In the event you’re wondering why the whole market was being painted (again) Thursday, the answer is simple:  There was a new fed boss (Jerome “Jay” Powell) being named.  It’s typical for markets to put on a good showing when the Street wants suck-points down the road. The alert reader will note that we hinted at … Read More

Being old is entertaining as hell.  As you slide, however unwillingly, toward The Big Sleep, the folly of humans comes every more clearly into focus. Take this stuff we have convinced ourselves is “Progress,” for instance.  There was a time when people physically did things themselves.  However, in order to “make-up an economy” we had … Read More

Sorry you missed out Peoplenomics.com report Wednesday (if you did) because in it, my “deflationist pal” Jas Jain made a very interesting point. Earnings are essentially unchanged from where they were three years ago, yet prices are up 40 percent.  A damn fine observation and one that speaks volumes about the HS&J (hype, shuck, and … Read More

My late father started baking bread when he was in his 60’s, so it’s now time for me to again get serious about taking up a family tradition.  Something that fits with fall. I’m going to make another $215 dollar loaf of bread this weekend. I know….how can you spend $215 on a single loaf … Read More

Some years back I developed “The Substitution Method of Learning” or SML for short. The idea is that you can generalize the form of knowledge by simply replacing terms to come up with new, and often very useful, approach to problems.  Today, we focus on electronics which, as it turns out, provides an excellent tool … Read More

The scariest thing today is not Halloween.  It’s the larger-context truth-leak that lobbying firms run America, not we the people.  Let’s walk through it, shall we? Start with the story in the NY Times this morning about how why a rock star among lobbyist has resigned:  “Under Mueller Scrutiny, Democratic Donor Tony Podesta Resigns From Lobbying … Read More

It happens tonight, so be ready for it. Here in the Outback of East Texas we have never had even a single trick-or-treater come by and that’s just fine with us. There are some special aspects of the day that we should review, a day that might have been proclaimed by the corn syrup refining industry … Read More

While the “talking heads” – the mainstream media – are trying to fill up their channels with the latest and most salacious details about the criminal charges expected today in Washington, for the folks not so drawn to distraction, the week has plenty of Halloween-like events to consider.  I mean besides Paul Manafort being told … Read More

As you should know, I don’t have a lot of friends.  But the ones I have seem to stick around a long time.  Take Gaye at StrategicLivingBlog.com.  We’ve been pals for 40-some-years. It’s been an even-longer friendship with my buddy the major up in Gig Harbor, WA.  We measure longer in decades. We were introduced by our parents … Read More

We don’t normally interrupt our Sundays here at the ranch to put out a comment.  But there is a story over on BuzzFeed  (FBI Probe Of Paul Manafort Focuses On 13 “Suspicious” Wire Transfers) that should have both the Secret Service and the FBI up in arms.  Oh?  Where did the number of transfers come from?  … Read More

One of our readers decided that I wasn’t right.  He challenged me to find a way to monetize anything he named.  He named doggie droppings. But yes, this morning we talk about how to monetize dog droppings .  Perhaps not so coincidentally, the same principles apply to politicians.  So this morning we talk method and … Read More

We may be up and down a bit as our new server IP propagates – which is why we’re doing it on a Friday afternoon… We are planning to “swing the DNS” Sunday – and that may take several hours to spread out over the net.  But we should be good to go Monday (or … Read More

Hot off the press release: Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in the third quarter of 2017 (table 1), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter advance estimate … Read More