It's a classic;
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Send Off the Captain Right
Your Captain, as he does every year, is about to embark on his 2 month western vacation wherein he hops on his motorcycle and simply "ventures forth." This year's vacation will include the regular fossil hunting, mountain climbing, agate finding, buffalo dodging, camping, Texas Hold 'Em-ing, tornado-chasing and gun shooting. But he will also attempt to make it to Kemmerer, WY in an attempt to find a fish fossil (which is one of the few he does not have).
He will of course have a laptop with him and will be dispensing his super awesome economic genius, but if you want to help the Captain pay for the incredible amount o' gas he is going to consume (despite being on a motorcycle) as well as give him a thank you for the sage-advice on economics he's already given you may do so by clicking on any of the links in the side bar.
Of particular note is the now-nearly free Kindle version of his book and his online class, both of which you will get more than your money's worth. You can also donate to the Captain's Pay Pal account, in which case you will get nothing in return, but then you can lord over him about how he had to take charity from you and he will forever owe part of his future success to you.
All proceeds go to the Captain's "Gas and Rumpleminze Fund" which keeps him and his motorcycle fueled.
He will of course have a laptop with him and will be dispensing his super awesome economic genius, but if you want to help the Captain pay for the incredible amount o' gas he is going to consume (despite being on a motorcycle) as well as give him a thank you for the sage-advice on economics he's already given you may do so by clicking on any of the links in the side bar.
Of particular note is the now-nearly free Kindle version of his book and his online class, both of which you will get more than your money's worth. You can also donate to the Captain's Pay Pal account, in which case you will get nothing in return, but then you can lord over him about how he had to take charity from you and he will forever owe part of his future success to you.
All proceeds go to the Captain's "Gas and Rumpleminze Fund" which keeps him and his motorcycle fueled.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Failed at Tornado Chasing
But a buddy of mine got one heck of a photo of a sunset reflecting on the remnants of the storms that rolled through;
"Stocks Gain After "STRONG" Industrial Report"
So the PMI comes out higher than expected.
The Dow Jones shoots up 100 points.
"Hurray! The economy is finally recovering!"
That is until you do the job the media is supposed to be doing and put it in context. I circled the increase from 53.5 to the "strong" 55.3 between May and June.
I added the additional "POW!" to make it look like the old Batman TV show to give it more of an effect.
Filed under - "The Cancer is Spreading Less Slowly"
The Dow Jones shoots up 100 points.
"Hurray! The economy is finally recovering!"
That is until you do the job the media is supposed to be doing and put it in context. I circled the increase from 53.5 to the "strong" 55.3 between May and June.
I added the additional "POW!" to make it look like the old Batman TV show to give it more of an effect.
Filed under - "The Cancer is Spreading Less Slowly"
Thursday, June 30, 2011
How Housing Starts Will Prevent Obama from Being Another Reagan
Veteran readers know one of my favorite charts is to juxtapose housing starts vs. unemployment. I forgot how I ran into this particular chart or what compelled me to contrast the two, but many years ago I did, and what I found is that housing starts typical forecast unemployment by 6-18 months. Ergo, if housing starts tank, you can expect unemployment to spike within the next year and 1/2.
Though I could speculate, I do not know the precise reason why housing starts forecast unemployment so well. I do know, whether the correlation is spurious or not, it's been a pretty good predictor in the past which is why I wanted to revisit and update the chart. I also wanted to revisit the chart because this recession is different than most others (duuhhhh!) in that unemployment has remained stubbornly high. Instead of a traditional recession where (cough cough, WHEEZE WHEEZE) FREE MARKET FORCES are brought about to take advantage of lower labor costs and lower cost opportunities presented by recessions and bring about a SHARP drop in unemployment, this time around it has not happened as unemployment stalls above 9%.
The question is of course, "when will unemployment come back down?" and this chart tells us the answer;
Not any time soon.
Notice that housing starts have also stalled. Unlike recessions before, when housing tanks, but then quickly recuperates, this time around it has not only tanked, but stayed tanked. Housing is still down and out, and assuming the correlation between housing starts and unemployment holds, you can expect unemployment to be hovering around 9% for some time to come.
Now this is GOOD NEWS in some regards because many political pundits (lacking the super awesome economic genius I am gifted with) are worried that Obama will be like Ronald Reagan. Reagan during his first term had very low approval figures just like Obama, but then an economic boom occurred in the third year of his first term, vaulting him into a second term. Those of the right side of the political spectrum are worried this could happen with Barry.
However, that is unlikely to happen. If you look at housing starts under Reagan in both parts of the double dip recession/Volcker Recession, housing starts recovered immediately. Additionally, they never went below 800,000. In Obama's case, housing starts tanked to 500,000 and have consistently stayed down there for over 2 years.
Of course, I don't know why housing starts track unemployment so well. And I am nowhere near as "educated" as the likes of Christine Romer and Paul Krugman. But so far this chart is batting about .925 while Keynesian-addicts such as Romer and Krugman are batting at about .000.
So those of you on the political right need not worry. The economy is not going to recover in time and strongly enough to the point it will save Obama. More importantly though however, is that we should not be cheering on a moribund economy so we can defeat somebody for political gain. We should be cheering this on because it's simply going to be another metric ton of empirical evidence that socialism and Keynesianism does not work, and free markets and a free people do. Of course "tell them that."
Though I could speculate, I do not know the precise reason why housing starts forecast unemployment so well. I do know, whether the correlation is spurious or not, it's been a pretty good predictor in the past which is why I wanted to revisit and update the chart. I also wanted to revisit the chart because this recession is different than most others (duuhhhh!) in that unemployment has remained stubbornly high. Instead of a traditional recession where (cough cough, WHEEZE WHEEZE) FREE MARKET FORCES are brought about to take advantage of lower labor costs and lower cost opportunities presented by recessions and bring about a SHARP drop in unemployment, this time around it has not happened as unemployment stalls above 9%.
The question is of course, "when will unemployment come back down?" and this chart tells us the answer;
Not any time soon.
Notice that housing starts have also stalled. Unlike recessions before, when housing tanks, but then quickly recuperates, this time around it has not only tanked, but stayed tanked. Housing is still down and out, and assuming the correlation between housing starts and unemployment holds, you can expect unemployment to be hovering around 9% for some time to come.
Now this is GOOD NEWS in some regards because many political pundits (lacking the super awesome economic genius I am gifted with) are worried that Obama will be like Ronald Reagan. Reagan during his first term had very low approval figures just like Obama, but then an economic boom occurred in the third year of his first term, vaulting him into a second term. Those of the right side of the political spectrum are worried this could happen with Barry.
However, that is unlikely to happen. If you look at housing starts under Reagan in both parts of the double dip recession/Volcker Recession, housing starts recovered immediately. Additionally, they never went below 800,000. In Obama's case, housing starts tanked to 500,000 and have consistently stayed down there for over 2 years.
Of course, I don't know why housing starts track unemployment so well. And I am nowhere near as "educated" as the likes of Christine Romer and Paul Krugman. But so far this chart is batting about .925 while Keynesian-addicts such as Romer and Krugman are batting at about .000.
So those of you on the political right need not worry. The economy is not going to recover in time and strongly enough to the point it will save Obama. More importantly though however, is that we should not be cheering on a moribund economy so we can defeat somebody for political gain. We should be cheering this on because it's simply going to be another metric ton of empirical evidence that socialism and Keynesianism does not work, and free markets and a free people do. Of course "tell them that."
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Or Your Could Just Buy a Motorcycle
Financial advice is hard to give nowadays. Until the budget gets balanced and economic growth is enough to outpace population growth, I have a hard time finding something to recommend to people beyond hedging items such as "gold, silver, bullets, booze, foreign ETF's, and stable countries' currencies."
But there is one investment, especially for young men, I am STRONGLY recommending.
Motorcycles.
Men, listen to me. You can go ahead and look on them there interwebz and read all about different prohibitively cars that have great mileage and worry about how the price of gas eats into your disposable income, or you can just buy a motorcycle. The compelling reason is NOT the money you'd save on gas, though that is certainly a factor. the compelling reason is the money you'd save on courting.
Gas, if you look at personal expenditures, is actually not that large of an expense. It usually is less than rent and even less than what you spend on booze, cigarettes and other vices. But if you employ your motorcycle correctly you can save a TON in....
courting.
Look, women LOVE motorcycles. Even the ones that don't claim to, once you throw them on the back, they LOVE motorcycles. You don't have to take them to fancy dinners, overpriced movies, trips to Cancun. You just say, "hey, get on" and off you go.
Better than that even is the money you save not having to go and search for a nice young lady to court. When you get a motorcycle, you don't go to the "clubs" or "discotecs" or "parties." You simply show up where the object of your affection is on a regular basis with your motorcycle jacket and helmet. And when you have built a repoire with the young lady you simply say, "Hey, want to go for a ride?"
It's almost, if not easier than asking a girl to ballroom dance. It is the perfect in.
Of course, motorcycles are not just for the young man. They are also for the young lady. Owning and driving a motorcycle immediately puts you in a higher regard amongst most males. Sure it may be a bit tom-boyish, but no man in the history of men ever said, "Oh, no! She has a motorcycle! That sucks! I'm never dating her!" Additionally, your ownership of a motorcycle also saves you the unnecessary time, money and expense of going out "clubbing" and buying the latest in night-club-wear. Put on some good jeans, some bootsy-boots, and BAM! You'll have plenty o' men pining for your affection and better gas mileage to boot!
So youth, for those of you looking to invest, but you plain just don't believe your 401k will be there. Or you just plain don't have the money to afford investing, then invest in a motorcycle. It will pay itself back VERY quickly and make your love life all that much easier.
But there is one investment, especially for young men, I am STRONGLY recommending.
Motorcycles.
Men, listen to me. You can go ahead and look on them there interwebz and read all about different prohibitively cars that have great mileage and worry about how the price of gas eats into your disposable income, or you can just buy a motorcycle. The compelling reason is NOT the money you'd save on gas, though that is certainly a factor. the compelling reason is the money you'd save on courting.
Gas, if you look at personal expenditures, is actually not that large of an expense. It usually is less than rent and even less than what you spend on booze, cigarettes and other vices. But if you employ your motorcycle correctly you can save a TON in....
courting.
Look, women LOVE motorcycles. Even the ones that don't claim to, once you throw them on the back, they LOVE motorcycles. You don't have to take them to fancy dinners, overpriced movies, trips to Cancun. You just say, "hey, get on" and off you go.
Better than that even is the money you save not having to go and search for a nice young lady to court. When you get a motorcycle, you don't go to the "clubs" or "discotecs" or "parties." You simply show up where the object of your affection is on a regular basis with your motorcycle jacket and helmet. And when you have built a repoire with the young lady you simply say, "Hey, want to go for a ride?"
It's almost, if not easier than asking a girl to ballroom dance. It is the perfect in.
Of course, motorcycles are not just for the young man. They are also for the young lady. Owning and driving a motorcycle immediately puts you in a higher regard amongst most males. Sure it may be a bit tom-boyish, but no man in the history of men ever said, "Oh, no! She has a motorcycle! That sucks! I'm never dating her!" Additionally, your ownership of a motorcycle also saves you the unnecessary time, money and expense of going out "clubbing" and buying the latest in night-club-wear. Put on some good jeans, some bootsy-boots, and BAM! You'll have plenty o' men pining for your affection and better gas mileage to boot!
So youth, for those of you looking to invest, but you plain just don't believe your 401k will be there. Or you just plain don't have the money to afford investing, then invest in a motorcycle. It will pay itself back VERY quickly and make your love life all that much easier.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Oil Supports the Economies Leftists Are Most Proud Of
I will give a shinny nickel to any leftist or environmentalist that can explain why they love countries like Norway or they love people like Hugo Chavez, when their economies are largely based on "evil" oil.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Your Next Netflix
If you have not seen Cowboy Bebop (or don't even know what it is), it is the next thing you're going to put in your Netflix queue. Here is a video that not only highlights its AMAZING jazz soundtrack, but also shows you a clip of one of the better episodes;
A Friendly Reminder from the Captain
A friendly reminder from the Captain that today is Thursday, June the 23rd. Nothing special on this day, no holidays, no festivities, which means it's the PERFECT day to buy your girl some flowers.
Remember, flowers on birthdays and Valentines Day are more expensive and expected, rendering them ineffective.
But on non-descript days, like today, it's worth dropping $5 at your local grocery store.
This concludes the Captain's public service announcement.
Remember, flowers on birthdays and Valentines Day are more expensive and expected, rendering them ineffective.
But on non-descript days, like today, it's worth dropping $5 at your local grocery store.
This concludes the Captain's public service announcement.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Three From Oz
Some commendable charty goodness from the Oz Conservative
a funny little piece from Joanne.
and why not visit our good buddy Frank if you haven't in a while?
a funny little piece from Joanne.
and why not visit our good buddy Frank if you haven't in a while?
"No, Not the Canadians!"
Currently doing some research for a Canadian client and over the course of the research came across a very heartening chart.
Of course the only thing worse than Evil Big Oil is CANADIAN Evil Big Oil. Don't get me started about those evil Canadians with their hockey and Rumpleminze and civilized society. Don't want none of that stinking Canadian oil do we? No, much better to have stable, pro-US Middle Eastern oil.
Of course the only thing worse than Evil Big Oil is CANADIAN Evil Big Oil. Don't get me started about those evil Canadians with their hockey and Rumpleminze and civilized society. Don't want none of that stinking Canadian oil do we? No, much better to have stable, pro-US Middle Eastern oil.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
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