…the world gets a cold. Even on Cinco de Mayo. Odd, how that works.
You can see it in the numbers from overnight. China’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.28%. What does that mean other places in the world? Well, in Europe this morning Germany dropped 1.31% and the French dropped 1.17% (as of when I looked).
I’m pretty sure that the UK stock market would be tanking, too, but this is a public holiday for the kneelers.
Karnack the Magnificent, I am not. But a one percent drop in the Dow today would mean a decline of 165 points by the close and 19 points being shaved off the S&P. Not saying it will come to that, but let’s look to see if there is any really good news, shall we?
Pfizer might consider changing its name to Pfizzer after a major earnings miss this morning might be fairly called a Pfizzle.
Later on this morning we’ll get some Institute for Supply Management numbers, but that’s not going to turn the tide of a fourth month in a row on the downside in China.
Events later in the week include a balance of trade number tomorrow, productivity on Wednesday, and couple of other blah-blah numbers.
The one to watch? That will be the Wednesday release of Consumer Debt by the Fed. This is the one rich kapitalists slobber over because if they can keep you signing on the dotted line, going deeper in debt (to them) they make more money.
In case you’ve been asleep lately? That’s what most places no longer even need a signature on the checkout machines if the tab is $50-bucks or less.
This is all part of the long slow slide into the Mark of the Beast which will become the next level for computers (see: Person of Interest and Samaritan which did Beta this week for details) and yes, it’s all true, what Edward Snowden has been saying about “Whole populations”are living under more or less total electronic surveillance.
All of which gets us to a topic for an upcoming Peoplenomics report: The Criminalization of Cash, but it’s too early for deep thoughts just yet, being Monday and all.
For now, the crooked world is spinning away and just marking time until Russia rolls west to save citizens in…oh, wait. That’s our next story…
In the meantime, our first economic data point has me wondering whether to head out for Mexican food today, or Chinese. Yah see how tough Monday’s are? Cinco’about it.
Russian Rolls?
Bear claws, is more like it: The Russian Bear has huge numbers of troops positioned and ready to roll into Ukraine’s eastern sections as soon as the civil war breaks out there.
And that could be any old time.
The mobgov (coup) in Kiev is sending its special forces troops into Odessa after a deadline series of classes over the weekend.
Meantime, the Jewish community of Odessa is planning evacuations because the right-wingers behind the Kiev coup are – in some cases – violently anti-Semitic.
Meantime, up the road a piece, rebels (which is really rebels rebelling against the rebel government in Kiev, so technically counterrevolutionaries) are packing it in at Sloviansk according to a BBC report.
I find it odd that the BBC (and most other mainstreammedia) keep calling the Kiev side “government forces” but had this happened in a country unfriendly to the US corporates, the Kiev-gov would have been a coup for sure.
So as you read all the stories (they’ll be along shortly) just remember that labels (like “rebels” – who used to just be “residents”) are one of the simplest ways to manage the thinking of large populations.
Oh, and notice the tone of speech has become much more war-like.
For clarity: The “government” in Kiev is still a coup, having seized power violently and without elections. When a coup declares its own legitimacy, be very suspicious. The rebels are pro-Russian residents who are being attacked for trying to maintain something akin to home rule.
And the real battle is over populations, agricultural potential, and key energy routes.
Sickening, ain’t it?
More after this…
Disease Ticks Upward
Latest disease of the week to be worried about is polio which is making a resurgence worldwide according to the World Health Organization.
In other related notes:
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has health officials on their toes in Indiana.
Folks in England are being whipped up by fears of tick-spread disease.
The clock may be ticking as research shows just five mutations are needed for bird-flu to go human/airborne.
The link between saturated fats and heart disease turns out to be questionable.
Laughing at the Press
Obama’s not going to get a late night show with stuff like this…
Insurance Companies Win Again!
Yes, those huge pools of money in reinsurance outfits (the companies that insure insurance companies) made out like bandits again this weekend as another bus-sized asteroid whizzed by Earth at just a bit faster than 20 in the school zone.
The “hide under the bed with the dust bunnies” crowd love stories like this one. A statistical analysis shows that so far, Big Sky Theory has feathered the insurance outfits’ nests quite nicely.
Texas: Armed and Dangerous
Oh, not because of the patriotic sons and daughters of the Republic. No, more likely because of the reputed CIA Camp Stanley arms storage area here. Collection of Googled images of the place here.
An other Federal Land Grab?
May be in the workers up in Utah. But, it depends on which side of the issue you’re on as to whether designating new federal lands is a “grab” or simply historic preservation.
Ure’s Axiom 1835 : if the feds “come and take it” from state tax rolls, then fine. But they need to demonstrate corresponding economic benefit (like tourism and such) otherwise, Tax the Feds Back.
Retirement Trend
I’ve already explained to Elaine that a strapping 21-year old body builder is not what the story means.
Out to Lunch
Oh-oh…Michelle Obama’s “healthier lunch foods” campaign is running into backlash.
I wonder how many schools will be having Mexican food today and how many will have 50% whole wheat in them?
Signs of the Times
Private enterprise (and brain cells) to the rescue again. Read the story over here about how some common sense is cleaning up nonsensical blather on public street signs.
Pretty soon we should find out if that govspeak nonsense will challenge the common sense approach. Since government is always “in it for the money” despite saying otherwise. I figure the logical signs will prove the theory one way, or the other.