SAR #14293

Food has to be paid for.

Business As Unusual: It's become obvious that asset prices cannot remain at their QE inspired levels without the continuing creation. Of free money. The tantrums may elicit a few more promises from central bankers, but they have a certain hollow ring to them. The desperate will cling to their belief that daddy won't take the keys away, but he will, and there will be hell to pay. If disinflation/deflation and the slowing of economies globally scare you, good - you've been paying attention. Welcome to “the new mediocre.” And don't get too excited about cheap gasoline – that's not going to last long either, because too much supply – shale oil, oil sands mining, deep offshore, Arctic - is being priced out, too many producers need higher prices, Putin will grow restive as his subjects do, and it is always possible, remotely, that cheap oil may revive the global economy for a bit. For now about $80 is the floor price, but it will climb to $100 or more in a few months. Then the economy will stall again. Ebola isn't the only long term crisis we're facing. And then there's global warming...

Moral Turpitude: Residents of Watervliet, NY have to give their Facebook passwords to the cops if they want to get a pistol permit. Talk about needing self-defense.

Mirror Image: Taking a hint from Republican redistricting in the US, Hong Kong's leader says that letting his successor be elected by popular vote would run the risk of letting the poor dominate the process. In the same vein, there is a suspicion that China may be hacking every iPhone user in the country just like the NSA does here.

Quoted: “The economic outlook keeps getting better and better.” John Williams, president of the San Francisco Fed and noted wearer of rose colored glasses.

Progress Report: If NBC wants to broadcast the 2022 Olympics, they'll have to build the facilities – no city or country seems eager to waste the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to suffer the honor of being hoist host.

Scale: Over the weekend the 27th anniversary of 1987 stock market crash went uncelebrated. To equal that particular day the Dow would now have to drop about 3700 points. In one day.

Good Ole Boy: Mike Hubbard, speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives and a leader in the state Republican Party, has been arrested and charged with using his office for personal gain, soliciting bribes, and about 20 other things.

Now It Can Be Told: Sex originated in Scotland, and like Scotch, it seemed to take a bit of effort to get used to it.