Welcome back to another weak of energy, volatility, Greece, and (dammit!) snow! And of course, our craft morning train reads:
• Booming jobs and falling gas prices make this the best economy in 15 years (WaPo) see also Revisions Made This A Blockbuster Jobs Report (fivethirtyeight)
• Jeffrey Gundlach’s Surprising Bond Forecast (Barron’s)
• Who Will Rule the Oil Market? (NY Times) see also Jeremy Grantham Divines Oil Industry’s Future (Barron’s)
• Bottom Line for S&P 500 Is Top Line as Price-Sales Ratio Expands (Bloomberg)
• Simple, Bedrock Rules on Personal Finance (WSJ)
What are you reading?
The newspaper of the establishment in the city with 6 of the 10 richest counties in the country thinks the economy is booyah.
Anthem: How does a breach like this happen?
http://www.csoonline.com/article/2881532/business-continuity/anthem-how-does-a-breach-like-this-happen.html
Anthem Posts Phishing Warning After Major Breach
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/anthem-posts-phishing-warning?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The rhetoric of decline has a way of reinforcing itself — something to be careful about — but I have to say it sure does seem like the USofA is falling behind in a lot of categories that matter longer term; e.g.,
Asia powers into the forefront of solar revolution
China has now overtaken the European Union as the largest new market for solar power as the industry becomes one of the fastest growing in the world. …
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.” –Eric Hoffer
The Koch brother, Exxon, and the Republicans are doing a nice job of keeping us up withe the Jones-sans.
All hail the Right Wing philosophy! (See Huckabee quote)
America’s Lethal Fear of Science
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/measles-resurgence-vaccines-fear-by-abdulrahman-m–el-sayed-2015-02
Since upper-class areas (and private schools) tend to have the lowest rates of vaccinations (for non-religious reasons), the non-vaccination movement is becoming a close parallel to Monty Python’s “Twit of the Year” competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqObJtGrKaA
KYLE BASS: ‘I live with this constant feeling of inadequacy …’
http://www.businessinsider.com/kyle-bass-interview-on-real-vision-tv-2015-2
I’d feel in adequate too if I owned a large chunk of the nickles in the world and half the articles about me were praises from Zero Hedge.
All the right wing nuts who bragged about their anti-Obama investing strategy and got shredded are crawling out of the woodwork.
http://kylebassblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/kyle-bass-buy-guns-and-gold.html
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44788851
http://www.coinweek.com/bullion-report/the-nickel-hoarding-billionaire/
Your philosophy is a bunch of nonsense. Stop sequestering and be happy to live in a free society where you pay a paltry 20% effective tax rate. And stop predicting the future. You have no idea, no track record, and every one is laughing at you. Right Wingers show some circumspection.
Melt value of 1946-2014 Jefferson Nickles
http://www.coinflation.com/coins/1946-2007-Jefferson-Nickel-Value.html
About four cents.
Should the Rock-ribbed Texan GOPers be forced by Obama’s Dodd-Frank, SEC, and Federal Reserve to mark the brave, though slightly insecure, Kyle Bass’s nickle portfolio to market?
I love his blissfully ignorant comment about how, if you lack self-awareness, you can’t succeed (the exact wording is totally forgettable). Later the interviewer asks Bass, ‘We all know how stressful this life is. What do you do to relax?’ ‘Spear fishing’ is the reply! Natch.
Mama mia! The burdens of the 0.001%!
Millenial Poll
“…Continuing with our theme of the mass innumeracy of America, someone should explain to these kids that a million bucks just ain’t going to be all that much money within a decade or so…”
http://thereformedbroker.com/2015/02/09/god-bless-millennials/
Aside from the understanding that a million bucks isn’t a lot NOW! The idea that 1% of people of this age don’t know whether they live with their parents or not is hilarious to me.
I think every teenager has wondered at one point or another whether the people claiming to be their parents actually kidnapped them as a baby (from some rich and famous couple still anxiously looking for their lost heir).
Huckabee: Everything Obama does ‘is against what Christians stand for’
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/huckabee-tears-into-obamas-prayer-speech-his-high-horse-is-the-teleprompter/
This is a very reasonable argument. After how well all the impeachments went, How God’s wrath rained down. and how the economy gets worse every day, the Republicans have a winning issue here.
Stop vaccinating now! Stop eating healthy. Stop going to the doctor altogether and drive what every speed limit you feel like proud Republican voters!
Kid Dynamite’s savage takedown of Barry Ritholtz’ article on the grilled cheese trucks:
http://kiddynamitesworld.com/
lol
That was pretty damned awesome!
He needs to sit down with a good cabernet and watch “Chef” the movie.
coming to your cell phone
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/08/robocalls-debt-collectors-banks/22855749/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycommoney-topstories
robo calls!
where have we seen this before, a governor running for president, that has budget problems, that are self inflicted?
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/louisianas_state_budget_crisis.html
Stoned drivers are a lot safer than drunk ones, official US data shows
http://www.smh.com.au/world/stoned-drivers-are-a-lot-safer-than-drunk-ones-official-us-data-shows-20150209-13a7n0.html
What’s the over/under on how long until 50% of voters “believe” this data?
The Koch bother don’t want a mellowed out workforce I can tell you that.
“Booming jobs and falling gas prices make this the best economy in 15 years”WAPO
Are we doing what we did in the early 00’s only the substitution for wage growth is lower oil prices as opposed to credit?
The average wage is, “In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls
increased by 12 cents to $24.75, following a decrease of 5 cents in December. Over
the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent. In January, average
hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased
by 7 cents to $20.80. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)” Is innumeracy so great that people do not realize the wages of high income earners have to be astronomical to move to this average? Does anyone know what the methodology is for coming up w/ this number?
so the CIA spied on the senate because the senate used the tool they were given by the CIA?
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/the-cia-lawyer-who-led-efforts-to-spy-on-the-senate/385286/
so who do these people work for again?
Keep in mind that the CIA was in competition with Hoover for clout and they won.
I was actually thinking of buying a Samsung SmartTV. Not anymore.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warning-your-smart-tv-may-be-spying-on-you-2015-02-09?dist=afterbell
Don’t understand Josh Brown’s blog post.
a) a million ain’t what it used to be.
b) longer lives for millenials than predecessors.
c) simple effective ways to invest.
d) simple tyranny of humble arithmetic (ie compound interest)
e) Living at home, multi-generational households? A standard technique used worldwide as well as by immigrant families and sandwich generation folks to address the 30% of the budget related to housing. you have a bunch of people with too much house, a bunch who need housing whose welfare you are intently interested in. It cuts the cost of a great four year public university in half.
I guess if the kid or you insist on the luxurious proposition of living alone/outside of cheap housing that is fine, but the kid will need to grab a mop (or whatever sort of implement their job requires based on their vast experience …)
My two oldest (mid to late 20s) have been in the work force for several years. One lives at home the other doesn’t. The older one has about 1x annual income in retirement savings with about 0.4x income in cash savings for emergencies etc. The younger one has about 0.5x retirement savings and about 0.5x in cash savings.
There have been numerous columns I have seen lambasting this “conservative” mindset and portfolios of millenials. I think the criticism is way off-base. The cash savings are in the bank in case of layoff, injury, future home down-payment, nice vacation etc. The long-term retirement savings are Roth IRAs and 401ks in target date funds that are currently about 90% equities. Both types of savings have defined roles with different time frames and risk profiles to match. because they are in their early careers, the emergency cash reserve makes up almost half of their financial assets, so it looks like a very conservative portfolio. That will change over time as the retirement assets grow but the cash reserves grow at a much slower pace..
It is very doable for the millenials to save as per this column post: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-save-1-million-in-your-401k-2015-02-04?page=1
It is all a state of mind. Living at home is a very good way to set aside money if you are frugal and actually save the savings. If it just goes on beer, vacations, and expensive cars, then they will have no savings after that opportunity.