Here’s a chart that suggests the worst is over in real estate. I think it belies the fact that the upward trend since 1970 was the war babies buying when now they will be selling. Have fun with it. I still say the plunge is coming full blast. (Most browsers will make the chart bigger if you click on it.)
Anyone who thinks that the Internet has made shopping easier should try to find a replacement soldering iron tip for a Weller SP40L. Worst sites visited: Grainger, DigiKey and Sears, who are woefully unaware of the concept of “straight answer”. Tips aren’t top sellers, but if you’re going to carry them, have the courtesy to show a picture and list the model of the soldering iron that they fit. And quit trying to manipulate the inquiry into an upsell. People shopping for tips have already made their buy decision, you morons.
Weller isn’t helping any, with something like 68 different (and incompatible) tips for the two basic shapes: point and chisel. The good news is if I find what I want (MT10 ¼” nickel-plated copper tip) the price is 25% of the price at Alfa. Nothing bad about Alfa, but like Barnet, the prices are sometimes too high for me to even consider. The only place that will guaranty they have them is stock is in Wilmington. Is Internet shopping easier? Maybe, if you only buy exactly what everybody else is buying and don’t spot the rip-off shipping as part of the cost.
Ray-B was over for a truly productive Blues guitar jam session. He’s put in the solitary practice time and as long as the student has too, he can get right to the explanations that make the most sense. We have the major (BB King) and minor (Albert King) pentatonic scales now connected and soon produced a better than decent jam. If you’re nice I’ll post some of it later this week and you decide.
This led to my original compositions, which I say again that I have no intention of producing in isolation. Honestly, I’m drained and tired of Internet music where the same musician plays all the parts. Not me, I’m calling on friends, and that means trumpet, harmonica, and rhythm. I’m not that creative so my first tune (my Nashville song) draws on at least six musical techniques or song patterns including “Midnight Special” and older Peter, Paul and Mary folk patterns.
Other musicians are amused when I describe the connections. For example, Ray-B wrote the lick I was looking for right in his head, then made it perfect when I described it was to sound like “something a working man could whistle”, a phrase from Soviet history books. Every one of those musicians [who have heard the music] agree [that with this method] I may be on to something. And I’m quick to point out some of the techniques stem from very unmusical sources, something even Johnny Cash didn’t do much of.
The computer business is funny, even years after you leave it. I still get calls from my old client list, and one of them is friends with these guys who are always finding new get-rich rackets. But only for smart people “such as yourself”. This or that is an $X billion dollar industry and here is your chance to get your share of the pie. Yeah, well I met my fill of those people when I worked for a living. Um, I’ve noticed that these lunkheads as a rule of thumb do not like Opera as a browser. Coincidence?
But they are all computer experts. That’s where I meet them. My client calls to say the expert has messed up their computer, and before I can scream “Don’t hand them the phone”, guess who’s telling me my business. I just hang up. It’s like the tales Amway or big Internet crime. If it is really that big, show me the billionaires. See what I mean?
ADDENDUM
As silver continues its slide below $28, investors hold their breath. My guess is if it goes much lower, it may trigger panic selling by many who have bought since 2010. Good, they are also the ones who got on board late and caused the price hikes. I use London spot prices. The US market has the same data but is always sluggish to react. I like that in my competition.
Make no mistake about it, something funny is going on. (But I expect silver to stay above $26.) One consolation is that there is no such thing as the alleged “explosion of wealth”. In itself, wealth is hard to create so getting it fast involves taking it away from stupid people and that process is limited by what they’ve got. In fact, my own father taught me first hand at an embarrassingly early age that the irresponsible can protect themselves by intentionally having nothing of enduring value. Ever. Not even once in their entire lifetimes.
Another reminder some people need is that the American media is dependent on people having faith in the system. The media don’t report crises that undermine that trust, meaning they aren’t about to tell you when the going gets rough and lose their jobs. I predict a new connotation will clamp itself to the old phrase “financial servitude”, especially to those whose children are born into debt. Psst, that’s most of you. America is already bankrupt, meaning so are Britain, France, Japan, Canada, and all of southern Europe. The house of cards remains because nobody has yet demanded payment in kind.
It’s easy to point at China as a culprit. The fact is, any nation that behaves marginally well will gain on the bloated and corrupt Yankee system. China is marginal, but a third of the world happens to there, so they don’t need to also be good or right. What? Pardon me, there is no corruption in America because the activity is not illegal here. (Not illegal does not mean it isn’t against the law, only that when you get caught doing it, you don’t actually physically do jail time. If Nixon was still around, you could ask him for specifics.)
The danger is a default on US debt. The government already borrows around half of every dollar it spends. The extra money printed up in 2009 – 2011 is just now beginning to inflate prices. A default would hit everybody who gets a government check. Welfare, retirees, and veterans will be worst off as those groups traditionally have no other cash flow. This part may be hard to understand, but the US government owes another type of debt called “entitlements”. Think of debt as money due for the past and entitlements as payments due in the future. America owes ten times as much in monthly payments to citizens than it does to bondholders. Something like $140 trillion with a “t”, an incomprehensibly huge amount that can never be paid. Where will it come from?
One answer, and likely the only answer, is to let the dollar implode. Then fixed dollar loans from the past are easy to pay with new cheap money. This event is only a matter of time, the pundits say any day between now and 2016. People who think it will be a long, slow decline are forgetting that’s what has already happened.
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
