — they’re not necessarily lazy people, but in working for a bureaucracy instead of a business, there is no incentive to do a job better, faster, more-cleanly, or to take pride in one’s work, because none of that matters to the structure or hierarchy of their superiors.

        “Spinning off” the Post Office as a privatized government agency was, IMO illegal, based on the Constitution. Retaining its “business” model as a bureaucracy was both unconscionable, and stupid beyond belief.

  11. Sounds to me like Dodge City is heating up for a showdown.
    The meek folks, the 3%,that recognized the trouble brewing had left town years ago. The 7%, who thought they had more time to play their hand, are just now leaving ,in their class A rv’s, headed for the hills.
    The sheeple,the remaining 90%, are doing just that.
    In 1973 I worked at Merrill, Lynch,Pierce,Renner and Smith in the wire room in Boston. In 1975 I worked for Aetna Life and Casualty in Springfield,Ma. as a subrogation specialist. I was a “Co-op”student enrolled at Northeastern U. in Boston. In 76′ I was in Austin,TX. gaining my residency for UT.
    In my view, the hand writing was on the wall. What has emerged is a Corporate Technocratic Fascism. Take it or leave it.

    • What has emerged is a Corporate Technocratic Fascism.

      WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

      Although technically “corporatism” and “fascism” are synonymous, the way you put it sure has a certain ring to it…

  12. I’m continually amazed by the ‘COVID Deniers’ who think the whole thing is a hoax, or a case of a simple cold or flu. The statistics regarding COVID-19 are woefully lacking in details. “Mortality” is the only stat most count. People who have ‘recovered ‘ are considered OK and back to normal, but… they are NOT! What is NOT counted nor tracked is the ‘morbidity’ of ongoing problems among people who have ‘recovered’. More than half of recovered Covid patients have heart damage, for example.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/more-half-covid-19-patients-new-study-have-heart-damage
    And there are other ongoing morbidity problems among ‘recovered’ Covid patients.

    It is really scary to know there will be no effective vaccine for covid prevention, despite the blustering of the Gates-Fauci-Pharma ‘greed complex’. We will have to live with this among our population… morbidity and all. People don’t take it seriously until it hits home, and then they wish they HAD taken it seriously. George is a smart visionary. The only effective ‘cure’ is to NOT CATCH THE VIRUS! And that involves whatever it takes… masks, social distance, bleach, disinfectants, Immune support… all of it…. all the time.

    • “The only effective ‘cure’ is to NOT CATCH THE VIRUS! ”

      My thought is.. it’s not a matter of not catching it..but when and hopefully by the time we catch it the people working so hard on finding a treatment for it.

    • Actually not very scary at all…..you have a 99.7% chance of survival according to CDC…our way of thinking about all of this is totally flawed. There is no need for fear…period. For a more complete view, check out Zach Bush MD and his interviews on the subject if you’d really like to be educated in order to see the bigger picture and banish the fear.

      • Looking at your chances of survival vs the entire population is not useful. You need to look at the statistics for your specific demographic. Are you a 70 year old male? A 40 year old female? An 80-year old male? Are you obese? Have high blood pressure? Age, gender, pre-existing conditions are all factors that affect your probability of survival. And keep in mind that if you do survive, it may be with lasting residual effects. Nick Cordero, the 41-year old actor who just died, is a good example. The blood clotting resulted in amputation of a leg, several strokes, and had he survived he would have needed a double lung transplant. He would never have been the same, or even close, had he lived. These are all things to take into account.

  13. Regarding this section today: With most of our consumables coming from Asia, there is a 90-120 day lag between actual prices paid today and the “booked price” which happened 120-days ago.

    Suspect this is the Chinese method that brought the virus to us and the rest of the world. They knew the Lunar New Year was coming so they placed their “order” about 120 days in advance and tried it out on their own people. Success! Gets rid of the weak and sickly like Presto. All gone.
    Their order for virus “accident” put in 3 or 4 months in advance of the holiday travel by their wealthier class. Their healthy folk would be traveling during the Lunar New Year and they would be carriers of the virus (mostly without symptoms) and land here and there and traveling as tourists to every nook and cranny spreading virus as they went. ABOUT this same amount of time passed as the example you use for establishing lead time in nearly every business. In this case 3 or 4 weeks after their holiday the virus takes off here like a rocket. The gift that keeps on giving. So many oldsters gone- like theirs, poof. Gone.
    Now the virus mutated and the young are finding themselves affected. No one knows how much virus it takes to make you sick or dead.
    As we go broke, we wonder how the stock market seems to be doing well. As we sit in our refuges, we wonder if we will be done in by someone without a mask that coughs as they pass us or will we keep being lucky? Or, perhaps the virus will poop out if we just stay at home long enough. Who knows? Apparently no one. What mischief is our government up to now that they have us all bunkered up? When we come out, will we still have a nation that anyone recognizes?
    All this with a microscopic virus, astonishing eh? Not a shot fired! A giant nation rendered inoperable. Poof, crashes to the dirt…what next?

  14. Personally I think the Feds are getting rid of cash and planning on all digital money:

    This morning Fred Meyer’s super store (belongs to Kroger) had no change to give back to the cash paying customer in front of me. Have been reading about the Mint’s excuses for shortage of coins.

    When Oregon governor said masks will be required,Tri-met bus lines overnight eliminated the use of cash. Now have to use a purchased HOP card that has to be scanned each time before riding. It is like buying and using a gift card. The bus drivers never did handle cash – a rider put the money into a machine and all the driver did was punch a button so the ticket dispenser would spit out a ticket. Ridership is down to only a couple people on the buses that I ride and Tri-met eliminated all runs except early and late in the day. Grocery shopping now starts at a 6:00 a.m. at the bus stop.

  15. Comrades,

    There is a wolf in sheep clothing at work with the resurgence of msm stories of millionaires asking for higher taxes on their group. I think the source may be the US charity “Patriotic Millionaires” which was founded by a campaign organizer to President Clinton. The group leans left with substantial connections to the Democrat Party. Perhaps the academic basis for the self-styled patriots is the book “Capital in the 21st Century” by the French author Thomas Piketty. The book proposes a global tax, and contends that capitalism will always suffer systemic failure.

    • The United States’ individual tax liability is a minimum number. There is no law, regulation, or rule against giving the IRS more than the bottom line of our Form 1040 says that a person owes.

      Any “millionaires asking for higher taxes” are making a facetious political statement. They can donate their entire fortune to the I.R.S. if they want to, or anything between that and the number they pay their accountants a fortune to come up with. It’s grandstanding, showboating, and totally disingenuous, but it plays really well with the “class warfare” crowd…

  16. Hey Chief –

    like to report some personal HUMIT from Summer of Year 0 road-trip w/Mrs. Deplorable – Pennsyltucky to Colorado(personal bias included).

    1st night spent in Springfield,OH, kinda depressed, with a bit of a spooky vibe – what with the covid phys-op rolling on.roads (mostly I70) were pretty good.
    Town/area definitely looking forward to beneficial effects from manufacturing business moving back to our shores. 80/20 Non-Mask to Mask Wearers – customer facing peeps and seniors.Shout Out Ohio!

    Illinois was a S-Show – roads (I70) really blew big baby chunks- obviously there is NO Money in the state coffers.

    Must have a SF mark-rhino kinda guvment in power – did not stop in this ClusterF___ of State..sadly my Birth place.

    Indiana was/is kickin it! Hardly a dam mask anywhere – cept a FEW cust. facing peeps&Seniors. Roads (primarily I70) in real good shape – mostly hard working – salt of the earth types. Lunch stop exposed some “local” cadre regs in force – Commies have infiltrated apparently – still shout out to Indiana as it was only 90-10 Non-mask to masked.

    Missouri was sad – roads sucked – big hairy monkey balz – really sucked. Spent night in Columbia, MO – home of the Missou Tigers! University of Missouri was Sad..No Students, No campers, No Sports camps, No soon to be seniors visiting campus – Lots of Masks. No wonder the south LOST. The show me state showed me FEAR..weak! Peeps were genuinely kind though…

    Kansas is TITS!..sorry ladies.

    Golden crowned Corn, Beans & Beefs as far as the eyes can see,and a ton of wind mills.
    Very few masks – on several customer facing peeps and seniors – a few.

    Stopped at local diner for lunch – No Masks – just farmers,truckers and a couple dogz
    from nearby Ft. Reilly – GO BLACKNIGHTS! Open faced beef sandwich with spuds and dark gravy – had to a get Rockstar energy drink after that ALL-American deliciousness.

    Kansas brought a tear to my deplorable eyes, growing Americas food, and helping make AMERICA GREAT every dam day! Have to keep a low pro in town as this is Rock Chalk Jayhawk Country – ECD college Basketball Enemies – Great Respect! great dislike..these guyz are always top-notch.

    Next up Grand Junction,CO – then on to Aspen/Maroon Bells, where the mountains are high and so am I !

    U can catch up to the ever elusive ECD in Alamosa on the new Moon – trey cool dude ranch smack dab in the middle of one of the USA’s hottest UFO hot spot (s) and newest addition to the National Park System. Going to be a HOOYAH kinda time..

    More on the flip side..Thx.

    • ‘Haven’t been to Kansas this year, but yeah, can pretty much confirm the routes along the north (I-80 & 90, and parts of U.S. 6, 20, 24, and 30) are the same. 20 and 30 are “not bad” across Indiana but suck in Illinois and I’m disappointed with Ohio because US-30 (The Lincoln Highway) is my favorite path between the buckeyes (mostly same speed limit, fewer MVs, almost no cops {important because OHP eats their young}, and none of that Columbus BS…) FWIW I-75 is I-75 — never traveled Michigan, Ohio, or Tennessee when some part of it wasn’t under construction. I haven’t traveled I-94 in Michigan or I-64 in Indiana and have made only two trips south of the Ohio River — both to the University of Kentucky. I-69 sucks from Indy to Lansing but is fab between E’ville and Martinsville, and between East Lansing and Canada), I-65 is excellent, once away from the Ohio River, I-74 ain’t bad, once away from Sin-cinnati (although it sux in ILLinois, it doesn’t suck as hard as 55, 57, or the Chicago expressways (80, 90, 94, etc), which I drove two days ago, much to my disgust (it’s darn near impossible to get anywhere west of Chicago, without going through Chicago…) In Michigan, I-96 sux, so does US-131; US-10, 23, and 31 are nice FTMP but US-10 is under repair and US-127 is under perpetual construction, north of Lansing.

      An aside, I was in Joliet, and in Battle Ground, Indiana, for the very first time. I’ve been past or over Joliet dozens of times, but this is the first time I ever got to drive the city. Battle Ground is where General (and Governor) William Henry Harrison won the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811) against the Shawnee, led by Tecumseh’s brother, “The Prophet.” After the battle, Harrison’s forces burned the Shawnee village adjacent to the battle and known as Prophetstown, and in so doing, discovered Tecumseh’s alliance was being financed/supplied by the British. This battle led directly to the War of 1812.

      I only knew about half this stuff from school, but managed to have time to visit the battlefield and read the plaque…

  17. “Owners anticipate improving sales as the economy continues to re-open with sales expectations rebounding to a net 13%”

    What are the chances the compulsive spenders will outspend the folks who missed a meal or three, and learned how to pinch pennies? I don’t care what “owners anticipate.” ISTM that’s moot, until we learn whether a significant portion of the population has altered its spending habits.

    “Why, one can almost see a pattern of GOP pump and dump and then democrats batting clean-up.”

    ‘Problem with that is Republicans typically get us out of major wars and into recessions, Democrats get us out of recessions, and into major wars…

    “The Political Correctness Wars”

    -Not impressed until the Florida State Seminoles and Central Michigan Chippewas go away. (That’d be entertaining, since CMU is located in the middle of an Indian reservation ;-)

    The Washington Redskins’ first coach was an American Indian. The team got its name and mascot to honor him, because “nothing was more fierce an adversary than an Indian.” IMO they should change their name to The Washington Squaws, since management has clearly lost its… well, you know.

    KC is easy. Just change their jerseys to CPOs and put the coaching staff in Officer Blues…

    New England will become the Kraft Perestroikas…

    “We’ll leave it to PETA to deal with the Tigers, Lions, Dolphins, and Bears.”

    Oh, my! They’d just kill them off, like they do to dogs and cats left in their care…

    “There goes judge Amy Berman Jackson again”

    NY State is considering an Amendment which would cause a Presidential issue of clemency to have no legal effect within New York State borders, thereby enabling a New York County or State court to try Roger Stone without that silly “double jeopardy” thing. Should it go to the floor, I’m going to snag a copy because the weasel-wording for a State to try to nullify a Constitutional Amendment will be a sight to behold…

    • “Why, one can almost see a pattern of GOP pump and dump and then democrats batting clean-up.”

      With the virus erasing everything the DJT had accomplished.. and seeing the signs that he has a slim to nothing chance of winning..
      ( he went option two.. everyone is feeling the pinch of option 2 )
      that is exactly what I would do.. the dollar isn’t worth anything.. the whole globe is in a financial downward spiral…we are faced with hyperinflation.. and it is seen.. just yesterday I went to get another freezer only to discover that they are not to be found.. and they are all back ordered two to three months.. I have known the sales man for over twenty years buying all of my appliances from him.. he said he has never seen anything like it..
      the grocery stores.. general commodities are the same price..essentials and necessities have gone through the roof in the last three months..
      chicken around here it is almost impossible to find and when you do you had better grab it.. no second thoughts on whether or not it is to expensive ..
      I seen something in the cooler that I have never seen except for the days of refugee’s shopping.. ( pork assholes is one of them and tripe…I haven’t seen chitlins yet though.. ) and they can’t keep them on the shelf..
      the next thing you will be seeing is things like blood sausage etc.. if that isn’t a sign of the state of the nation.. well I don’t know what is.. gold.. shoot.. give me coffee instead.. very few people eat gold burger king won’t accept gold for payment and neither will the utility companies.. but almost everyone has a cup of coffee and uses toilet paper..

    • “Why, one can almost see a pattern of GOP pump and dump and then democrats batting clean-up.”

      I would do the Pump and dump…give out so much that everyone can make it for two months or so before it starts to fall.. then sit back and watch.. the democrats have been pushing for fee money for all.. let it happen.. they can’t sustain it.. Let them own what they have been selling..

  18. Yada yada yada . Have a little closed chat about nothing but ameikan glory . Pump the gold . All good . Yeah so good . Talk about bears and market irrationally. Get some Covid but lie about that . Yes folks . All good from the world masters

  20. George, I value your computer expertise (among other things) and noted you are buying a new system. Please help save me some research time and share the brand and source of the computer and the 65″ monitor! Also, does the i7 have anything special in video cards to drive the 65 incher?

    • Nothing special. Woot clearance. HP SFF size. 16 GB 512 SSD Win10Pro, Whatever the video is will be will upgraded to 4-6 GB and maybe al bigger power supply.
      Once it all passes inspection and more.
      While the used/Refurbs are OK in many cases, I had an Amazon seller send me a computer “with HDMI” that didn’t. So it went back.
      Now, I’m not trying to poison the waters of reality here, but if it goes right back, it would just speed up my t5ransition to Linux…

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