Hello, all, on this cold Wednesday.  The temps are in the 20s but the wind chill drops that into the teens.  At least the winds have died down.  And the snow stayed east and north.  I looked out to make sure that nothing had blown out of place and saw everything is where it belongs.  The wind had the over-the-fence pot hangers swinging like pendulums with the pots inside.  I have them hanging on the cross bars of the mini-greenhouse.  I thought it looked like a good storage space and so it his turned out.  The weather person on our local (Chicago) TV station reported that one of her regular e-mail correspondents has already figured that we have 111 days till spring.  He is already tired of the cold.  I look at all the moisture coming through this late in the year and figure we have worse to come.

I agree, Lois.  College today is not worth the investment of time and money.  But then so much of our educational system is not worth the amount of money (private and public) that has been put into it.  Our local news this morning carried a snippet on a recent evaluation of Chicago's charter schools and it wasn't good.  The way our Federal Secretary of Education and various politicians at all levels of government have touted charter schools you would think they were the magical road to educational success.  I think the key word there is 'magical.'  The students at most of those charter schools scored no better than the students in the regular public school system and those in at least half a dozen did significantly worse.  No panacea there.  You may be right and a system of apprenticeship programs would be more effective.

Tom Englehardt has a nicely satirical piece by Steve Fraser that touches on most of the ills of modern society dominated as it is by predatory capitalism.  Englehardt's intro is as entertaining as Fraser's article.  And both are absolutely right--this system is rapidly consuming our dreams, our futures, and our children. I find it amazing that most of us would find cannibalism abhorrent unless we are talking about fiscal and psychic cannibalism.

Just glanced at the list of items on my Google alert page for 'drought.'  I noticed on which claims that the drought in Texas is now the worst on record since records began in 1895.  That means it beats the benchmark most of us use--the Dust Bowl.  And the recent rains, though welcome, missed many of the hardest hit regions and much, much more is needed to provide real relief.  I couldn't read the article because it was taken down by the time I found the link.  Mexico, especially northern Mexico, is suffering the worst drought in 60 years.  That isn't good for two reasons: Mexico is the world's fifth largest supplier of corn and many of the early veggies for the American market come from Northern Mexico.  And to make matters worse many crucial reservoirs are at 30-40% of their normal levels which means water is going to be a scarce commodity this coming season.  And the lower Danube in eastern Europe is at its lowest level since 2003.

Leigh at 5 Acres and a Dream has a good post this morning that crystallizes many thoughts I have had over recent years.  I grew up at a time when debt had become an 'investment' in the future that would be paid off from future financial gains.  I never really fell for the notion of debt as 'wealth' that has come to dominate much of high finance.  But debt is, as we have increasingly found out over the last 20 years, a drain on our futures.  Debt-as-investment relies on trust: the trust that future will be more prosperous and the debtor can pay off the debt.  Anyone who has that kind of trust now is either extraordinarily lucky or extraordinarily oblivious.  I also grew up with the notion of insurance as a good form of protection against catastrophe: a breadwinner dying unexpectedly, a car damaged, a house destroyed, an unpredictable major medical problem.  But I have questioned it more of late.  We have renter's insurance and there are clauses I simply can't understand.  Some seem to contradict others.  And I have seen too many people who thought they had coverage for whatever disaster they encountered and discovered they did not.  As far as medical insurance--I believe the pervasiveness (until a couple of years ago when so many lost benefits) has been a major factor in the increase in medical costs.  The people who receive the medical services do not pay for those services directly and have no incentive to incorporate economics into their decisions.  The doctors and hospitals provide services but bill the insurance companies whose deep pockets make it all too tempting to inflate the costs for a higher return.  The insurance companies pay but have no real gauge of how effective or efficient the services provided really are.  Disconnect on all levels.  And again much depends on trust--the trust that the treatment is really worth the cost.  I don't have that much trust in the medical establishment.  And on the notion of retirement instruments--that also depends on trust that the money will be there when one retires.  And I don't have any faith beyond when I see my next check has been deposited.

Good Tuesday morning to you all.  Wet this morning.  The weather people say we may get 1 to 2 inches of snow but I don't really expect it.  East of us will get that but the system appears to be fizzling out before it reaches us.  We were surprised when the sun came out for a bit yesterday afternoon.

Oh, yeah, Kay.  I think we must be founding members of the 'I'm staying home on Black Friday Club.'  And I would love to see the bought congress critters get tossed out in sufficient numbers to do some good.  I would love to see the so-called 'safe districts' most of them (mis-)represent suddenly become totally unsafe and up for grabs.  And one piece of good news from the morning broadcast:  the recall movement in Wisconsin has more than half of the signatures needed with a month and a half to go.  Maybe Walker will be a half-term governor.

I don't know how often I watched news that someone (usually the Germans and the French) had come up with a solution to the sovereign debt problem and that story alone caused an orgiastic buying frenzy on the stock markets.  Then suddenly some bright person discovered that the 'solution' was anything but and the markets sold off.  This little piece from Zero Hedge puts a bit of light on the darker possibilities.

I am about two-thirds through Michael Lewis' Boomerang and it is a fascinating take on the financial meltdown as it manifested in Europe.  It is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it.  I can summarize it so far in a few short sentences.  The Icelandic bankers borrowed foreign money to buy foreign assets which they then sold to each other at inflated prices giving the appearance of fantastic prosperity.  The Irish bankers borrowed foreign money to buy Irish assets that they sold to each other at inflated prices or loaned to land developers who built overpriced homes and commercial property.  The Greek government borrowed foreign money to support inflated government expenditures and inefficiency.  And then Lewis presents the German situation.  The sober German bankers, who would never have approved such loans to German customers in Germany, provided the foreign money that fueled the debt frenzy.  I find it amusing that the Germans are now insisting that their frugal ways be adopted by the spendthrift peoples of the European periphery when part of the problem was the much-less-than-frugal actions of their bankers.

I found this Psychopathic Economics 101 post both apt and amusing.  Is your house insured??  Against what dangers??

Good morning, all.  We had rain yesterday with falling temps.  For the week it will be cool and wet with some snow possible.  But then it is the last week of November.  The rain should end later today for a bit so we should be able to get out weekly shopping done without getting wet.

I saw a snippet of this story on the morning broadcast news but no details.  The reporter did say that the total (for now) was $1.2 trillion.  What wasn't said was how many big FOREIGN banks got our money.  That is one aspect that pisses me off.  Another is the fact that these are private businesses whose risks (and costs) have been shifted from them to the private sector to the taxpayers.  So a significant portion of the bailout went to foreign private businesses which simply compounds my disgust.  And the Federal Reserve and the banks fought tooth and nail to keep the details secret.  Once upon a time, we were told that a democracy required an educated and informed electorate.  Another indication that democracy is functionally dead no matter the pronouncements of our political class.  Firedoglake also points out that the Fed earmarked $7.7 Billion to rescue the financial sector or 11 times the amount of TARP.  These are mind boggling numbers.  And I have to ask a question that has come to mind frequently over the last four years:  when is the red ink so deep that there is not enough money in the world to wipe it out?  And when do the printing presses break down from a long period of excessive use?

The New York Times posted this article which reflects many of the conclusions I have come to over the last decade.  They still tell us that a college degree is the way to a comfortable middle class life.  But I noticed nearly ten years ago that blanket prescription had a lot of holes in it.  It depends upon the subject, the school, the connections the student has, and other factors as well.  For many they will never recoup the cost of their education.  Furthermore, many graduates will find that the career they trained for has been eliminated by technology.  The pundits used to tell us that technology created as many jobs as it erased.  That was a lie.  Combine that trend with government policies and globalization and you get the current split between low level jobs they used to describe as 'entry level' and upper level professional jobs with no bridge between.

The news readers tell us that Black Friday sales set records.  The first question in my mind was how much was on credit and how many of those consumers will file for bankruptcy in January or February.  It is amazing how many of our pundits are almost orgasmic over the sales figures as though it really signals an economic revival.

Good morning, all.  Well, Black Friday is gone and we now have Small Business Saturday.  Then, of course, after a brief respite for Sunday (once a day of rest), we will get Cyber Monday.  Lovely, we have almost wiped out Thanksgiving and in its place have three shopping holidays.  Perhaps we should have expected that development given that the economy is 60+% consumer driven.  I wondered this morning if we would soon see a 'Consumerist' Advent Calendar.  You remember this calendars with little windows and you opened one each day leading to Christmas?  Well, soon after that thought I saw the new Wal-Mart commercial which touts 'Cyber Week.'

The news talking heads are still talking about the stupid idiot who pepper sprayed others in line to get an X-box.  Really??? An X-Box??  If I were starving I might do that to make sure I (or my family) got food but an X-Box??  But I am really offended by the attention this a$$ got from the media.  And I can't even express my disgust with the ones who brought guns and knives.

But then insanity seems to pervade our lives.  Consider this story.  Corporate tax rates both too high and too low?  Well, I guess a company would find it worth while to have a tax corporation charging them millions if that company can create a 57k page return and reduce the tax burden on $14 billion in profits to zero.

Good morning to you all.  And no I am not shopping today.  I have never engaged in the Black Friday madness.  If I were still giving Christmas gifts as I did ten years ago, I would probably have finished it already.  But I soured on the consumerist version of Christmas long ago.  However, one holiday at a time--I hope your Thanksgiving was pleasant and satisfying.  Ours was.  We joined my sister and her partner for dinner.  Our brother and sister-in-law, nephew and his daughters joined us.  It was a nice gathering: good company and good food.

Just when I think I have heard a story that illustrates how low we have fallen as a civilized society another pops up that has me shaking my head in disbelief.  Like this one.

As many of you may realize, I am an extreme skeptic on anything political and I think with good reason.  I always have questions in my mind when I read political articles and blog and take any pronouncements with a ton, rather than a pinch, of salt.  This Burning Platform post indicates why.  I never now whether those idiots are talking about real absolute cuts in the total spending or just a reduction in the increase in total spending.  One would think that the automatic 'cuts' required with the failure of the (faux)-supercommittee would reduce our troops to eating dog food and fighting with broken bows from the bleating coming from Leon Panetta's mouth.

We have all said that the weather has been weird this year and the year isn't over yet.  Check this out.

Good morning, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving.  Hope you all have a lovely day with friends and family.

Good morning, all, on this day before Thanksgiving.  We have a couple of errands to do today but otherwise it should be an easy day.  Not that any of our days are hard or rushed.  In fact, we refuse to be rushed.  It makes life so much easier and controls the blood pressure.

This story sums up the mishigas of the (not-so-)supercommittee.  Most had little hope that it would really succeed in the first place but are disappointed anyway.  Many of us feel a strange combination of disappointment and relief: disappointment that these morons couldn't come to a compromise and relief that they didn't come to a compromise that would severely shred what is left of our social safety net while giving the wealthy another free pass.  I understand the rationale for the committee.  After all, a similar committee managed to reduced the number of military bases in the U.S. after congress failed to deal with the matter.  But the very different result this time reveals just how broken the entire system is; and that is reflected by the comments of those who find their faith in the system seriously challenged.  Phil at Phil's Favorites has some wonderfully biting comments on both the failure of the committee and on the current Repthuglican Scrooge-like attitude towards anyone not in the upper 1% or associated with a defense contractor.