Archive for the Price Category

Stagflation?!?  Hands Down Or Hands Up? (January 14, 2019)

Posted in Deflation, Economics, Inflation, Price, Stagflation, Stock Market on January 14, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The way I see the economy unfolding and unfurling in the near future, everything in or on your hands right now (stocks, bonds, lands, rides, gloves, etc.) will drop precipitously in price and everything you need to get your hands on to live (grub, aqua, tent, bike, threads, etc.) will rise staggeringly in price . . . and in value.”

J          “The old ‘lose-lose’ situation.  So many people are living a hand-to-mouth existence without much in or at or on hand to use or to lose and not much in their pockets to hand over for daily necessities.”

K          “One’s assets will halve, one’s expenses will at least double.”

. . . 

K          “For those who rode the rise, the taxes that were assessed on the assets as they rose in price will not be rebated when the assets retreat in price.”

J          “And as the assets rose in price but not in real economic value, the ‘wealth effect’ induced and seduced the owners of the assets to spend more and to incur more debt because they thought they were effectively wealthier.  Those spent monies are gone and those debts are still here and naggingly awaiting discharge.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “The Fed: Deal with ‘Stag’; Deal with ‘Flation’? August 7, 2006)”, “Stagflation And The Fed (September 17, 2007)”and “Going Forward With The ‘Reverse Stock Split’ (February 5, 2018)” proposing to double or even triple or even quadruple the Dow overnight just for fun.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Hard come, easy go

stocks/2 + bonds/2 + lands/2 + rides/2 + gloves/2 + etc./2 = Net Worth;  

grub x 2 + aqua x 2 + tent x 2 + bike x 2 + threads x 2 + etc. x 2 = Recurring Expenses

Everything Monopolized, Nothing Economized.  Completion Of “The General Theory Of Economics” Is In Remission . . .  Oh, And Happy Halloween! (October 29, 2018)

Posted in Economics, Economics Nobel, Market Solutions, Markets, Monopoly, Noble Prize in Eco-nomics, Price, Technology on October 29, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Bummer.  After all that time and thought.”

K          “And all that fun.  I tell you I realized that if it was going to be done and if it was going to be done right, I would have to do it to get it done right.”

J          “Been there.  Done that.”

. . .

K          “A construct such as the IS-LM model is largely malarkey but is heuristically valuable.  Today, the fundamental problem trying to describe and direct the operation and function of the economy is that there really is not an operating and functioning economy.  With all of the distortion, intervention and manipulation, price is not tied to anything real.  Every business, every single business in every single industry, is a monopoly.  The business is the industry; the industry is the business.  From pork to politics.”

J          “Yet only a few folks have discovered and understand that we cannot discover price.  Price discovery now is so passé.  Without price, we cannot communicate in the economic marketplace.  And the central bankers working alone and together destroyed the language of the marketplace.”

. . .

K          “He left Iowa with his father marketing the hogs to five potential buyers and returned to find that one buyer sets the price.”

J          “And both Senators from Iowa are Republicans.  You don’t have to ‘go figure’ when ‘it figures’ so clearly.”

. . .

J          “And the Swedish central bankers reward those individuals who provide the economic cover for the crimes and misdemeanors of all the central bankers by giving their ignoble ‘Nobel’ Prize in E-con-omics to the most successful errand boy or girl.”

K          “The Noble Prize in Eco-nomics is the part of the answer.”

. . .

J          “The most vexing monopoly is the government/corporate syndicate that precludes any competing alternative entity.”

K          “The twisted irony is that most industries, and all the major tech industries without exception, are basically ‘natural monopolies’ and thus ‘utilities’ such as the water company.  A utility is a monopoly.  A monopoly must be regulated.  Yet the tech companies/tech utilities own the government and quash any regulation.”

. . .

J          “The Republican political monopoly firmly supports the current economic monopolies who in turn own the Republican political monopoly.  The Death Spiral is spiraling but not changing.”

K          “In a fortnight, the slow boiling coup d’état by the Republicans could be completed by the Republicans.  If the Democrats do not take the House, the control of government will be concentrated in one mega-corporation – the Republican Party, Inc. / the Corporation, Inc.  The political ‘campaign’ is aptly namely for battle because the Democrats are charging east up Jenkins Hill trying to retake the southern flank of the Capitol and the House of Commons under intense enemy fire.  We need to hire the friends and fire the enemy.”

J          “The Presidency is a lock, the Judiciary is the stock and the Congress is the barrel.  Lock, stock and barrel.” 

K          “For the next two years at least, the Presidency is indeed a lock for the Republicans.  For the rest of our time on this Planet, the judiciary is a laughing stock and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party, Inc. / the Corporation, Inc. doing their bidding.  And the Republican Congress has the ordinary citizen over a barrel.”

J          “Hook, line and sinker.  We are hooked, they have us firmly on the line and all of us are sunk.”

. . . 

[See the discussion in “This is Not a Market” in “The Automatic Earth” by Raul Ilargi Meijer dated April 23, 2018.]

[See the scary e-commentary last Halloween at “Are ‘Prices’ Language?  Are Antitrust Laws Grounded In The First Amendment?  How Do We Forestall The ‘Frightful Five’ And Other Monopolies. Oh, And Happy Halloween! (October 30, 2017)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Free markets now!

Concerns, Troubling (July 9, 2018)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Debt/Deficits, Freedom / Liberty, Money, Price, Society, Supreme Court on July 9, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Decreasing velocity of money.”

J          “Increasing inequality.”

K          “Inverting yield curves.”

J          “Perverting civil liberties.”

K          “Distending price-earnings ratios.”

J          “Exploding national deficit.”

K          “Imploding institutions.”

J          “Exploding personal debt.”

K          “Collapsing trust.”

J          “Decreasing freedoms.”

K          “Increasing prices.”

J          “Deflating credibility.”

K          “Disturbing climate patterns.”

J          “Destroying the [Supreme] Court.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Amtrak – The (Rail) Road to National Security (January 23, 2006)”, “Humanity’s Motto:  To Enslave And To Colonize (January 27, 2014)”, “Twenty Sixteen (January 4, 2016)” and “Prepping:  Public and Private Perspectives (April 27, 2015)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

A system that cannot go on forever will not go on forever

Fraudulent Frequent Flying Fiascos.  Oh, And Happy Canada Day and Independence Day! (July 2, 2018)

Posted in Airlines, Aviation, Boycott Series, Less Government Regulation Series, Price, Transportation on July 2, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “In the past, an airline descending into bankruptcy protection did everything to pull out its frequent flyer program.  Now, many of the programs are a fraud and a ruse and . . . morally bankrupt.  United Airlines and Delta Airlines are among the worst offenders.  By contrast, Alaska Airlines still believes that a mile is a mile is a mile is a mile.”

J          “I suffered a stall and spin in March.  After an almost 6000 mile trip in a sardine can in the air, I was iron fistedly begrudged about 1500 ‘miles’ on the ground.  For each 21,120 feet I endured in the air, I ended up with a ‘mile’ in the program.  The new calculation of ‘ground speed’ today is perplexing and vexing.  Some byzantine formula discounts the actual mileage based on purchase price, whether you had a middle seat, whether you ate peanuts, whether the flight was delayed, sun spot activity and other irrelevant factors first foisted on impressionable ‘b’ school students to foist on the public.”

K          “At least the observant traveler who missed the form letter that starts ‘For your convenience . . . ’ becomes aware of the fraud and the ruse each month and can shift loyalty accordingly.  If each consumer acts diligently, the market works adequately.  If consumers are involved, the government does not need to get involved.”

J          “Most of the statements are electronic and not likely reviewed by the consumer with any care.  We are tolerating far, far, far too many M.B.A.s flying around the country.”

. . .

[See the e-ssay at “An Airline (Partial) Survival Guide (January 24, 2005)” discussing the absurd and inefficient pricing scheme for tickets and “Going The Extra Mile:  Today’s Airline Mileage Programs (August 19, 2013)” and “Close the Harvard Business School (February 23, 2009)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

21,120 feet in the air = 1 mile on the ground

Fly the unfriendly skies

The first thing we do, let’s imprison the M.B.A.s

Are “Prices” A Language? Are Antitrust Laws Grounded In The First Amendment? How Do We Forestall The “Frightful Five” And Other Monopolies? Oh, And Happy Halloween! (October 30, 2017)

Posted in Amazon, Apple, Constitution, Economics, Facebook, First Amendment, Google, Internet, Language, Microsoft, Monopoly, Price, Radio, Technology on October 30, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Prices for goods and services are a language spoken with numbers (7) not letters (L).”

J          “I love language.  French is the language of love and the language of diplomacy.  Accounting is the language of business.  So Prices are the language of a free market economy?”

K          “Yes.  Russian is one of the languages of literature.”

J          “So is French.”

K          “And English.”

. . .

K          “Monopolies distort Prices which distorts speech.  By distorting Prices, the public is making inaccurate and incomplete decisions and paying more for goods and services while the corporations are not internalizing externalities.”

J          “Price may just be the real Esperanto.”

. . .   

J          “The current monopolies are in part the consequence of acts of commission and even more often acts of omission by the government.”

K          “The problem with my analysis is that the First Amendment is a restriction on government activity not a requirement for government action.”

J          “So the Constitution is unavailing.  We are stuck with Congress, the executive agencies and the courts to protect us.”

K          “They do not speak our language.”

. . .

[See the interview by Terry Gross with the tech columnist Farhad Manjoo with “The New York Times” who cautions that the “Frightful Five” (Amazon, Google/Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook) are more powerful than the governments on the “Fresh Air” radio program titled “How 5 Tech Giants Have Become More Like Governments Than Companies” on October 26, 2017.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Spanish is the language a man uses to talk to his God;

French is the language a man uses to talk to his wife;

Italian is the language a man uses to talk to his mistress;

German is the language a man uses to talk to his mule.

And English is the language a man uses to fly a plane or to surf the web or to engage in international discourse.  You create it, you talk it.

And Price is the language a man and a woman use to value and exchange resources.