No, we can’t afford it, but we have some friends and colleagues in that league. And this is the time of year they go snowbirding. The idea is pretty simple, really. In the summertime, the weather is never so good as it is in the Northeast, Great Lakes, or Northwest parts of the country. The … Read More

While we wait for tomorrow’s S&P 500 Housing Report, and we suffer through a bunch of Fed-Speak speeches between now and then, there is really only one major story pressing the marketing higher this morning. That’s the proposed merger of Time Warner with AT&T. In a CNBC interview, AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson argues the point … Read More

You ever wake up on a Monday morning and the only thing on your mind is food??? That’s me today.  Und zo…. Although we have house guests (and I am getting a lot of serious work out of derr Major) not too many people, guests or Elaine, seem anxious to get up and hit the … Read More

Regardless of age, with luck you will have to face the two toughest questions of retirement:  When to actually retire and then how to find the “right” place to live. Thanks to a Florida reader, this week we look at the problem as an email exchange with the reader where we kick around some of … Read More

Step 1. Pour yourself a big glass of water. Step 2. Down 2 ibuprofen or aspirin. Step 3. Three hits of Boost Oxygen. Step 4. Continue reading. The U.S. Department of “Cozy” Step-wise: 1.Over here (on Real Clear Politics) is a story about Megyn Kelly going after DNC whozit Donna Brazile for alleged question leaking. … Read More

Some discussion about the joys of Structured Thinking seems like a fitting end to the week. Been chatting back and forth with a long-time reader in what will turn into a Peoplenomics report this week: The Topic is Retirement: Should I Go or Should I stay? Got my tax bill advance in the mail this … Read More

Yeah – it’s all a distraction. As we explained in our Peoplenomics.com report Wednesday, we have much bigger fish to fry, not the least is which is the potential for nuclear war over the U.S. ongoing efforts to change out the government in an independent country against whom we have not “declared war.” The debate … Read More

If everything went according to plan, my buddy the retired Major from Gig Harbor will just be stirring as he and his wife arrived at Uretopia Ranch last night. Last, as always, and now done with kibitzing until past midnight. They’re on a stopover enroute to a medical conference in SoCal next week. And we … Read More

Want something to worry about – I mean other than the big “Hillary Out” in the Enquirer (on news stands today)? We do a lot of modeling and test-fitting of bits of news – then let the mind wander to see what might be on the horizon. This morning we offer a shockingly comprehensive “piece-fit” … Read More

Gather ‘round the electric chair, kiddies. Uncle George will read ja the data just out from BLS.  Rent and gas are up, like you didn’t notice. “The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the … Read More

With the election close, and with a big dust-up at Mosul, and with the US threatening to directly confront Russian forces in Syria, we have to realistically stop and assess the odds of nuclear war. This leads to a number of very interesting scenarios, depending on which side seizes the initiative. On the one hand, … Read More

Whistling by the graveyard, yelling at the tide, or talking sense to someone with a closed mind: It’s all the same thing. Denial. We start this morning two headlines that everyone should be thinking about, though few will outside of UrbanSurvival readers. There’s no new Pokémon to be birthed from the effort, after all. Still, … Read More

Roll up your sleeve.  Time for another Reality Inoculation…. It was an odd conversation, as most of ours are around the ranch: Elaine and I were thinking back to the “times of old” when men could open a car door for a woman without being sent to Chauvinist Hell. When people said “Please, yes, thank … Read More