hot and bothered

...Whole week has been dismal in terms of economic news.  The recovery has been slow and seems to be slowing down some more, and the markets are jittery.  The DOW takes a nose dive in the middle of the week, and the bad news keeps coming.  Job numbers were dismal this morning.  Dow is “only” down by half a percent at this point, but there’s still a couple of hours of trading to go and it is the end of the week.  The big adjustment happened on Wednesday when it plummeted 280 points, now its just “shedding off extra weight”...

I’m no economist, I just live with one, so I am surrounded and bombarded by economic news all the time.  Curtis and I are trying to plan for the future, but the future looks dismal, and humans and politicians are persistently present value oriented, which is why the future will continue to be dismal. 

Curtis tells me that the problem with the economy is the uncertainty the firms are facing in the face of uncertain future government legislation and expenditures.  I see it as more of a certainty.  Firms are certain that the government will keep spending like there is no tomorrow. 

This unemployment number: it might just be the new normal.  Like in France, where normal is 17% unemployed, our 10% might just be part of the landscape of the future.  This government will keep spending until it can’t borrow anymore, and then it will collapse.  And then and only then, will Americans accept politicians into office that will change legislation to fix the problem.  It might be too late.  Meanwhile, the public is more than happy to keep demanding its entitlements on borrowed money and time, all the while clamoring for a balanced budget-> go figure...

...so I walk in from doing backbreaking work in the yard in what feels to be 150 degrees out there.  I don’t walk in in the best of moods.  I spy a message on my answering machine and press the button to hear it.  It is half a message.  Only half because it was delivered by a computer (such a personal touch, really) who does not know when to start talking, and does so while my message for the caller to express him or herself is still playing.   It was half a message about how I can spend more on my credit card.  You know... I just can’t help myself today... fuck you America, just fuck you.