Friday, September 25, 2009

Swapping lies...

Greetings good citizen,

While yesterday’s topic touched upon the ‘surplus population’ (which is indeed the physical manifestation of too many workers and not enough customers, locked in place by a ‘rigidly defined’ workday/week.)

Yes good citizen, no one wants to admit it but our current crisis (as well as the one that is bubbling to the surface underneath the so-called ‘financial crisis) are directly related to ‘out-moded’ notions of a ‘fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work.’

Many of you have observed that the ‘cheaper there’ not only pays low wages but they also work long hours, with 60 hours being roughly the ‘median’ for most ‘third world hell-holes’. Oh, did I mention that if they pay overtime at all, it’s paid on the hours worked AFTER 60…and all things being even, those workers consider themselves ‘lucky’ to get that ‘premium pay’. Which isn’t necessarily ‘time and a half’ either, sometimes it’s only 10%…there aren’t any ‘laws’, the employers makes this sort of stuff up as they go along!

Which brings us to yet another important and quite pertinent point, if you don’t have the power to ‘resist’ unreasonable demands…then what constitutes ‘reasonable’ gets decided for you, usually by someone who is not themselves subject to the same ‘standards of reasonableness’.

Ironically, tonight’s offering is…to me, a manifestation of the above described predicament, leaking into the public arena…

I’ve read more than one article today that wondered aloud why the Dow was hovering on the edge of 10,000 point mark when there is no visible signs of corresponding economic activity to support that number.

Could the ‘answer’ to that open question be as disturbing ‘because they can?’


Stocks Drop on Tepid Economic News

By JACK HEALY
Published: September 25, 2009

Weaker readings on the housing market and manufacturing orders pulled Wall Street lower for another day on Friday, leaving stocks at a loss for the week.

Investors who previously cheered indicators of an economic rebound got a more measured view this week: sales of previously owned homes fell in August after four months of gains, and sales of new homes edged up less than expectations. In addition, new orders for aircraft, computers and other durable goods slipped, defying expectations for another month of gains. [Which begs the question as to whether or not these ‘offending’ sectors will be ‘punished’?]

Taken together, the figures suggested that Wall Street may have bet too heavily that a swift economic rebound would continue to lift stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42.25 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 9,665.19. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index lost 6.40 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,044.38.

The Nasdaq composite index, which has climbed more than 30 percent since the start of the year, dropped 16.69 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,090.92.

The Nasdaq was pulled down by selling in Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, and other technology companies. Shares of Research In Motion, which has faced stiff competition from Apple’s iPhone and the Palm Pre, fell 17 percent after its sales forecast missed expectations.

The Dow fell more than 150 points this week, as some investors speculated that stocks had raced too far ahead of an economic recovery that was still just beginning. [One could guess this accounts for the recovery’s current ‘transparency’] With unemployment nearing 10 percent and consumers still restrained, analysts have warned that corporate profits could show anemic growth in the quarters ahead. [Um, by this point in the game the ‘general public’ is already well aware that those ‘paid schills’ announcing the ‘end of the recession’ are actually ‘fuckin’ liars’ that nobody in their right mind pays any attention to.]

On Friday, investors were playing defensively, buying shares of companies that tend to be more insulated during recessions and walking away from those that rise and fall with economic cycles. Shares of health care providers, basic consumer products and utilities were slightly higher, while industrial producers, retailers and financial shares slipped into the red.

Investors continued to push the market for Treasury debt higher, choosing a conservative investment that would act as a safe harbor if the stock market took a turn or the economy continued to struggle. Yields on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 3.32 percent, from 3.38 percent on Thursday.


It’s not that difficult to pick the ‘inconsistencies’ out of the above article; which is why I’d like to ask you to join me as we shift mental gears, exchanging our economics ‘beanies’ for out ‘political’ ones…

All set? Good.

Like all good conversations, we need to start at the beginning.

Why do you suppose the media, er, ‘exaggerates’ so much? Could the answer be (again, disturbingly) that ‘everything is political’?

Every one of us is guilty of harboring the ‘there ought to be a law’ mindset, depending on the topic.

Let’s use ‘bankers’ as an example. How many people do you suppose would support the notion that the management team of every Wall Street firm should be fired, wholesale?

Understand that the idea of having these same people ‘drawn and quartered’ (a rather barbaric act) enjoys a disturbing degree of popularity…if only to scare the rest of the banking community straight…

Well, getting back to conversations we’re not having (because the media has its head in the sand,) what do you find more disturbing? The fact that nobody connected with collapsing the global financial network has faced prosecution…or are you more disturbed by the fact nobody is even under investigation for this crime?

One needs only divorce oneself from today’s ‘media circus’ for a few moments to have dozens of topics related to recent (actually, no longer very recent) scandals that have never been resolved, much less investigated.

This phenomenon points immediately to the most disturbing question of all…what the hell is wrong with the Justice Department? (Honestly, the whole damn legal system needs a good going over. Maybe give it a good douche while we’re at it…)

Then maybe we’ll be able to put a stop to the media acting like a ‘pimp’ for criminal corporations!

It may sound like ‘dreaming’ but if we don’t we face the very real probability of extinction by our own hand…

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

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