Friday, November 5, 2010

That Was Some Week

Glad this one is over!

Reader Submission
I was going to write about a few things tonight but I am tired and the week has had enough written on it. All I can say is I already see serious discussion about how and when QE 3.0 will happen and I know that I will be proven right that the FED is now a permanent part of our markets. Here is a picture for you to think over:
demotivational posters - IN CAPITALIST AMERICA
see more Very Demotivational

Alas, a reader left a sharp comment the other night in the post on 11/1/2010. I am including it here because I think it has real value when thinking about how far we are going to go to attain the old levels of blow off top spending after a huge bubble collapse. From reader Watchtower:
Could the US have a currency crisis?

I say yes, and all the fallout that goes with it.
This is my main thought when I think of things financial.
On the surface it seems ludicrous to think the US won't continue in it's 'Pax Americana' tradition but even Rome finally crapped out.

Personally I don't think the US will have hundreds of years to wind down like Rome.
Why?
Everything is going faster at this point in history, we now have instant global communication for one.
Who would have ever believed such a thing as the internet for example, or that ordinary people from most western civilizations (and elsewhere) would have access to it?

It appears that mankind has made huge strides in the past 100 - 150 years, but one thing that never changes is human nature.
And a part of human nature is greed.
And out of greed usually comes deceit.
And to my way of thinking that is where we are at, living in a stinking sarcophagus of fraud.
Not a house of cards as some say, but a burial tomb in which the first stone was laid around the turn of the last century for our nation.
Some say that they won't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, but it's just human nature to do so, whether they want to or not.

There was a program on 60 Minutes that showed a movie crew filming in San Francisco just a few days before the big earthquake in 1906.
http://tinyurl.com/2eyvshc

People were going along their merry way, no thought of imminent disaster or that their world was about to be violently shaken.
I sometimes get that feeling when going about my daily routine of meeting and greeting this person and that.
Sure they know that things have changed, but do they really have a concept of the precipice that we are on?
Not in my opinion.
I would love to believe that everything is going to turn out OK but I just can't.
I've been raised to believe that the piper has to be paid, and to my reckoning there is one hell of a bill coming due.
It's coming.
"...and the wind began to howl"

A thoughtful comment that I am thankful for.

Friday Night Entertainment
I know I need some distractions, how about you?

Jack Finney
I do believe that Jack Finney's special novel "Time and Again" has a new fan! Who wants to go ice skating in front of the Dakota Hotel?:

One of my favorite novels.

Win or Fail, it is Funny
Some selections from Failblog.org?

Looks like fun:
epic fail photos - Family Reunion Banner WIN
see more funny videos
Yup.

We usually went to the zoo or the Lowell Library for field trips but this would have worked:
epic fail photos - field trip fail
see more funny videos
Nice.

Star Wars Travel Posters
Amazing and original work by Steve Thomas! Check them all out but here was my favorite:

That is so going on my wall in the den.

Clips and Stuff
Some items worth a look.

It seems ALL of the episodes of the series "The Highlander" are now full length on YouTube. Yes, I know I am an addict. This show was what really great TV could be, I only wish it was an HBO series with a proper budget. Oh well.

In any case, take a few minutes and watch this clip from the episode "Finale part I" and the scene I love starts at the 12:17 mark. Follow through to the 19:50mark and tell me it was not special:

Great stuff.

Speaking of HBO series, No more "Rome" and no more "Carnivale". At least "True Blood" looks like it will be on forever....

Chilling.

Rock Blogging
Time for the tunes. With no requests I am on my own. You have been warned!

I like this song and I guess I have no idea why, but lets go back to 1965 with Billy Joe Royal and "Down in the Boondocks":

Old music is wonderful.

From old to new, here is Pink's new song "Glitter in the Air":

I like that one.

Set aside the theatrics and the make up! Alice Cooper's "I'm 18" is a great tune:

WISH I was 18 again. Thought I knew everything. Such a waste.

On a lighter note, try Primus and "Winona has a Big Brown Beaver"; sure to get a chuckle:

So very wrong, but strangely funny.

In case you missed the million times I played it, here it is again! "Two of the Lucky Ones" by Droge and Summers Blend (with lyrics):

What a special song.

Two left! Unlike some bloggers (Hi Jake of EconomPic!) I deliver the tunes. I also have nothing else to do so I have that going for me. Which is nice.

A little romance song for you all! Take a ride back with Whitesnake and "Is this Love":

The song is good too!

Last call! Last tune, last chance for what? Redemption? Absolution? Revelation? Who can say.

All I can say is if you leave me with no requests, you get a live Randy Rhoads tune to close! Rock out with "Children of the Grave" and I triple dog dare you to listen to the whole thing and not get a little amped up. I dare ya!:

That is just moving to the very core.

Have a good night.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I dont buy the "things will happen quicker" argument. The same ones were made in the 1930s - the arguments were being with "instant communication via telex, teletype, etc" - things will shake out quickly. And yet, we are still here.

I do however like the earthquake analogy. Seismologists tell us we are "overdue" for the "big one" in CA, and we likely are. Similarly, we have burdened ourselves with so much debt that we really are on a precipe - we really are overdue for the financial big one.

However, just because CA is overdue for the big quake does not mean it is going to happen soon, or even happen in our lifetimes. Empires do not have the same 10,000 year "shakedown" timeline that geology does, but they do last hundreds to possibly thousands of years. As such, "overdue" is a relative term, and I find it almost arrogant to assume it will be "imminent" on a human scale.

At the end of the day, all you can do is take adequate precautions, but then go on with life. Sure, it will be difficult to impossible to distinguish between significant quakes (i.e. the late 2008, early 2009 financial meltdown), and the true "big one". Likewise, it is reasonable to get spooked by aftershocks (remember how worried we all were about Dubai last thanksgiving).

However, as time goes by, it becomes more and more reasonable to assume that wasnt the "big one" and its thus back to living your life. We only get 70-90 turns on this planet, and entire generations have come and gone without seeing the meltdown they were all convinced would happen soon. Be on guard and yes, as another major quake hits, re-evaluate. However, dont obsess over the hundreds of tiny tremors which happen on a fairly regular basis.

watchtower said...

Anon, here is where you and I have some difference in point of view:

"We only get 70-90 turns on this planet, and entire generations have come and gone without seeing the meltdown they were all convinced would happen soon."

If someone today was 90 years old then they have seen the Great Depression and WWII.

In my opinion those events were 'meltdowns', with the possibility that WWII may have been directly or indirectly influenced by Germany's inflation melt'up' in the 20's.

I'm just hoping the current state of affairs don't eventually lead to a similar situation in this age of nuclear weapons.

Having said that, I'm in a 100% agreement with this statement of yours:

"At the end of the day, all you can do is take adequate precautions, but then go on with life."

EconomicDisconnect said...

"At the end of the day, all you can do is take adequate precautions, but then go on with life."

Indeed.

Remember too that conflict is usually do to economic plight and/or resource depletion. Peak oil? Wait for the water issues in India and China soon (not may trips around the sun).

EconomicDisconnect said...

due to, ugh!

heywally said...

I also knew it all when I was 18. My dad used to tell me that the 'more he knew, the less he knew" .... at 58, I now know what that means.

I was 18 when the song came out (of course, I identified with the song), in Nov. of 1970, followed shortly by the album. Still my favorite album of his, and the subsequent stuff Alice did became less and less interesting to me.

I saw them in concert in 71' in Chicago, with The Stooges as the opening act .... a little theatrical for my taste back then (both bands) but an interesting show. I remember Iggy pop was spray painted in some kind of silver glittery stuff and his band, who I had never heard before, played nothing but 2/3 chord songs that I thought kind of sucked. They were all dressed in black leather outfits and for some reason, reminded me of Nazis. They came on about 45 minutes late which back in the day, was not uncommon.

The Alice band I remember as being pretty good and they had a nice array of pop/rock songs from that album, with catchy tunes and unusual/dark instrumentation. They did a few songs off of their earlier and more psychedelic albums too and of course, they did theatrical bits for each song. Luckily, no chicken head biting off.