Range and Remediate

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Today we explore how basic human exploration drives modern behaviors. Not only in Finance, but in all sorts of human activities.  There are some things humans “just do” is the overview.

We range, rest, war, forage…and around these activities human thought has filled-in things for us.

Which means a lot in the investment universe.  Some time spent learning ranging seems worth effort if we’re to remain ahead of the crowd.

First, a sampling of news items and then the ChartPack which put in a surprisingly weak Tuesday.   Where we literally made a “side of fries” for the day’s trading.

Pass the catsup and warm the coffee?

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55 thoughts on “Range and Remediate”

  1. Cmon man! Inflation ?!? We talking inflation ?

    What in the darnation inflation Mr Peoplenomics ? I just re-upped my annual subscription to PN the other day(thx), FOR THE SAME PRICE AS LAST YEAR (dbl thx) . whatwhatwhat, thats right, moar bigger better well reasoned writing for the same price, plus some guest writer contributions??? I know all Ure inputs went up in price this year – all of em.

    What gives – youse now Big Daddy Warbucks ?

    Wealthy uncle bite the big one?
    Hit the Powerball ? dont tell the cosmic chickenbunny, he’ll prolly be lil butt hurt by that news.

    By the BCN’s calculations – youse oughta be charging $50.00 dollars a year – At Least.

    Selling Ureself SHORT – everything is expanding – time 4 U to expand Ure price as well and start charging $50/yr.

    ..this way the BCN can feel even better about himself (if thats possible), for making a 10% gain.

    Ah where is he when U need him?
    “Wee, this investing stuff is easy” -MG

    “better informed and 10 % ahead” = future post, and I didnt even need black mirror and oil.

    • The original Peoplenomics was the UrbanSurvival.com Inside Report. Began as that in 2000.

      Now, applying the Fed’s own inflation number, the new price SHOULD be?

      $70.68.

      But, unlike the Fed’s “munny” my words actually have some intrinsic value. So if Ure moved to “tip the house” then fine. I will convert that into local vodka.

  2. George, sorry I’m very late. please finish Introduction: Intelligence 101. I’m taking my licensing exam Thursday (Tech and hopefully z
    General) and would enjoy learning how to get the most out of Ham radio. At this time at only have a Naive g UV-5R. which I have done nothing with pending licensing. Thanks!

  3. “Where Is This Heading? If nothing else changes.., ”
    – I have said this myself, several times – but then I stop and ask myself: “What could possibly change to stop it?” The list of “possible changes” is very, very short., with the shot-clock running out. It won’t take much longer before there is absolutely nothing that can be done. [ Except war.]
    –
    – I don’t see hyper-inflation [ 7 to 10 % monthly increases.] happening. Doesn’t pencil out for me. But then, my math may be faulty as the data I am using is probably not the same as your data. I do see inflation coming back and a little stronger than before., but not in a “rampage mode”. – And I do see a very strong case for a deflationary cycle to appear – if so., that would set the stage for a very nasty depression. And if we do drop headlong into a depression, I would not want to be anywhere near ‘any’ large city.
    – Side Note Here: A lot of people think that the government will be able to somehow stop a depression from getting too bad – though they rarely say “how” the government will do this. The problem here lies in the fact that most major cities will be devastated. They keep looking at what happened in the last Great Depression for examples – but you simply can’t do that. We have such a vastly different population, and larger population – with tens of millions that rely solely on grocery stores for essentials and our current, screwed-up culture, that helping and cooperation will be an extremely rare commodity. The survival-violence will., I think, shut down most major cities. They will become a free-for-all battle ground for food and water. When the shelves empty – guns will come out. Tens of millions of hungry, scared desperate people are going to do a lot of scary, desperate acts, just to survive. And the longer the Depression goes, the worse it will get. The entire Los Angeles basin will turn into a battle-zone for a Snickers Bar.

    • Considering that, during the last Depression there was only a 100 million people (330 not counting illegals today) Annnd………

      A Full 70 Percent of that population was “Directly” involved in Agriculture

      Annnnnnd with that we still managed to starve around 7 million people https://www.northstarcompass.org/nsc0903/amholomor.htm
      Of coarse we say its just “Soviet Propaganda”……………
      But………….. The history channel said on its Depression series years ago, that “A man died of starvation every 19 hours in Detroit alone”

      Know what the percentage of people involved in Ag today is………………ummmmmm
      Less than ONE Percent.

      All I can say is Good Fnn luck, gettin through this one !!

      • https://www.thehivelaw.com/blog/how-many-people-starve-to-death-in-america/#:~:text=American%20Starvation%20Statistics,experience%20food%20insecurity%20every%20day.

        Boy this one I can tell you is one that is a passionate one.. yes the soup kitchen has more children come by to eat than homeless..
        People rather than cut back the things they feel that are important.. cell phones cable television etc.. they cut back on food first.. recessions and depressions work the same way.. you have to keep the velocity of cash up.. when that velocity changes.. then something has to change as well.. usually people cut the cost of food down..
        they don’t eat proper diets.. instead you will see a surge in cheap meals.. take birdseye meal in a bag.. great item we buy them as well.. what is in the bag though.. usually in a big family size bag you will see a half cup of vegitables.. four cups of pasta and one chicken breast..its all wheat and rice..

    • Portland OR TriMet transportation last week installed on its buses a camera and audio to monitor passengers. Last year they installed plastic shields for the drivers. I hate it!

    • Now might be a good time to mention that Amazon is running a sale on “Augason Farms Vegetable Garden Seeds.” Normally $77, they’re on sale right now for $32.67.

      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LBGQGUU

      This is a nitrogen vacuum-packed seed vault which will allegedly keep the seeds in it, viable for decades.

      Again, it is a “seed vault,” not food. It is heirloom seeds, not hybrids, and it is one pound of seeds in a #10 can, so it is probably a bunch of seed packages. I have no idea how good it is, other than it is likely better then the seeds I packed in baby food jars some years ago, which have a near-zero germination rate…

    • my fear..
      is to flip this.. we all know that someone making five dollars an hour cannot feasibly pay a half million dollar hospital bill at 24% interest..
      so is the USA…the guy making five dollars an hour.. even at a thousand dollars an hour ..

  4. https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/land-blind

    whoops there goes another pedophile tree plant.unh I mean rubber tree, yeahyeah rubber tree plant.

    https://youtu.be/9-J70qkbfrM?si=V4WnZaRrkTA5ZshL

    All this bullscheisse to cover up a “quilling” ritual/procedure. The list is long – and you all know the names, what else do they all have in common? Its always an exercise accident – really believe any off these accidental black eyes were caused during exercise ??? Yeah yeah get Ure razors out and start cutting up Ure mind on this one..

    Ever see anyone from the East with the telltale black eye ?
    Certainly NOT someone like archbishop Krill..nyet,nyet,nyet.
    ..anyone?
    PLEASE, tell me – WHO IS the Worlds “great satan” again ?????? ?????? ??????

    * be advised, I needs some New conspiracy theories. ALL of my old ones have come true..please help, if you can, otherwise..well U know.

      • Not too long ago they used to say the difference between “conspiracy theory” and fact was about 6 months. That time period has been shrinking big time lately.

      • I believe that all has flipped now..
        it’s fact before it can even become a conspiracy theory.

    • re: The 15th Shakatra
      feat: Arcturus

      Folks,

      Perhaps not since a bengal tiger escaped a Jamrach Animal Emporium dock in 1857 London has Westminster Palace received such frightful portent as an August 29th address to Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee. Dr. Swati Dhingra, the Bank of England’s often lone member of a 9 member panel to vote against too-fast, too-high-rising interest rates spoke to Powers embedded in the halls of the elected representatives of the People. The Treasury Select Committee news webpage appears to have last received refreshment by the Government mandarin responsible on or about July 26th last. However Dr. Dhingra’s words of warning have made their way to the Bank of England’s website today. She offers an overview of the reasoning behind her votes at the B of E interest rate setting meetings, as well as her ongoing efforts to awaken young minds to her thoughts.

      https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2023/september/swati-dhingra-annual-report

  5. The S&P500 just dropped below it’s 30 Day and 50 Day MA.
    .
    Biden is about to announce the cancellation of all oil drilling leases in the Arctic.
    .
    Department of energy is about to start selling off the strategic gas and diesel ‘excess’ supply.
    –
    Ohh.., and don’t forget to get a back-up pair of reading glasses. I sat on my favorite pair and they now rest on the “I should be able to fix that” bench. Had to get my back-up pair.., which leads me to getting a new – back-up pair. I normally don’t need reading glasses – for books, or internet – etc. But I swear the ingredients and instruction labels are shrinking rapidly !

    • Not just spare reading glasses… you will soon find a useful tool in the ‘optical image amplifier’… otherwise known as the magnifying glass. Get several now. Your older self will thank you.

    • I have recently discovered at 85 yrs how little I’m seeing because my house is filthy. I walk around now with a flashlight and inspect after cleaning an area to see all that I have missed. Had no idea of all the cobwebs and dust before using the flashlight to brighten an area. Sure has motivated me to get things clean.

  6. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said policymakers will need to be patient as they assess economic data to figure out their next steps and that further tightening may still be required, based on what the trends now show.
    – It should be noted that Collins has no vote on policy rates., but her comments did not help the market any.

  7. (Bloomberg) — The Pentagon plans to field thousands of air, sea, and possibly land-based drones in 2025 in an overwhelming display of US might intended to offset China’s numeric superiority in weapons systems, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.
    In 18 to 24 months. Is that enough time? Or, are they subtly informing China that they must act soon, to avoid the drone swarms ?

    • China now has the largest Navy in terms of ships. The U.S. is said to have the most powerful Navy in terms of staffing and weaponry.

      It’ll boil down to who strikes first. What can the the USS Gerald R. Ford do against 100 drones launched against it from each of the compass points (400 drones in total) We wait and see.

    • Not counting the plane-builders, the U.S. has one major and one garage-sized dedicated drone manufacturers. Nearly 80% of our military and civilian surveillance drones are made by DJI, in China. This is because a (suitable for police work) DJI is $2000-$4000 and a comparable American-made military quadcopter is $400,000.

      I didn’t know we made ANY, until one crossed my salvage screen a couple years ago. It went for less than $250, but it was nonfunctional and its parts chain went to the manufacturer and no where else.

      If we can put 100,000 drone aircraft and quadcopters in the air, China can put 100,000,000 up, and they have the means to power theirs…

    • George,

      Regarding Maui fires, please maximize your intellectual prowess, ponder and advise, after reviewing the latest from G.A. STEWART.

      He is clearly in ‘Sherlock Holmes mode’ regarding this Maui ‘mystery’.

      “Did the fire that consumed Lahaina rate as a forest fire? What was the fuel? Clearly, the fire was hot enough to melt aluminum, which melts at 1220° Fahrenheit. But how come the asphalt did not melt? Asphalt melts at 130° to 343° Fahrenheit.”

      https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2023/09/07/my-god-theyre-going-to-kill-us-all/

    • dare say that old burd could do a better job as POTUS, then the decrepit pieces of shit currently occupying the WH..

      Run Chicken Run – in 24!

  9. What’s the Remediation Plan?
    Good section today, George. I’ll share a few of my thoughts but seek comments from others who are possibly more ingenious. FWIW, I’m 80 and currently live with my wife in south Florida. I’m assigning grades to our plans and would welcome critiques and/or grade changes.

    On Food: currently no fresh reserves as we were away for two months and are leaving Friday for another two weeks. On our return we will restock our typical two-week hurricane reserve of food and water and plant a small garden, about 6×9 because of HOA issues. We we refill the freezer which would be good for about a month. Have a portable generator but fuel storage is an issue; have to depend on siphoning from the cars. Grade: D+

    Transportation: a hybrid, a small SUV, some gas cans, and bicycles and backpacks should serve us locally. Visiting family in Sweden used to cost us $400 RT/pp in off-season. Now it is closer to $800 in the cold months, $1200 in the summer. This will only get worse but still seems likely to be affordable although pandemic restrictions burned us once and may likely again. Grade: B

    Housing: paid-off house in a gated community at the end of a cul-de-sac surrounded on three sides by a pond. Some neighbors are armed and at this point don’t know whether that’s a good or a bad thing. All are currently friendly and civil. Just spent two months in Costa Rica and noted that livable “Tico Standard” houses can be had for around $100K. If we get some notice about EOTWAKI, that’s “Plan B.” Grade: B-

    Finance: relatively high Social Security. During the covid lockdown we had no trouble living on it. No pension but savings about 70% bonds, 20% equites, 5% cash equivalents, 5% in a Panamanian timber project. This is the big puzzle: how to keep up with a declining dollar. I don’t have an answer. Cash kept in one distant credit union, one local bank (“run away money”), Treasury Direct, and a distant bank with higher interest. Grade: C-

    Communications: Cell phones on AT&T via Consumer Cellular and Google Fi. Latter saved us a huge amount of money as we streamed movies via its hotspot while in Costa Rica. Internet is AT&T fiber but outages are frequent. On our return going to experiment with T-Mobile wireless. The only family that counts is in Sweden. Currently, two visits per year and video frequently via a video Echo. In a “net down” and cables cut scenario, we would be completely cut off. I could get a ham license, but I have no idea whether that would help reach Swedish relatives in a bad situation. Grade: F

    Environment: $200/month summer power bills in Florida are tolerable. We saved some by being in Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica (no heat, no AC for 2 months) but had to leave the AC on in Florida to prevent mold. We offset jet fuel with carbon credits (Goldstandard.org). Were I 65 rather than 80, the mountains of Costa Rica or Panama would be a no-brainer: a couple of acres of fruit trees, a garden, and a simple house as a homestead [BTW at least one Urban Survival reader (The Tinkerer) has done almost precisely that.] Given rising ocean temperatures, we are expecting nastier storms. We are three miles from the ocean in a CBS house, but storms are still a cause for concern.
    Grade: C

    Reactions welcome.

    • A small stock of MH freeze-dried food in #10 cans would be available until you are past 100 if you keep it in the AC living space. You will need something to boil water with the electricity out to utilize it properly.
      A few solar panels and a portable LiFePO4 power station would help with emergency power for comms. I like Bluetti power equipment. A larger system for keeping a freezer going during an extended power failure gets expensive.
      There are cheaper comms, but the overseas service is out of my area of knowledge. Discount services typically don’t help with purchase of high-end phones, and the least expensive don’t do multi-line discounts. If you want to try a discount service, you might give Tello a try. A portable radio with rechargeable batteries is a good thing to have for storms.
      Personally, I don’t want to live anywhere near big water again, but that is a personal risk/reward evaluation you have to make. You sound like you have a good set-up for your home-base. Not everyone is configured for life in a cabin in the hinterlands, or Ure double-wide in a subtropical pine plantation.
      Down-sizing would be painful at your stage of life, but if economics deteriorate, that can relieve some of the burden, after the initial pain has subsided.

      • n___
        Thanks for the suggestions. I didn’t mention my Tecsun but it is there. Have a propane camping stove to boil water plus a Lifestraw. Our pond is likely full of fertilizers and weed killer but would do for flushing. Will investigate MH as well as the LDS warehouse store near Orlando. I didn’t mention that we do sprouting and hydroponic salad greens when in town long enough to harvest a crop.

        Still thinking about international communications. There are 10,000 hams in Sweden but I have no clue as to whether they would relay messages. I’ll go to a hamfest in October and try to figure out how to send and receive from this end without a big investment and a 20 meter yagi that would be hard to hide from the HOA. I have no idea whether a pair of satphones would function in a crisis.

        Briefly investigated rooftop solar but found that insurance costs would more than counterbalance any potential savings at my location.

        • As long as you can find recharge power, sat-phones should work until someone nukes the satellites.

          HAMs, regardless of where they live, tend to operate on a higher moral level than most other people.

          Search for “stealth antenna.”

          There are a lot of creative HAMs who got themselves tied to an HOA at sometime or other. I stumbled across one the other day who ran an antenna inside his gutter & downspout. I didn’t stop to read, but I assume his guttering is PVC…

    • FWIW, the Kennedy Space Center is 80 miles north, a nuclear power plant is 20 miles south. Our county is about 150,000 with the largest village being less than 20,000, i.e. we are not in a big city cauldron, but certainly at more risk than East Texas boonies.

      • Ray: Thanks for the advice. Maybe the last ditch comms would be neither ham radio nor sat phones. Perhaps the Garmin Inreach messaging devices. The transceivers are about $200 each and subscriptions are $12/month for minimal use. They use the Iridium system. I think I’d prefer Starlink (thousands of satellites rather than dozens) but haven’t spotted anything at less than $120/month. Next step: looking for user reviews of InReach.

  10. Speaking of templates the McDonald brothers created the “Speedee Service System” by drawing out their idea with chalk on a tennis court. @ 1.34 he says ‘hold it’ and the magic happens.

    But most folks do not plan like the McDonald brothers. General Motors II (15 years) begs more than General Motors I (over 100 years) ever did. Just can’t get it right after 120 years.

    Speedee Service System

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTageuhPfAM

  11. “Adding some N95 masks is definitely on the list here this week.”

    The paper masks don’t work. The masks with the plastic “button” do work, but are carcinogenic…

  12. “New cancer cases in under-50s have risen by 79% in 30 years along with Cancer cases in younger people rising globally: Researchers have us wondering what the underlying driver might be. Stress?”

    A chronically poor diet, and the FDA using Americans as alpha-testers. Sugar is not good for people, but it’s a LOT better than its artificial or bioengineered counterparts, which is why American food processors always use the artificial counterparts, and why “corn syrup” never shows up in a Coke that’s imported from, well, damn near any other country on Earth.

  13. “ADHD found to increase risk of developing widespread mental health issues…”

    You DO realize ADD and ADHD never existed until the drugs to treat them were invented, right?

    Most other “mental health issues” didn’t exist until the drugs to treat them were invented.

    When I was a kid (and you, and many others here), attention deficit was treated, and cured by a schoolmarm with a ruler. Sore knuckles bring a child instantly into strict attention and laser focus.

    Periodic reinforcement cures the condition.

    “Mental issues” are a byproduct of a society which has left its need to struggle, or even work, behind. When Man worked 16/7/365 or died, there was neither a mental aberration nor a lack of focus — there simply wasn’t time to turn introspective and allow one’s mind to develop counterproductive traits.

    The more leisure we have, the more mentally ill we will become…

    • Thanks Ray, you brought back a great memory.
      At age 8 or so I found myself on the receiving end of an 18 inch wooden ruler with a wicked metal edge wielded by a particularly aggressive Nun over the use of the word “alright”. She shrieked “it is two words and it will always be two words” as the blow was delivered. Not being quick enough that time to move my hand out of the way as I usually did which would really piss her off, I got a large gash across my left hand behind my index finger. Blood gushed and spattered better than any gore movie ever made that took some stitches. Calls went out and for some reason mom was not available and my dad showed up. Oh crap! Never heard so many F bombs and other spicy words in a Catholic school. Dad took me to a clinic for stitches and the MP’s showed up. Way too cool. My mom was finally contacted. Upon her arrival at the school, remember she hadn’t even seen my battle wound and really cool stitches yet, the second wave was unleashed. It was biblical I heard. Sorry, couldn’t help it. I returned to school and everybody was really nice to me. I got to show off my stitches but was asked “nicely” to not do that. Never saw that nun again.
      Thanks for reminding me of that memory.

      • Maladroit nuns with marginal motor skills shouldn’t be allowed to teach. I went to public school. Teachers spanked. They also smacked fingers, and one was notorious for breaking those pointing sticks over inattentive kids’ desks. I missed out on most of this, but I did spend considerable time in 1st Grade sitting on a thinking stool (2nd Grade was standing in a corner, 3rd, nose in a circle drawn on the chalkboard, 4th was hold a textbook at extended arms-length in each open hand, for 5 minutes…) My 4th Grade teacher’s hubby worked with my Dad. SHE determined I might have a vision issue and had her hubby mention it to my father. Several eye exams later, I acquired a pair of Buddy Hollys and went overnight from a “C” student to a nearly straight “A” student. I never held those damn’ books again…

        • “one was notorious for breaking those pointing sticks over inattentive kids’ desks.”

          Back in ’68 when I was working on my instrument rating, my instructor used a collapsible pointer with a red plastic tip on it to tap instruments that needed my attention. During a particularly intense session in turbulence, he suddenly whacked my hood with the pointer, scaring the water out of me. I asked what that was for, and he said it was a DC9 I had just run over because I was 50′ off my assigned altitude. He got my attention for sure!

    • Yes and no on diagnoses corresponding to new drugs. A friend sat through the psychological testing session with her academically underperforming son and realized she was answering the questions the same way he did. Both were put on Adderall and she could finally balance her checkbook, i.e., the condition was always there but undiagnosed. On the other, I was a prison psychologist in the 1960s and when I’d give IQ tests I’d see strange disparities in the subtests. At the time it was chalked up to “minimal brain damage”–basically a garbage diagnosis for the leftovers. Only more than a decade later after Fetal Alcohol Syndrome had been discovered and publicized did I realize that FAS was what I had been seeing. No new drugs were involved.

      I always suspect disease prevalence statistics, especially across countries. The training of the physicians varies. The incentives vary for using various drugs and other treatments. The cover-your-behind impulse is more pronounced in some places than others.

      • Adderall is a miracle drug. A friend’s kid was put on a daily Adderall regimen when he was about a sophomore in high school. He graduated Salutatorian. By the time he got to college he was taking about 2 hits per week. He would go to taking it every day on finals week, and sell his accumulated overstock to other kids during finals. Adderall significantly boosts focus in anyone, whether they have an attention issue or not. Additionally, the kiddies report that it eliminates the need or desire for sleep and it temporarily boosts apparent IQ, by narrowly channeling one’s focus.

        I’m old fashioned — I prefer to boost my IQ with choline…

  14. “We’re smack in the transition from hard work to personal branding. Where (paradoxically) everyone wants to be different and unique – just like everyone else.”

    Thank you. For years I thought I was the only one who noticed…

  15. We have a goodly chance of rain next week, and just in time. Potential loss of a hay cutting is on the table due to drought, and fire danger is ugly.
    A nearby zillionaire had his crew of morons out trying to harvest hay a couple of weeks back. I was told that they set fire to the field and fence rows four times before they were shut down. I only witnessed one incident, but there were four pumper trucks involved in putting out the fire. Neighbors are concerned that it was a deliberate attempt to set their adjoining property on fire. I share the concern. Need rain.

    • I have NO idea where the deer and goats are getting their nutrition from but the deer have excellent antlers and general body form around here this year and the goats are still in great shape, too, so I’m not feeding them like I do the cows that are taking care of calves right now. The Cat Claw bushes are in full bloom and I know the goats love those leaves enough to brave the thorns, cactus pear apples are plentiful and the seeds appear in the cows’ poop all the time now. This is why I’ve never had a big program to get rid of prickly pear as a lot of “gentlemen ranchers” do as a result of group think. The amount of natural feed that cactus offers is too much to consider the manicured look so many ranchers want for their pastures.

      All that being said we all are down on our knees in hopes the forecast of rain comes true next week. Several days of it but not a lot of accumulation. At least the triple digits will have pretty much ended for this year.

      Has anyone been having the “earthquake tireds” lately? I’m dragging butt regardless of the amount of vitamins and good food I put down my gullet. We’ve moved my daughter from one county to another, lost 5 pounds doing that. Limping along on a bum knee really throws you off and tires you out quickly, too, but this is a tired I just can’t seem to shake lately. My “liberal mechanic friend” in L.A. says all his seismologist and geologist friends are moving to Maine ….

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