61 More Days, But Who's Counting

"You will do what I decide regardless of what is fair"
    - Staceburger

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."
    - Malcolm X

So happy, I think I'm gonna bust out a pair of parachute pants....

Something For Nothing

I have a Stanley Thermos that I use for bringing coffee to work each day.  On it, there is an emblem that says "STANLEY since 1913".  Green and chrome color, you know the one.  When you turn it over, on the bottom is stamped "Aladdin - a division of PMI Brentwood, TN".  Also stamped on the bottom is "MADE IN CHINA".

http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html 

"Many U.S. corporations derive 50%-65% of their revenues overseas."

"As the dollar weakened, global corporate profits skyrocketed as earnings in euros, yen, etc. rose when stated in dollars.  In other words, overseas profits expand as if by magic when stated in dollars.
When the euro and the dollar were 1-to-1 back in the early 2000s, then 100 euros of profit converted to $100 when stated in dollars. When the euro rose to $1.60, then the same 100 euros of profit earned by the U.S. corporation in Europe converted to a stupendous $160 in profit when stated in dollars.  This explains why the Fed has been so keen to trash the dollar: it magically increases corporate profits and thus drives stocks higher. The mainstream financial media's explanation for the weak-dollar policy is that the Fed is anxious to increase exports, but this is a sideshow; exports make up less than 9% of the U.S. GDP. The real action is in corporate profits, which thanks to the weak dollar are near all-time highs of $2 trillion, about 14% of the nation's entire GDP."  

hmmm....US corporations have long enjoyed

• the stability and protections of locating within the US
• the cheap and abundant labor force of "brown/yellow countries"
• and the manipulation/mushrooming of profits by way of the US dollar being the reserve currency of planet earth

But, we still have to float asinine ideas like the "magic trillion dollar platinum coin" to balance our budgets...

The Amazing Shrinking Middle Class

"When I go into the supermarket, I marvel at the price of things: a single onion for a dollar, four bucks for a jar of jam, five bucks for a box of Cheerios, four bucks for a wedge of cheese. Is everybody except Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, and Mark Zuckerberg living on store-brand macaroni and ketchup? It's hard to measure the desperation of households in this culture of rugged individualism. At social gatherings friends rarely tell you that they are two months behind in their mortgage payment and maxed out on their credit cards. And that's the supposed middle class, at least the remnants of it. I can't tell you what the tattoo-and-falling-down-pants crowd talks about in the parking lot outside the 7-Eleven store. Perhaps they swap meth recipes."

By my definition, I suspect that the "middle class" is smaller than most people think.  I think that if you total up the credits and debits of many families thought to be "middle class" you would find that they are in fact "workin' for the man" (more or less).  Sure, they have many of the trappings of modern suburban life and by most worldly standards lead a pretty cushy life where material things are concerned.  But in return, they must resolve themselves to climbing upon "the giant hamster wheel" to maintain their "social place" and belongings.  I would imagine it would become quite mind numbing over time.  Each day, they become another day older and deeper in debt...mostly by their own action or inaction or inability to say "no" to themselves or marketing firms or advertisements or peer pressure or all of the aforementioned.

I have to confess being a long time reader of grouchy old "get off my lawn" doom and gloomer, James Howard Kunstler...  but you have to admit that he makes some valid points.

Dysfunction Junction

We have a Federal Reserve that is presently worried about the side effects of having dumped a LOT of rum in the punch bowl known as the U.S. economy AND a bunch of Hollywood actors demanding a plan to curb gun violence after having made some pretty graphic films over a LOT of years that contain TONS AND TONS of explicit violence using .... wait for it .... guns.

Sounds about right....

Trouble...Right Here in River City

"Minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting showed a growing reticence about further increases in the central bank's $2.9 trillion balance sheet, which it expanded sharply in response to the financial crisis and recession of 2007-2009."

bwahahahaha!!!! I think I see some Federal Reserve Governors who are going to have some sleepless nights and not be able to take a solid shit during 2013.....

What, Me Worry?

...just got my paycheck

I'm gonna paint the whole town gray

...whether it's a night in Paris

or a Fresno matinee'

"The minutes of the Federal Reserve's December monetary policy meeting revealed a somewhat surprising level of concern among the ranks of central bankers regarding the long-term impact of the bank's asset purchase program, or quantitative easing," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington D.C."

What, me worry?

So you're worried that the economy is hooked on the easy money crack cocaine you've been pumping into the system, huh?

Dysfunction - American Style

"Again, the myth is that Washington gave its citizens a deal. The reality is that it was a desperate 11th-hour deal devoid of resolving many crucial long-term fiscal issues."

from Zero Hedge

Yep, I know that there was a 300 point rally in the stock market, Barry went back to Christmas vacation in Hawaii and all sides breathed a sigh of relief to have averted the "fiscal cliff" but count on your old Uncle Kenny to piss on your parade...if you are going to come here, wear a rain jacket.