Screwball

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.

I know, it is possible. Best I can tell, they could elect (not sure that's the right word) anyone. I'll do it. Think that wouldn't be a hoot?

Didn't Cheney lose so she is out? If so, good. Keep her out. If she was the SOFH there would no war we wouldn't get into, or start, and fund (since the money starts in the house). Bloodlines and history (hers) from Darth Vader himself - daddy Dick. Neo-con warmonger of the highest order. Nothing but a tool for the killing for profit machine.

Maybe I should have never brought up disco. 🙂 I grew up in that era, and I never thought, nor did any of my buddies at the time, that disco was about gays or whoever. The way we took it was more of a class thing. Maybe class isn't the right word here, but I don't know what else to call it. Example: late 70s probably, there was a night club around Toledo/Bowling Green Ohio called Dixie Electric. 4 of us guys decided to go there on Saturday night to see what the attraction was. We were blue jean tee shirt type people who drank beer. We go into that place, which was quite big in comparison to our little rinky dink clubs around Cornhole. They had a lighted dance floor and music going. It looked like we just entered the world of Saturday Night Fever with a bunch of John Travolta's showing off their stuff. We got a table and the waitress came over and we ordered beers. She looked at us like we were from Mars. So did everyone else. We might have stayed for a couple hours, but the entire time we became the entertainment. People were pointing, laughing at us, making snotty comments, and trying to make us uncomfortable since we didn't fit the picture. No high heels, no fancy clothes, and no Grasshopper type drinks. We found it funny, but we could sure tell we were from the other side of the tracks according to them. We didn't care what they looked like, or they liked that kind of music. To each their own - no biggy. These people just reeked of superiority and we had to know it. Well woop-t-fucking-do! Ain't you all that and a bag of chips. It made me think of the book - "The Outsiders." They might have looked nice, and danced real good - but probably couldn't change a tire on their car.

I was really only half kidding about blaming disco. As I look back, I think disco helped usher us into the materialistic/consumerism type of world we have today. The Fonz turned into Tony Manero (Saturday NIght Fever - 1977). We went from blue jeans and tee shirt with a pack of smokes rolled up in the sleeve to platform shoes, leisure suits, and drinking grasshoppers. Edward Bernay's like marketing set the vision and culture. Travolta in that stupid outfit on the poster of the movie was enough to make you puke - but that's what so many became.

Yep, that's it. Thanks.

I remember Dick Purtan too. I think he was part of CKLW (800?) at one time? Who was the guy on WJR who came on at like 11 at night and did a show called "night flight" or something like that? Air time before JP came on at like 6? CKLW (back in the day); we saved our money and bought radio/recorder devices so we could record the tunes from CKLW. Spent hours making our own tapes. Had to blast the music while cruising in our not so much of a hot rod (gas was .35-.40 cents), but we did see American Graffiti (1973) last night. 🙂 Somewhere along the line it got all fucked up - I blame it on disco.

When I grew up my parents listened to WJR via transistor radio to hear JP McCarthy. Later in life, I drove an hour (or three because Toledo highways that became parking lots every summer...) to work in the late 80s, early 90s, and listened to him on my way. I also remember listening to Albom on the way home - he had an afternoon show. I did a quick search. It appears JP died in 95, and Albom came along in 96. Albom sure isn't a JP, but not many are. Maybe I'm just too old. Or maybe radio has went to shit, which is how we get Mitch's of the world.

Times were different then for sure. During the war these plants could change to making war toy parts because in those days manufacturing was a lot less specialized. Mass production was not what it is now. They used machinists, tool & die makers, and manual labor to do many things. Today it's all about just in time delivery, customized assembly lines, robots (where they can), process efficiency, and the cheapest labor possible (instead of skilled trades except where absolutely needed). When I was at a large manufacturer back in the 2010s our line had to do something every 13 seconds. Parts arrived on time, transported to the line, assembly people (outsourced to a job contracting agency - about 1/3 of the workforce) along the assembly line did their small but significant addition to the machine as it went by on the line. They worked in groups of 5 or six, rotating jobs every couple of hours. You might be adding a part to the machine for 2 hours, assembling sub-assemblies for another two hours, be a part gathering and support person for another 2, etc. If it could be done robotically, it would eventually be a robot. Robots don't screw off, don't call in sick, need smoke breaks, or go to the bathroom. But when you need a warm body, call the head hunters and hire cheap labor. They didn't need any skills, just a warm body that can put parts on a machine. Engineers spend hours figuring out the ergonomics of the process. We even 3D modeled people to simulate the process and ensure and prevent worker fatigue and limits. It is an industry within an industry. Back when the pandemic hit many thought factories could just re-tool to make masks, respirators, testing kits, etc. but it's not that simple like it was back during the war when our tools were lathes, mills, welders, and other man operated machines to make parts. An assembly line that made dishwashers could in no way be modified to make other kinds of parts, and that is only one example. Using global slave labor (and environmental arbitrage ), complex supply chains, and highly improved process manufacturing (including robots and automation) is what gives us cheap goods we have today. Nobody can or will buy a $6000 iPhone (for example).

Thanks, that makes sense.