![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
up, down, or going blind?
Enough of the water and tide references with the markets. For now it's all about indecision, as the S&P bounces around between 2600 and 2700, range bound and coiling for a bigger move. I thought the bearish side was getting awfully crowded, but now I see bullish tidbits creeping back into the news flow. Whatever your working "thesis" is for the markets and economy, there's bound to be data on the Internet (somewhere) to support it. We continue sailing through uncharted waters, with several rounds of QE (read PRINTING) behind us, short interests in bonds at super high levels (meaning everyone is betting on inflation), and a wall of worry hinging on nine years of UP, up, and UPPP!
And while the fundamentals don't look good, and the bears insist the ocean of debt is bound to deflate and cause chaos, for now the whole world is on the same side of the financialization experiment in progress. As pointed out in a recent podcast from Quoth The Raven and a group of Green Wizards down under, when TSHTF, the misery will not be equally applied everywhere. Winners and losers (more of them) came before, during and after the Great Depression, and there's no reason to think that characteristic won't apply again. As the gent running the show for the Green Wizard's podcast pointed out, it comes down to values and personal choices for what you can do about it. While I still think the "adults" in the room are mostly just rearranging the deck chairs, like the wise old Alfalfa once said, "I have to live my own life."
Trump, obstruction, lawyers, investigation and those damn Russians continue to hog bandwidth in the news cycles. Really? Just kill me already. Socialism continues to gain in popularity, or so say the pollsters, as 46% favor government guaranteed jobs for all. Good thing that PRINT button is handy, because apparently money (or what used to be money) really does grow on trees. Color me skeptical of both socialism (stealing other people's money) and capitalism (stealing other people's money) until we get back to an economy of actually making things, and not treating the planet the same way yeast treat their fermentation bottle when making ale.
Backup cameras are now required on all cars, along with seat belts, air bags, black boxes and anti-lock brakes. Pretty soon it will be mandatory to be bundled in a protective bubble before rolling out of the house. I've got nothing against safety, and maybe it'll help keep health care costs down (I know, try not to laugh), but there's something about "mandated" versus the risks of freedom that go against my grain. While in Florida a couple of weeks ago, I got to ride a Harley, without a helmet.....and.....it was awesome! I've hit a couple of deer over the years, and live in a state where a helmet is required (and it saved my life once), BUT the Founding Fathers and their kind just shake their heads at so many of the laws we have today.
And finally, yesterday 22 police cars here in Portland were vandalized by having white paint tossed on them, all in a parking lot in the Northeast part of the city, with most of the cars assigned to the youth services division. When I saw the story on Drudge, the headlines indicated May Day mayhem, caused by Antifa. Or rather, the "Antifa hotbed" in Portland. I watched the local news last night (KOIN 6) to get more info on what MUST be the lead story, but it was buried 10 minutes in with 10 seconds of coverage. Cause maybe it wasn't a communist plot?
And while the fundamentals don't look good, and the bears insist the ocean of debt is bound to deflate and cause chaos, for now the whole world is on the same side of the financialization experiment in progress. As pointed out in a recent podcast from Quoth The Raven and a group of Green Wizards down under, when TSHTF, the misery will not be equally applied everywhere. Winners and losers (more of them) came before, during and after the Great Depression, and there's no reason to think that characteristic won't apply again. As the gent running the show for the Green Wizard's podcast pointed out, it comes down to values and personal choices for what you can do about it. While I still think the "adults" in the room are mostly just rearranging the deck chairs, like the wise old Alfalfa once said, "I have to live my own life."
Trump, obstruction, lawyers, investigation and those damn Russians continue to hog bandwidth in the news cycles. Really? Just kill me already. Socialism continues to gain in popularity, or so say the pollsters, as 46% favor government guaranteed jobs for all. Good thing that PRINT button is handy, because apparently money (or what used to be money) really does grow on trees. Color me skeptical of both socialism (stealing other people's money) and capitalism (stealing other people's money) until we get back to an economy of actually making things, and not treating the planet the same way yeast treat their fermentation bottle when making ale.
Backup cameras are now required on all cars, along with seat belts, air bags, black boxes and anti-lock brakes. Pretty soon it will be mandatory to be bundled in a protective bubble before rolling out of the house. I've got nothing against safety, and maybe it'll help keep health care costs down (I know, try not to laugh), but there's something about "mandated" versus the risks of freedom that go against my grain. While in Florida a couple of weeks ago, I got to ride a Harley, without a helmet.....and.....it was awesome! I've hit a couple of deer over the years, and live in a state where a helmet is required (and it saved my life once), BUT the Founding Fathers and their kind just shake their heads at so many of the laws we have today.
And finally, yesterday 22 police cars here in Portland were vandalized by having white paint tossed on them, all in a parking lot in the Northeast part of the city, with most of the cars assigned to the youth services division. When I saw the story on Drudge, the headlines indicated May Day mayhem, caused by Antifa. Or rather, the "Antifa hotbed" in Portland. I watched the local news last night (KOIN 6) to get more info on what MUST be the lead story, but it was buried 10 minutes in with 10 seconds of coverage. Cause maybe it wasn't a communist plot?