From the top this morning, we all get to be in a holding pattern to see if War breaks out on Sunday.
Why is this important, after all, it’s only a date that has shown up on a couple of posts on various conspiracy and prophecy boards?
Because things seem to be falling into place. Think about it:
- We have a plane shot down over Ukraine and the pro-Russian region is offering a truce to allow investigators in to prove they didn’t do it.
- The Malaysian Airline people defend flying over the war zone, but that may not play well.
A plug for our www.nostracoeeus.com project is in order here: The data rolling out on the 16th prompted future-reader Grady to post that things would heat up in Ukraine shortly under the headline “Banks Rockets and London. And then, it was “Another Prediction is proven to be true.” and to top things off, people just don’t seem to be interested (really) in thinking about the future that much. But, this morning the data suggests that we will have 10-more days of serious Ukraine headlines – see “More to Come.”
And in Other News…
- There’s an invasion going on in Gaza today and Israel keeps calling up reserves.
- The market is hanging around highs, but once options finish up today, a move next week to the down side may be in the cards.
- And weather has brought the word “flood” to parts of the US where it “just ain’t natural” for this time of year. Scientific American though says despite the claims, in the MSM, it’s NOT a polar vortex….not really.
- Still, record low in Dallas Thursday and likely another one today. But a week from Sunday, we should be back up around 100 again in the Metroplex.
But this last development this morning has us sitting back, taking a long pull on the third cuppa and wondering what all the media frenzy is about. And I’ve come up with an interesting theory.
Ure’s Crackpot Theory 2014-28:
As the world runs out of real jobs to do, there will be a huge increase in the number of media and thus, number of column-inches of press, in order to continue growing the media sector since it can be flexibly grown.
And that sort of rolls us around to the next item. But if you’re expecting the end of the world as we know it, keep your money in your pocket, it’s still a fool’s bet. For now, anyway…
We do see how the Europeans are seriously pissed about the jet shootdown and escalation talk is in the wind among the Germans.
Going into the weekend? Flash goggles, a jacket, and an umbrella, oughta be fashionable.
More after this…
What is Microsoft Thinking?
Young people, particularly in ‘Mercia, are not complete idiots. Close, sometimes, sure, but not total ef-tards.
Hence, when a company acts in strangely anti-job ways, people in ‘Mercia take notice.when Microsoft announces 18-thousand jobs are about to get whacked. It comes a week after the company pressed for more imported as reported by Information Week a while back under the headline “Microsoft says 6,000 jobs open, wants more Visas…”
(Think about time lags here: Request in 2012, hiring 2013 and training and now, today…)
Confused? I’ve got a nickel side bet that says it’s cheaper to bring in H1-b’s than to retrain American workers. Besides, that way, even more people can get roped into hopeless student loan debt.
Didn’t you learn anything from reading how the world works?
The Real Economic Schiznit
It’s easy to laugh at the economic numbers (and decisions, policies, and so forth) coming out of Washington. So around here, we tend to look at what real U.S. West Coast Longshoremen are bringing in from China compared with last year to see what’s up (or down) with the economy.
So for June container traffic through Port of Long Beach was up 8.8% compared with a year ago. And at the Port of Los Angeles for June, inbound loaded was up 16.55%.
This isn’t isolated data. Labor beef down at the SoCal ports aside, this Asia inbound is rocking and socking: Oakland was up 5.8% inbound for June.
Up the coast a ways, Seattle reported 31,483 TEU’s inbound in June which is way off last year’s 50,396. Which leads us to scratch our heads and ask “Gee, wonder what’s going on with Tacoma? Did they grab more of Seattle’s market share, or is someone from Omaha jacking up rail rates so shippers are running more cargo to the SoCal port?
Sorry, I can’t tell you. Not that I wouldn’t like to, but as of this morning, the Port of Tacoma’s latest happy-talk page has figures from a month ago, which in terms of grokking the dime is about as useful as, uh, well, let’s not go there.
Still, once you get south of Seattle, there’s the Bermuda Triangle of economic data. While most other ports can keep it together, Tacoma lags, but that ain’t nothing like the Port of Portland. They have posted a cargo update since May. But maybe they figure no one will miss the few containers in their count.
Another black hole, statistics-wise is Vancouver, Washington. But I’ll keep watching. You’d think with the Pacific Northwest so famous for coffee, it wouldn’t be such an issue, would you?
I reckon there are some railroad right-of-way guys over in Montana and the Dakotas who would like to know what’s going on so they can plan for overtime or time off…but don’t mind me being a sourpuss about it.
Gee, a short column this morning. Maybe I’ll quit while I’m ahead.
I wrote to Texas governor Rick Perry’s office on Thursday, asked when the invasion would be countered by the state (Article 4 Section 7 state constitution). Don’t expect to hear back…there’s just too much money riding this pony.
Ya’ll come back fer another spell ‘o hell-raisin’ Monday…