Intellectual Integrity

Business reportage has been attempting to guess which way the American Consumer will jump this summer. Daniel Gross makes good Try, but expresses the lack of real direction shown, even now in late July. The fact that We have not seen a lot about the Independence Day celebrations says a great deal for its absence. No one can pin down the exact reduction of American Gas consumption, though We know We are riding light in the stirrups for the first time in 17 years. As Grandma often said, ‘Those Pies are getting a little brown on the bottom’. It is at Street-side where We will find the Smoke and Smell. The later may already being drifting upward, and there is likely to be some char on the underside, as pleasure disappears before the Pain of an empty Gas tank.

Mike Shedlock reports a Corporate Bond Sale collapse, which is not quite true with $5.3 billion in such Sales last week, but it compares with a yearly Average of $21.2 billion per Week very poorly. It was fueled by a large increase in the Yield demanded, but was based on Investor knowledge that many businesses would need further finance in the face of poor economic performance, and are saving their Cash for better Yields which will come. Mish’s Statement that the rally in Stocks will fail because of the Bond market activity may be misplaced, as I do not expect the rally to last under any conditions, unless Oil companies start to fashion heavy supplies in Natural Gas and Heating oil for the coming winter. This is basically written declarations for Tax purposes, but will engender a decrease in Utilities Costs.

I had written a Paragraph about this Post earlier, then deleted it. I was asked by a co-Conspirator why I deleted it; an earnest attempt to artificially corrupt my blog, I totally responsible for the idiocy of the Remarks. I hit the Delete button because it did not reflect my real resistence to multilateral agreements, though it remained essentially true in my eyes. Multilateral agreements on Trade bring on Compliance Costs, while curtailing the negotiation parameters for both Government and Business, thereby narrowing the Profit margins both ways. Understand that Trade agreements are Business deals, which become quickly unprofitable where marginal opportunities cannot be exploited. Multilateral agreements will eventually bring less Trade at less Profit, while increasing all Trading Costs. lgl