High Time for the 3 Major Ratings Agencies to do Their Jobs

 

Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch need to start calling a spade a spade

Both political parties are full of shit where the debt ceiling is concerned and they both know it.  Higher rates (much higher) and lower ratings from the Big 3 Agencies on US issued debt is the ONLY cure for purging out the rot in the system.  It can't come fast enough for your Old Uncle Kenny.  Fuck 'em all and let God sort 'em out.

America's Perpetually Imperfect Democracy

 

When the truth is found to be lies

And all the joy within you dies

Our system of government is very much reliant upon "great American Voters" receiving an unbiased and balanced diet of news regarding politics.  Now more than ever, our system of government needs the truth about all candidates running in elections and it needs the news in the most "dumbed down" terms given the intellect of the average "Great American Voter".

Let's face it - most of the unwashed masses who vote within the country are a far cry from what the founders originally designated as eligible voters.  

People who have made an absolute train wreck out of their own personal lives (and those unfortunate enough to have deep ties to them) have the God given right as a "Great American" to offer their vote/opinion on what leader should govern over the total population of the country.  It is akin to allowing a chimpanzee to perform brain surgery just because the chimpanzee can hold a scalpel.

Media outlets are having an increasingly hard time holding back the Joe and Hunter Biden Shit Show News Flow.  The stories have been floating around out there for years - you had to look hard to find them but they did exist for anyone who bothered to look.  Most "Great American Voters" don't bother to look.  Some of the more clueless and hopeless among them will deny reality.  They go in the direction they are told to go.  Morons.  

And, for those who were just too fucking stupid to see that Joe Biden and his family were nothing more than common hucksters up for sale to the highest foreign bidder dating back a decade or more...

Well, if you find yourself just aching to express your fucking high and mighty opinion during an election (any election - from Presidential elections down to local elections for dog catcher), look at your situation in life and your past choices and ask yourself if you are truly smart enough and well informed enough to participate.  Just because a gorilla can hold a pistol in its hand is not a good excuse to give it a loaded and cocked .357 magnum and just hope for the best possible outcome.

Your Creditor Called Today

 

“The creditors are getting over COVID, and they’re not cutting any more slack,” says Urich.

Even the perpetual housing cheerleaders at Realtor.com are "sounding the alarm bell".   Too funny.

Their take on foreclosure news here.

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

 

I am of the opinion that the consumer is living on borrowed time

On a retail level, inventory snags have been worked out and deliveries arrive more or less on time.  Large ticket items gather dust as they await a buyer.  Manufacturers are offering discounts - something that disappeared during all of the Covid 19 nonsense and the reckless distribution of funds from the pinheads at the Federal level.  Small ticket items and necessities continue to be purchased.  

Retail employers are becoming more and more choosy about who they assign hours and managers have been placed upon an "hours diet" by the home office for their store employees.

The job reports are somewhat misleading.  True, there are A LOT OF JOBS out there but not all jobs are created equal.  If you lose a cushy tech job paying big bucks and the only job you can obtain in your area is a hospitality or retail position in its place, your lifestyle will need to adjust.  Some states are experiencing an uptick in first time unemployment claims.  Not all of the recently unemployed are going to rush out and accept the first offer thrown at them - more often than not they are going to take a little siesta from working in the hopes that they will be able to replace their old salary with a new salary that is equal to or greater than what they lost.  It may become a game of musical chairs.

Some economists are arguing that "Great Americans" have a long way to go before becoming "maxed out" on consumer credit.  Their collective credit limit far exceeds their collective current balance.  A simpleton's point of view if you ask me - many truly credit worthy people will NEVER charge as much as their Visa or Mastercard allows because IT WOULD NOT BE PRUDENT.  

As the Fed continues to tighten (no more Quantitative Easing) and as the student loan repayment moratorium finally ends, we will see just how much gas the American Consumer has left in the tank.

Personally, I see the consumer of large ticket items every time I go to work and I pay attention to their patterns and their moods.  Not all but many of them are sweating every dime they have to shell out.

See the Statistica chart and article here

"And lastly, as opposed to their government, Americans are far from reaching their debt ceiling, at least as far as credit cards are concerned. With a total credit card balance of $986 billion and a total limit of $4.5 trillion, U.S. consumer actually have $3.5 trillion in untapped available credit on their cards."

It's Powell and Company's Time of the Month

 

Don't look now but it is once again time for the FOMC to hold heap 'um big Pow Wow to discuss whether or not they should adjust their overnight interest rate or not.

Recently, the stock market rejoiced over the fact that a pound of bananas and a can of chicken noodle soup (generic or store brand) was no longer racing toward a new record high price.  This caused the stock market smoothies to believe (or at least publicly promote the idea) that the Fed will pause in their interest rate hikes and maybe, just maybe, start cutting rates again.  This speculation coupled with FOMO (fear of missing out) has caught the attention of your average Lower Slobovian retail investor.  Personally, I believe that the smoothies are playing the retail slobs.  Never forget the leaked e-mail in which Goldman Sachs referred to their customers as "Muppets".  Front running the trades of your clients is not beyond them.

Never mind the still nosebleed level asking prices of real estate, a used car, a new lawn mower, etc.  It's all good.

If you question the wisdom of this post, meander on over to your local "Big Tits and Hair Real Estate Agency" website and check out the asking prices on listings from areas that you are familiar with - ask yourself as you peruse the postings if the asking prices seem realistic.  Next, take a look at what is available at "Honest Kyle's Used Auto Emporium" and see if the gel haired ass clown has anything available that the average working person could afford without the use of a dodgy loan contract.

But no worries Fed - that pound of bananas is at 55 cents per pound and that's some progress, right??

Boggles the Mind

 

"Younger voters should be a source of electoral strength for Democrats for some years to come."

From Brookings

The "leadership" that is elected in the United States reflects the "evolution" of politics and demographics in the country.  Democrats have successfully created a coalition of the overly emotional, the illiterate, the liberal, the weird and the common thief.  There is a large wave of people that happens to include nearly an entire generation that falls into the "Free Shit Army".  

It has to be stupidest voting block ever assembled.  

The precious people of color who spit out kid after kid after kid after kid who believe "it takes a village" to raise their bastard offspring.  

The ridiculous but college educated suburban white woman who is oh so offended by the "grab 'em by the pussy if you have enough cash Donald Trump hijinks" (a statement that is offensive to the ears but entirely true - some of the gross shit that women do for money is evidence of the truth behind Trump's tape recorded statement).  This is also the "voter" who would very much love to see her enormous pile of student debt vaporized by executive order.  If you could make all that "just go away" reader, she will very likely allow you the privilege of grabbing her by the pussy.

The weirdo ass clown who insists that you celebrate his or her sexual pet peeve or peccadillo during the entire "pride" month of June.  Sorry, but dressing as a man when you are clearly a woman, one man taking another man's dick up the shit chute, stuffing live hamsters up your ass, etc. is not a cause for pride.  Go back to the shadows where you belong.

This is how clowns from the Democrat party get elected and then keep getting re-elected no matter how bat shit crazy their politics happen to be when viewed by realistic and sane people.  These are their people.

The predictable knee jerk and opposite response of those who voted for Donald Trump within the Republican party is really just a natural reflex of those people who see what was once the United States of their youth slipping away.  That generation is on the decline and the generation that voted Obama into office (twice) is on the increase.

I was recently informed that a long estranged son had recently passed away at the age of 37.  From what I gathered, he was very much an Obama fan, liberal in his leanings to a fault, Democrat in his voting pattern, and very much opposed to the "evil conservative patriarchy".  So, what happened?  From what I've been told he died of a heart attack in China of all places where he had married a Chinese woman.  From what I remember of him, he was on all accounts healthy.  

I was stricken by the irony of it all.  Here we have a young white boy from the US of A who was opposed to anyone who even vaguely resembled Donald Trump in his politics and who very likely got the "clot shot" Covid-19 vaccinations and the necessary "boosters" to enter the wonderful Communist country of China.  And China is where he subsequently died of heart failure - something that seems to be an increasingly common affliction among young men who either voluntarily or by result of coercion take the Wu-Flu "vaccination".

The other irony is that his mother (and my ex-wife) taught CPR classes for many, many years.  There is no telling how many "pump and blow" sessions this woman held over the course of three decades.  Thousands probably.  I don't know how many other people have been saved as a result of her teachings but at the end of the day, it did not save her own son.  

Your old Uncle Kenny remains unapologetically un-vaccinated.  The Covid 19 "vaccinations" and "boosters" that were promoted by both Democrats and Republicans alike (remember Donald Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" project) was a total load of bullshit and a lot of gullible people went along for the ride.  My bullshit detector was flashing red and I correctly followed my instincts instead of following Dr. Faucci's science.

World War Z

 

WSJ June 5, 2023. The real fun will commence in 2024.

No Place to Hide

 

Every where you bother to look in banking news you will find a common theme.  Loan delinquencies are creeping higher.  Foreclosure activity is increasing.  Eviction numbers are up.  Homeless people are no longer found as individuals but in small to large "encampments".  

The number of "Great Americans" who live by the mantra "fake it until you make it" are seeing the results of going into debt up to their eyeballs and then having interest rates slowly but surely increase over the past year.

Higher interest rates combined with higher property taxes and higher homeowner insurance premiums are slow roasting them in a debtor's hell.  Add onto that a little extra heat from overdue home owner's association dues and you have a perfect debtor bar-b-que recipe.

The student loan / Covid 19 forbearance fiasco comes to an end in September unless there is some sort of intervention performed by the Supreme Court.  My opinion is that "Joe Biden and Company" are not the law of the land and should not be allowed to dictate an end to contract law.  People borrowed the money - cough it up and repay it.