and the wall of worry is now evident
May. 16th, 2018 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drhoovesSo, on Tuesday the markets took a nose dive, but shook that off today getting back a good chunk of the losses. In spite of poor news on the jobs front, retail and housing starts, the market is keeping an upward trend. Not even geopolitical turmoil or the higher gas prices are enough to stop the relentless move and support for inflation, hyper-inflation, or stagflation, versus a deflationary collapse. The Fed's recent outlook and "cure" for the Illinois pension crisis is, in my mind, another marker along the road to what will be a financial "Come to Jesus" moment. That is, the moment when the majority finally realize you can't get something for nothing, and BY GOD, this damn ship actually can sink. The scramble for the lifeboats may never exceed the flurry of a Times Square rush hour, but the scramble is taking place. Has been taking place. Whether it accelerates or just grinds most of us into the dust, who knows, but the scramble is on.
We humans, in this industrial-fossil-fueled-information age tend to think in binaries. We can either have growth to the moon, or a collapse into the Dark Ages, when reality and history indicate the processes are more gentle than that. Yes, if a Panzer division comes rolling through your neighborhood it's a crisis, but for the rest of the world it's just another day in the life. So while the American Empire declines, and more cracks appear in the financials, I suspect an upward trend in the markets could go on for a while now - after all, the bear side seems awfully crowded right now. But I look for some significant changes to keep coming down the pike, and the cumulative effect will be to ruin a lot of people's days, if not their lives. I don't see how a number of reckonings don't come to pass by the time the fallout from the 2024 election provides a bit more light on the path ahead. Black swans, by definition, appear with no warning, but I think their cousins the speckled gray crows could be showing up now on a regular basis.
In other news, the investigation into the wrongdoings of various political figures continues, an excuse to fill the media pipe with misdirection and irrelevant content. The .gov weenies have been bought and paid for, lock, stock, barrel and then some, for a long time now. Like, in the entire history of our nation. So, ignore it, and pay attention to more important things. Another reboot of an old TV show is in the works, this time Murphy Brown. Great. Whoops. "Great/sarcasm_on" Another pointless trip for nostalgia, down memory lane for grasping at the thinning straws of ratings. I read where the younger crowd is watching less TV and visual media overall, partly because they can't afford it, and partly because maybe they're not as gullible as a boomer's would believe. There may be hope for this country yet. A third of us boomers have less than $25,000 saved for retirement, myself included, and that's part of my master and sinister plan to starve the beast. For the most part, the only clued-in people on the Internet are living on the lower end of the wealth scale, so I figure it's time for me to join them (and maybe their wisdom will rub off a little).
Finally, another Royal Wedding takes place this weekend. Snooze. I was surprised that 2/3 of Brits are "not interested" in the event - perhaps they're wising up and wondering who's paying for it. The Preakness looks like a match race between the top two Derby finishers. Snooze. Will be missing that and probably sitting on my wallet, except for maybe a $20 flyer on a super combo or two. Kanpur India has bad air, and I believe most of the worst cities in the world for pollution are in the centers of heavy population in Asia. Sad, since the folks in the East often have a better handle on our place in the Universe compared to those of us self-centered humanoids in The West, but it just goes to show that living like yeast can catch up with you...
We humans, in this industrial-fossil-fueled-information age tend to think in binaries. We can either have growth to the moon, or a collapse into the Dark Ages, when reality and history indicate the processes are more gentle than that. Yes, if a Panzer division comes rolling through your neighborhood it's a crisis, but for the rest of the world it's just another day in the life. So while the American Empire declines, and more cracks appear in the financials, I suspect an upward trend in the markets could go on for a while now - after all, the bear side seems awfully crowded right now. But I look for some significant changes to keep coming down the pike, and the cumulative effect will be to ruin a lot of people's days, if not their lives. I don't see how a number of reckonings don't come to pass by the time the fallout from the 2024 election provides a bit more light on the path ahead. Black swans, by definition, appear with no warning, but I think their cousins the speckled gray crows could be showing up now on a regular basis.
In other news, the investigation into the wrongdoings of various political figures continues, an excuse to fill the media pipe with misdirection and irrelevant content. The .gov weenies have been bought and paid for, lock, stock, barrel and then some, for a long time now. Like, in the entire history of our nation. So, ignore it, and pay attention to more important things. Another reboot of an old TV show is in the works, this time Murphy Brown. Great. Whoops. "Great/sarcasm_on" Another pointless trip for nostalgia, down memory lane for grasping at the thinning straws of ratings. I read where the younger crowd is watching less TV and visual media overall, partly because they can't afford it, and partly because maybe they're not as gullible as a boomer's would believe. There may be hope for this country yet. A third of us boomers have less than $25,000 saved for retirement, myself included, and that's part of my master and sinister plan to starve the beast. For the most part, the only clued-in people on the Internet are living on the lower end of the wealth scale, so I figure it's time for me to join them (and maybe their wisdom will rub off a little).
Finally, another Royal Wedding takes place this weekend. Snooze. I was surprised that 2/3 of Brits are "not interested" in the event - perhaps they're wising up and wondering who's paying for it. The Preakness looks like a match race between the top two Derby finishers. Snooze. Will be missing that and probably sitting on my wallet, except for maybe a $20 flyer on a super combo or two. Kanpur India has bad air, and I believe most of the worst cities in the world for pollution are in the centers of heavy population in Asia. Sad, since the folks in the East often have a better handle on our place in the Universe compared to those of us self-centered humanoids in The West, but it just goes to show that living like yeast can catch up with you...