Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Frown
Implications
The worsening of Gallup's economic confidence measure during June may be due in part to the dissipation of the "halo effect" surrounding the death of bin Laden. Confidence has now moved back near the April 2011 low. This suggests that the consumer benefits associated with steadily declining gas prices at the pump -- down 14 cents per gallon in the past two weeks -- are being offset by other factors. One such factor might just be that gas prices remain 82 cents per gallon higher than they were a year ago. Another could be the continuing dismal jobs situation.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke last week seemed to add to the growing economic pessimism, noting that the Fed has reduced its 2011 growth forecast for the U.S. economy. Wall Street continues to suffer as a result of the Fed's apparent
It may be that declining gas prices will eventually lead to improved consumer confidence and increased consumer spending, which could make the current economic soft patch modest and transitory. At this point, however, Gallup's monitoring of economic confidence does not support that idea.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/148277/Economic-Confidence-Remains-Near-2011-Low-June.aspx
Monday, June 27, 2011
Uhh...New Meaning For The Word SICKO!
BOULDER, Colo. -- 30-year-old Luke Chrisco insists he isn’t "crazy." Yet he admits to hiding inside the tank of a
“I was at the yoga festival, doing a little bit of yoga, and I’m just seeing all these goddesses,” Chrisco told FOX31 Denver. “It seems crazy, but I just felt like I was being blessed by their energy, even though it was unintentional.”
He said he is a voyeur and not a rapist, and he said the idea of waiting in a tank of waste and urine didn’t bother him.
“There’s bacteria in there, but to me it’s just normal...we all have bodily fluids,” he said. “It seems terrible, but it didn’t actually smell that bad or anything. I still would have done it even if it smelled a little weird, because where there is muck, there is gold.”
Police believe Chrisco has been watching women through bathroom peepholes
Chrisco said he may have spied on as many as 200 women.
“Detectives have already confirmed that there are “peepholes” in the restrooms of several local businesses,” said Boulder Police spokeswoman Kim Kobel. “Owners of those businesses are taking appropriate action to seal the holes.”
Police are not releasing the names of the businesses because of the ongoing investigation.
“I’ll be honest, it was a lifestyle that I was living,” Chrisco said, “just by choice trying to find my private way to exercise my spiritual beliefs. I made a vow to myself...that I never wanted to frighten any girl. I would rather put a gun to my head than scare anyone or hurt anyone. That’s how I live my life.”
He also told FOX31 Denver that he was making a pornographic spiritual website before his arrest.
According to The Smoking Gun, Chrisco is the owner of several blogs and web sites, among them maxextrememodels.com, skyeoryan.com, and holysexteam.blogspot.com (Warning: Adult Content).
The sites feature women in sexually suggestive positions, but stop short offering true pornography.
A
http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-portable-toilet-peeping-suspect-linked-to-sexual-web-sites-20110624,0,3556843.story
Caution
Prior to the Fed’s June 22 statement, there were enough positive technical developments to justify a belief that Chairman Bernanke would give the markets a much needed push. The market wanted some signal the Fed is willing to implement some form of additional quantitative easing (QE) sooner rather than later. That is not what the market got.
We are not in favor of money printing/asset purchases/quantitative easing. However, if you are going to use QE as a policy tool, it should be done before asset prices start to plummet again. Why did QE2 come into play? Asset prices began to fall in the flash-crash correction of 2010. It looks as if the Fed is willing to wait for asset prices to fall again before taking additional policy steps. That means we must continue to err on the defensive side in the coming weeks.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
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