It's Black Friday, the day known in America as the day to get the best deals on just about anything, from computers, to wide-screen TVs, to clothes, to toys, to, well, you get the picture.
Big TVs are all the rage in fat-a$$ America, as usual. People just can't seem to stop plopping down on the couch or easy chair to gaze at oversized images of overpaid actors or athletes doing things the average Jane or Joe calls "entertainment."
As far as network shows are concerned, they're the epitome of immorality and trashiness these days, as multi-cultural stupidity has overtaken the airwaves. Homosexuals, deviants, people of diverse backgrounds overpopulate network fare. In the sports arena, it's mostly minorities doing the running, throwing, diving, catching, and, especially in the NFL, kneeling during the national anthem.
Ordinary people watching the millionaire thugs, bullies, wife-beaters, and serial abusers of self and others has taken a bit of a hit this season, with both attendance and TV viewership lower, but there are still millions of people who - for whatever reason - cannot separate themselves from the stadia or the television, despite the paucity of good play, the obligatory self-congratulatory on-field celebrations, and the obscene amounts of money that help pay these goons, sell their merchandise, and fill the stands.
Thankfully (yes, let's not forget that yesterday was Thanksgiving), perhaps, people are paying for their entertainment, trinkets, TVs, and trash with equally worthless money. Federal Reserve notes (debt instruments) are the medium of choice (make that demand, by force, by the federal government) for payment in the former land of the free. The value of the almighty dollar has fallen precipitously since its inception in 1913, when the Federal Reserve System took control of the monetary affairs of the country.
In 1913, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk would cost somebody about 38 cents. Today - or rather, in 2008, according to this handy chart - those items would cost roughly $5.37, an increase of over 1400%.
A new car, in 1913, could be had for about $500. In 2008, new cars averaged over $27,000. An average house cost $3,400 in 1913. Today, one can have multiple walls and a roof over one's head for a mere $206,000.
People will protest that these numbers are hogwash or some other kind of whitewash, eyewash, or mouthwash, because wages were lower back in 1913 and cars and houses are better today than back then. Such an argument would be hard to maintain when one considers the materials going into new homes and the massive amounts of plastic needed to build a new car. Back in the day, houses were mortar, plaster, wood, brick, pipe and other durable building materials. Today's homes are pressed wood, plastic, sheetrock and other flimsy stuff that probably will be mostly done with after fifty years.
Further, milk and eggs are pretty much the same (actually they were better, more nutritious, and more wholesome back in 1913) then as now, but we pay much more for them.
Another argument can be made that Disposable Income in 1913 was $1,283.04; $30,465.50 in 2008, an improvement of 2,374%. OK, but, how about the federal income tax? In 1913, it was 1%. In 2008, it was roughly 18.5%, an increase of 53,414%, but, who's counting? Good thing the government accepts only fiat Federal Reserve Notes for payment of taxes, and it's no wonder that they try to collect more and more of them every year because, well, they're not holding their value very well.
So, go shopping. Buy junk you'll throw away in a few years. Pay for it with dollars that aren't worth much. You'll be rewarded for such foolish behavior by having to pay more and more every year, especially in taxes, because the government - yes the government of which halls of congress are populated by molesters, liars, crooks, bribe-takers, and miscreants of all stripes - just can't get enough.
And you keep paying them, and paying them, and paying them.
Go ahead. Spend those nearly-worthless Federal Reserve Notes.
It's Black Friday.
At the Close, Wednesday, December 22, 2017:
Dow: 23,526.18, -64.65 (-0.27%)
NASDAQ: 6,867.36, +4.88 (+0.07%)
S&P 500: 2,597.08, -1.95 (-0.08%)
NYSE Composite: 12,390.83, +4.95 (+0.04%)
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Friday, November 24, 2017
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
China Steel Exports To USA Subject To 256% Tariff
Remember, folks, the US Department of Commerce has your backs.
The department is recommending that the United States impose a tariff on steel imports from China of 256%, because they feel China has been dumping steel on the market and causing a severe disruption in the price, negatively affecting US steel producers.
Gee, really? What's next, tariffs on electronics, cars, just about anything you buy at Wal-Mart or nearly anywhere in America?
Where's the great Ben Bernanke when you need him? You know, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve who is an EXPERT on the Great Depression.
Why do we need the Big Bernank now? Because, his expertise would prevail on our glorious government goofballs that protectionism is exactly what made the Great Depression so (not) great.
You take depressed markets overfull of inventory, tack on tariffs and you get exactly what the Fed wants in order to hide its horrible policies: velocity of money at zero, falling wages, layoffs and now, the kicker, goods too expensive for anybody to buy. Pure genius, these guys looking out for all of us little people.
This is just the beginning. Expect to see more trade protectionism going forward and more countries falling into recession. Add it all up and you have Great Depression 2.0.
It's not going to happen all of a sudden, because the Fed is still fighting deflation. But, when the going gets rough, really rough, like when Wall Street (hell) freezes over and commits suicide in a crash of stocks of companies that have been repurchasing their own shares for the past six years and they lay off millions of workers, that's when the government will move in full force with trade restrictions and tariffs so that Americans can't purchase anything from the evil Chinamen.
Maybe somebody should have thought about this before we sent all of our manufacturing base over to the Red Dragons. Then again, maybe they did.
Meanwhile, the Santa Claus rally continues on Wall Street. The S&P gained enough today to show a small profit for the year and the Dow Jones Industrials are closing in on being black for 2015.
The department is recommending that the United States impose a tariff on steel imports from China of 256%, because they feel China has been dumping steel on the market and causing a severe disruption in the price, negatively affecting US steel producers.
Gee, really? What's next, tariffs on electronics, cars, just about anything you buy at Wal-Mart or nearly anywhere in America?
Where's the great Ben Bernanke when you need him? You know, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve who is an EXPERT on the Great Depression.
Why do we need the Big Bernank now? Because, his expertise would prevail on our glorious government goofballs that protectionism is exactly what made the Great Depression so (not) great.
You take depressed markets overfull of inventory, tack on tariffs and you get exactly what the Fed wants in order to hide its horrible policies: velocity of money at zero, falling wages, layoffs and now, the kicker, goods too expensive for anybody to buy. Pure genius, these guys looking out for all of us little people.
This is just the beginning. Expect to see more trade protectionism going forward and more countries falling into recession. Add it all up and you have Great Depression 2.0.
It's not going to happen all of a sudden, because the Fed is still fighting deflation. But, when the going gets rough, really rough, like when Wall Street (hell) freezes over and commits suicide in a crash of stocks of companies that have been repurchasing their own shares for the past six years and they lay off millions of workers, that's when the government will move in full force with trade restrictions and tariffs so that Americans can't purchase anything from the evil Chinamen.
Maybe somebody should have thought about this before we sent all of our manufacturing base over to the Red Dragons. Then again, maybe they did.
Meanwhile, the Santa Claus rally continues on Wall Street. The S&P gained enough today to show a small profit for the year and the Dow Jones Industrials are closing in on being black for 2015.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
New Year Rally Continues, But Financial Stocks Fade
Another three-day weekend has passed, another European crisis barely averted and, lo and behold, another Tuesday rally fueled by speculation in pre-market futures. To say that US markets - and, by inference, global markets - are being propped up on false hope and denial of reality would be a gross understatement.
A little history suffices to show that last year, January was a positive one for the markets, with the S&P 500 gaining 29 points, pointing the way toward - according to the mighty January Barometer - a solid year, and we all know how that turned out, with the market's absolute top occurring in late April.
This is a replay of just about the same scenario with one big difference. Stocks are probably a little better than fairly valued, but corporate profits are not expected to set new records (after 2011's record earnings). Rather, competition and currency exchange concerns will likely limit what most of the big, multinational firms will make in 2012, to say nothing of the impending default of Greece and the recent downgrading of about half of the nations comprising the Eurozone.
Here in the US, focus will be on the presidential race, which looks exceedingly like it will come down to a very disturbing and divisive fight between the incumbent Democrat, Barack Obama and the Republican Mitt Romney, who looks quite a bit like what "occupy" movement supporters deride as a fat-cat, political and capitalist sociopath.
In essence and for the practical purposes of governing, Romney's not much different from Obama, leaving Americans with the usual unpalatable choice of the lesser of two evils. The press, for the fourth presidential election in a row, will hail this as "the most important election of your life," which, of course, it certainly is not, though the amount of money pumped into the campaigns by super-PACs will be the stuff of legend.
With any luck, the preponderance of political advertising will result in more Americans revisiting old habits and older friends, and tuning out the mainstream propaganda machine full time.
As for this current vapor-rally on minimal volume (a tell-tale sign of weakness), it may just come to an abrupt end with the expiration of options on Friday, or, being that the powers behind the Ponzi fiat money scheme need to keep up appearances, it could just saunter along for a few more months. Since the Republicans in congress wish to unseat Mr. Obama at almost all costs, expect gridlock in Washington for the rest of 2012, though geo-political events (think Europe, Iran and the Middle East) could certainly send stocks spiraling lower, just as they did in late 2007 and through much of 2008.
Some interesting macro-economic facts came to light over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, such as ratings agency Standard & Poor's commencing to downgrade the EU's main liquidity funding mechanism, the ESFS, a notch, from AAA to AA+, putting even more stress on the Continent's debt issues.
As mentioned Friday, talks about restructuring private Greek debt have fallen apart and an outright default before March 20 appears to be all but certain.
Back in the US, the average age of vehicles on the road has reached a new high of 10.8 years as strapped consumers delay the purchase of new cars indefinitely. So much for the government's bailout of GM and Chrysler. Shares of General Motors are up about four points this year, reaching 24.20 as of today, but are still well below the IPO price of $35 per share.
Two of the nation's largest banks issued 4th quarter earnings reports prior to the opening bell. Wells-Fargo (WFC), now the largest bank in the US by market cap, met expectations, but Citigroup missed badly, with reported earnings of 38 cents a share, missing rosy estimates of 51 cents per share and well below last year's fourth quarter of 43 cents. Shares of Citigroup were bashed, losing 2.53, to 28.22, a loss of more than eight percent.
Today's market was punctuated within the first 20 minutes of trading, hitting the highs for the day, with the Dow up 161 points before the day-long selling commenced. Optimistic gapped-up opens followed by floundering into a weak close is a sure sign of an over-hyped market, though the Dow has sported gains in six of ten sessions this year.
Bull markets don't last forever, especially secular bulls, such as this one, which has persisted since the bottom in March of 2009. The mini corrections in the Spring and again in August haven't dampened investor sentiment much, though weak volume remains a persistent feature. Eventually, reality, such as Citi's poor showing today, will take hold of even the most stubborn bulls... and their money.
Dow 12,482.07, +60.01 (0.48%)
NASDAQ 2,728.08, +17.41 (0.64%)
S&P 500 1,293.67, +4.58 (0.36%)
NYSE Composite 7,670.47, +38.44 (0.50%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,819,276,375
NYSE Volume 3,883,768,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3262-2341
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 217-46
WTI crude oil: 100.71, +2.01
Gold: 1,655.60, +24.80
Silver: 30.14, +0.61
A little history suffices to show that last year, January was a positive one for the markets, with the S&P 500 gaining 29 points, pointing the way toward - according to the mighty January Barometer - a solid year, and we all know how that turned out, with the market's absolute top occurring in late April.
This is a replay of just about the same scenario with one big difference. Stocks are probably a little better than fairly valued, but corporate profits are not expected to set new records (after 2011's record earnings). Rather, competition and currency exchange concerns will likely limit what most of the big, multinational firms will make in 2012, to say nothing of the impending default of Greece and the recent downgrading of about half of the nations comprising the Eurozone.
Here in the US, focus will be on the presidential race, which looks exceedingly like it will come down to a very disturbing and divisive fight between the incumbent Democrat, Barack Obama and the Republican Mitt Romney, who looks quite a bit like what "occupy" movement supporters deride as a fat-cat, political and capitalist sociopath.
In essence and for the practical purposes of governing, Romney's not much different from Obama, leaving Americans with the usual unpalatable choice of the lesser of two evils. The press, for the fourth presidential election in a row, will hail this as "the most important election of your life," which, of course, it certainly is not, though the amount of money pumped into the campaigns by super-PACs will be the stuff of legend.
With any luck, the preponderance of political advertising will result in more Americans revisiting old habits and older friends, and tuning out the mainstream propaganda machine full time.
As for this current vapor-rally on minimal volume (a tell-tale sign of weakness), it may just come to an abrupt end with the expiration of options on Friday, or, being that the powers behind the Ponzi fiat money scheme need to keep up appearances, it could just saunter along for a few more months. Since the Republicans in congress wish to unseat Mr. Obama at almost all costs, expect gridlock in Washington for the rest of 2012, though geo-political events (think Europe, Iran and the Middle East) could certainly send stocks spiraling lower, just as they did in late 2007 and through much of 2008.
Some interesting macro-economic facts came to light over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, such as ratings agency Standard & Poor's commencing to downgrade the EU's main liquidity funding mechanism, the ESFS, a notch, from AAA to AA+, putting even more stress on the Continent's debt issues.
As mentioned Friday, talks about restructuring private Greek debt have fallen apart and an outright default before March 20 appears to be all but certain.
Back in the US, the average age of vehicles on the road has reached a new high of 10.8 years as strapped consumers delay the purchase of new cars indefinitely. So much for the government's bailout of GM and Chrysler. Shares of General Motors are up about four points this year, reaching 24.20 as of today, but are still well below the IPO price of $35 per share.
Two of the nation's largest banks issued 4th quarter earnings reports prior to the opening bell. Wells-Fargo (WFC), now the largest bank in the US by market cap, met expectations, but Citigroup missed badly, with reported earnings of 38 cents a share, missing rosy estimates of 51 cents per share and well below last year's fourth quarter of 43 cents. Shares of Citigroup were bashed, losing 2.53, to 28.22, a loss of more than eight percent.
Today's market was punctuated within the first 20 minutes of trading, hitting the highs for the day, with the Dow up 161 points before the day-long selling commenced. Optimistic gapped-up opens followed by floundering into a weak close is a sure sign of an over-hyped market, though the Dow has sported gains in six of ten sessions this year.
Bull markets don't last forever, especially secular bulls, such as this one, which has persisted since the bottom in March of 2009. The mini corrections in the Spring and again in August haven't dampened investor sentiment much, though weak volume remains a persistent feature. Eventually, reality, such as Citi's poor showing today, will take hold of even the most stubborn bulls... and their money.
Dow 12,482.07, +60.01 (0.48%)
NASDAQ 2,728.08, +17.41 (0.64%)
S&P 500 1,293.67, +4.58 (0.36%)
NYSE Composite 7,670.47, +38.44 (0.50%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,819,276,375
NYSE Volume 3,883,768,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3262-2341
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 217-46
WTI crude oil: 100.71, +2.01
Gold: 1,655.60, +24.80
Silver: 30.14, +0.61
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