Wage pressures remained largely contained across most Districts.

So wage pressure is something that needs to be "contained"? (unless that wage pressure is on Wall Street, of course).

Stock Market Rally! Woo hoo!

Some might think that no longer having the research aspect of the Fed once it is abolished is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater - until you notice that the bathwater is really sewage.

FedGov is adding to the debt $13 per capita today. Did you feel the stimulus?

Kinda slow. Maybe everyone is digesting the Beige Book.

Accelerating Future » Amusing Ourselves to Death

Small diversion.

The Fed may call it beige, but honesty compells calling it

"FedGov is adding to the debt $13 per capita today. Did you feel the stimulus? "

I used both lidocaine and KY so thankfully I didn't feel it.

Economic activity has continued to increase, on balance, since the previous survey,

The best place to look for your car keys is under the streetlight.

if it weren't for those UST coupons, my insurance would probably increase by 33% instead of the actual 29%. boy, am i grateful...

if they are going to have the audacity to keep calling this a "recovery" they should at least have the decency to put "jobless" in front of it.

poic wrote:

I used both lidocaine and KY so thankfully I didn't feel it.

HemClear is our top recommended hemorrhoid treatment.

more fun doominess than you can shake a stick at:

The Daily Climate

12th Percentile wrote:

if they are going to have the audacity to keep calling this a "recovery" they should at least have the decency to put "jobless" in front of it.

Fewer jobs = higher profit = recovery for those that matter.

aleister perdurabo wrote:

Lending for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) virtually ground to a halt last year with total issuance of only $2.7 billion, compared with $230 billion in 2007.

This is why we bailed out the banks. If we hadn't bailed out the banks commercial lending would have ground to a virtual halt.

sum luk wrote:

may have just snapped out of his oxycontin haze.

he and Rushbo have been hangin together

I don't know why everyone is so concerned about loading our grandchildren with debt. Nobody's going to be around to have to pay it back.

he and Rushbo have been hangin together

I thought Oxycontin was Pelosi's favorite " Word ".?

Here is your true dope head.

YouTube - Bill O'Reilly - Nancy Pelosi's favorite word is "The Word"

black dog wrote:

Embrace the spin. ALWAYS use "greater productivity".

I once had to explain to a business owner that the more clients he took on at a lower fee, the faster he would go BK.

ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

what they don't grab falls on the rest.

over the last decade, the 'rest' have only had urine-trickledown showers (like in Mojave)

I think the rushmeister is more of a oxycodone guy, but I'm not that well-versed on hillbilly crack.

black dog wrote:

Economic activity has continued to increase, on balance, since the previous survey,

Trucking shipment index falls 1.4 percent in June - BusinessWeek

@Comrade Kristina

Concerning the article to which you linked in the previous thread:

Yes. We absolutely need a national manufacturing policy. I've been saying that for 35 years and it's now becoming a national security issue, regardless of whether "they" want it to become one.

Trucking shipment index falls 1.4 percent in June

That report was down the street a bit where the gang members had shot out the street lamp.

National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame facing foreclosure :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State

The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Little Italy is facing foreclosure.

Brigeview Bank Group, which holds the $8.3 million mortgage on the hall of fame on the 1400 block of West Taylor Street, filed foreclosure papers this week in Cook County Circuit Court.

The hall of fame’s more than 200 inductees include baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, NFL quarterback Joe Montana, Packers legendary coach Vince Lombardi and gymnast Mary Lou Retton.

most Districts that reported on auto sales noted declines in recent weeks.

Automobile manufacturing was a bright spot for the Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis Districts. Automobile parts suppliers also experienced increased demand in both the Richmond and Chicago Districts.

there will be some brutal rightsizings this winter. Ford is probably hoping to put off a new UAW contract until then, it wouldn't make sense to negotiate a new contract only once everything looked rosy

ghostfaceinvestah wrote:

who tried to focus attention on the many, varied Administration efforts to stabilize housing;

The stock markets are up 70% in 15 months. Where's the administration's efforts to stabilize the equities markets?

Speed
you think they'll ever learn to adjust for sales tax increases instead of reaching for YoY gains?

Lol MP I think you take this way to seriously I mean really.

he can't see you -

shill wrote:

MP I think you take this way to seriously I mean really.

Yes, I take my business seriously, and part of my "business" is staying current.

I value sites like this because they address my concerns, but I'm becoming increasingly impatient with noisemakers whose only interests are in stirring the pot like the Limbaughs and Becks of this world are so good at doing.

That's why I'm ratcheting up my filtering, because the loony tunes are becoming increasingly strident.

Fewer jobs = higher profit = recovery for those that matter.

Snarkness aside... I think this statement speaks the truth of how govt, fed and economist think. And why so many on this board thinks the govt "don't care"... Frankly: They don't! GDP is NOT happiness or well-being or even a balance sheet index!

Consider this.

The GDP is a weighting of all the value add and sales and trades and economic activity that is occurring in the system. From such a measure, several things "fall out" as not being measured:

1. For people who've gone unemployed and "off the money grid", during the initial fall off yes, they'll show up as GDP decline (sans 2009). Once they've fallen off though, they have no contribution, positive or negative, to GDP and really doesn't matter.
2. For debts/assets that have gone missing/lost/defaults... These only affect the GDP from a wealth effect and buying power point of view: Meaning if I am 100 millionaire and I used to spend 1 million a year; losing 30 million may cause me to spend just 700K a year instead of 1 million. GDP only see the 1million to 700K. The 30 million asset lost doesn't matter for a GDP/economist point of view. This works even for retirement funds, corporate bonds, sovereign debts, interest or defaults, etc. It's the net spending that matters, not how much asset that sits frozen, unused; that matters to GDP.
3. Finally, as more and more wealth gets concentrated... This simply means that GDP is only a function of the people WITH money (with jobs, etc)... and not directly reflectively general "joblessness" or "economy". In the extreme case, suppose only 10 people owns all the company and money; and they're the only ones buying trillion dollar goods from each other and selling to each other. (whereas millions go hungry and dying...) Technically, our GDP could still be going up! Stocks based on the companies that these ppl own would still show awesome profit and even nice P/E ratios.

(Of course, how all these affects people's perspective, emotions, wellbeing, psychology, is a different issue... You may be pissed off and feel poor, but if you manage to still spend the same amount you did last quarter on food, gas, transportation, etc -- then there's no measurable effect to GDP. This is why economy is only loosely sentiment driven -- more so on maniac episodes, less so when back to basics.)

I think I need this to sink in... Too many on this board thinks when fed speaks economy, they're talking to the folks without money or job... Only during election would jobless people matter; otherwise, they really don't.

CalculatedRisk wrote:

The current report is similar to the Jan and Mar 2008 reports - with the economy in recession.

Yes. Well, I'm of the opinion that the economy is very close to stalling. May have already stalled.

Basel Too wrote:

So wage pressure is something that needs to be "contained

That would seem to be the only aspect of this mess the Fed's been able to "contain."

CalculatedRisk wrote:

For fun, from November 2007 (no Dec 2007 Beige Book):

oooo
Jaunty CR with an edge, more please

"If you still spend the same amount you did last quarter on food, gas, transportation, etc -- then there's no measurable effect to GDP"

So I would ask... frankly, how many of us has seriously changed our basic spending habit, already cut to the bone, for the last few quarters? All the cuts has already occurred in 2009, and it's really bordering to going without at this point.

Perhaps we're getting into debt to sustain it, or perhaps we're destroying our savings -- it doesn't matter to GDP.

Rob Dawg wrote:

The stock markets are up 70% in 15 months. Where's the administration's efforts to stabilize the equities markets?

Remember when the stock market was down, and at that time the CNBC pundits howled that it reflected the true state of mind of TPTB about the Obama Administration?

But then the market went up and up and up, and the sound of howling died away ... and shifted focus to something else, and then something else, and then something else, like the impossibility of Obama ever getting any kind of health care reform passed. And now the Obama Administration and the stock market are completely delinked. That's because it's whatever's down that's the real indicator. Anything that's up doesn't count. That's real economics.

I'm only marginally interested in the stock market at this point

Absent a crash they've seen the last dollar from moi.

When I invest it is either fixed income or a tire kicker.

I'm only marginally interested in the stock market at this point. My concerns are with the real economy.

Sometimes I think there's too much emphasis on the stock market here. I appreciate the fact that many here are day traders, but that really doesn't interest me. Never has.

I stopped playing the markets myself a few months ago...All cash at the moment. But even that is no safe heaven looking at the DXY as of late. None the less I think the over all economy is fairing pretty well this summer, It's the fall and winter months that I am more concerned about. Going to be a lot of cold households this winter. Especially when the so called UE extension runs out in November? was that the figure?

Scary times indeed this is why I chuckle at folks who make comment about people paying their debt or wage garnishing lol GARNISH WHAT?

black dog wrote:

When I invest it is either fixed income or a tire kicker.

Well, I think that's a prudent course at this point.

how many more downlegs before we get to see the higher ed bubble pop?
that lending is out of control, and the defaults are taking off with private for profit colleges taking up new demand
it's unsustainable, but for how long will it be?
I'm guessing the students will give up or take up strike before the Federal guaranteed loans do, judging by the FHA

how many graduation-years worth of unemployed/underemployed recent graduates are there clogging the job market pipes now? is that a metric that will reliably mark the tipping point from the perspective of those still in school?

MB wrote:

I'm holding out for DOW 7800.

6687 but recall I am the dummy who waited for AAPL 85 and missed the 88 bottom (now 260).

how many more downlegs before we get to see the higher ed bubble pop?

"Sallie Mae, America's largest student lender, has tapped Goldman Sachs to help it consider a possible breakup of the company...

Read more: Sallie sale days - NYPOST.com

I gave up trading in 1969. Just didn't have the personality--or whatever it takes--for it.

Hahah I just had a call on my cell phone from CITI Credit card something or another, saying she put together a plan for us to lower our interest rate on our credit cards and that this is a great program that will get us back on our feet.

I said Miss I do not own a CITI credit card or any creidt card at all...she pauses She says is this ( phone number ) I said no this is ( phone number ) again she pauses...then hung up hahaha.

EHP: Early morning ah-hah about that one from. Those loans can't be discharged. A LOT of people return to school when laid off from work using the funds to both get by and hope to get ahead 'retraining' 'reeducating' getting that long postponed advanced degree. College tuition is up this year. Those loans are also connected in other ways to the FIRE sector and how much of that goes into bonds for the colleges?? Oh what a world.

CalculatedRisk wrote:

For fun,

A man can take only so much fun.

And then there's this: Unemployment rises in 75 pct of metro areas - Yahoo! Finance

shill wrote:

I stopped playing the markets myself a few months ago...All cash at the moment.

You don't think is part of the casino?

hc wrote:

I think at a not so distant future, you'll a resumption of apprenticeship and internship / entrepreneurial tenures overtaking education degree papers as the real measurement of job qualification.

Yes, absolutely.

So what happens if people start dying before their student loans are paid off?

At the rate of older and older people going back to college, and taking ever larger loans, this is a growing possibility.

Perhaps then, we'll find the upper limit of this bubble.

So what happens if people start dying before their student loans are paid off?

They can hire other dying people to follow them into the afterlife so they can collect the debt.

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

how many more downlegs before we get to see the higher ed bubble pop?
that lending is out of control, and the defaults are taking off with private for profit colleges taking up new demand
it's unsustainable, but for how long will it be?

There are a lot of horror stories about Ed bubble debt and I won't let my kids get deep into it. Fed student loans are providing some fuel. I thought the BK act of 2005 made student loan debt unforgivable.

MB wrote:

Welcome to the Land of the Imprisoned, and the home of the Brave.

One of my forebearers pledged his entire fortune to the Continental Congress. They defaulted and he ended up in a Pennsylvania debtors prison.

I've not forgotten the story.

hc wrote:

So what happens if people start dying before their student loans are paid off?

I think you get similar behavior to people who have child support they can't pay. They get cash income, change their names, move out of the country, work under fake IDs.

Mr Slippery wrote:

I thought the BK act of 2005 made student loan debt unforgivable.

And so it did. But that doesn't mean the poor unemployed ex-student has the $$$$.

Best send them to jail so they'll have a record and thus be forever unemployable. That'll help.

what about allowing a category of undischargeable debt for the borrower, like student loans.... but only if any lender/servicer profiting from the loan agree to have their own debts be undischargeable, and with personal recourse

so... Cerberus could buy a servicer handling these special loans, but then all of its investors and managers would be on the hook for any of their own debts that went bad

an opt-in / opt-out market system

Best send them to jail so they'll have a record and thus be forever unemployable.

They can apply for jobs as mercenaries. Kontraktniki.

Funny how fiat money like Continental Currency-backed by nothing, always brings tears.

pavel.chichikov wrote:

Lol maybe they will Garnish their grave sites hahahah and take the Caskets as collateral.

What about cremations?

shill wrote:

Lol maybe they will Garnish their grave sites hahahah and take the Caskets as collateral.

The Germans wrote the book--several books--on that subject.

What about cremations?

We'll get a court injunction to stop it. Throw the body in jail and keep it there until the debt is paid. If the debt isn't paid sell it to a side show as the mummy of King Tut.

Nanoo=Vermonter F yeah!

Ford is probably hoping to put off a new UAW contract until then, it wouldn't make sense to negotiate a new contract only once everything looked rosy

Ford is going to be raped in these negotiations unless they roll over first. UAW is going to want the same deal they got w/ gov't motors if they are going to be expected to 'give back' wages & beanies like GM got.

shill wrote:

Lol maybe they will Garnish their grave sites hahahah and take the Caskets as collateral.

Organlegging.

MB wrote:

If not already there, that story belongs in an historical journal.

It is. Not all of it. All of it but the most personal aspects.

wages & beanies

Do they get to keep the propellers?

Come on Kermit.

You've never seen bad news that you couldn't ignore. You can do it!!! Put those damn and river dance!!

I seem to have billions sitting in Nigerian banks. Billions of air molecules.

I still rue the day I didn't sell my $500k worth of Beanies @ the peak of the market.

NO! Only Ben can have those, silly.

So we've run out of helicopters, and all we have left are beanies?

The reference that wage pressures are contained was to reassure the bond buyers that there is no inflation and to continue to lend to the US Treasury at historically low interest rates.

They will suck in the maximum amount of dollars before the 20% haircut is applied to treasury bonds.

I believe this is the plan.

Air Traffic Controllers thought the same thing?

Pay 'em minimum wage.

I'll take the bus.

mp wrote:

It is. Not all of it. All of it but the most personal aspects.

Good to know. My degrees are in American History, so I respect the importance of the knowledge base (the letters and diaries and newspapers and government and business records, etc.). The more the past can be documented with primary source material, and published, the more difficult it is to twist and distort.

mp wrote:

It's like playing 3-dimensional chess "on the clock" using antiquated systems.

The work is extremely interesting to learn. Once it goes live, and the responsibility for lives is real . . .

I'm sure somebody already posted, but this headline amuses me.
Mortgage brokers to be fingerprinted and registered - Yahoo! Finance

Yeah, well and the tickle is, doesn't matter what age you are, we're all in the same sinking titanic then.

EvilHenryPaulson quoted:

Automobile manufacturing was a bright spot for the Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis Districts.

Per Railfax Railfax Report - North American Rail Freight Traffic Carloading Report  rail shipments of automobiles fell off a cliff last month. I was under the impression that factories were staying open to "meet the demand."

I wonder how many of the 50 million or so boomers are aware that SLM will be the spark that blows up their retirement, in the grand political scheme of things.

is there a godwin's law for pensioners?

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

Yeah, well and the tickle is, doesn't matter what age you are, we're all in the same sinking titanic then.

Misery loves company right.

The question is, how long before the class that thinks they'll escape this unscathed begins to figure out the gravity of the situation.

Icepick wrote:

... his own little tirade added zero content to the board other than to show that he is quite content to throw public hissy fits. If he truly cared about the signal to noise ratio he could have IGNORED me without the useless public display. Of course, he's probably too stupid/vain to realize the worthlessness of his own comment....

Mr. Pot, I'd like you to meet Mr. Kettle.

dryfly wrote:

President can't fire UAW at Ford - yet. After the strike and Ford goes TU then maybe. Until then mgmt at @ F needs to deal w/ UAW. They aren't going to like it.

Maybe it would help if the UAW were a minority partner with USG in a high profile joint venture?

So far, the MSM is putting on the show. This winter, though, thats when I think those not so interested in economic matters will become intensely interested.

We all know none of US will be unscathed by this, no one and no body except the nation-less top 1% to perhaps 5%.

pavel.chichikov wrote:
Wed, 07/28/2010 - 1:44pm
wages & beanies
Do they get to keep the propellers

iPhone auto spell check is pretty creative - more than I am.

alex black wrote:

back when I was a punk musician, there were some great band names. My second favorite was "Free Beer". Anytime their name appeared on an ad or marquee, the house was packed - with really really disappointed and angry people.

Try Free Bier instead...

Schwarzenegger orders furloughs, California may start issuing IOUs in August

Not sure, but "blame the boomers" may soon supplant the "you're a nazi" element on public forums. Please don't name it "greenchutes' law" if that comes to pass.

Perhaps we're getting into debt to sustain it, or perhaps we're destroying our savings -- it doesn't matter to GDP.

Making the case beautifully for the irrelevance of the measure - bravo!

pavel.chichikov wrote:

I wish you wouldn't raise your voice when you talk about me.

Who loves ya, baby?

MB wrote:

Mr. Pot, I'd like you to meet Mr. Kettle.

Not at all. I wasn't the one bitching about off-topic comments in a comment section that regularly tops 300 comments per thread. Almost all of my comments contain zero-real content. Those that do usually have an anecdotal quality from someone at the bottom looking up. (How many other 99ers comment here?) I'm not exactly proud of that, but I don't get upset when others lack content. In fact I don't even comment all that often. Today is the exception rather than the rule.

Other than CR hisownself, I doubt there's any poster that tops 75% in the "on-topic posts"/"all posts". Even the high-value commenters (e.g. Rob Dawg, EvilHenryPaulsen, Pavel, and a host of others) often get distracted - although I'll grant that in many cases that is probably to releave the unrelenting pressure of actual thoughtful commentary.

Icepick wrote:

alex black wrote:

My second favorite was "Free Beer".

Damn it, man, don't leave us hanging! What was your favorite?

(Mine will always remain "The Dead Kennedys" for the absolute tastelessness of it.)

I remember the "Butthole Surfers" from the mid 1980s.