Welcome to the day denial wears off.  Don’t know if you remember last Friday’s column:  “Prepping for Lockdown 2.0 – Markets in Denial?”   With 90-minutes to the open, Dow futures were down 450 points.  Yeah, I know – we were way early on the variant impacts, but that’s how you stay alive today. As we … Read More

Weekend, markets closed.  Summertime in the shop. But how does “Prepping”  (a category we helped ‘invent’ back in 1997) and being a tool-slut go hand-in-hand? Let’s Big Picture This Let’s pretend you are – oh – 72 years old (like me).  You know (by genetics and stressors of Life) the odds of making it to … Read More

Touched on this on UrbanSurvival Friday; today details. We’re walking a fine line between “overdoing it” and prepping for the “worst case” outcome which may be on the horizon. Not without more coffee, a few headlines, and the ChartPack, though.  Especially since the market is to a “make or break line as you’ll see in … Read More

Some people gain great peace and tranquility by “living in the moment.”  Been there, done that. What you learn by the early 70’s (besides the patience of Job) is that it’s always better to live a little ways into the future.  Avoids crowds. As I started mentioning to you a week or two back, the odds of … Read More

Producer price report came out on Wednesday and in just one month was up One percent.  Which – annualized – pencils out to somewhere north of a 12% rise.  Compounding is not our friend.  Even though seniors will be doing less poorly relative to hourly workers, thanks to “Social Security recipients may get biggest cost-of-living bump … Read More

A lot has happened since I wrote the book Broken Web in 2012. Unfortunately, though, the long-term bottom-line outcome hasn’t changed.  If anything, post Wuhan, there are still more plotlines to collapse than happy endings. This morning, two perspectives.  A look back at how television news lost America’s faith.  And a look ahead to the … Read More

Two topics hold our rapt attention these days.  Money and Viruses.  Being “old people” on Social Security as we are, much of our Quality of Life is defined by a) Money and b) What we can do with it. Cost of Living: General Government fixes the annual Cost of Living adjustment for Social Security in … Read More

The word “Polydunce” hasn’t formally existed prior to this morning.  Sure – other words come close.  A “polymoron” for example is defined as “A multi-dimensional moron. A moron capable of several simultaneous vectors of stupidity. One whose moronic episodes become legend.”  (We try!) The difference between a polymoron and a polydunce is that the episodes … Read More

There is a ton of material this morning – mostly in the form of stories and vignettes, so pour a long cup and let’s have a go at this: EBay Bargains T’other day on eBay, I was out “buying information” and I came up with a couple of real gems.  Before I tell you about … Read More

Score another one for woo-woo.  Not only that, but we see Joe Bidenista’s going after the nation’s rail freight system in what sure has the look of pseudo-nationalizing to us. So open those borders, scream against equality with “specialness” and keep your head down.  The printing presses are rolling and the Air Bridge over Depression … Read More

Although initial reports had pegged the overnight California earthquake at 6.7, the reviewed event still came in at 6.0 up along the Nevada border region: Also called the Antelope Valley area, this is well east of Elk Grove, Napa, and the other towns east of the Bay area.  Still, it is a useful reminder that … Read More

The Ugly Patterns First Highest Level Pattern first: I began work on the Aggregate Index in 2001 when it became apparent (in the wake of the 9/11 event) that terrorism “seemed to appear” just in time to swing the public’s attention away from $5 to $8-trillion in losses in the Internet Bubble from March 2000 … Read More

Transportable wealth – the kind you can take with you – can only be stored between your ears and in your heart.  It’s a scientifically backed fact that most people don’t want to face.  Let alone inventory, assess, plan, and evolve action plans toward excellence. That’s why I’m writing a “practical book” on the topic.  … Read More