The Pullback to 1,890 Perhaps?

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I mean, shouldn’t this be a holiday, or something?

Who wants to get up in the morning, see the futures are down a bit on the Dow, figure we are due for Ure’s pullback here, and see the umpteenth rerun of “Republicans Acting Stupid?”

Wait!  Are you sure it’s an act?  Hmmm…

Ah, well, we will get to that but first a short summary of world markets:  Japan was down 1%, Hong Kong down 1.3%, the Shanghai was down 2.86% and Europe was a mixed bag.  The Germans were down 0.9%, the French were treading water, and Brits were making bank, up 1.18% because they have enough send to maybe get into Brexit Rehab, which should keep them alive.

Gold is up another $12 bucks when I looked and everyone seems to be anxious to splash pixels with how there are worries about the Fed raising (with good reason, they should) and there are worries about the impact of the G20 last week.  But the reality is that the G20 doesn’t want to blow over the house of cards more than anyone else, so it’s not going to happen.

As for the data this week, there are motor vehicle sales tomorrow, the ADP and Gallup on jobs Wednesday.  Thursday, Challenger jobs cuts come along with productivity and cost data, factory orders, and miscellaneous who-cares.  And then we get to the Offihsul (sic) Employment Data on Friday.

If that one comes in at 4.9%, I would expected the Federal Reserve to feel more pressure to raise rates.  Otherwise, people will begin to worry about wage-driven inflation.

Stoopabama

And speaking of Wages, just how stupid is Alabama?  “Ala. city raises minimum wage, legislature strips it.”  Seems to me that Alabama is at a crossroads here:  Let wages rise so people can get back a little bit, or be the ass-clowns of the corporates and keep people working for peanuts (though I guess that would be Georgia, so maybe a different phrase…you plug in something here).

The Poor South has sold out to the Rich Corporations as “Bentley signs bill blocking Birmingham minimum wage.” 

Just for fun, if you have some time, you might want to look at how much of his last campaign was paid for by small folks ($100 and under) and how much was paid by the Rich ($101 and up) money.

Just so we’re clear on this GovBob, here’s how things work:  Just like Alabamans may resent the strong central government in Washington, don’t you think cities passing their own response to local economic conditions would resent excessive government at the State level? 

You can’t have it both ways, dude. Unless you’re just trying to be “the man” for the whole state which makes you more of an overseer than governor.  Just because some lawmakers get reactionary, doesn’t mean you have to put on the dunce hat.

People just don’t seem to see things clearly. Let wages rise.

We have to side with Warren Buffett when comes to the economy.  It’s not that bad.  On the other hand, there are still some financial deceptions out there, as explained by Yahoo over here.

But the point we have been making is the odds continue to improve of record highs ahead this year despite what the doomster chorus has been singing…and not only are they off-key and can’t read the data, but most are just ad pandering and talking their own book.

(Go ahead, ask me how I really feel about this…)

The Implosion of Republicans

It doesn’t look to me like we have a republican party, anymore.  Marco Rubio is slinging more mud than an eighth grader during recess, and Donald Trump was dumb enough to respond, and near as I can tell it won’t inspire voter confidence.

The operant Ure Family Old Saying (UFOS) is this  (and pay attention, Donald!):

“Never get in a pissing match with a skunk.”

It’s too bad the Trumpster didn’t get that memo growing up because he’s taking careful aim at his own foot in here, 

This may help Ted Cruz, who is holding back a bit, and the Trump endorsement by Senator Sessions doesn’t mean anything “nauth” of the Mason-Dixon or west of the Pecos.

Instead, what we are seeing is what the Washington Post reports as “The Republican Party’s implosion over Donald Trump’s candidacy has arrived.”

A friend of mine who is a deep-thinker (a retired Lt. Col.) suggested a few years back that what we should really consider bringing back would be the American Whig Party.

Not into whiggery?  Wikipedia’s got it:

The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four Presidents were current members of the Party.[1] Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s.[2] It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829–37) and his Democratic Party.

In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. It appealed to entrepreneurs and planters, but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers. It included many active Protestants, and voiced a moralistic opposition to the Jacksonian Indian removal policies. The “Whig” name was chosen to echo the American Whigs of 1776, who fought for independence. “Whig” meant opposing tyranny.[3] Historian Frank Towers has specified a deep ideological divide:

Democrats stood for the ‘sovereignty of the people’ as expressed in popular demonstrations, constitutional conventions, and majority rule as a general principle of governing, whereas Whigs advocated the rule of law, written and unchanging constitutions, and protections for minority interests against majority tyranny.[4]

The Whig Party nominated several candidates for president in 1836, General William Henry Harrison of Ohio in 1840, preeminent leader Henry Clay of Kentucky in 1844, General Zachary Taylor of Virginia in 1848, and yet another war-hero, General Winfield Scott of Virginia in 1852. In its two decades of existence, the Whig Party had two of its candidates, Harrison and Taylor, elected President. Both died in office. John Tyler succeeded to the Presidency after Harrison’s death in 1841, but he was expelled from the party. Millard Fillmore, who became President after Taylor’s death in 1850, was the last president under the Whig label.

Of course, sadly, there is no chance of a Whig Party because that would require that we have a congress willing to assert over the presidency as the main representatives of We the People.  Still, it worked once upon a time…but then again, in American history, we used to have a Vice President who was the loser of the presidential contest…which kept everything a lot more honest and even than it is now.

In the meantime, the liberally biased press are having a field day with former Klan leader David Duke endorsing Trump (like Trump could prevent it?).  And we fine reports like For Some Trump Supporters, KKK Questions Are ‘Overblown’ but then again, that’s among people who can think and read.

Save Us From Oscar

We would not be a broad spectrum thinking site if we didn’t at least mention the Oscars.  (Go read Three reasons why ‘Spotlight’ walked away with the Oscar for best picture if you care).

But is there anything to be learned from it?  Hahaha…you have to be joking, right?

Rome had bread and circuses. America has Facebook and Hollywood.  If there’s a distinction there, I fail to see it.  But I’m anti-social as a well-lived life doesn’t carry any need for a useless time sink…

The “Daily Bomber”

I used to joke (in an admittedly sick kinda way) that we should really start a website which would be called “The Daily Bomber” and it could cover nothing but current bomber stories and press releases from the corporations that make military materiel and explosives.

If we had actually done this (too lazy? naw – too busy…) we would have had an easy time filling things up today:

ISIS double bombing of a Baghdad market kills at least 73.

ISIS Sought Nuclear Material for Dirty Bomb, Officials Believe

Twin suicide bomb attacks kill over 40 in Southwestern Somalia

No casualties in Narathiwat bomb blast

UPDATED: Arrest Made in Pekin Pipe Bomb Explosion

‘Gods of Egypt’ is the first box-office bomb of 2016…ooops, should have been in the Save Us From Oscar section…

But you get the idea, we could augment our understanding on psych-opes pressure on the stupid masses of humanity by simply augmenting the weather forecast UV index with “Today’s Bomb Index is…5 1/2!”

Or, maybe I’m just getting old and cranky?  No, too late for that.

But Seriously (or nearly so)

If I had been born in a leap day, would I only be 16.75 years old right now?  Would my drivers license be good for 40 years, instead of 10?  Would I have graduated from high school…um…in four more years?

You see leap days are special and the article over here in The Atlantic drives home the idea that there is something to be considered about today.  The Leap Baby Paradox.

11 thoughts on “The Pullback to 1,890 Perhaps?”

  1. Nah, if you were born on the 29th of February, you just have to split that day in to fours and spread it out over four years.

  3. Sure looks like the Republican Party wants Hill to win. If Trump wins the nomination they are so afraid they will lose so many monetary benefits they will solicit any Republican to run independently in order to split the vote and of course let her win. There is no way that she will close down the for profit Congress, and other gov. departments.

    • See the Coping section this morning: There is no republican party. There is the corporate party and the answer is yes.

  4. Sure George,
    I’d join the Whig party, only because(Like Elmer Fudd would say) “Politics is wreally, wreally, wrigged!”

  5. Help me understand how raising the minimum wage by government fiat, and not market pressures helps our economy? It does have a cause and effect. I am not a “big business” owner, but I own my own business. Every time the minimum wage increases, my cost increases. Increasing the taxes because, it is based on how much is paid, increasing the cost to our clientele. So today my employees are paid X. Tomorrow because some bureaucrats decide that the value of their services are now Y, without doing anything extra, better or more efficient, I am mandated to pay them more? How does that help my business? How does that help my clients?

    If politicians are going to set the wages and not the market then why not make it $20 an hour? or $30 an hour? If we are going to make things where it is “an affordable living”, why not make it $100 an hour? Then we can all be rich, right? Wrong!

    Have you seen how Seattle is getting along with their $15.00 an hour minimum wage? Have you seen where there are more places closed from that and the ones staying open are automating to remove the cost of the humans?

    Raising minimum wage without earning it is just another “Social Justice” scheme. I am surprised that it is on your hit parade of things that should happen.

    • July of 2009 we went to a $7.25 min wage. to just keep up with inflation it should be at least $8.24 to keep up with offishul inflation and more like $9 to keep up with actual.

  6. Things are not so bad? Recently had a friend return after a couple months in Dallas. She said, “Dallas seems to be doing pretty good.” I asked her, what was one bad thing you saw in Dallas that had deteriorated since your last visit. She couldn’t name one. Then she admitted she only goes into the white middle/upper class neighborhoods, and never shops at Walmart.

    You are right, George, things aren’t so bad if you never look.

    Some friends of ours 5 years ago had to go to the government offices in downtown Los Angeles. Coming in from out of town, to beat the rush, they were early, around 7am. They said that around the government buildings for six blocks (36 blocks total) the sidewalks were completely covered with people sleeping on the sidewalk, so full they had to walk in the streets. When they completed their business at 9am, every trace of those homeless were gone. Recently, the LA Times reported that there are now 54 blocks of sidewalks covered with sleeping homeless.

    You are right, George, things aren’t so bad.

  7. The Pekin pipe bomb guy was release in the afternoon- something about jurisdiction. I am SO glad to be old; I had no idea (at age 10 or now) that bombs of any kind were illegal. That was back in the day when chemistry sets had actual chemicals in them, one we’d have to read actual books.

  8. “”” “Republicans Acting Stupid?” Wait! Are you sure it’s an act? Hmmm… “””

    Or should it be citizens acting stupid.. we keep voting in the same old people election after election.. you know the ones that haven’t done anything since 1998…. the ones that keep telling us the power words.. we can’t, we won’t, its their fault,,don’t look at us.. if only.. and then in the same breath say..we’ll look at this in the future when we come off of break vacation etc..the other george said it best..”””” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07w9K2XR3f0 “”””

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