Sunday, July 31, 2022
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Friday, July 29, 2022
LOL, Michael Anton has moved on from the Flight 93 Election to the RMS Olympic/HMS Hawke Election
. . . in full daylight on a calm sea within sight of land . . . two normally operated vessels steamed blithely to a point of impact as though mesmerized.
The waste of running a lame duck AGAIN just never occurs to the man.
Here.
WaPo lies are always good for a laugh
But with Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell moving aggressively . . .
Here.
America and its people have added over $12 trillion to their total credit market debt outstanding just since 2019, but that has done little but stall the decline of debt growth
The $90 trillion millstone: We did it to ourselves.
We are now in the future we tapped in the past for the prosperity of "debt draws forward prosperity", and there's little here to be found.
From 1946 to 2008 when we hit the debt growth iceberg, real GDP grew at a compound annual rate of 3.324%. Since then it has fallen 49%, to 1.68%.
We should have stayed with capitalism in the post-war, where one risks actual savings instead of future notional tax, income, and fiat money "revenues". But capitalism went out the window a long time ago, bringing with it the end of the gold standard, the creation of the Fed, and the introduction of the income tax, among other horribles.
Payback is a bitch, and what can't be paid back won't. The rest comes out of your hide.
LOL, Joe Manchin extracts gas and oil drilling concessions in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska in $369 billion compromise called "America’s biggest legislative moment for climate and energy policy"
However, some groups more strongly condemned the support for fossil fuel projects in the agreement, specifically provisions that would mandate new oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. Manchin, who comes from the coal-rich West Virginia, has argued that drilling in these areas is neccesary for the country’s energy independence.
More.
Let's hope Blue Dog Joe is made of stronger stuff than Bart Stupak and stands firm on the fossil fuel provisions. Stupak famously flamed out in 2010 when he helped pass Obamacare under reconciliation even though it omitted Hyde Amendment provisions prohibiting federal funding of abortion which he had insisted he supported and had to be in the bill.
Thursday, July 28, 2022
The compound annual growth rate for US real GDP over the last 23 years continues almost 44% off the 1929-1999 rate of 3.53%
Recent US GDP: Nominal / Real
4Q2021: $24.0028 trillion / $19.8063 trillion
1Q2022: $24.3867 trillion / $19.7279 trillion
2Q2022: $24.8518 trillion / $19.6817 trillion (first estimate)
BEA, here, Table 3, Line 1.
Everybody's focusing on the short term decline in real GDP this year, as usual, ignoring the much worse big picture.
From 2Q1999 through 2Q2022 the compound annual growth rate comes in at a measly 1.98%, 43.9% off the previous 70-year performance.
That's the real story about real GDP. We are living in much diminished circumstances since 1999.
And nobody knows how to fix it.
LOL, Larry Summers reportedly behind relatively puny tax and spending deal between Joe Manchin and Chucky Schumer
The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the details, reported that the two men spoke this week. A spokeswoman for Summers declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Manchin. This time, the haggling and lobbying bore fruit: a surprise agreement for a $369 billion tax, energy and climate plan that Manchin and Schumer announced on Wednesday.
You remember Larry Summers, right?
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Fixed it for ya: Stonks continue to laugh at puny Fed rate hikes as interest rate arbitrage is defacto Fed policy
The stock market is liking Fed rate hikes this year, unlike in the past
Arbitrage.
This year's drinking word.
DFF: 1.58%.
CPIAUCNS: 9.1%.
Hey, watch me borrow cheap, buy a trailer park, and raise the rents and fees on little old ladies on Social Security.
We're goin' to Vegas, baby!
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Monday, July 25, 2022
Institutional investors have bought up 20% of mobile home parks and jacked up the rents on the low income residents, devouring widows' houses
The plight of residents at Ridgeview is playing out nationwide as institutional investors, led by private equity firms and real estate investment trusts and sometimes funded by pension funds, swoop in to buy mobile home parks. Critics contend mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are fueling the problem by backing a growing number of investor loans. ...
Driven by some of the strongest returns in real estate, investors have shaken up a once-sleepy sector that’s home to more than 22 million mostly low-income Americans in 43,000 communities. Many aggressively promote the parks as ensuring a steady return — by repeatedly raising rent. ...
George McCarthy, president and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, said about a fifth of mobile home parks, or around 800,000, have been purchased in the past eight years by institutional investors.
He was among those singling out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for guaranteeing the loans as part of a what the lending giants bill as expanding affordable housing. Since 2014, the Lincoln Institute estimates Freddie Mac alone provided $9.6 billion in financing for the purchase of more than 950 communities across 44 states. ...
Soon after investors started buying up parks in 2015, the complaints of double-digit rent increases followed.
More.
Sunday, July 24, 2022
A Devil's Dictionary definition of "happy ending"
HAPPY ENDING noun phrase: a) archaic, now little used, description for the conclusion of a story where all's well that ends well, which of course is never the case; b) the fortune in the cookie which always comes with your Chinese takeout and is always made better by supplying the words "in bed" at the end; c) male sexual orgasm coming at the end of a session at a massage parlor, especially if there's no extra charge; d) description emphasizing the Schadenfreude you felt when you saw Max in Mad Max 2 permanently reunite Wez with his lover Lord Humungus in the final crash scene.
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Wackadoodle progressive Democrat Walter Bujak of Kent County, Michigan, crosses over to become part of the Republican Blue Wave!
I kid you not!
If this guy wins in the Michigan Kent County Republican 21st Commissioner District race on Aug 2, I might just check in to a mental institution myself and ask Alan Bolter for help!
I believe the greatest challenge we face is unifying the citizens of both the Republican and Democratic parties. ... It is time for Democrats to wake up and cross over to the Republican Party!
-- Walter Bujak
Seen here:
Holy cow, Republican candidate for Michigan State Senate says inflation is a good thing
If there is a bigger nincompoop running for office this year, I don't know it.
Seen here:
He reminds me of the ding dongs who signed Mark Dice's inflation petition back in 2009:
Friday, July 22, 2022
The idea that Trump is going to get personnel right in a second term, and on a massive scale, is just preposterous
Axios reports, in laborious detail, here.
The grifters are lining up from sea to shining sea, including Demented Jim, and Trump retreads Stephen Miller, Mark Meadows, and Michael Rigas who didn't get it right the first time.
Who the hell wants to go to work for just four years for a lame duck?
These people think we are fools.
Michigan's Republican US House members Jack Bergman, Peter Meijer, and Fred Upton vote to turn on immigration magnet, give citizenship to the adult children of H-1B visa holders, the 1.5 million foreigners who already take jobs from Americans
The Roll Call vote is here.
The story is here.
AmodeiRepublicanNevadaYEA
BairdRepublicanIndianaYEA
BaldersonRepublicanOhioYEA
BarrRepublicanKentuckyYEA
BergmanRepublicanMichiganYEA
BradyRepublicanTexasYEA
BucshonRepublicanIndianaYEA
CammackRepublicanFloridaYEA
Carter (TX)RepublicanTexasYEA
CawthornRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA
CheneyRepublicanWyomingYEA
ColeRepublicanOklahomaYEA
Davis, RodneyRepublicanIllinoisYEA
Diaz-BalartRepublicanFloridaYEA
DunnRepublicanFloridaYEA
EmmerRepublicanMinnesotaYEA
FallonRepublicanTexasYEA
FitzpatrickRepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA
FloresRepublicanTexasYEA
FoxxRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA
Garcia (CA)RepublicanCaliforniaYEA
GibbsRepublicanOhioYEA
GimenezRepublicanFloridaYEA
Gonzales, TonyRepublicanTexasYEA
Gonzalez (OH)RepublicanOhioYEA
Gooden (TX)RepublicanTexasYEA
GrangerRepublicanTexasYEA
Graves (LA)RepublicanLouisianaYEA
GuthrieRepublicanKentuckyYEA
Herrera BeutlerRepublicanWashingtonYEA
IssaRepublicanCaliforniaYEA
Jacobs (NY)RepublicanNew YorkYEA
Johnson (OH)RepublicanOhioYEA
Joyce (OH)RepublicanOhioYEA
KatkoRepublicanNew YorkYEA
KellerRepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA
Kim (CA)RepublicanCaliforniaYEA
KinzingerRepublicanIllinoisYEA
LongRepublicanMissouriYEA
MaceRepublicanSouth CarolinaYEA
MalliotakisRepublicanNew YorkYEA
McCaulRepublicanTexasYEA
McHenryRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA
MeijerRepublicanMichiganYEA
Miller-MeeksRepublicanIowaYEA
Moore (AL)RepublicanAlabamaYEA
NewhouseRepublicanWashingtonYEA
ReschenthalerRepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA
Rice (SC)RepublicanSouth CarolinaYEA
Rogers (AL)RepublicanAlabamaYEA
RouzerRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA
SalazarRepublicanFloridaYEA
SimpsonRepublicanIdahoYEA
SteelRepublicanCaliforniaYEA
TaylorRepublicanTexasYEA
TenneyRepublicanNew YorkYEA
Thompson (PA)RepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA
TurnerRepublicanOhioYEA
UptonRepublicanMichiganYEA
ValadaoRepublicanCaliforniaYEA
WagnerRepublicanMissouriYEA
Wilson (SC)RepublicanSouth CarolinaYEA
LOL, after one month the Fed has reduced its balance sheet by a whopping 0.37%, only $8.899 trillion to go!
At this rate it will take only 22 more years and Jerome Powell will be 91.
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Land of the sooty, home of the knave
In those countries that pretend to freedom, princes are subject to those laws which their people have chosen.
-- Jonathan Swift
We live in a pretend world where everyone is pissing down our backs while telling us it's raining
Men pretend to be women.
Doctors pretend jabs stop spread of disease.
Know nothings pretend masks don't work because mandates don't.
Bankers pretend low interest rates will bring down high inflation rates.
Politicians pretend they had nothing to do with causing inflation.
Scientists pretend the world has never been hotter and we're all going to die if we don't do something.
Policy makers pretend the future is electric while shutting down power plants.
Women pretend their fetuses aren't alive.
Catholics pretend the pope is infallible.
Muslims pretend Muhammad was illiterate.
Jews pretend to be chosen above all the races of the earth.
The Chicoms pretend they're not committing genocide in Xinjiang.
The Russkies pretend Ukraine had it coming.
White people pretend to be anything but white.
Americans pretend we're all good and everything is awesome.
Wow, the fierce inflation fighters of the European Central Bank have raised their key interest rate to 0%!
The ECB, the central bank of the 19 nations that share the euro
currency, surprised markets by pushing its benchmark rate up by 50
basis points, bringing its deposit rate to zero. Traders had expected a
smaller hike of 25 basis points. ... The ECB had previously signaled it would be increasing rates in July and
September as consumer prices keep surging, but it was unclear whether
it would go as far as bringing rates back to zero. lololololol
More.
Where will the shocking inflation-fighting developments end?!
Like almost every other public official who has come down with COVID-19 this year, who are now too numerous to list, Joe Biden was fully vaxxed and boosted twice
Before Joe Biden came down with COVID-19, he was at Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts, where 1530 MW of electricity used to be produced from cheap, plentiful coal
Torn down starting in 2019, the former coal power plant will become a hub for just 804 MW of offshore wind energy, 52% of what used to come from that location.
Biden was accompanied by the usual suspects.
More.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
How is it that the National Weather Service at Grand Rapids, Michigan, station KGRR, can't get the high or the low temperature right for July 19, 2022?
The three day history for KGRR shows that the high on the 19th was 88 degrees F at numerous points throughout the afternoon and evening, and that the low was 71 degrees F early in the morning, but if you look at the daily data for a month it says the high was 90 degrees F and the low was . . . 49 degrees F.
The mean minimum for July going back to 1892 is 49 degrees F, so that explains that error. Some idiot transcribed that value instead of the actual value. So far this month, the lowest minimum was 52 degrees F.
Can't explain the 2 degree F discrepancy for the high, though. You would think that there would be room for a spike up to 90 during an hour interval by the presence of at least one 89 value at some regular hourly interval, but there isn't one.
Is someone's fat finger on the scale over there?
It's a good reminder that the human element introduces error into the record, whether intentional or not, and that you can't believe everything you're told, even about the simplest of things.
By the way, I'm just four miles from the station as the crow flies, and we had a rain shower last night which doesn't show up in the three day history either.
I know, I know, aLl wEaThEr iS LoCaL.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Nancy Pelosi knows nothing about her husband's purchase of Nvidia on June 17th
Paul Pelosi, an avid stock trader, was shown to have spent between $1 million and $5 million to purchase 20,000 shares of the semiconductor company Nvidia in late June, around the same time when he sold portions of his stocks in Apple and Visa. The disclosure raised questions about whether Paul Pelosi had knowledge of the pending legislation.
Anyone invited into the Capitol by Capitol police on January 6th (there's video for crying out loud) but still prosecuted will rightly find this to be a double standard
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said that after reviewing the evidence, it “cannot move forward with misdemeanor charges of unlawful entry against the nine individuals who were arrested on June 16, 2022 at the Longworth Office Building.”
The office confirmed that those individuals had been invited in by congressional staffers “and were never asked to leave by the staffers who invited them, though, members of the group had been told at various points by the U.S. Capitol Police that they were supposed to have an escort.”
More.
Monday, July 18, 2022
Sunday, July 17, 2022
LOL, nominal retail sales were up 7.7% year over year in Friday's report, but when adjusted for inflation were down 0.5% year over year
Put another way, it went up because you're paying more for food and energy, not because you're letting the good times roll.
YOU ARE SPENDING MORE FOR FEWER THINGS:
Rising costs for food and gasoline in particular helped propel the increase.
More.
Saturday, July 16, 2022
LOL, on Tuesday July 12th Joe Biden told the president of Mexico in a meeting that America has the fastest growing economy in the world
Biden, once López Obrador finished, reminded him that America's economy is the fastest growing in the world, while showing no umbrage and restating his respect for Mexico and its leader.
More.
Joe Biden's own US Bureau of Economic Analysis, June 29th, said GDP fell at an annual rate of 1.6% in 1Q2022:
Deaths per day from COVID-19 in the United States July 1-15, 2022: 383
June 2022: 363
May 2022: 373
Apr 2022: 426
Mar 2022: 980
Feb 2022: 2,247
Jan 2022: 1,987
Friday, July 15, 2022
CNBC story blames capitalism's law of supply and demand for inflation: 92 million millennials caused it, not Federal Reserve interference with interest rates and mortgages
... too many people with too much money chasing too few goods ... millennials are still making up the largest chunk of the homebuyer market by generation ...
More.
Meanwhile, this housing bubble dwarfs the last one, and we're supposed to blame millennials for it.
Sounds like a repeat of the excuse for the last one: greedy Baby Boomers.
Just forget about Zero Interest Rate Policy artificially driving down borrowing costs for over a decade, and forget about the crappy low-yielding $2.7 trillion in MBS still on the Fed Balance Sheet nobody wants, because millennials are to blame!
The chutzpah.
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