I'm about to make this a very happy Monday. Have I got a treat in store for you!


Y'all know I have a huge addiction to gallery walls. I've done several in my own house (here, here and here) and I'm always thinking of where I can put another one. In fact, I've had a blank bathroom wall giving me the stink eye for some time now (no pun intended) and it needed to be addressed.

So of course when I saw a display for Indie Mats at one of my favorite local stores I had to snap a set up for myself right away. OK, it wasn't that quick. It took me a good 20 minutes to decide which color and style to pick. It was fabulous wall overload.


Then I reached stalker fan status when I got home and learned more about the company. Emma and Anne are two friends with one great idea. They create high-style mats that are sustainable, recyclable and totally interchangeable. And extra bonus, no nails needed. My plaster walls thank you ladies. The cherry on top of it all, everything is made locally. Sisters are doin' it for themselves. (everyone sing with me)

Either Put up -- Or Shut-up!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
******************

I hate braggarts and bullies!  Kim Jong Un has proven himself to be both.  I am tired of his mouth.  If he wants a fight, then, by all means, let's give him one -- and -- while we're at it, set those people he holds hostage free!

In case you've been vacationing off-planet recently, Kim Jong Un is the fat little sawed-off twenty-something with the Napoleon complex now ruling North Korea.  (At this writing, Kim has not been seen in public in at least two weeks.)  

Now that the crazy kid has a few nuclear fire crackers, he thinks he's king of the world.  There are indications of some serious mental issues (in abundance) in his less than rational behavior lately.

Now he wants to hit Tokyo with nukes first.   The Japanese have not taken his wild threats well and orders have gone out to their self defense forces to shoot down any missile that appears to be headed their way.

Little Kim has not taken the news well.  He is irate that the Japanese are not welcoming of a third mushroom cloud over another of their country's cities. 

Some words of warning -- and advice -- to Mr. Kim: 

I have news for you, little buddy.  If you light the fuse on your much touted bottle rocket, The big brother of the Japanese is going to rain down pure hell on you and your government and armed forces.  Why, it'll be enough to make a megalomaniac wet himself.

OK.   Maybe not.  Maybe we'll just send in some of our, uh, "specialists" to dispatch your sorry behind.

Kimmy, son, you act as if you are the first dictator to ever threaten the US.   Uh-uh. Nope.  In fact, somewhere on the Internet there is a video of a fellow by the name of Saddam swinging from a rope. You might want to view that video.  It could initiate, shall we call it,  an "attitude adjustment" on your part.  Who knows, you may have a life altering experience by just viewing the video.
 
One thing is for sure. Continue along the path you have chosen and you are certain to have a life-altering experience.  It's length may be altered making it substantially shorter than you expected.  Just saying.

Say Kimmy, did you miss class, in that swanky Swiss school, when they covered the part about America's policy of second strike and America's capability in a second strike.  See, the US policy has been, and remains, that any nation firing nukes at America will be fired upon from our substantial nuclear arsenal and those nuclear fireballs will continue blossoming over the offending nation until that piece of real estate simply no longer exists.  Yep.  That's the policy.

See all those US ships off your shoreline?  Well, it's the ones you don't see that will be dealing the death blow to the DPRK.  Suffice it to say, Kim, you're going to have a rotten day.

But, if you are determined, then come on, let's dance.

Look, Kimmy, baby, your infantile behavior is no longer funny.  Now it is just plan annoying. Even your long time supporter to the north has about had enough.  That's BAD news for you, Kimmy.   See, the US is a little stand-offish, about taking out national leaders. In fact, we have a rule/regulation against doing just that.  But, hey, your old buddy to the North has no such rule, law, or even qualms about removing an annoying national leader -- with extreme prejudice.

I'm an old man, son.  I have lived on the same earth and breathed the same air as the best dictators history has yet to offer -- Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong,  Idi Amin,  Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein,  Muammar Qaddafi,  Juan Peron,  Ayatollah Khomeini, Ferdinand Marcos,  General Suharto,  Pol Pot, and Fransisco Franco -- and Kim, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but son, you just don't measure up.

Now.  It's time to fish, or cut bait.  The world is no longer laughing at your antics.  Instead, they are looking for an excuse to light into you -- with gusto.  And you, young man, are very likely going to wind up at the end of a rope at the hands of your own people.

We're done.  We're finished playing now.  YOU get to decide how this thing ends.  But remember, you are playing with fire.  One false move, one slip-up, one mistake, or misstep, will bring the full wrath of the forces arrayed against you hurtling down upon your head.

Kim, it would appear your mouth has written a check your derriere cannot cash. You are now down to only two choices:  Put up, or shut up.  You choose.  We're ready either way.

© J. D. Longstreet

The following chart shows inflation adjusted department store sales per capita.


Click to enlarge.

I've added a few ugly polynomial trend lines for your consideration. For a variety of reasons, here we go again.

Since the data was so ugly, I chose not to wait for March's official CPI but instead used Briefing.com's estimate of -0.1% found here. Close enough for government work!

This one's going to need a sound effect. Normally I'd jump at the opportunity to reuse a clown horn. MaxedOutMama once suggested a foghorn (see comments). I just don't think either of them will do the chart justice this time. It needs something that conveys even less prosperity and even more despair.



April 13, 2013
In the end, J.C. Penney’s board moved quickly with CEO move


Here comes some bonus sarcasm. Brace for it.

The new CEO will no doubt do much better. All he has to do is navigate the near depression level economy while simultaneously fending off the rise of Amazon.com, Costco, and Sam's Club. How hard can that be?

Source Data:
U.S. Census: Retail Trade
St. Louis Fed: CPI
St. Louis Fed: Population

Wearing my new metallic heels for the first time feels great!!! I must admit this is the perfect heel high for me when I have to walk a lot. Being practical and in the same time wearing high heels is a challenge
that I try to manage.
I hope you like it!
Have a wonderful rest of the day and a great new week!




                                                                              Top: Joe Fresh/ Here
                                                                              Pants: Levis/ option Here
                                                                              Heels: Zara/ Here
                                                                              Clutch: 3.1 Phillip Lim/ option Here
                                                                              Sunglasse: c/o zeroUV
                                                                              Silver bracelet: Jewelmint c/o Bollare/ Here
                                                                              Bangle bracelet: c/o COOEE.se/ Here

Click to enlarge.

First it Giveth


Hell hath no fury like a momentum investor scorned. And one thing is fairly clear, those who bought gold at the recent peak in 2011 are seriously scorned at this point. At the very least, gold is generating fewer prophets. Pun intended.

On the one hand, I would not rule out a return to the red trend line. The odds seem very low, but anything can happen. You certainly won't see me short gold. Let's just say that I will make no attempt to profit off of its potential demise. "Not my style." (That last quote is an ongoing inside joke. See the comments found here. As of today, SHLD is down 44% since MAB and I were heckled in 2008 for heckling Sears. Sears is the gift that just keeps on giving.)

On the other hand, you won't see me bet on a return to that long-term trend either. I think gold is still extremely expensive relative to toilet paper and aluminum. I have no desire to own gold or silver again at anywhere near these prices. There's ample downside risk left in both of them in the coming years. I've charted many serious exponential trend failures on this blog over the years and very few of them, if any, have actually unfailed. Not all have crashed though, so keep that in mind. For example, the recurring employment exponential failure hasn't crashed so much as stagnated. Gold could do the same or even better. Who knows?

As a side note, the modern miracle metal known as aluminum is considerably cheaper than it was 5 years ago. That has to be adding at least some extra downside pressure to the price of gold. I once again ask, where are the aluminum speculators? Perhaps aluminum is shiny but not all that sexy? Aluminum also pokes a sizable hole in the seemingly never-ending impending hyperinflation theories that some sites love to offer (especially to paid subscribers).

I'm not trying to suggest that we can't hyperinflate. We can and eventually probably will. Eventually could be a very, very long time though. I'm not at all convinced that we will do it in my lifetime. I am factoring in my 48 years of age. Your results may vary (especially if considerably younger). If the economy gets bad enough, then I might have to take on more risk to lower my longevity. You know, like mountain climbing while wearing nothing but a swimsuit. But one way or another, I intend to have my nest egg last the rest of my life! Gallows humor! ;)


I absolutely believe that. Pick your poison. I continue to sit in long-term TIPS (with intent to hold to maturity), long-term I-Bonds, long-term EE-Bonds, and short-term cash. I'm not expecting miracles. If I am financially ruined (possible), then I won't be ruined alone. There will be many, many others joining me. With rates this low, one might even say that I am slowly being financially ruined (and new investors definitely are). It is manageable though. Fortunately, I locked in rates when Jeremy Siegel warned me to stay away. I refer to him now as Wrong Way Siegel, partly in reference to Wrongway Feldman of Gilligan's Island fame. Why would anyone listen to his interest rate theories at this point? Year after year, just how much more wrong could he be?

If by some chance real yields do rise significantly, then I predict his precious stock market ("Stocks for the Long Run") will get seriously kicked in the you know what again. He won't see that coming either. As seen in the this chart, real yields last rose significantly during the deflationary great recession. Even buried cash had a positive real yield as prices fell. That's why TIPS yields rose. It wasn't because the magical economy fairy cast a wondrous spell and prosperity had been fully restored. The 1980s and 1990s are over. Those rules no longer apply.

This is not investment advice. It is filled with opinions though. Opinions and 50 cents would get you a cup of coffee. Not now of course. There has been some inflation over the years. In recent days, not so much.


What does Starbucks know that we don't do? Sigh.

Source Data:
Yahoo Finance: Historical GLD Prices

Here it is a post with the official photos for Hunter Boot S/S 2013 Collection with street style photographer Jessie Bush (WE THE PEOPLE STYLE) back in March in New York, and also photos from behind the scene made by Bogdan.
Check their website Hunter-Boot.com. to see other wonderful bloggers that were part of this collaboration.

P.S We also made a photo-shoot for my birthday in that place and you can see it HERE 
It was a very great B-day!



                  

                                                                          Trench Coat: thanks to Hunter-Boot.com/ Here 
                                                                          Boots: thanks to Hunter-Boot.com/ Here 
                                                           Skirt: Asos/ option Here 
                                                           Top: vintage
                                                                          Bangle bracelet: thanks to COOEE.se/ Here 
                                                                          Sunglasses: Foster Grant/ great option Here 

 I'm back to color on color scheme and also to my favorite pant style. Wide leg trousers are my ultimate obsession right now, even though I'm not that tall, but high heels are here to help me:)
Have a great weekend ladies!






                                                                                 Cardigan: Sportswear
                                                                                 Clutch: thanks to Me Char handbags/Here
                                                                                 Top: thanks to Sugarlips/ Here
                                                                                 Pants: Kenar/ option Here 
                                                                 Heels: Nine West
                                                                                 Sunglasses: c/o zeroUV
                                                                   

I was looking thru old magazines the other night and with one little image, an idea hatched in my head. Who knows if it will work or not, but I'll be doing a little furniture moving this weekend. Followed by some console styling if things go well. I'll keep you posted.

Styling is hard, I think, but so fun to play around with. Running up and down the stairs to shop the house for what might work best. It's my cardio.

So to get me in the mood, let us take a gander at these winners.

Hillary Is Already Running
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**************

Ladies and gentlemen: The Next President of the United States -- Hillary Clinton!


Nope.  I'm not joking.  I'm deadly serious -- in earnest, even! In my opinion today, Hillary Clinton WILL be the next President of the United States.

Of Course, Hillary has to toss her hat into the ring, but -- that is only a formality.

Look.  I have looked at the GOP prospective candidates and, frankly, I don't see a single one, at this point, I can support or for which I can vote.  

I am not going to compromise.  So I will not vote for a candidate I feel is not worthy, or does not live up to my prospects for a candidate in order to save the country from the socialists.  That is being dishonest.  "First, to thine own self be true!"  (Polonius From Hamlet by Shakespeare)

The plain truth is -- it will take an act of God for the GOP to win the Presidency in 2016. 

OUCH!  I know!  It hurts, doesn't it!?  Of course, that's just MY opinion.

Meanwhile, a “Ready for Hillary” political action committee has formed up.

“It’s a shadow campaign set up at least two years before Clinton will actually decide whether or not to run for president,” reports Slate’s David Wegel. “It’ll raise money, sell merchandise, and build lists until the actual Clinton campaign bursts to life. And then it will change its name to ‘Ready PAC,’ raise money, sell merchandise, and build lists, etc.”
SOURCE:  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0406/President-Hillary-Clinton-In-mock-election-she-wallops-the-competition.-video 

Recent polls, too, have indicated Clinton has never seen a better time to seek the presidency.

According to a Washington Post / ABC NEWS poll from late January, more than 67% of Americans hold a favorable view of Clinton -- her highest approval ratings since pollsters began tracking her popularity.

"Clinton this week also received the endorsement of Democratic strategist James Carville, who pledged his support to the Super PAC that is trying to woo Clinton to run."  SOURCE:  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/clinton-2016-political-pundits-hillary-presidential-run-article-1.1310037#ixzz2Pp9rSzEb

There is method to Hillary's coyness at this date.

Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post said this recently: "See, as long as Clinton says nothing definitive about whether she's running, she effectively "freezes the field." Other Democratic contenders can't start contending. Republican rivals who lack real game have to keep their mouths shut as well. We're not drowning in stories, speculating about when Andrew Cuomo is going to visit Des Moines (though I'm sure Des Moines can't wait), and no one is getting tumescent over the tricksy consultants Martin O'Malley is hiring."   SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/06/hillary-clinton-2016-speculation_n_3024678.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

“Do I think she will run? Yes I do… Has there ever been a male candidate who was the odds-on favorite to be president and backed away? No, and so why should she be any different?” said Professor Chris Arterton, dean of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“The historic nature of a Hillary presidency is kind of a completion of the transformation that began with Obama, the first African-American president, the first woman president, and a lot of people in this country are eager for that to happen,” he added.     SOURCE:  http://www.eurasiareview.com/10042013-will-hillary-clinton-run-for-president-in-2016-analysis/

Pay careful attention to the first sentence of the paragraph immediately above: “The historic nature of a Hillary presidency is kind of a completion of the transformation that began with Obama ... "

Now.  Are you sufficiently frightened?  You ought to be.  We All should be!

The Hill newspaper ran a poll recently and found that 51 percent think Hillary is all ready running.  According to the poll results 41 percent believe that she will be the Democratic Party candidate in 2016.   I agree.

Some believe that if Hillary announces early no other democrat will challenge her for the nomination.  That would leave the democrats sitting pretty -- without a primary fight -- while waiting for the republican candidates to eviscerate each other, and their treasury, in a nasty primary campaign.  Then she mops the floor with the GOP candidate left standing. 

While many in the GOP feel they have enough dirt on Hillary to make the difference in a presidential campaign, I don't believe it.  The last two presidential elections have proven the moral fiber of America has not just worn thin, it is practically transparent.  A country that would elect the current occupant of the White House doesn't give a damn about morals, or character, or honor, or even if the candidate is legally qualified, or anything else.  All they care about is the government dole, the redistribution of the nation's former wealth to their pockets.  They know that Hillary will keep it flowing.   The leftist power elite care about one thing -- POWER.  They know that with a Hillary presidency they can control the reins of power in the US for as long as she occupies the Oval Office.

As of this moment, I am one hundred percent sure that Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States -- provided, of course, she really wants it.  There IS that off chance that she really might NOT want it, but that does not fit the character of the Hillary we all know.

Personally, I shudder at the thought of having the Clintons back in the White House.  But I have long since accepted that America has changed  -- and changed for the worse.  This NEW America is not new, it is just a remake of the old empires of ancient history that rose to the apex of power in the known world then fell victim to their own moral decay and crumbled and fell into the dustbin of history leaving hardly a mark on the time continuum of earth.

We Americans are, after all, no better than all the rest that went before us.  Doomed by our avarice, our low moral character, our selfishness, and our surprising ignorance. 

The latter generations of Americans have squandered everything the former generations worked, fought, bled, and died to insure for us.  Instead of a national motto that reads:  "In God we trust"  maybe  a better motto for us would have been: "Eat, drink, and make merry, for tomorrow we die."

Depressing?  Yeah, it is.

© J. D. Longstreet

The following chart shows real wage and salary disbursements per capita (February 2013 dollars).


Click to enlarge.

We've recovered to February of 1999. No joke! Time to party again!



Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart