Who am I?

After numerous "which character would you be" type polls...

I am tough.



And I'm R2D2.


And Spiderman.



And a Ferrari Enzo.



I am The Matrix.



And I am a Mig 21 Fishbed.



And I am an Owl...



and I am...



How bizarre.  I hardly know me!

Investors...

Read this....

https://www.marketviews.com/dangerous-signals-appear-financial-markets/

Way better analysis than you'll read on CNBC, CNN, elsewhere.

Good luck!!

Rates Up?

Unprecedented low rates in the USA are about to be raised by, what I suggest could be 0.1%. These should have been raised years ago - specifically when the economy in the USA started to recover before stumbling again in 2011.  Now, they are raising rates because they are raising rates.  They have to do it, or face a world of forever-low rates that will pervert the economy and trigger a never-ending wave of building and collapsing bubbles.  Had they raised rates in 2010, they would have built policy room to respond to a slow-down that lasted from 2011 to 2013.

They are saying that the rise in rates is warranted by the recovery in the US economy. The recovery is a fraud, perpetrated to cover five years of policy incompetence culminating in the rise in rates that they will put in place today.

Consider...reported over the last week...

New York State manufacturing has been declining for five straight months...


The Producer Price Index is trending NEGATIVE.  Yes, they have messed this up so badly that they have no choice but to raise rates, but they are doing so when there is an indication of actual deflation.  This has NEVER happened.

Retail sales are trending down...even with free money...

Business inventories are rising, suggesting a very slow retail market...again, even with free money...

GDP growth is now a very tepid 1.5 - 1.8%.  Hardly an indicator of significant growth.

What will they point to as the rational for raising rates?  Jobless claims look good - anything under 300,000 a week represents economic expansion...

But, this is true if you ignore the one in seven Americans who are living on food stamps, which is what the vast majority will do.

Yes, they have to raise rates - right into a looming recession.  Hang on!

Meaning of Trump v Clinton

Is this the best that America has to offer?  On the one hand, a vicious misogynist, racist, wanna-be demagogue, and on the other a shameless, probable criminal who is so obsessed with "the message", and the historic record, that she ran her own personal government in her basement.  Is THIS all that America has to offer? Well, no.

Bernie Sanders is the socialist opponent of Hillary Clinton.  He trails in opinion polls, but not by much.  He is the obvious response to 40 years of right-wing ideology in the USA, from both parties. He has a real plan. He is not a criminal.  He would mean a very different America.  He will not win.

Fiorina is also real.  She is a dark horse in the Republican race, but has the good virtue of not being a sick opportunist and/or sycophant to the Oligarchy (i.e. Bush and Christie...), or nuts (i.e. most of the rest of the ticket). She is an accomplished and self-made person who conducts herself with decorum, and who would obviously be a very good president, in spite of her more hard-core Republican views.  She has no chance.

And so, we will likely have The Donald and Hillary.

One has no idea how government works; the other wants to be the government.

One obviously values women only based on their bra size; the other portrays herself as the defender of all women, especially the poor while, as a public servant, having amassed a fortune of in excess of $21 Million.

One is a member of the 1%, and as such is comfortable hobnobbing with the very small number of rich people who actually run America; the other desperately wants to be part of the 1% so that she do precisely the same thing.

One wants to "Make America Great Again"; the other wants to make America hers entirely, subtly channelling Indira Gandhi and Evita Peron.

One has shamelessly supported anyone he thought would do his bidding in office; the other has shamelessly accepted his money.

Both would divide an already divided country; Hillary dividing Democrats from Republicans - Red states from Blue; Trump riding waves of fear and racism to divide one identifiable group at a time from everyone else, until everyone is divided from everyone else.

If a country's greatness is measured by the quality of its leaders, are we witnessing an "end of days" scenario in America?  Is there no one better than these two?

Cute Kittens Galore!

So, no one really reads my blog.  To increase readership, my cousin has suggested that I post a perennial fan favourite to jump start a new cadre of viewers.  And so, without any further ado, I give you...

KITTENS!!!







OMG!  They are SOOOO Cute!!









It doesn't get any cuter!

Now that I have your attention, the next blog will be about American federal investigations into attempts to illegally rig the sovereign treasuries market, followed by commentary on the continuing antics of The Donald. Not to worry - I will include the occasional kitten pic for your viewing pleasure.

Blue Jays

Argh!  Price went to the Red Sox!  That he was going to go somewhere was clear as the Jays do not have enough cash to hire him (especially with the Cdn dollar worth only $0.75 to the Greenback), but with a 7 year contract, the Jays will face him about 35 times in the next seven years.  The Cubs would have been great, where maybe the Jays would have met him occasionally in inter-league games, and the playoffs at a World series, but otherwise not at all.  Price with the Red Sox is a problem.

The Jays have a very average starting rotation - Stroman, Dickey, Estrada, Happ and likely Chavez.  This should be competitive coupled with the massive offensive power that the Jays have. Nonetheless, this probably won't do it.  The Jays have slim hope of making the playoffs in the American League East with this line up as the perennial favourites - Red Sox and Yankees - are guaranteed to load up with talent over the next few months.  Price's signing is only the start.

Given that major league teams will go through about 12 starters in an average year, the Jays need more depth.  They need another quality starter (Chavez can start in the pen), and preferably at least one and maybe two pitchers who can also start in the pen but provide at least average results as a starter if need be. Who are these guys?

Henderson Alverez seems to be leading the pack as the quality starter.  The list of guys who may be worth a look for the middle relief/starter role include former Blue Jays pitchers Shawn Marcum, and Brandon Morrow.  Both may be reclamation projects, but this is where the Jays will have to go to fill this spot.  They may both balk at a reliever/reserve starter role - if so, wish them luck elsewhere.

The tons of offence that the Jays have make a trade mid-season a real possibility.  The new management team will have to start thinking about who they can lose from this offence to strengthen the pitching at some point.  Given how tight knit this group is, the decision will be a hard one.

Conspiracies and Theories You Haven't of Heard Yet!

The trifecta of blogs on conspiracy theories ends with my own take on hitherto unheard of conspiracies.

1. Michael and La Toya Jackson were the same person.  Hard to believe, but La Toya was Michael's feminine side in drag form. These two were never seen together, because they were only one person. Since Michael sadly passed away, no one has seen La Toya since.  The reason is simple.  She never existed.







See!

2. The Internet is a Fad.  It will pass in another few months.  Yes, for all is was supposed to be, the Internet ended up being a mass  of irrelevant and irritating e-mail, and porn.  We Humans will soon take a long hard look at this phenomena, and realize that it was not worth the effort.  The end will start this Christmas when, like Disco and the Pet Rock before it, the Internet will simply go out fashion.

Where are they now???

3. McDonalds makes everything out of the same substance which was developed by Ray Kroc, who was really a molecular biologist by trade.  Everything at McD's is made out of McMix.  Ray Kroc discovered that there was a substance in the bowels of cows that could be made into anything if only the right sound were applied.  Have you ever heard the buzzes and whistles behind the counter at McDonalds? With one McBuzz, "blam!" there is a bag of fries!  With another McBell, and "whop"! there is a Big Mac. A third McWhistle, and "whish"! there is a new McWorker. A fourth McBleep, and voila there is a new chair. Every sound is a new McItem. McKroc was a genius!




4. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neil all suffer from "Married Myself Disease".  The aforementioned persons all married someone who looks surprisingly like them! This is the result of a narcissistic disease known as "Married Myself Disease" which afflicts persons who so love themselves that they can't fathom marrying anyone but themselves. Welcome to the "Self-Love-in"!





5. Castro has been dead for 11 years, and is a Vampire.  Castro has not been seen during the day in years.  When he does appear, it is always with a red stain on his beard...sometimes looking decades younger than he did the evening before.  His only state visit in the last decade was to Transylvania.



6. Hitler only had one testicle and was a vegetarian. This is true.  I have to end my discussion with something about Hitler.  Well, this is it...he was a uni-testicular veggie-muncher.