In my 2012 book Broken Web (see “books” in menu) I forecast that the USA would, shortly after our big economic break (just ahead, though possible this Fall) that we would replay the outbreak of federal regulatory powers that culminated in the Communications Act of 1934.  This Act, I noted, effectively seized and controlled the … Read More

The US Federal Reserve’s Open Market meeting begins tomorrow and honestly, there’s not much change in “the conventional wisdom” that they likely won’t raise rates this time. The reason is computer modeling that suggests, based on recent work by former Fed-boss Ben Bernanke (et al), that Lower For Longer” (L4L) is the best course for … Read More

Installation is simple…but not really… Today we cover the actual installation of solar panels and how to figure where to point them in the sky.  After which, we go through some of the final power-center considerations and then start to wire things up. But all that will have to wait as we go through a … Read More

My buddy JB asked a dandy question in an email earlier this week: “What cables (and other stuff) are needed to hook up a ham radio system to a router or computer in case we get Venezuela’ d? As you know I have the hams and the generators but am not certain what buyable cables … Read More

Got up early to work on Peoplenomics for tomorrow and blam!  First news story was about how nearly 50 people were killed in two shootings at mosques in New Zealand.  NY Times coverage here has lots of detail. There’s a lot of anti-immigrant sentiments to be found in this latest case: NZ manifesto resembles Norway … Read More

In keeping with our “nominal” economics (and prepping!) bent, we begin today with a look at some well-aged import price data from BLS. Prices for U.S. imports advanced 0.6 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, after ticking up 0.1 percent in January and falling 1.4 percent in December. The February … Read More

Data-driven oddities to note before and after TSHTF A lot of UrbanSurvival readers think our Peoplenomics.com site is only about playing markets, saving for retirement and generally getting one-up on The Money Game. Surprise!   It’s not. It’s really about getting the most out of life and we broadly define that as our transactional relationships with … Read More

Cast Members Only time:  We covered this (and  more) in a recent Peoplenomics column about how we are “Imagineering” our home.  That discussion also went into the “Imagineering processes” used by “Walt Disney Imagineering” (WDI) and how those processes can be applied easily to business model design. Today, for the less drill-down oriented, I wanted … Read More

Since it will be a major factor in how the stock market rolls today (and we’re addicted to day-trading since we won’t be in a real casino until next week), we have to start this morning’s jaundiced review of digital spew with what matters most to the wallet.  Ergo, the Consumer Price report just hawked: “The Consumer … Read More

Can’t say about right this second, because there is a gap between when I write and you read, but the market signals before the open today were very mixed.  On the one hand the S&P and the NASDAQ were up a bit, but on the other, the Dow as indicating a 150-point drop at the … Read More

Lifestyle and System Integration is our menu today. Since we have taken the time in the previous 8-chapters to learn the basics of the sub-system components, we can focus on making intelligent purchase decisions today. Which will lead into next week’s chapter on wiring it all up and how to navigate a “Co-Generation Agreement” if … Read More

I won’t spend much time of today’s column because it’s too logical and sensible:  I believe our whole, planet-wide understanding of time is screwy and uselessly complex. Tonight, at 2 AM, we will “spring ahead” to 3 AM instantly.  You and I will both get screwed our of an hour of sleep. What happens is … Read More

Good one!  (*can we deliver a punchline, or what?) While the early futures were indicating another pullback in the Dow and other major indices at the open, we keep staring at the junction ahead for markets and ask the only question that matters: What’s the reason for optimism? The negatives are pretty clear: The attacks … Read More