Something is Going On . . .
By Barry Ritholtz - August 19th, 2009, 5:15PM
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Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
August 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
and if thing get really ugly a la “The Road”- they just might the next thing up for dinner
August 19th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
No shit something is going on.
The way I see it there are two options in the next few months (extremely simplified):
1) The markets and commodities keep going up with the USD going down.
2) The USD recovers as the markets and commodities crash.
Option one leads to anarchy and the US government unable to finance swelling debt.
Option two causes short term pain and more time to keep the charade of US and bank solvency alive. Smaller banks fail, TBTF banks (with government backing) pick up the pieces.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Door #2, mchappy
August 19th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
More freeloaders with complaints! I bet those dogs have never worked a day in their lives.
By the way, super premium dog kibble is not a bad option for human consumption when times get rough. Read the ingredients…it’s healthier and cheaper than the diets of most people.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Clem-
you’re gonna start a health care debate…
August 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
You know there’s real truth in this cartoon. Many people were spending extravagantly on food and all kinds of other things for their pets (grooming, pet sitting, day care, etc.). I am a huge dog lover. I’ve got two right now and they’re my best buddies and companions. But I treat them like dogs; well cared for, loved, happy, but dogs.
There was clearly a signal being sent with the outsized amount of money that was being spent on pets. It’s one of the things I marveled at, in addition to the housing ridiculousness and the car debt treadmill.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
@ahab
The Road would be a few iterations down the road so to speak.
I bet many people are eating dog/cat food now.
Spam certainly can’t be confused with sirloin.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Funnily enough, studies have shown that premium dog food is not the first expense people tend to cut.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
We need 8-10 Million high paying/high benefit/low skilled/private sector jobs by Christmas or we start the next major leg down.
High paying – To restart the economy people need to stay current on existing debt AND increase consumption
High benefit – Must have good health care and such to avoid using the social safety nets that are nearly exhausted
Low skilled – No time to retrain everyone and not everyone can do calculus.
Private Sector – Government jobs don’t count. You can’t print your way to prosperity and government jobs don’t create wealth. On his/her best day, a government employee enables the private sector’s wealth engine.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
@OLT:
same here about dogs…don’t want anyone to think otherwise from the earlier thread…I call mine a “speagle” ’cause I think she’s a spaniel/beagle mix, but all I really know for sure about her is she can run circles around me on the morning jogs
…remember all the pet store dot coms? That stupid sock puppet commercial on the Super Bowl? Defined the previous madness. I’m not sure what will define this one, but I do remember one of the Super Bowls had as its main sponsor Ameriquest Mortgage, the quintessential subprime slum lord, at least until it failed less than a year after the sponsorship. In fact, there ought to be a Super Bowl Sponsorship Failure Index, where you can bet on how many of the advertisers fail within a year.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
tc Says-
“In fact, there ought to be a Super Bowl Sponsorship Failure Index, where you can bet on how many of the advertisers fail within a year.”
awesome idea
August 19th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
…to compliment the super bowl / stock market indicator – nice concept……i’ll trade that
August 20th, 2009 at 8:09 am
lw’s post about jobs got me to thinking about my last few days…
Something else happening where I live is the immigration debate is slowing down. Remember all those “jobs Americans don’t want”? At my favorite Irish restaurant (McDonald’s), where I unfortunately eat frequently – doing my part to contribute to the health care debate :) – there used to be LOTS of hispanics. Now there are 2 cooks, the rest of the employees are mysteriously well-spoken and Anglo now.
On the way to work yesterday I also saw a guy who was peddling for money at an interstate exit…literally. His sign said “I’m a former programmer who was laid off. Need a job, but money will be fine too…”
When the beggars are well-spoken, the economy’s not in recovery.
August 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/10/horses.slaughtered/
Someone is killing horses in Southeast Florida.
Since January, 19 horses have been reported butchered — 17 in Miami-Dade County and two in Broward County.
And that might be just a conservative estimate.
“That number is extremely low,” says Richard “Kudo” Couto of the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “There are many more slaughters in South Florida.”
Couto, an SPCA investigator, says many butcherings are going unreported by people who do not want to get involved with law enforcement. Police concede that underreporting of such animal cruelty crimes is a concern.
The reported deaths are being investigated by a multiagency team that includes Scott Andress from the Miami-Dade Police Department.
“In the majority of these cases, the carcasses exhibited signs of being slaughtered and dismembered, and the meat removed from the bodies,” Andress says.