February 3, 4

 Good morning. We woke up to a bit, very little bit, of snow. Not too surprising since the temp is now 27F. But the high today is supposed to reach into the 40s.

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Our tv is set to the Six Nations Rugby tournament. It is far more interesting than the news this morning. The only thing we didn't see on the local (Chicago) news was another shooting. It is amazing how uninteresting most of it was. Only the weather is really relevant to us. The national news is chewing over the either the Mideast or the Trump legal mess while adding no new information. Much of it was pure speculation about what might happen.

Last Week In Collapse has some tidbits that should worry us. It is a bit long so I will let you peruse it yourself.

Naked Capitalism posted this article about the political situation in Germany. However, much of what is happening there sounds way to familiar. We don't have farmers driving their tractors and farm trucks into Berlin but we do have so-called "Gods Army" driving some 100 vehicles to southern Texas to support Abbot's "nullification" stance.

Boondoggle hooked me with its title: Lies, Damned Lies and Economic Impact Studies. It recalls the old saying: lies, damned lies, and statistics. That had been modified by some financial/political bloggers I follow to read: lies, damned lies, statistics, and government statistics. The authors note that the economic impact studies are paid for (and serve the interests of) the companies pushing certain projects with the accompanying humongous financial benefits they hope to get (exemptions from various laws and regulations, and tax relief). That is the same reason government stats are so highly massaged--to hide what government agencies want hidden (true inflation, real unemployment rates, etc.). I will take a bit of a quibble about the subtitle: How Taxpayers Spend Billions of Dollars Based On Corporate Propaganda. I would amend it to: How governments spend billions of taxpayers' dollars based on corporate propaganda. Taxpayers aren't spending the money governments are. And the relationship between taxpayers and governments is becoming more and more tenuous.