Can “They” Pull It Out?

“They” being the PowersThatBe in the financial universe.  Main focus is on the ChartPack this morning.  Sure, we were entertained by the J. Powell “fed-speak” but the focus on jobs is likely to be a problem since jobs in America will come at the expense (largely) of jobs elsewhere in the world.  Think Asia. We … Read More

Housing Holds – Long in the Tooth?

The good news is the Housing report from Case-Shiller is pretty good: S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER INDEX REPORTS: 10.4% ANNUAL HOME PRICE GAIN TO END 2020 YEAR-OVER-YEAR The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 10.4% annual gain in December, up from 9.5% in the previous … Read More

Edging Toward “De-Bubbling”

[Reader Note:  Refresh this page at 8:15 AM for Housing data.] We first began to notice this “possible De-Bubbling”  recently in our Aggregate Index charts.  There is a major pause (reverting to “normal?”) going on  in several domains of finance. Cryptos:  Dreams and Demons We have a couple of reasons to be offering (again!) our … Read More

Markets Set to Falter? Modern Bag-Holders

As our Peoplenomics readers have known for a good while, there has been a small – but larger-than-zero – chance the stock market would end its meteoric rise (on Made-UP-Money) around the President’s weekend. So far, that has evidenced itself by a slow-motion, rolling-top in our Aggregate Index work. While this doesn’t mean “The End” is … Read More

ShopTalk: Disaster Redesign and Estimating

There is an old saying – beneficially learned growing up in a racially homogenous community – among Chinese:  Crisis is often accompanied by opportunity. In fact, though I don’t remember the characters for it,  they are similar.  Now, in the wake of the BlizTex21, is a good time to remember this linkage. There are steps … Read More

Fixing the World in 3 Deft Moves

A broad look at America’s energy future this morning.  We think a week during which people were in the dark – by the millions – is a pretty good time to relight the discussion about energy. We considered a discussion of how this week was very much like a Grid Hard Down scenario, but thought … Read More

SatGourmet: Let Us Eat…Cake!

Snow should melt a bit more, today. And in celebration, Looking Outside the Box steps into the kitchen with a lesson in post-storm attitude adjusting! “Now that the powers on .. relax and have some yellow cake Cake 1 yellow cake mix 4 eggs 4 ounces butter 1/2 cup vegetable oil 11 ounces mandarin oranges drained … Read More

NextTex: Recovery Woes, Life Slows – a “Climate Kill”

Political Control 101: “Never let a Good Crisis Go to Waste.” Something very strange jumped out at us while looking at the AI looking at the news flow:  I think, by-golly, we may just have the first “political climate character assassination” to do a post-mort on. The story, under headlines like “Ted Cruz flew to Mexico as … Read More

Post Storm: Lies, Lessons, and Loopholes

My friend Wally, whom I haven’t heard from for years, introduced me to the old saying “Screwed the Pooch and sold the Pups…” around 1999, or so.  You can follow the notion, probably. So, our first point is that America (land of the Pooch)  is maxed on wrong-headed solutions – promoted  only because they are … Read More

Storm Tactics – A Critique

Some things we got right – a few things wrong. What ate the key lessons from the second major storm series to hit Texas this year?  Some Surprising learnings. First though, a look at some headlines – yeah, about Texas – and then into the ChartPack before we “Go outside and “play in the snow…” … Read More

Frozen Cynicism: Electric Roulette Council of Texas

Peoplenomics MAY or MAY NOT publish tomorrow.  Blame the Power Weasels. Not for a lack of good faith effort on our part.  We have 3.5 kW of solar. The power went off at 4:40 PM and here we are – 6:57 PM – waiting for the frigging 45-minute outage to be completed.  Hello?  Check the Apple … Read More

0 Degrees F Now – A Few Additional Notes

My first  foray into the Frozen South results in several “life in the Outback” notes. Solar panels had to be re=swept – remove overnight frost.  Daily here shortly. Computer 2 is on charge. Big energy bank is 23.8V. Only spot freezing in food storage (mushroom soup cans 31.7F…) No broken water anywhere (waiting for the … Read More

UrbanSurvival – for real – Heart of in the BlizTex

Super short this morning because Elaine and I are short of power. No matter how much contingency planning you do, a high of 8 F and chills well below zero – are not the kind of thing you normally plan for. Here’=’s the national picture and this snap of all the cold parts will ove … Read More