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The Guardianreports in response to political scandal and public outrage, official Washington repeatedly uses the same well-worn tactic. It is the one that has been hauled out over decades in response to many of America's most significant political scandals. Predictably, it is the same one that shaped President Obama's much-heralded Friday speech to announce his proposals for "reforming" the National Security Agency in the wake of seven months of intense worldwide controversy.

The crux of this tactic is that US political leaders pretend to validate and even channel public anger by acknowledging that there are "serious questions that have been raised". They vow changes to fix the system and ensure these problems never happen again. And they then set out, with their actions, to do exactly the opposite: to make the system prettier and more politically palatable with empty, cosmetic "reforms" so as to placate public anger while leaving the system fundamentally unchanged, even more immune than before to serious challenge.

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The following chart shows the annual average of the 5-year CD rate at national banks.


Click to enlarge.

I'm not a religious person, but I do believe Jules would summarize this "rising interest rate" environment best.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee.

I'm certainly not a sarcastic god by any stretch of the imagination, but I am fully prepared to strike down upon Forbes with great sarcastic vengeance and furious sarcastic anger! It certainly wouldn't be the first time.

January 13, 2014
Forbes: Rising Interest Rates: Are They Good Or Bad For Retirees?

Allow me to pull the 10 key points from the article for you (including the title).

1. "...rising interest rates..."
2. "...rising rates..."
3. "...rising interest rates..."
4. "...rising interest rates..."
5. "...rising interest rates..."
6. "...rising interest rate..."
7. "...rising interest rates..."
8. "...rising rates..."
9. "...rising mortgage rates..."
10. "...rising rates..."

And finally, here is one of the true "Jules" of the article. It is the example that set all of this rant in motion.


Hahaha! Good motherf@#$ing luck on that motherf@#$ing miracle happening any time soon! The average 5-year CD at national banks currently pays just 0.48% (as of January 8, 2014). That is definitely the lowest rate I have ever personally seen (and I was born in 1964).

This is not investment advice. They are just the free motherf@#$ing opinions (in the spirit of Jules and Pulp Fiction of course) of an anonymous blogger on the Internet. Do with them what you will. :)

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Lizzie Velasquez

January 16, 2014
Time: How Amazon Crushed the Union Movement


On the one hand, this is absolutely shocking. Who would have guessed that high-paid white-collar employees invariably earn more than low-paid blue-collar employees? Time hasn't shocked me this much since they declared my snowboard to be a fad in the 1980s. I believe it was doomed to go the way of the hula hoop if memory serves. Oh how I laughed over that one at the time.


On the other hand, that would definitely suck (pardon my language). I've walked a lot of miles in recent years and anything over 7 miles is risking a blister or two. I can't imagine doing it every day. The thought of an ambulance waiting for me after a long shift is icing on the cake. I can definitely empathize with the frustration.

Look at the Tesla factory - what's the worker to robotic arm ratio in that factory? - polarbear429 (in the comments)

And on that third hand, the more the poorest among us are paid the sooner their jobs will be replaced by automation. Talk about a lose-lose situation for the workers. There is no backup plan once the jobs are permanently gone either, other than to pretend they will all miraculously find work elsewhere. As a side note, the more Amazon and other automated online retailers sell, the less brick and mortar retailers can sell. There are potentially 15 million retail jobs at stake here, and when they go they will no doubt take others with them. Sigh.



This post inspired by Fritz_O who pointed out (in the comments found here) that the Amazon workers opted not to unionize.

Orlando Sentinel reports three students and two teacher aides were arrested Friday after a brawl last week in an Osceola County middle school exceptional-education classroom, the Sheriff's Office said.


Deputies said a student kicked and pushed another student against a computer desk Jan. 9 at Discovery Intermediate School in Poinciana . Video shows him yelling, "I'm gonna stomp your heart. I stomp on it, you're dead." The boy who was threatened has a medical condition, detectives said.

Two other students threw chairs, and one of them took video of the melee, the Sheriff's Office said.

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Smoking Gunreports police are hunting for a thief who made his getaway on a skateboard after stealing a flat-screen TV from a Target store in Florida.

The suspect arrived at the business minutes before its 11 PM closing Wednesday and snatched the 32” television. He then tucked the TV--which costs about $350--under his arm and skated toward the exit of the Target store in the Clearwater Mall.

The skateboarder’s first attempt to flee the store was thwarted by a set of locked doors. As he headed for another exit, the man allegedly flashed a knife when confronted by store personnel.

As seen above on Target’s surveillance footage, the thief rolled away from the store while a security guard chased after him on foot.

Police described the skateboarder as a “white male in his 20s, about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 150 pounds. He was wearing dark jeans, a black hoodie and green Nike shoes.” They additionally noted that his “getaway vehicle was brown in color and had orange-yellow wheels.”

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Scary Ozzie - The Icelandic Pony That Frightens Trail Horses



Ozzie for Fed Chairman!

Does nothing! Scares the heck out of nearly everyone! Genius! ;)

Click to enlarge.

The black line shows the annual average of the industrial mining production index (left scale). Note that it recently set a new record.

The blue line shows the annual average gold price adjusted by the consumer price index (right scale, December 2013 dollars). It grew exponentially starting in 2000 and very nearly set a new record. It has recently backed off though.

Let's zoom in a bit.


Click to enlarge.




September 23, 2007
Productivity Miracle


May 22, 2013
20 Insane Bitcoin Mining Rigs


Mining rocks to hoard? Mining bitcoins to hoard? It's all good if it adds to GDP! Right?

This is not investment advice. As always, just opinions.

And on that note, here are a few bonus opinions. I find it insane that we needlessly waste any of the world's resources to mine bitcoins. Is the world really going to be a better place because of it? Is this the kind of productivity miracle that will lead to future prosperity? It's shameful that bitcoins require any energy at all to create. Good grief. At the very least, they could have made a computer game out of it that's fun to play. But no, it's just automated computers (in ever greater numbers) mining virtual bitcoins (in dwindling numbers). Put another way, it requires ever increasing streams of energy to generate fewer and fewer bitcoins. What a frickin' long-term plan of wasted effort that is (not necessarily from a miner's perspective, but for society in general).

At least gold gives you something shiny to fondle once the mining's complete. I say this as one who owned gold from 2004 to 2006. It treated me very well over that period. No complaints. No desire to buy it again though (at these prices anyway). Your opinions may vary of course.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart (Long-Term)
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart (Short-Term)

The following chart shows the interest earned on MZM money stock divided by disposable personal income.


Click to enlarge.

Unless one counts cost cutting (and therefore weak employment growth) as a long-term growth strategy, we're apparently fresh out of "genius" ideas.

The chart is especially interesting if one considers how much MZM has grown relative to disposable personal income. It's almost like the more MZM we generate, the harder it is to generate interest off of it. Yeah, it's almost exactly like that. Think Japan.

This coincides well with my long standing belief that it will be increasingly difficult to make money off of money. Those anxiously awaiting higher/juicier real yields over the long-term may be in for serious disappointment, much to the ongoing dismay of Brett Arends at the Wall Street Journal. What a trip down memory lane that link is by the way. 2008, what a year!

This is not investment advice.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

I always liked Maria as an actress. Now I like her even more. 

Fox News reports Maria Conchita Alonso, the Cuban-Venezuelan actress who counts as one of her best-known films “Moscow on the Hudson” with Robin Williams, is drawing controversy over a political ad in which she appears with a California Tea Party lawmaker who is running for governor.


Several Latino organizations criticized the actress for endorsing Tim Donnelly, an assemblyman who founded a state chapter of the Minutemen, an armed vigilante border patrol group, and who has pushed for a hard line on immigration.

The critics also took issue with what they say is the stereotyping of Latinos in the campaign video in which Alonso appears with Donnelly.

In the video, which was released on Monday, Alonso holds a small dog that she introduces as “Tequila” and at times uses vulgar expressions as she translates into Spanish remarks by Donnelly about his views on various issues.

“The Tim Donnelly ad with Maria Conchito Alonso ad is so bad it’s almost laughable,” said a statement by Café Con Leche, a Latino Republican group. “The ad seems designed to appeal to Hispanic voters, but instead insults the intelligence of many Hispanic voters.”
The group said that Alonso was an example of how “time and time again movie stars often lack common sense.”

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