Why, you’re wondering?
Well, except for Orange Juice futures (up 0.88%) there’s little of interest going on publicly today. A few bond numbers, but this week’s news will have to come with a data event like retail sales and import prices, but we’ll have to wait until Wednesday for those.
Instead, how about we talk about the weather?
Spring turned fierce here in Tornado Alley overnight with twister touch-downs suspected in Van, Texas and in Nashville, Tennessee.
Two dead in Arkansas and winter is back in parts of Colorado, too.
But the real story ‘round these parts isn’t that thunder (and tarnation) keep us up all night. What really matters is the rain. As of midnight, Tyler, Texas was reporting 29-inches of rain for the year to date. By contrast Boeing Field in Seattle was stuck at 12.83 inches.
Even New Orleans, which one reader reminds us is generally a 60” of annual rainfall place, has just 20-inches year-to-date.
But, meantime in the drought out West, the bottled water business continues to grow in California, although in fairness, Starbucks is planning to shut down its Ethos bottling operation in California.
O’s Summit Sours
Several of the biggies in the Middle East will not be showing up for presidential summit talks at Camp David.
I don’t want to be the one to break the news to the WH or State, but people in the middle of wars don’t wander off to ‘Merica for a long weekend – just not done.
Meantime, there’s talk in Israel that the Jewish state might back-stop the Saudis in a showdown with Iran. The article, of course, doesn’t come right out with “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” but it seems to be where events are heading. (Am I the only one reaching for the ViseGrips?)
Jade Jitters
I can’t help but notice the foreign financial press has now jumped on the Jade Helm is not a takeover of Texas story.
I have 100% confidence that the state flag will still be flying in the capitol when this is all done and over with. The only question is about the price point.
Invasion from Mexico and mass relocation programs when California drinks its last drop are alternative realities.
Does Your Boss Love You?
Unless you’re in Nice, France, thanks to a Chinese CEO saying thank-you to his workers, the answer is maybe not.
Can you even in your wildest imaginings think a US publicly-traded company would share so generously? No way.
Which is why China is kicking our butts in so many ways: Government that talks more or less non-stop about harmony. And bosses that actually demonstrate concern for their workers.
We used to be that place…but it has been fading since the New Deal.
The Real News…
…is that the Federal Reserve is about to be reined in by bi-partisan legislation which would prevent so-called backdoor bailouts of corporations.
The bill, which could be introduced in the Senate as early as tomorrow, would take away assurances of federal bailout dough. Problem is, if you tell someone you “have their backs” if they collapse a company, what’s to keep managements from playing a little “faster and looser” than they would if it was purely their money at risk?
Note the bill is being co-sponsored by Elizabeth Warren….which gets me to:
Hill’s Brothers
Not the coffee: That lady who’s got the budget to buy the White House – called old, rich, and white by one campaign opponent – now has a new problem.
The NY Times glommed-on to Tony Rodham’s career and is drawing some unwanted attention.
The Trouble With Robots
We’ve been hollering for all we’re worth (which isn’t much, by the way) about the dangers ahead as more software and robots come down the path, threatening to replace most workers and collapse the economy along the way.
Well, maybe not so fast, Bucko.
Seems that since September, four of 50 driverless cars in California have been in accidents, which is statistically worse than humans.
Under the California testing law, there still has to be a human behind the wheel so in fairness to the robots, only two were under control of the robots at the time. But it’s still enough to shake our confidence in robotic vehicles taking over all transportation in the next 20-minutes.
Proof of the Roaring Teens
Meantime, my postulate that we’re in the financial-historical rhyme with the fall of 1927 continues to bear fruit.
Latest evidence of a rerun in present day of the pre-Depression Roaring Twenties is suggested when a Picasso painting could fetch north of $142-million.
Some of the people, all of the time…
Which gets us to our reading recommendations for the week:
and
Gee, the state of Israel might back the Saudis in a conflict with Iran. Boy, what a shocker that is. When was the last time Israel and Saudi exchanged anything but words? Just their positioning ala IS a tell-all. Saudi and Israel have been in bed since Reagan/Bush1. When did Israel spout off when Saudi announced they would by a nuke from Pakistan? I especially like the assumption that IS is anti-Israel. What a joke that is. When has IS ever attacked Israel? When has Israel ever actually attacked IS forces? Never…just Assads’ installation/assets. Hell, they’re even giving medical aid to IS,etal.
As for the US having been the place where employers cared about their employees in the past, but fading since the New Deal? When was that era? The era of the Robber Barons, the time of the Railroad barons, or possibly it was during the Gilded Age. Yeah, unions had nothing to do with workers conditions improving and corps never tried to stop unions. The other days column, about the ‘fix’ by Illinois for their pension problems being denied…gee, does it sound anything like the so-called ‘fixes’ for SSA? Sure the funding for SSA, which by the books, is solvent. But, it’s the debt piled on by CONgress through borrowing that’s the problem. But not according to those who espouse cutting back on everything to do with SSA, because they want to renege on the promises to repay SSA, calling it entitlement spending. But for Gods’ sake don’t don’t touch CONgress’ entitlement (they don’t pay in) or let the big banks fail.
As for Elizabeth Warren, she better shut up and sit down or she’ll end up with a heart attack…as will Bernie Sanders (if he starts showing any strength). Whenever reps start representing the actual will of the people and espousing anti-corporate/banker sentiments, bad sh*t happens to them…heart attacks, plane crashes, car crashes…her bill, which is good for us (the people and country) will never make it through this good ole boy congress any more than it would have the last congress. Bi-partisan support? Until the vote is taken.
Sorry, but it’s not “since the New Deal”…. We did get through the Depression and WW2, in large measure, because we understood that we are all in this together.
If you want to pick a point, pick the moment in time when we reset the taxes so that we taxed the profits from liquidating companies at half the rate we tax creating profits by building companies. Remember “Greed is Good?”…. just Hollywood’s way of summarizing the Reagan Revolution. Remember the Air Traffic Controllers? Mike Milken? LBO operators as heroes?