Screwball

Ukraine is subjugated by us. They are nothing but a tool in a giant money moving machine to make war toy companies rich (and their shareholders). We are now close to shelling out over $100 billion to a country to fund a proxy war that has an annual GDP of $155 billion, while Russia spends $65 billion on their military. We are not only insane, but bad at math. But the right people get rich so it's all good.

Gomer, do you think Putin is in the room with you right now?

I have to tell this story because I think some of you "musicians" will get a kick out of it. First, I must disclose, I have the musical talent of a brick. But I tried (piano, guitar, drums) and it didn't matter. So be it. I do have a few close buddies who play in bands and have done so for a long time. Enjoyed them around here when they do their thing - good for all involved. The funny part is one of the drummers I know... I know 3 drummers, probably 6 guitar guys, a few singers, along with an organ and harmonica player (harmonica guy nails "what I love about you" by the Romantics) as did the rest. Dance floor full. Fun stuff. Anyway, the one drummer guy was told at some point he was "only" a drummer and not a real musician. That never sat to well with him, so it is never allowed in the conversation. My best buddy in that conversation is also a drummer, and he's doesn't buy it either. Drummers matter IMO, and I have no agency to say that. A band without a drummer usually has canned noise or some form of metronome. That's what the drums are for - drink your beer. Giggle. I've been lucky in a small little town like Cornhole to always have local bands who do a great job. Thank you! I also think the musical talent is a gift. Some have it, some don't, and you can't teach it. For those who can - good for you, and thanks. Of course, that's coming from a brick.

And it gives the War Department more money than they were asking for. Imagine that! Raytheon and Northrup Grumman says thanks Santa (that would be we the taxpayers). More insanity by insane people.

I have to believe this transition is a nightmare for the process people. If a company has to tool up for new products they either build something new, or replace lines they already have under roof. Either way, time consuming, and expensive. Then make them productive. There will no doubt be casualties.

Hearding people is like hearding cats

Kind of already started. There is a "late model (like a car, not open wheel)" dirt guy who dominates at Eldora. They have a race late in the year called the World 100. Pays maybe quarter of a million. He's won it several times. Today there was a picture of a sprint car with his name on it. He did run one last year a few times. I know this dirt stuff isn't like F1 or Indy, but at one time, many of our great racers came from the dirt. At one time it was the same car at a dirt track and Indy the same year. I love the history and technology as it has progressed through the years. I was at a little shit hole track in Southern Ohio years ago. 1/3 mile steep banked bowl. This place was so far in the sticks they had to pump in sunlight. Maybe an hour from Columbus, but that night the special guest was Bobby Rahal of Indy car fame. He was in the booth. They asked him if he would like to climb in one - nope - no way. A.J Foyt, Mario, the Unser boys, and many other would probably call him a wussie, or something worse.

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That (the IT thing) is about the most piss poor answer you could come up with. Of course there seemed to be no further questions from anyone either. Imagine that. And we even have pictures (chart porn)... Who knew, and when did they know it? I would think the Keystone Cops could solve this one.

US Statistics Agency Says ‘No Evidence’ of Hack on CPI Report - From Bloomberg "No evidence?" WTF?????? Didn't look very hard did you. FTA: There doesn't have to be any evidence your IT systems were compromised - it's a fucking leak dumbass.

Bernie Madoff is dead.

Off topic again, but racing related. Last night it was announced there will be a $1,000,000 to win dirt track sprint car race at Eldora, which is in Ohio. Half mile high banked oval that seats 20+ grand. A few years ago they ran a SRX race there (full body cars - it was also a TV series at various tracks). Helio Castroneves did the dirt, as did others out of their element. For a million, who knows who might show up. Somebody will put them in a car if they want to, and more and more of these guy are liking the dirt (see Chili bowl (midgets) - coming Jan. 9th). About 2 hours away. On the calendar.

The latest news we were talking about reminded me of this. A classic IMO. From 1976.

I would never get there. I have too many skeletons to begin with, and I would like to think I am honest. That's not good on the resume. But it would sure be fun to be a wrench in the gears. Can you imagine telling someone like Mitch or Nancy to go piss up a rope?

This was expected. It all depends on guidance, dot plots, and how many speeches these Fed pukes give over the next month. Their trying give us the soft landing narrative so the serfs think they are "fixing" things to make our life better (which won't happen) while not tanking the stock market as to keep the important people filthy rich - and making more at the same time. It will work til it don't. Then shit's gonna get ugly.

I don't blame her. She is in this job because she is very good at lying - just like all press people for all these worthless corrupt pukes - no matter who is in power. This is what she's paid to do. Everyone remembers the movie "Trading Places" and the crop report? This is the same kind of thing. Especially right now when the CPI numbers are huge news - billions of dollars will move on this release. I've watched these things for over 20 years - they are tightly embargoed until a certain time on a certain day - to the second. SO EVERYONE HAS THE SAME INFORMATION AT THE SAME TIME. You finally turn the volume up on Bubblevision to hear Rick Santelli or the bald idiot give you the headline numbers. I don't remember, ever, when something wasn't as blatant at this one. But it doesn't matter. Even the Bloomberg article I posted said something to "if they do anything." And they won't. This should be easy. There are CUSIP numbers for every transaction that went through an exchange (except that idiot they just busted) so it should be easy and quick to see what the hell went on. I won't hold my breath.

After all the stuttering, she said the "market moved in a minor way." I highlighted the 8:29 am candle. Above the red boxes show the time, open, and close. By my math, that is a 40 point move in the /ES (S&P futures market) in that minute. That is NOT a minor move when the price was $4056.75 at 8:27 am. Someone knew, and somoene(s) spent some serious cash to do that.

Well lookie here; In 60 Seconds Before CPI Hit, Heavy Trading Drove Mystery Rally Of course they say "nothing to see here." Well, yes there is. Charts don't lie, but people do. And apparently some frontrun major news releases. It's a big club and we ain't in it

What?

LOL! The very reason we are where we are is because the Fed (who serve the rich via the banksters) have been a big part of getting us to this very place. Get real, and PO'd if it makes you feel better. Their goal (inflation rate target - according to them) is 2%. We just printed a 7.1ish. That's a double in 10 years. 10 years is a long time, but they never fix it. We keep getting fucked. I don't even need chart porn.

I think this is accurate now that I've read a bit more. The rabbit hole of why is the interesting part. I'll leave it at that.

What took so long? Speaking tours? What a complete shit show. This will go nowhere. It wouldn't surprise me if this creep skates. In the big picture, it really doesn't matter anyway. Laws are only for us little people, and in this case there isn't enough leverage to hurt the Swine Banksters, so, maybe, the only people who get fucked are the dumb asses who bought into this bullshit. That would be good. Dumb asses

Funny; Billionaire conman Bernard Madoff arrested Today, but from 2008. This is nuts. At least Bernie ran a long known scam in which we know the mechanism he used to cheat people - not that that mattered, because that's what we do (He was one of the founders of the NASDAQ after all). While this guy seems to be a complete nut job used car salesman that has no clue on how markets work. Hook, line, and sinker the fish lined up. How the fuck does that happen? Harry Markopolos is laughing his ass off, and I'm sure there were some Harry's out there. Nobody listened. Again. This movie gets old.

I'm not sure who you mean by I's but I'm gonna go with the workers as the definition. Sure they have agency - they always have - go find a combine to harvest that straw. I hope I'm not gonna piss Del off here, but I want to use him as an example. I've talked to him for years on this board. He runs his own business. I'll leave it at that; other than I think he has great insight on how to do so. I think his main thesis is; if you take care of your business, and take care of (including training) the people who work for you - it becomes a gratifying and profitable endeavor for all involved. I'm on board with that thesis. I don't know the median age of the clientele here, but I'm guessing most of you are younger than me. Does anyone remember the labor wars back in the day? Some of you should have parents (especially if you grew up around the auto capital of the world) who were involved in the industrialization of the North and the resulting labor wars. Unions became a thing because workers were getting exploited to the point they got fed up and fought back - sometimes not very nicely. So did others. It got really ugly if you study the history. Nothing has really changed, except the violence. Crooked Unions, crooked politicians, crooked companies - all against labor in aggregate because it benefited the select few - while spending billions over the years to eliminate what was once called "collective bargaining." The top .01 percent gets richer while we get poorer. It's a big club and we ain't in it.

The union story should be the leading story on every news channel. The ultimate battle between workers and corporate greed. But of course that doesn't happen. Imagine that. But they are moving some of the suicide net factories from China to Vietnam, so we can still buy $100 microwaves, so it's all good.