Breaking:  Retail Craters Axiomatically:  Everything’s a Business Model.  Including America. Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $626.8 billion, a decrease of 1.9 percent (±0.5 percent) from the previous month, but 16.9 percent (±0.9 percent) … Read More

A familiar theme around here is the idea that social cohesion is failing.  We see it as the direct result of “social media fractures” which are in the process of mortally wounding America.  Plus, several other countries, as well. Social Cohesion is also laid at the feet of government:  They continuously make the error of … Read More

Despite the Fed boss ramble Tuesday, our pessimism grows.  That’s because scattered food shortages are being reported in the Northeast as grocery shelves “thin out.” Going beyond pet food, there’s a hit that the supply chain issues will not resolve quickly this time.  Since the Brandon administration has gotten almost everything wrong so far, no … Read More

Reader Note:  Added estimated reading time (@275 wpm) to the top of posts.  Reading time doesn’t include comments.  Can add, tho, if anyone gives a rip… Inflation is about to rip everybody a new one.  If you haven’t been shopping lately, that is. I assume you know – as was true back during Jerry Ford’s Whip … Read More

Adventures in Data:  Let’s begin with a couple of “news searches” on a reliable interface to the Google platform.  Like DuckDuckGo. We notice an odd thing when comes to “reposting news” and thereby finding monetization of “hot” button stories. Do the simple search like [Ukraine] today and we see three of the stories are reposts … Read More

A third of the way into January, the rains have returned to Texas.  Those couple of weeks rounding-out December, were nothing more than sucker-punches for the unwary. From the outside project table, under the off-square rannygaboo (Americanized from the more proper rannygazoo) rain cover, there were projects lined up as far are the eye could … Read More

A quarter century back, I committed to an “ethical lifestyle.”  Today, an update on its progress and evolution.  (Voluntary Lifestyle Reduction.) However, first, we need to roll through some (additional, foolish) sheep fodder.  Fed people – dumbed-down folks – who don’t have the brains God gave chickens.  Or, they would have figured out there is … Read More

As we so frequently do, we continue to ask awkward questions about some of the data behind (what passes for) news stories. Let’s begin with the Jobs report, more properly the Employment Situation Report issued monthly by Labor.  Today’s helping looks like this: Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 199,000 in December, and the unemployment … Read More

Challenger Job Cut report, International Tradewreck, and Weakly U.I. filings top the start of “Bounce Day.” Before we get started – and with a hat-tip to Robin Handler of the Options Signal Service for calling the “big changes Jan. 5” right – let’s roll out the fresh data du jour for you: Challenger Job Cuts These … Read More

We usually keep our nose on the “economics and wise-spending” grindstone.  But, now and then, the Larger Contexts of Life deserve a glance.  Markets will break higher – or lower – but no point on worrying about that, just yet. So today off to the Land of Woo-Woo.  An interview with Martin Keller.  Whose book … Read More

This is really one for our Peoplenomics.com subscribers, as we have something of a “chart problem” to sift through going into the week’s end. Big Picture First: At the Macro Level, the old all-time high in our Aggregate Index (of multiple stock indices) hit a new all-time high at the Tuesday close: 41,995.20. The previous all-time … Read More

You may not be old enough to remember the term “SNAFU” but it meant “Situation Normal, All Fouled Up.”  With variants for the “eff-word” more common. As another year begins, we see SNAFU but have concerns this will be part of the larger “reality breaks” implicit in the Multi-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics. It’s … Read More

It has been relatively quiet around Uretopia Ranch this weekend. The “Christmas Room” (solar addition) was “red-flagged” by Elaine early in the week.  She was initially OK with the idea of an attached greenhouse.  But, not so cool with the color of Penofin.  It goes off to a medium orange/red.  Very much like Redwood with … Read More