Critical Observer

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There are times when excessive attention to monthly data reporting what’s up, what’s down, can be allowed to obscure underlying structural changes in an economy. With the game of what-will-Yellen-do-next in full flow, this is one of those times. 
 
No, the proverbial tectonic plates are not shifting, whatever that phrase might mean when applied to an economy other than one in the throes of an irreversible Margaret Thatcher-style revolution. 
 
But there are significant trends underway, trends that are unlikely to be reversed and which, as they play out, will result in an American economy considerably different from the one we have today. 
 
Perhaps the most notable is the change in how Americans choose to live. 
 
We seem to be in what might be called “the full-closet era.” No more stuff. More “experiences.” 
 
Consumers are spending more but department stores, from Macy’s, a dominant player in that sector (sales at stores open at least a year down 2.1 percent), to Kohl’s (sales flat, profits down), are watching those dollars pass them by as consumers use their money for gym memberships, to dine out, travel, buy apps, and find more and more unfree uses for their cell phones. 
 
Perhaps the only sector in which stuff trumps experience is the booming auto sector, but even there much of the increased revenue and profit is coming from the experiences consumers want their cars to deliver in addition to getting them from here to there: videos in the back seats to reduce the incidence of the famous question, “Are we there yet, mommy?”; Apple CarPlay in the front to provide the driver access to unlimited musical entertainment; heated and air-cooled steering wheels.

HOME OWNERSHIP RATE FALLS TO 50 YEAR LOW

There are times when excessive attention to monthly data reporting what’s up, what’s down, can be allowed to obscure underlying structura...

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibtErz8B8QX6ivQjnzlqCxHz6KQCx98hjfxz6uWMRE4tfJaPr15f3oV_3E8uIdOytQAhX-9s9tTV-6CrCmEpCxUJ3cvvQiPQWCVBm4XaoIMKzw_qoJNirY2TrFwJjurQwgcsx_cPwBFEk/s1600-h/georgebush.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228839897771980434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibtErz8B8QX6ivQjnzlqCxHz6KQCx98hjfxz6uWMRE4tfJaPr15f3oV_3E8uIdOytQAhX-9s9tTV-6CrCmEpCxUJ3cvvQiPQWCVBm4XaoIMKzw_qoJNirY2TrFwJjurQwgcsx_cPwBFEk/s200/georgebush.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" /></a>Eyyy, here is a rant that's sure to cause controversy! There he goes again. President Bush today signed a huge bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling home owners (a bill he once said he was once planning to veto.) This bill calls for $3.9 billion in neighborhood grants. What the hell is a neighborhood grant? (Can't be all that bad, it was the Democrat's idea. Although, what the hell is a neighborhood grant?) Someone send me a memo. The other day the national record for the national debt has been shattered. The new national debt number now stands at $9.5 trillion. That $9,542,039,724,822 to be exact and is growing at an incredible rate. When I think about it, I start hoping that Obama is really up to the challenge (I mean come on, McCain is done.) Cause after the Bush administration's antics with the War on Terror (which should really just be called the War on Iraq), there is no shortage of shit to clean up. Let's recap (and I would so do this in the slow motion ESPN highlight segment style but I can't. So just imagine it.) Thank you Mr.Bush, we now have the highest National Debt.. EVER. Before Bush we were disliked by the middle east. After Bush, we are now fully h<a href="http://www.borev.net/nyse.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.borev.net/nyse.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" /></a>ated by most of the middle east. Before Bush the government had limits as to which of it's citizens it can monitor and what methods it would employ to do so. Now, after the Patriot Act, they can do as they please with little to no explanation. Before Bush, people had houses. After Bush, people got "Neighborhood Grants" whatever the fuck that is. Everything Bush touches, he runs into the ground (e.g. Arbusto Drilling and the other little dumb ass companies he was the President of) Well you know what, this is a country, not a fucking company you can just run into the ground. Don't treat us like your employees who run around like ants and make you money. I don't think Georgi got the memo. Our economy has sustained massive, and i mean MASSIVE damage from President Bush. MASSIVE DAMMIT! And all he can say is that we are making progress in Iraq and we can't surrender now. Well with that said, what the fuck happened in Afghanistan? Did we win there? I don't remember a fucking victory party. Last time I checked we are getting owned by the Taliban and rebel forces in Afghanistan. La<a href="http://maryt.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/afghanistan.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://maryt.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/afghanistan.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" /></a>st two thing I heard about Afghanistan... Go! Last two things, last two things. The Taliban blowing up a hole in the wall of an American detention facility letting 800 prisoners escape. Then the second piece of news I remember is 500 of those 800 attacking us bases in Afghanistan (actually taken from my memory, amazing). But Bush is only focused on Iraq. Duh, no Weapons of Mass Destruction found. No Al-Quada terror rings found. No chemical or biological weapons found, yet we, they rather (The Bush Administration) are still there just diddling about and plunging the country into deeper and deeper debt. Killing our soldiers. Killing Iraqi soldiers. Killing civilians in the process. Oh, and you know what. A whole lot of Iraqi civilians are paid by the terror groups to plant bombs and carry out attacks. Their economy is in a lot worse shape than America's, leaving some no choice but to take up the offers. Does that make them terrorists? Well ki<a href="http://dillsnapcogitation.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/cia-seal-plaque.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://dillsnapcogitation.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/cia-seal-plaque.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" /></a>nd of but their family has to eat. The point is we shouldn't have been there in the first place. Iraq wasn't really America's enemy. Iraq is a country that is classified as an "American Interest." Interest as in, Hey, we are interested in you. Give us your fucking oil! And they know this. I know this. The CIA couldn't have fucked up that bad with their intel. They just couldn't have. And if they genuinely did, well maybe it's time to get rid of them. It's not in the budget. hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on such crappy intel? I don't think so. Liars liars, all that shit was doctored and falsified. Should Bush be tried for war crimes, personally I think so. Attacking a sovereign nation under false pretenses is grounds for a war crimes tribunal, is it not? And if not, it should be. Almost half a million dead and counting (although personally i think the number is higher than that.) Let's get out and vote (for Obama) people. These problems won't go away on their own. Think about it. We are in the largest National Debt number ever and at the same time we SHOULD HAVE ALREADY been trying to combat global climate issues. How can we combat climate change if money and the funding is just not there. We better start seeing federal budget surpluses by 2015. And that goes for all you politic fucks, Democrat or Republican, Obama or McCain, in my eyes you are all criminals until proven otherwise.

Rant About Bush and Our Country's Shape

Eyyy, here is a rant that's sure to cause controversy! There he goes again. President Bush today signed a huge bill intended to provide ...

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