Coup Suit & the Syria Circus

The big story of the morning is that the US intel supporting a strike on Iran is on the weak side. So now, the WH is considering the option of going to plan B – War Show Lite.  The devil is always in the details…so here we go:

What could pending hostilities do to the price of oil – and hence gasoline?  The CNBC piece over here addresses some of that.

The RT story out Thursday about how Iran is pondering the possibility of suing the US for the CIA-backed violent overthrow of its democratic government in the country way back in 1953 is being considered.  It’s no secret that the US was behind the regime change there, and what most people don’t know (we weren’t old enough, eh?) was that the Shah of Iran (installed into that position by the US/West) was also a poster-boy for the the nuclear power lobby in the USA.  Check out the graphic over here.

Not only has the US decided that only “authorized/friendly” governments will get to move ahead on nuclear power projects, but now we’re on the verge of a lightning strike on Syria, which – in case you’d forgotten – would remove a major ground defense operator from Israel’s path to an air strike on Iran.

Clearly, the administration would not be pleased with such an open  affront to the US but that is what courts are for and if would certainly give the US public an opportunity to see what’s going on.  Ooops…that awful word transparency comes to mind.

Meantime, the speculation this morning over whether the perps of the alleged nerve gas attack were the rebel forces, backed by the US and West, or was it the Assad government? continues unabated and unresolved.  Articles like this one may be taken seriously, or not…

Still, if you look at the 3D theater model, you can see that a lightning strike on Damascus would provide a convenient distraction  and an open window for the Israelis to zip over to Iran for a surgical strike on Iranian nuclear installations.

Impossible!!  Well, not quite:  As an indicator that this may be in the wings, we noted with interest the article in The Aviationist that “U.S. WC-135C nuclear radiation sniffing plane spotted over Europe. En-route to Syria?”

All of which might be understandable, except the Syrians aren’t believed to have nuclear weapons.  So what nearby country, which could be overflown by Israel enroute to, say, the Iranian Bushehr nuclear complex?  Such a strike could result in after-effects where the use of a WC-135C sniffer plane would be useful in order to reassure downwinders (like Russia)  that it was just a “clean” surgical strike and “No harm done…”  They hope…

It strikes a lot of readers, like this fellow Bill up in Idaho, that the US is acting a lot like a schoolyard bully:

Aho George,

The United States reminds me more and more of the schoolyard bully, that desperately wants to be looked up to and have friends, but thinks the way to do it is to beat the shit out of everyone. Makes me think also of the reality that if you keep poking someone in the chest because you are bigger and tougher….someday the recipient is going to get a 2X4 and even the score. The horrors of war seem to keep creating more whores of war. When will we ever learn.

No worries, Bill.  the 2 by 4 would be an attack on the US homeland and that would do marvels for police state trends and justify the further destruction of the Constitution.  Why, being in Idaho, I would have thought you’d have seen this.

But, in the meantime, you’re onto one thing:  Faced with declining revenues, all levels of government are facing crisis in coming months and years because of the damned unstoppable effects of compound interest.  And we need a scapegoat and Syria/Iran would be fine right up to lighting off a regional war.

A Note About War Costs

Whether we (as a nation) can afford to lob off a fleet of cruise missiles is certainly an issue.  Seeing as we’re broke and maxed out on borrowing to the point we have to borrow from ourselves with QE Infinitum.  As Steve Chapman notes in an OpEd this morning in the Chicago Trib, “Missile strikes won’t accomplish a thing…”

Obviously, although this is speculative on my part, I bet Steve Chapman’s retirement funds are not concentrated in holdings of large defense contractors like  Raytheon, as they make the Tomahawks.

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Coping: Preppers Planning in Stressful Times

A couple of buddies of mine from down in Houston (long term Peoplenomics subscribers)  were up here in the hinterlands this week looking at property near us.  Believe me when I tell you these are 24 kt. solid guys who have nice professional situations and high incomes down in oil patch country, but they’re also super bright and looking at backup plans

For them, that means looking at areas which are able to build local self-sufficiency and (no surprise here) they ended up looking at one parcel just up the street (goat path?) from us.

As often happens, another reader email popped in which gets to the same kind of strategic planning decision-making processes and it says in part:

“I have asked you before but I fear I may have asked you the wrong question.  And before I clarify let me say thy I know that nothing you write can/will/or should be construed as financial advice, yadda yadda, and all that.

Regarding the potential upcoming crash, I asked you what I should do with some cash I had on hand, and you replied via one of your posts, in so many words, continue investing in prepping.  This I know and agree is excellent advice, but here’s where I’m unsure.

You see, I already have a good deal of food stored – almost as much food/water/first aid/prepping items/books as my 875 sq. ft. Jacksonville Beach (I know, I know – ocean front property) attic can hold.  I am formally studying permaculture design and am already trying to become a better gardener, learning about sowing and saving seeds, harvesting, etc.  I have been actively learning about herbal remedies and plants, and am learning to do as many things ‘old school’ as I can.

So prepping I am, as much as I can do outside of my corporate, fulltime tech job.

I do have some cash available (about 75k), and my house and all my possessions are already paid off.  The only thing I am trying to find now is a reputable place where I can buy bullion, as currently I have none.  Do you know where I can safely purchase a single gold and silver coin?  I sure hope you have some ideas…

But, my real question is about my cash.  I am doing all that I can and buying all I have space for, and using some of my cash to purchase training.  Since I have some left over, what would you do with your cash if you found yourself in a very similar position, given the potential upcoming tank-pocalypse? 

Hypothetically of course.

Fortunately, this is a hypothetical answer:  If someone came to me and said “I know how to do permaculture and I’m looking for where to park some cash, I would sure hit the www.unitedcountry.com website.  I clicked on their “nationwide” search tool and put in one bedroom and $75,000 for a top price and 20 acres of land and came up with way more than 200 properties to choose from.

Now, I don’t usually do free commercials for folks, but here’s a search hint:  Put in a minimum price of $25,000 because that will weed out all the listings which don’t have a price (and some of a gazillion or more).  In fact, for giggles, I put in a nationwide search for 20 acres, minimum one bedroom, and $50,000 and under and still came up with five properties including a few that looked promising.

What they have in common is this:   they are generally rural, generally mobile homes, but if you’re serious about really “doing it” then this is one place to consider parking your money.

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The Nerve Gas Questions Linger But Evidence Builds

Further to this morning’s subscriber report, where we found some interesting archival data regarding past allegations of a “false flag “ nature regarding nerve gas use by parties in Syria, we have continued to dig around and (helped by a tip from reader DC) came across an article that seems to paint the “nerve gas” story buried in web archives as being an errant report on the part of a British media report.

As our reader put it:

I’m hopeful that this whole thing — chemical weaponry, impending invasion, and all — will also prove to be “completely fabricated”.  However, I’m not ready to apply the test of “hope in one hand, and … in the other…”

Sound judgment that, so we correct/append with this further data as we come across it in our best faith efforts to keep the story of what’s going on straight.

Nevertheless, it is troubling to see reports of how the administration is preparing “…to bypass UN on Syria response…” since they’ve already been hard at work bypassing due process here in the USA by so far keeping Congress from its constitutional role as the body that is charged with declaring war on behalf of the American people.

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False Flag Evidence and A Family Feud on ‘Peak Oil’

My brother in law announced to Elaine recently that “There is no ‘Peak Oil’and went on to explain how we have oil coming out of our ears and on thing ledto another and next thing you know, I was biting my tongue and slinking out thedoor toward my office because I wanted to write a rather lengthy responsebecause a number of readers, a few subscribers, and even my brother in law don’tthing that Peak Oil is real. So this morning we run through somedefinitional points and scale the reality. At it’s extremes, at $10,000 abarrel, there is no peak oil…but here in under $10/gallon land, that’s anothermatter altogether. But before we get into the modeling of how Peak Oilworks, we’ll run through some headlines and a cuppa coffee or three…How about we start with damning false flag which you can find here in web archives from January of this year? (Note this Link may not work in Explorer, but it works in Firefox…) You can follow the backlinks to the genesis of current events by following links to that storysource…

Housing Report: Welcome to 2004

As promised, here’s the latest look at the nation’s housing picture in the Case-Shiller/ S&P Monthly housing data:

New York, August 27, 2013 – Data through June 2013, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that prices continue to increase. The National Index grew 7.1% in the second quarter and 10.1% over the last four quarters. The 10-City and 20-City Composites posted returns of 2.2% for June and 11.9% and 12.1% over 12 months.

All 20 cities posted gains on a monthly and annual basis. However, in only six cities were prices rising faster this month than last, compared to ten in May. Dallas and Denver reached new all-time highs as they did last month, with returns of +1.7% each in June. San Francisco’s rebound is the largest, up 47.0% from its low in March 2009. Phoenix is second, 37.1% above its September 2011 low.

“National home prices rose more than 10% annually in each of the last two quarters,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “However, the monthly city by city data show the pace of price increases is moderating.

“The Southwest and California have consistently led the recovery with Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco posting at least 15 months of gains.

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War to Cover Financial Collapse?

This morning’s cheery thought (and discussion of the Blame Game) from your favorite East Texas nutter out in the boonies centers on the idea that as the approaching breakdown of economic order sneaks up on the Cyprus-like public, the more desperate officialdom will become for something, hell anything, to take the blame for economic collapse.  And pull off a massive bail-in.

So I thought it would be instructive this morning to look at some of the data which suggest Syria and Iran warfare could shortly be blamed for such outcomes, even though they really have nothing to do with it.

The first is the turnaround in interest rates.  As you can see in the long-term view of the US bond yields here, the Bond yields have been coming down since 1981.  When they bottom out (between now and 2018) there will likely be a financial panic as markets figure out that the lousy earnings and yields of today (and ghost of Christmas’ past) are gone.  But since the consumer class has been beggared, no one will have pricing power, and so stocks will crater along with bonds.

Then there’s the little matter of how long can the Fed keep buying up its own paper?  Surely, at some point, that little shenanigan will blow up.  When it does, the US dollar would naturally collapse in a heap.  By collapse what we mean is the dollar would drop precipitously in value which would cause bond yields to reverse course and head moonward, at just the worst possible moment.

What to do, oh what to do?

Bring on war!  Any war!  Big war!  Scary, frightening BIG war and toss in plenty of threats against the Homeland, too, since that would give us a reason to have martial law to keep a lid on things here at home.  Stifle dissent, ban gatherings…

Just to keep things in perspective, the US has always had a double-standard when it comes to nerve agents.  As the Monday issue of Foreign Policy reported, “CIA files prove American helped Saddam as he Gassed Iran.”  Yes, but he was working for US then….

But, now that the “foe is on the other shoot” we are acting all self-righteous and indignant about nerve gas.  Let’s kill some people and show them bastards.   Expediency is, deep down, what makes the geopolitical world go around.  Say, have you seen our moral high ground around anywhere?  We seem to have lost it…

In yesterday’s column, I explained to you how the identity of the sniper fire at the UN inspectors would be a key mediawar prelim round.  So far, because so many people are onto the game, the two sides of the conflict are simply charging one another as being the perps.

Over here, in this Boston Globe story, we find “The rebel coalition said the sniper shots occurred near the final checkpoint between rebel and regime-controlled areas, calling it an attempt by the [Assad] regime ‘‘to intimidate the UN team and prevent it from discovering the truth about Assad’s chemical weapons attack against civilians.’’”

On the other side, in this UPI dispatch, we read that “Friday the Syrian government accused the United States of manufacturing stories about chemical weapons use to justify support for the rebels. The Russian government made similar charges, CNN reported.”

The global financial mess is quickly picking up speed, meanwhile, so look for the war moves to come largely and quickly as we settle down toward S&P 1,540.  Dow futures are down a hundred and something.  Subject to revision as the Housing data comes in.

In overnight trading, Japan and China were both down half a percent and more, while in the early going in Europe France was down almost 1 1/2%, German down more than that and the British market was down 2/3rd’s of a percent, but it ain’t over yet.

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Coping: End Times Libretto

I suppose we should just slide into this morning’s deeper thinking topic slowly since there’s a lot of moving pieces to it.  With WW IV in the wings over Syria, since the Cold War might be scored as WW III, we have a number reader inputs this morning which are pretty interesting, starting with this one from Don:

“Good morning George,

Fear not Azazel.

According to the book of Enoch; He will not be dug up until the “Day of Judgment”. If we see that day ourselves, I expect a swift finish to the whole affair. Most likely God will be in a bad mood on that day, if He is not already and, he will simply jut say: “off with their heads”. Meaning, of course, all of us……give or take a hundred thousand or so.

I don’t reckon I will be one of those.”

No, but by golly, we’ll have had some fun and adventures, huh?  On a more serious note there was this reminder from Bernard Grover down in our Jakarta Bureau:

“Chief,

As Joseph Farrell says, “The fulfillment IS the deception.”  In short, if you write and/or control the interpretation of prophesy, then you can make it appear that the prophesy is being fulfilled.  Ergo, current events.  It serves the PTB to have everyone nervous as long-tail cats in a room full of rocking chairs.  Since religion is part of the command and control system, then making sure everyone is in church and begging for mercy perpetuates the system.

Besides, any decent Bible scholar will tell you Revelations was fulfilled in AD70 with the reign of Nero and the sacking of Jerusalem.  Didn’t Jesus say, “This generation shall not pass…”?

Feeding religious hysteria only perpetuates the command and control system and feeds the PTB.

Now, back to the clam chowder and sourdough…

B”

I looked in on the sourdough starter this morning and it didn’t smell particularly sour yet, but tomorrow morning I’ll make some flapjacks, a test run which the belt size argues should be put off for six months or 40 pounds, whichever gets here soonest…

Now, back to our End of the World notes…I heard back from G.A.

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MediaWar: Syriously

Bring on Gulf of Tonkin 2, the Niger uranium forgeries, and a whole host of other ‘Merica acting badly events from the folks who thought up Middle East regime change and, lest we forget, STUXNET and other computer crime like Duqu and Flame.  Hell, let’s toss in those mysterious undersea cable cuts (to isolate countries/regimes or install data drops – you did know about glimmerglas, right?)  while we’re at it…it’s almost time for another serving of them, anyway.

So much for the hyperbole and examples of bullshit behavior that belies how we have abandon the moral high ground (accelerating our decline as a world leader, shades of Rome) and  let’s get down to how to stampede ‘Merica into [yet another war] that 60% of the population is dead-set against.

Step 1: Spin to Win

We will likely never know the absolute truth about whether the US had a hand in the chemical weapons use which is alleged to have taken place in Syria.  But the US/corporate/mainstream press is not interested in balanced reporting so much as toeing the line.  Still, here’s a good summary which lays out in no uncertain terms allegations that the gas attack didn’t happen as reported by the corporate press.

Step 2:  Play the Blame Card

Next come headlines like “Confident Syria used chemicals, U.S. Mulls Action.”   And don’t miss the headline “Senior Administration Official: ‘Very Little Doubt’ Assad Regime Behind Alleged Chemical Attack.”

Step 3: Hope No One Thinks Things Through

This morning’s latest development is that “U.N. team headed to site of alleged chemical attack comes under sniper fire, turns back.”

Unfortunately for the powersthatbe, what we do a fair amount of around here is turn our brains on.  And this morning’s “sniper fire” report and turning back the U.N. team is just dandy because it frames the one question which would tell us the truth of what’s going on:

Step 4:  Pending Events

Other than spool up reports that the British Navy is getting set for a first strike on Syria?

We wouldn’t be surprised to head the word spread by spun media that it was rebel fighters who were doing the shooting at the UN inspectors this mroning, but in fact, that’s the $64-billion dollar question of the day.  Since the “inquiring minds want to know” logic outlined above is childishly simple, we wait to see how long it will take for the pro-war media to jump on the briefer’s mentioning [on deep background and not for attribution] that the shots were from Syrian forces.

I anticipate that development to come around by this afternoon….but for now the Washington Post coverage reports “The United Nations did not say which side had fired the shots. It urged “all sides .?.?. to extend their cooperation so that the team can safely carry out their important work.”

We’ll keep an eye on oil prices and the previous metals for hints of what’s to come.  But for some keen insight into the media war going on before the shooting war drags the West in (or, is that before we smell enough money to be made?) it will be instructive to see where blame comes from and which media labels the snipers first…

Step 5: Keep the Saudi’s Pressing

Take a look at the Wall St. Journal article about how Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud is working to topple the Assad government.

Yep, there’s them Saudis in play, again.

In the Background of Egypt

This from our news analyst fellow in the wilds of Winnipeg:

Dear Mr. Ure,
I wonder if Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood versus military rule fracas obscures the plan. Bear in mind that Egypt’s largest conglomerate with strong interests in media, telecommunications, and construction is owned by a family from the nation’s Coptic religious minority. A while ago the super-yacht set celebrated a member’s birthday in the budding tax haven of Montenegro offering some intriguing dot-connecting opportunities.

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Coping: The Great Sourdough Challenge

Many years ago, back when I was protecting Fairbanks (and later Anchorage) from a sneak attack by the Russians, I got to spend a bit of time with my late aunt Isabel.  She was one of the first female CPAs in Alaska, and the first female contracting officer at Elmendorf, AFB.

Besides introducing me (then 19) to the joys of fresh crab picked up on a tour of Portage Glacier, and washing it down with Champale (what ever happened to it?), she was also able to whip up the best sourdough pancakes on the planet.

I don’t know why they struck me as they did, perhaps it was the first time that I’d ever had some really good sourdough.  Up until then, I’d sampled some of the offerings from the Pike Place Market’s vendors down in Seattle, but most of them I found simply too sour for my taste.  Even now, San Franciscans seem to judge a bread not so much on it’s flavor but by how much pucker there is to it.

For no particular reason last week, I decided it was time to begin trying to get a proper sourdough start going and that meant spending just a few bucks to get the right gear including the starter itself.

After reading what seemed like dozens of sites on the ‘net and Mark Shepard’s quickie ebook Simple Sourdough: Make Your Own Starter Without Store-Bought Yeast and Bake the Best Bread in the World With This Simplest of Recipes for Making Sourdough (or Sour Dough), it was time to go shopping.

Sourdough is pretty simple stuff:  All it really takes to make a starter seems to be wheat, water, and some luck.  But I wasn’t after just any sourdough….I was after the full-bodied taste of Alaska sourdough which is less sour and a damnsight more flavorful, especially when made into flapjacks that more more like crepes plate-cakes.

Amazon has a “thing” where they offer some products as an “add-on” so while $13-bucks for two starter packets sounded a bit steep, I was all in for the $6 and change add-on to get a genuine ALASKA JACK’S Sourdough Starter Kit (Postcard Packet). 

Of course, that meant I’d have to buy something other things to qualify for an add-on soooo….I invested in a Bormioli Rocco Fido Square Jar with Blue Lid, 17-1/2-Ounce which was a little north of $8 and it’s big brother and a couple of other doo-dads.

As soon as this morning’s column is done, I’ll be making the starter and setting it out on the screen porch where the temp will be more than warm enough…and then bring it in when we pass the 90-degree mark, somewhere around lunchtime.

After that, it should be simply a matter of feeding the sourdough every three days.  From what I’ve read so far, if you go more than three days without feeding the start, it drops from one stable state (which is the one I think I’m after) down to the next stable state which is a more sour version.

What I mean by state is a little hard to figure:  Sourdough is a symbiotic relationship between yeast and bacteria – lactobacillus.  The bacteria breaks down proteins and, in the process, makes sugars as a byproduct.  The yeast breaks down something or other and they reach a stable state.  However, if you go too long between “feeding” the starter (with water and wheat) the balancing act between the yeast and lactobacillus, according to some researchers, drops to a level when a different kind of stability sets up (more acidic).

All of which gets me to thinking San Franciscans are bad parents of starters or starter-abusers, but that’s only a suspicion until I can actually raise a good starter myself.

For the more worldly, there are several other starters out there, including some from Egypt where it was developed back in antiquity (before foreign aid, democratic revolutions and so on) in order to raise rye bread.  I’m not too keep on things Middle Eastern of late, so I’m sticking with Alaska for now.

My friend Gaye over at www.backdoorsurvival.com has been a long-time gourmet cook and we’ve got a friendly competition going on in the sourdough department; she’s a fan of the local starter done from air up in the San Juan Islands of Washington state.  The reason I got the smaller jar (the main start will live in the big one) is I’ll give a local start a try, also, but no telling what a Texas start will be like. 

One way, or the other, I figure that next Saturday morning after Peoplenomics is done, I will be able to cook up some sourdough flapjacks and then make some genuine Texas/Alaska Sourdough bread.

Which means that Elaine will have a project, too:  She makes the world’s best clam chowder (which starts with a half pound to a pound of lean bacon (if that’s not a contradiction).  Then there’s a half gallon, or so of Half & Half, minced and chopped clams, not to mention both some Russet potatoes (which break down and make it thick) plus some Yukon Golds, which retain texture.

The “master plan” is to make some medium plate-sized loaves, cut them when cooled a bit around their tops (like you would to carve out a pumpkin) and hollow them out and fill with clam chowder.

That’s about the best meal a fellow can have:  Mild sourdough flapjacks, a slam of ham, a couple of eggs over easy, and a cup of Kona roast for breakfast.  Then, about 4 PM, have a huge appetite worked up for the crusty Sourdough “bread bowls” of clam chowder.

If you have a cup of water and a cup of flour, it’s not too late to plan on making this kind of feast for yourself this coming weekend.  It’s an alternative to the sky-high beef prices which are now here that I warned you would be coming due to the Texas/Oklahoma drought.

Reader Shoot

With all of our discussion last week about vaccines and the risks (and rewards) attendant thereto, one of our readers was driving near Houston this weekend and noticed outside a major chain drugstore which at first looked like political signs.

They suggested pneumonia shots, shingles shots, and a number of others.

In the accompanying note, said reader wondered if this wasn’t a new way for the chain drugstores to make a little extra dough on the side:  Big money to be had on some of these.

My own discovery that the going rate for a shingles shot (without a health insurance program) was in the range of $250 (+) was enough to convince my Scottish genes that Life always boils down to risk, reward, and cash.

Two more good comments on vaccine use, including this anonymous note:

Being in healthcare I will no longer take vaccines. Not going any deeper into that. Have you noticed that your caduceus and so on look a lot like spiraling DNA strands? Just a thought.

I have thought of that and have often wondered if a lot of the Greek gods stories were all part of a larger event passed down from Sanskrit and elsewhere which got to the original human crossbreeding project and that became what we now call religion and more.  But that’s another topic entirely…so onto this note from reader Kathy:

“Was reading your article on vaccines and thought that I would add my 2 cents worth. I am not anti vaccine but I am against over vaccinating. And for the most part only vaccinate for something life threatening. However, I have had shingles twice now. Once when I was about forty and the a couple of years ago when I was in my late fifties.

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On Peoplenomics.com: Eerie Echoes of the 1930?s

Because of reader requests, I’ve started to put together a book which will be a kind of “Best of 13-years of Peoplenomics.  Everything major is in there: A macro view of longwave economics, peak and trough wars, but more importantly, what to do with that information.  In our own case, that has meant making a long-term tactical decision to flee the big cities which is curious in it’s own right because the big cities were the beneficiaries of the previous cyclical depression.  We’ll launch into one of the early chapters – echoes of last time around – after the usual Saturday morning news review and the introduction of a new chart as we look at what market action closed Friday and what could be ahead for next week’s action and beyond.

Frozen Market and No Worries?

If you were wondering Thursday how the NASDAQ could remain stuck at one price for a period of time (about 3-hours worth) no, that wasn’t everyone getting bored:  That was a technical glitch.  As the NY Times recounts it, in their report over here, the problem comes just two days after Goldman sent out a bunch of errant trades and this gets us down to asking again some very difficult questions about the market.

First:  Should there even be such a thing as high-speed trading?  It’s like having a craps game being played while ostensibly playing roulette:  You decide to bet on the number 6, but before you can get your bet placed, a whole bevvy of side players at an in-line craps table have yelled “Coming out!  Six is hot…”  Would you play in a casino where the big money is not on your roulette call, but is mostly being made at the in-line craps game?

Second:  For an exchange which trades so many of the big-name tech stocks, you’d think there would be redundant systems on a hot/standby basis.  You know, just like a RAID array in a serious desktop but bigger.

Third: Because of inter-market arbitrage, this has just a whiff of not-quite-accidental, since people like me who try scalp some very short-term trades now and then using the 1-minute chart and since the NASDAQ tends to be higher beta than the Dow stocks, this is definitely hard on compulsive gamblers….I mean investors and more to the point it screws up cycles which work fine as long as the markets are open but they disrupt other action…hence the “whiff.”

Fourth:  Where’s the accountability?  This is precisely the kind of trading accident that while not-too-damaging on a slow late summer’s session could be a wealth-killer for those trying to bail out of a meltdown in late October yet to come.

I may be stating the obvious here, but Jim Kramer nailed it on Mad Money on CNBC yesterday and in case you missed it, the video and transcript are over here.  My favorite part is this:

okay, nasdaq we can’t ask you to build the equivalent of a plane withinplane, but where is the backup system? why isn’t there a server where the nasdaq can flip a switch and maybe slower maybe, but at some pace that makes you feel like it’s not a farce. we know there are such things as redundant systems. we know that they’re costly. i’m sure the nasdaq doesn’t want a sedge second system ready at all times because it would be expensive and hurt the earnings per share. aps, sometimes we sacrifice everything on the altar of profitability. the traders have so much clout in washington that i bet the s.e.c. couldn’t even order them to do that. blow back would be too huge.

There’s another example of what I’ve told you before:  ‘Merica is living on borrowed time because the Big-Monied Special Interests have taken over Washington in the form of lobbyists and power groups wielding campaign money and persuasion blocks.  And what used to be a dead-to-nuts honest casino is struggling to maintain that appearance, so long as you remember (and don’t mind) your bet on the roulette table triggers a craps game on the side while the slow wheel spins as the front-runners slice a tiny piece off every chip you play.

Not much on the econ calendar this morning so stocks are set to open up slightly.  We are cautious later in the day as the market is near critical support levels and no one knows how crazy things could get in the Middle East over the weekend, so closing out long positions today is possible.

Asia saw a 2.2% rise in the Nikkei overnight but most of Europe is on hold, though formerly Great Britain was up 0.5% when I checked earlier.

Summer doldrums.

Slooow Recovery

As we explained to Peoplenomics subscribers yesterday in our monthly check of US West Coast Ports,  there’s evidence that a slow economic recovery of sorts is underway.  That view was underscored in Thursday’s Conference Board Leading Economics Indicators report:

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S.

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Coping: Marketing Beyond Sexual Preference

I was noticing this morning the headline “White House to hold closed-door session on bisexual issues next month, ” and I got to thinking,  “Behind closed doors, is where sexual preference could have been left.  Consenting adults and all that, but of course absent genuine economic growth we get what we get….”

The scope (and grandeur) of the LBGT movement’s takeover of socioeconomics is really very impressive in a marketing sort of way.

Not to pick on Hilton Hotels (I like Hilton) but their “Offers” page, which is a summary of different deals and promotions currently, says reams about how life in changing in ;’Merica.

Well, look at their “Family Fun Package” and you’ll find a page with 159 words on it, including the headline.

On the other hand, the LBGT-directed “Stay Hilton. Go Out.” page is 355 words in length.  In other words, more than twice as much ad copy promoting to the LBGT market as to the family market.

As a marketer I suppose it makes sense:  If you have kids, can you really afford to take the whole brood to a nice (and usually upscale) hotel?  Probably not.  But, since most gay couples are working and don’t have kids, there’s a higher disposable income, and marketers do what marketers do…go for the money.

As a result, hotels. restaurants, and entertainment are off on a new “growth” direction and (again due to a lack of fundamental jobs and not having enough to really “do” as a country) we are seeing the expansion and monetization of EVERYTHING.

I must be considerably older than I thought, though, since it occurs to me that I seem to be the only person left on the planet able to figure out that sexual preference decisions shouldn’t be made until after or at least late puberty when hormones settle down a bit…but that’s why I don’t live in Kalifornia, I suppose.  Hell, I might even go back some day because there’s not much bizarre to write about here in the Outback.  Never a shortage of craziness out West and it does make interesting headlines.

And speaking of turning everything (including disasters and tragedies) into business models…

If you want a particularly convincing and sad example of monetizing EVERYTHING look no further than this morning’s  headline “  Paula Deen SHOOTS Trayvon Martin’ in new SVU that wraps both scandals into one controversial episode… and Cybill Shepard plays gun-wielding TV chef…”

Stand by for the Adventures in Waterboarding cartoon series, next.  Or was that on South Park?

The Last Word on Vaccines

While my main point in the vaccine discussion is sorting out my feelings about the “shingle” vaccine for old farts like me, I’ve made up my mind for sure NOT to get it.  One reason?  Looks like the protection is only 50%.  But some of the remarks from reader that have come in are just too good not to pass along:  Like this from reader Roberta:

Your article today was very valuable to me, due to the education about the Cochrane Library- and also the quote from the British Health Service regarding the shedding of viruses from the vaccinated to the non-vaccinated. I happened to read about the latter in an article which quoted one of the polio vaccine’s developers, and in it they assumed the SV40/polio would be shared with parents and other contacts.

I work in a hospital virus lab, where we grow viruses on cells of humans and other species. I had always been pro-vaccine until the day I received a warning notice from my cell supplier, stating that a cell line (which we didn’t use anyway) was contaminated with a naturally-occurring virus from the animal from which the cell line was made. Knowing that the influenza virus required animal cells, I started looking into the issue. There isn’t a way to “scrub off” naturally occurring viruses in order to make vaccines (hence, the recent contamination of the rotavirus vaccine with pig DNA, which we’re not supposed to worry about). Some of my virus co-workers refuse the flu vaccination, and we are forced by the hospital to wear surgical masks upon setting foot in the lab.

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Employment Disaster?

The very first thing to do this morning is go hit the Gallup Poll website here and look at what they are seeing in short-term employment trends: In just the last month, their count of unemployed has risen from 7.9% to 8.9% and the number of people underemployed (which is your bus driver with a degree and such) has risen to Depression-era levels around 18%. OK, 17.