Posted on 07/11/2013 11:44:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
They say slow and steady wins all the time, and right now it's looking like it's true with respect to the economy and stock market. You can argue the recovery has been steady, and there's no doubt it's been slow, which makes the correlating move in stocks puzzling. It reminds me of the story of The Mouse That Roared. The hard part is figuring out who the mouse is in this case. In the story the tiny (three miles by five miles) fictitious European Duchy of Grand Fenwick declares war on America because an American winemaker is making a knock-off version of Grand Fenwick's biggest export - a pinot wine.
The idea was to go to war, lose the war, then see America come in and rebuild the country as it had recently done for Germany via the Marshall Plan (and since then in every corner of the world - even when we lose wars). Instead of losing through a stroke of luck, Duchy forces (one Field Marshall, three men-at-arms and twenty long bowmen) land in Manhattan during a city-wide disaster drill to find the place empty. They wander around until they stumble on a top secret lab that's working on the "Q Bomb," capable of destroying the world.
They're allowed to escape because their mail uniforms were thought to be the skin of Martian invaders.
America finally learns it's been at war for two months but now must bend to the will of the Duchy which has the bomb and its inventor. There are demands for greater smaller nations to have a voice in global affairs and for inspection of all of the world's nuclear weapons. Eventually, the creator of the bomb discovers it doesn't work - it's a dud. But, he doesn't tell anyone for fear of the world spiraling out of its peaceful state. The mouse that roared became the peacekeeper of the planet. There are lots of candidates for the mouse that roars and gets its way these days, including:
Environmentalists
Unions
Mobs in Emerging Growth Nations
US Economy
Ben Bernanke
It goes without saying Ben Bernanke is powerful but is he just hiding behind a "Q Bomb" or does he have the stuff that will bring an era of vigor and renewed optimism into the country? There are signs the economy is edging back but the glacial pace suggests a natural phenomenon that probably happens anyway - and probably fast, without all the money printing shenanigans. Certainly it's been something of an eye-opener to have the kind of Fed "accommodation" witnessed over the past few years with such negligible impact... and no inflation!
Then there's the economy, which used to soar like an eagle but is now as quiet as a mouse, yet this may be the earning season that makes enough noise to spark the next leg of the stock market rally. Sure, the numbers are like that if the Duchy of Grand Fenwick yet it's been so long the natives are impressed. The rationale is we're heading in the right direction, a fact echoed in the May JOLTS report.
For May 2013
Job Openings were at 3.83 million, up slightly from April's 3.80 but the quality of jobs is worrisome.
Quits: 2.07 million (2.9 million December 2007)
Layoffs: 1.74 million from 1.96 million a year earlier and 2.60 million (peak) January 2009
Communists claimed 100% employment that way.
LMAO!
Allow me, Sir (or Madame, as the case may be), the honour of disabusing you of any notion that The Won does not want this country, and all of Western Civilization, brought to its knees.
He, and the barbarians on the other end of his BlackBerry, want to see most of us dead, the rest in chains.
You have to remember that Charles is a stocks guy. He runs an investment business, and the stock market has been doing well. However, as a smart guy, he should know that the party is being paid for with printed money and can’t last.
We certainly feel the pinch. I don’t care what they say, the cost of everything, particularly food, is rising rapidly.
He does. But did you catch the snippet in the debates where he took credit for it just the same?
I hope you mean paying with something other than a government issued EBT card.
I've noticed lately that most of us buying just what we need are using cash or privately issued debit or credit cards, where as those buying carts full of stuff the rest of us can't afford are using government issued EBT cards.
One was so self-conscious the other day at Wal-Mart that she didn't even wanting me putting my stuff on the belt until she'd checked out. She even had her mousy husband, boyfriend or whatever stand between us so I couldn't.
“More and more people are buying only what they need to live and not what they want to make life more pleasurable.”
That’s right; in my area a local bowling alley is giving away free games just so they can make money on shoe rentals and hopefully some food/drinks.
“I believe a lot of Americans are clueless because they see people in grocery stores with carts full.”
Our new(ish) Wal-Mart is shutting down other supermarkets anyway; it has become the company store where the miners can run up tabs to feed their families.
NJ is in really bad shape, with no light on the horizon.
“One was so self-conscious the other day at Wal-Mart that she didn’t even wanting me putting my stuff on the belt until she’d checked out. She even had her mousy husband, boyfriend or whatever stand between us so I couldn’t.”
Probably the “baby-daddy”; the term covers all races & creeds.
Everyone except me had paid with some type of govt card.
She even made the comment about how she couldn’t afford to buy what they were getting for free.
This was at a Wal-Mart too, and the checker told me to look at all the full carts. She said when the carts are full of groceries, the govt is paying.
She said when people are paying for their own groceries the carts aren’t full and it’s only what they need.
A lot of people fault Wal-Mart, but letting people run up a tab so they can buy food they can’t be all bad.
The worst part is in 2008 when the economy crashed people still had savings to fall back on.
Now they don’t.
“A lot of people fault Wal-Mart, but letting people run up a tab so they can buy food they can’t be all bad.”
That was just a reference to credit cards (whereas the old company store, where you had to buy your goods, would keep track of a tab).
Not only are the savings gone, but retirement funds are gone, debt has been maxed out, and they’re still not keeping up.
Terrifying.
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