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New York, day 2





Day 2 in New York was all about admiring all the window decorations, the tree, and shopping from our favorite stores. In other stores we were just looking and dreaming... :)
Also that day I met two wonderful ladies, but about that I will tell you more in a special post.
My outfit doesn't need any presentation, right? is reeeed and right in your face. Red speaks to me this time of the year so I enjoyed this bold look.
I hope you enjoy this seasonal post as much as I do!





                                                                               Coat: vintage/ another great version Here
                                                                               Jeans: Mango/ similar Here
                                                                               Ankle boots: Sam Edelman/ option Here 
                                                                               Bag: thanks too Sienna Ray & Co/Here
                                                                               Sweater: thrift store
                                                                               Gloves: Ralph Lauren/ option Here 
                                                                               Cuff bracelet: St. Thomas/ option Here 
                                                                               Sunglasses: Foster Grant



The Treasury Bill Vigilantes Are Alive and Well

They just aren't doing what most people expect them to be doing.


Click to enlarge.

The Fed raised rates to 6.5% in 2000. What did the treasury bill vigilantes say?

"Oh no you didn't!"


Click to enlarge.

The Fed attempted to maintain 5.25% in 2007. What did the treasury bill vigilantes say?

"Oh no you didn't!"


Click to enlarge.

The Fed attempted to once again reach the "lofty" goal of just 0.2% in 2012. What did the treasury bill vigilantes say?

"Oh no you didn't!"

The following chart shows ZIRP in all its grandeur. The Fed is frozen near 0%. The treasury bill vigilantes are too. So is the spread between them. That's deer in headlights kind of frozen and there's long-term death of real yields written all over it.


Click to enlarge.

Things are going to get really interesting and/or terrifying if we enter the next recession with this as our starting point. Why can't more people seem to understand this? I am more bearish right now than I have ever been (and I've been a permabear since 2004). In my opinion, this is an awful time to be swinging for the fences.

And lastly, the Fed really dropped the ball on the housing bubble. Just look at that 1% spike in the last chart. Apparently Ben "There Is No Housing Bubble to Go Bust" Bernanke was dwelling on the wrong things as the treasury bill vigilantes ran for the relative safety of the bunkers. Go frickin' figure.

This is not investment advice.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Effective Federal Funds Rate
St. Louis Fed: 3-Month Treasury Bill: Secondary Market Rate

Extreme Initial Claims Danger v.28


Click to enlarge.


Click to enlarge.

The trend in red is over. It's probably best to put away the party hats.

The next chart shows initial claims divided by nonfarm payrolls.


Click to enlarge.

It's just an opinion of course, but those who think Hurricane Sandy and the "fiscal cliff" are fully responsible for the end of the downward trend must also believe that magical unicorns inhabit our nation's many national parks.

See Also:
Extreme Initial Claims Danger v.27

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Initial Claims
DOL: Initial Claims
St. Louis Fed: Initial Claims / Nonfarm Payrolls

We'll Never Know What Hit Us

We'll Never Know What Hit Us

Will we again be hit by the sort of asteroid that ended the dinosaurs? Probably, but we'll never see it coming; in fact, we already missed it if we can assume that maybe we've been threatened by menacing space junk in the past and our modern technologies might have already prevented us from a painful case of mass extinction.

Why? Well, first of all, do you think it would be a great idea for our association of paternalistic world governments to share this sort of information with their respective populaces, us? Do you think we'd all come together and unite as the Human Race or do you think that each Nation State would, instead, lose completely the tenuous control they have of us, their people, us.

Cross posted:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-abraham/well-never-know-what-hit-_b_2342277.html


Astroids...You Must See This Website it's amazing...

"the Internet allows us to do some mind blowing things when it comes to visualizing data, and this website is one example. The link takes you to an amazing three-dimensional visualization of 580,000 known asteroids throughout our solar system. " Our asteroids. Our solar system. Our galaxy. (Asterank)

Asterank, which created the map, used estimations of asteroid mass and composition from multiple scientific source to assess the relative commercial value of each asteroid. Based upon factors such as future proximity to Earth, the company also created a database of which asteroids might be most profitable to mine.
Some asteroids, the company says, have an estimated profit of more than $1 trillion.
See The Universe as You Never Have Before Click Link Below

The NRA Solution To Gun Violence In Our Schools...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs- Tyranny


'The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,' LaPierre says. | Reuters
The NRA Solution to gun violence in our schools will either be met with scathing rebuke, or it will just be ignored. Must admit, it's not a novel or new idea, they floated it in 2007 as well. One I am fairly certain my sons and daughters-in-law, like millions of others will have a real issue with, again. Way to go NRA, really thinking outside the same box.

Politico - The National Rifle Association stunned Washington observers Friday when the group’s CEO announced a plan to install armed guards at every school in the country — its response to the Connecticut shooting last week that left 20 children dead.

Wayne LaPierre called the idea the National School Shield program, which would rely on local police forces. It will be led by former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.).

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” LaPierre said. “Would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away … or a minute away?”

LaPierre acknowledged police budgets across the country are stretched and urged Congress to “appropriate whatever is necessary” to fund the program. He said retired police and military could also be tapped to serve in the program, which he wants enacted in January.

“We can deploy them to protect our kids now,” he said. “We can immediately make America’s schools safer — relying on the brave men and women of America’s police force.”

During the lengthy press conference, LaPierre also blamed the media and video game industry for glorifying violence.

He did not take any questions from the press.

This is not the first time the NRA has pushed the idea of armed guards at schools. LaPierre said that the media “called me crazy” when he suggested the idea after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.

Richard Feldman, former NRA lobbyist and president of the Independent Firearms Owners Association, said that he supports the NRA’s position, but that it will be criticized because of the messenger.

“The pushback is because it’s the NRA saying it, not what the NRA said,” Feldman said. {Read More}

Somehow having armed guards in public schools with small children somehow just seem to feel right. I can't quite put my finger on it as it might just to what the NRA says it will do. Anybody like to help me out here?

Via: Memeorandum

Michael Moore, WEIGHING IN...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs-Tyranny



Michael Moore, the multimillionaire fat ass that made all his money using the American capitalist system while discouraging America at every turn and opportunity is ONCE again putting his full complete idiocy on display. The man is a sorry excuse of a human and IMNHO a total waste of good oxygen.

Moore, weighing in on guns manages to bring race into the discussion. This was inevitable I suppose as it comes from the completely looney fire breathing progressive left, which Moore without a doubt personifies. What a piece of work this idiot is. Thankfully he doesn't represent the entire liberal population.

The Daily Caller - Friday night, on the heels of last week’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., the left-leaning Current TV is planning to air progressive filmmaker Michael Moore’s ten-year-old Columbine documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” with Moore revisiting the film to accuse American gun-owners of being motivated by racial fears.

Gun ownership, Moore said, “cuts down to the heart of our race problem that we still haven’t resolved.”

“I think we’re a very frightened people,” Moore said. “I think we’ve been frightened ever since we landed on these shores.

Skip

But according to Moore, it’s that fear that causes Americans want to own gun, which he tied to race by explaining high levels of citizen gun ownership exist “in suburbs and rural areas.” {Read More}



The dude is just,.... I'll leave it for the readership to fill in that blank.

Via: Memeorandum

End of the World Averted...Yet Again

End of the World Averted...Yet Again



BY: ALLISON MCCARTNEY Guatemalan shaman Christian Nottbohn holds a Mayan ceremony in Copan Archeological Park in Honduras. The apocalypse predicted for Dec. 12, 2012 is largely an American creation, not a Mayan one. Photo by Orlando Sierra/ AFP/ Getty Images. As everyone knows by now, the apocalypse has been averted. As detailed in movies, television shows and numerous advertisements, the end of the world predicted in ancient Mayan lore strikes on Dec. 21, 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar, bringing with it floods, earthquakes, the reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles and the beginning of a new spiritual age.

 This unlikely doomsday story has become a prominent thread in the national conversation. And if it resembles everything that Americans expect in a Hollywood blockbuster, that's probably because it's mostly an American creation, not a Mayan one. Professor Mark Van Stone of Southwestern College, who studies Mayan hieroglyphs and calligraphy, says that early scholarly work on the Maya is partly to blame. "The scientists speculated that the Maya had this cycle and when the calendar went to 13.0.0.0.0, the gods started the clock running again," he said in a phone interview from Mexico Thursday. The Mayan Long Count calendar is separated into 360 day years called "Tuns," 20 year periods called "Katuns," and 400 year periods called "Baktuns." The end of the 13th Baktun, or 13.0.0.0.0, falls on Dec. 21, 2012. In the mid-1970s scholars who had previously speculated on the Mayan cycle found references to dates far beyond 13.0.0.0.0. "This escaped the general understanding," said Van Stone in the interview,

 "The scholars said, 'Oh, we were wrong,' but the memo didn't get out to the general public." Professor John Hoopes of the University of Kansas, who has studied the development of the 2012 phenomenon, says that the origins of the doomsday myth lay in speculative academia that was then co-opted and embellished by others. "Specific assertions about 2012 derive from statements made by reputable scholars -- the experts of their time -- that were misinterpreted in unanticipated ways," he wrote in an article last year for the International Astronomy Union. Early scholars of the Maya in the U.S. and Europe derived their ideas of a Mayan prediction of the apocalypse primarily from documents dated to the 16th century, which led them astray. "We don't see doomsday myths before the arrival of the Spanish, and that's an important distinction because there are end-of-the-world predictions that come after Roman Catholic missionaries," said Dr. Hoopes in a phone interview. "It was a Christian end-of-the-world eschatology." However, all of this work might have remained on the dusty bookshelf of an academic library if not for the work of writers, poets and New Age spiritualists in the 1950s and 60s. A book called "The Ancient Maya" published by archaeologist Sylvanus Morley in 1946 brought Mayan mythology to the masses, and inspired members of the Beat movement like William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg to travel to the sites of ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations for further study. Kevin Whitesides, who studies the emergence of 2012 mythology, says that there have been about 3,000 books written since 1966 that discuss 2012. "There's quite a huge variety," he said over the phone. "You'll find perspectives from all the major religions. There's Buddhist books about 2012, there's Muslim, Christian and Hindu books on 2012.

"Then there's also all the new age books, those who are looking for the dawn of a new age, doomsday stories." However, he says, most of these books have been self-published by their authors. Along with them have come books about less well-known aspects of the Mayan apocalypse. "There are books on how to make money off of 2012, 2012 cookbooks, that sort of thing," he said. The hold that 2012 has on the American imagination is so strong that astronomers and scientists have been asked to weigh in on the matter. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson vented his frustration at having to explain why the Earth isn't going to end from a scientific perspective while appearing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon recently.

"There's no greater sign of the failure of the American educational system than the extent to which Americans are distracted by the possibility that the Earth might end on Dec. 21, 2012," he said. The idea of setting a date for the end of the world is nothing new; American writers and religious leaders have predicted the end of time for centuries. Radio preacher Harold Camping signaled the alarm to his devoted followers on the coming of the "rapture" to no avail. A recent Reuters poll found that one in seven people around the world think that the world will come to an end during their lifetimes, and that 10 percent believe it could happen in 2012 as predicted by the Mayan calendar. If this is their fear, they should sit comfortable in knowing that the Mayan calendar accounts for many, many years to come.

New York day1





 I'm back from New York for a few days now, and today I want to share with you a first outfit post from the first day in New York City. If you have been following my blog since last year then you probably know already that Bogdan and I created a tradition by going to N.Y every year around Christmas time. This time was a little bit different and we decided to stay 3 days instead of 1 because there are so many things to see and enjoy in this magnifique city. We took these photos right after we got to the hotel, and let me tell you that the weather was not so great. That's why I chose a bright ( coat and sweater) to brighten up my day + practical for rain (boots and leatherette pants) outfit. This look was accentuated by mirrored sunglasses( thanks to zeroUV) and this messenger bag.
I hope you like it and soon more photos from N.Y!





                                                                                Coat: vintage/ another great version Here 
                                                                                Sweater: Indigo
                                                                                Pants: H&M/ similar Here
                                                                                Boots: Adrienne Vittadini/ option Here
                                                                                Bag: thanks to PLNDR/ another colorful option Here 
                                                                                Sunglasses: thanks to zeroUV/Here 



                                                                                

2'nd Amendment Rights and Modern Realities... Do They Clash?

2'nd Amendment Rights and Modern Realities... Do They Clash?
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs- Tyranny


With the debate on where the nation goes from here on gun control Mayor Bloomberg strikes a somewhat reasonable stance. Neither side of the debate is likely to agree fully. However, the Mayor is at least sensible and that should provide a reasonable starting point. Given the current mood of the nation there is little doubt but what something is going to change with respect to gun laws.



CBS - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today placed partial blame on the National Rifle Association for the Connecticut elementary school massacre in which 20 children and six adults were gunned down last week.

"We're not trying to take away your right to advance the interests of gun owners, hunters, people who want to protect themselves," Bloomberg told "Nightline" anchor Cynthia McFadden in an interview today. "But that's not an absolute right to encourage behavior which causes things like Connecticut. In fact, Connecticut is because of some of their actions."

In the days after the massacre, the NRA has remained silent, only speaking up Wednesday to announce it would hold a press conference on Friday morning. But in the meantime, people with various stances on guns, from stark anti-gun advocates to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., a pro-gun politician who famously shot a cap-and-trade bill with a rifle in his 2010 re-election ad, are clamoring for something to be done.

"I think the public has finally come to the conclusion that, what the Supreme Court said you can do is have reasonable restrictions on the right to bear arms, is something that our society finally has woken up and said, 'We are going to do this whether you like it or not,'" Bloomberg said.

In 2007, Bloomberg was one of 50 mayors who gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand that Congress eliminate a law that restricts the ability of local police to trace criminals' weapons. At the time, gun advocates claimed the law, which was an amendment attached to the House appropriations bill in 2003, infringed on their Second Amendment rights. {Read More}

A firm believer in the right to responsibly own firearms, although I haven't owned in years since giving up hunting and target shooting, I must acknowledge that as a nation we need to continue to insure the right to bear while at the same time increase the safety of our people in regards to gun violence thus reducing the number of deaths caused by gunfire. This should be our goal

Admittedly it won't be an easy undertaking.

Via: Memeorandum

As the Cliff Approaches the President and Leadership of Both Parties Fiddle... Really

As the Cliff Approaches the President and Leadership of Both Parties  Fiddle... Really
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs- Tyranny


Perhaps this is a large part of the problem?

The Weekly Standard - Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, made his "fiscal cliff" position clear in a press conference today. "We are not going to do anything," said Reid.

Reid added, "We are not taking up anything they are working on over there."

The top Democrat in the Senate was explaining his inaction on the House plan, the proposal put forward by Republican John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives. Boehner's plan is being referred to as 'Plan B.' {Read More}

But as there always is two sides, maybe this is a small part of the problem?

Politico - Speaker John Boehner, using his harshest tone of the fiscal cliff debate, said the White House has “done nothing” since he relented on letting low tax rates lapse on wealthy Americans.

“For weeks the White House said if I moved on rates, that they would make substantial concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reform,” Boehner said in an afternoon news conference. “I did my part, they’ve done nothing.” {Read More}

As I see it NEITHER side is serious about negotiations. What is being bantered about amounts to meager adjustments and cuts over a ten year period. Meager against a 16 plus trillion dollar national dept anyway.

Until BOTH sides get serious about actually doing something of significance, and yes, that means defense cuts, domestic spending cuts, and, here it comes, simplifying the tax code and establishing rates that based on the simplified tax code results in increasing revenue flowing to the treasury.

Taxing the wealthy and business until all incentive to do business is removed makes no sense. Most intelligent people, although not all, understand this. However, getting rid of tax loopholes used by the wealthy actually does make a lot of sense. This combined with a lower rate would increase revenues flowing to the treasury from the wealthy.

Either the two intransigent sides get serious, work out a compromise that is both meaningful and workable, or I say lets all go over the cliff together pointing fingers all the way to the bottom. Because folks, at the end of the day, both political parties will bear responsibility. Not that this fact will ease the pain the nation will experience.

Oh, almost forgot. Kicking the can down the road only passes the inevitable off for another day.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: Memeorandum

Holidays Giveaway !




Just in time for Holidays season, a gift for you! A new Giveaway from Sheinside, where the prize is: one of these five great sweaters ! If that appeals to you, all you have to do is to follow a few requests.

- Follow Bittersweet Colors with Google Friend Connect or Facebook Page (HERE)
- Register on Sheinside( Click HERE to register)
- Like the Sheinside Facebook Page (HERE)
- Leave a comment below with your name, email address and the product link of your favorite piece.

This giveaway is worldwide and the last day to enter is December 28.
Good luck!!!



                                                                                   1. Sweater: Sheinside/ Here 
                                                                                   2. Cardigan: Sheinside/ Here 
                                                                                   3. Sweater: Sheinside/ Here 
                                                                                   4. Cardigan: Sheinside/ Here 
                                                                                   5. Sweater: Sheinside/ Here 





Housing Starts

The following chart shows the number of single unit housing starts divided by the number of housing starts with 5 units or more.


Click to enlarge.

The "ownership society" is in serious trouble.

The term appears to have been used originally by President Bush (for example in a speech February 20, 2003 in Kennesaw, Georgia) as a phrase to rally support for his tax-cut proposals (Pittsburgh Post - Gazette, Bush OKs Funding Bill for Fiscal '03, Feb 21, 2003 Scott Lindlaw). From 2004 Bush supporters described the ownership society in much broader and more ambitious terms, including specific policy proposals concerning home ownership, medicine, education and savings.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs - Tyranny


"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced,
the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt.

People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance."


Cicero , 55 BC

Indeed. Evidently we have learned nothing in the past 2,067 years.

It has often been said, "The more things change the more they same the same." Apparently it is true.

Beautiful gifts -illustrations -(2)





 Back home from a wonderful 3 days trip in New York! Soon photos:)
Today I want to show you what I received from one of my blog's wonderful readers! Her name is Sasha Van Goga and her blog (Fashion illustrations by Sasha van Goga) is full with wonderful fashion illustrations. I love all these illustrations with my "Impressionism Inspired" outfit (see it here) and most of all, the fact she took time to do all these as a gift for me. I appreciate that Sasha! And thank you very much!
I guess when you are asked what are the most rewarding moments as a blogger... THIS is one of them!