Thursday, November 17, 2011

The return of $100 oil

Greetings good citizen,

In case you didn’t notice, Oil has passed the $100 a barrel mark again (You may have no place to go but it’s dark most of the day this time of year and unless you’re part polar bear, the furnace is calling for heat at regular intervals as well.

Stumbling around in the dark and the biting cold is not only dangerous; it’s also unhealthy…but those who profit from this situation consider this to be YOUR problem.

Front page story in the local rag yesterday: the local food bank is tap city! They’re making an emergency appeal to area residents for donations NO MATTER HOW SMALL!

But wait! What’s that up on the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? it’s an economic recovery! (so long as you don’t scrutinize the numbers too closely…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. claims for jobless benefits hit a seven-month low last week, while permits for future home construction rebounded strongly last month, bolstering views the economy was gaining traction.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday, from 393,000 the prior week. Economists had forecast claims rising to 395,000.

Separately, permits for residential construction rose 10.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 653,000 last month, the Commerce Department said. However, new home construction fell 0.3 percent to annual rate of 628,000 units.

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on the claims data, while prices for Treasury debt fell. The dollar fell against the euro.

Um, for the non homeowners out there I feel compelled to point out that some communities make you pull a building permit if plan to do more than just repaint your residence.

You don’t need a permit to erect a new mailbox but you do need one to place/replace a tool shed!

So before you think there are a bunch of construction crews out there, consider the financial state of the US consumer and think again.

Chances are good a majority of those permits are for replacement roofs.

There’s probably a figure that tells us what ‘percentage’ of permits are for repair of existing structures and what percentage is for new construction.

Considering the housing market, I suspect most permits are for needed repairs to existing buildings.

How about the ‘other’ good news that new claims for unemployment are down?

Need I remind you that the size of the current workforce is still smaller than it was before the dot.gone bust of 2001?

You want to talk about ‘grasping at straws’?

How sad is it good citizen that even the good news seems desperate when examined ‘in context’.

But that’s the problem, isn’t it? The media isn’t presenting the facts ‘in context’.

Is this a problem, good citizen?

Apparently it isn’t as long as the money is good…

But we are rapidly approaching the day when the money won’t be any good at all…

And if you haven’t spent any time considering what you’d do when realize you don’t have enough in your pocket and none of your plastic is acceptable…what will be your next move, panic?

And if the guy standing between you and what you need makes two of you it is likely that you’ll decide to ‘punt’.

Which is usually the correct instinct.

He who laughs and runs away lives to fight another day…if he’s fast enough.

What should ‘concern’ you is your, er, opponent’s brain is squirming just like yours is.

He doesn’t want to kill you (today) but he KNOWS if he doesn’t do something to ward you off that you’re inclined to grab what you want and damn the consequences.

Then he’ll have to kill you (because he’s already called the cops on the last three guys who ran off with shit and they haven’t shown up yet…so he KNOWS it’s up to him!)

Worse, the asshole boss has a policy of docking the cost of whatever goes missing from the paycheck of the guy working when the loss occurs.

And if he can’t figure out on what shift the loss occurred he docks all three!

How’s that for an unwritten ‘condition of employment’?

So he’s already worried about what’s gonna happen when the boss finds out he got ripped off…you threatening to make off with whatever is only the icing on a shit cupcake for this poor bastard!

So, after you’ve turned and ran away (hopefully still mobile, you don’t want to be walking around when this happens.) [You’ve also faced your antagonist until you were out of reach, even if this meant walking backwards to your vehicle.] you’ve survived one battle, what remains to be seen is if you’ll make it home and how long you’ll survive after that?

Yup, when civilization ‘collapses’ it will quite literally drop out from under your feet. A Safety net you’ve grown accustomed to will ‘vanish’ as it is prone to doing when you find yourself out in the wild and on your own…

What’s ‘Happy talk’ gonna do for you then?

Are you curious to see what ‘big action’ OWS has planned?

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

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