Superman in an Oldsmobile

Sometimes, when the mind least expects it, a flashback memory will be triggered. It's been over 50 years since the coral and white '55 Oldsmobile appeared in front of Lipsky's semi detached house in Pleasantville, NJ.


His father, Simon, drove the Rocket 98 home from Lubik Olds, which was located in Bordentown, NJ. Simon, on a whim, traded in the family '50 Ford wood paneled wagon. Back then, people bought cars on whims. No more, the cars are too pricey.

Lipsky, who 55 years ago thought Olds was the best car ever, now drove a Hyundai. If Simon could be reborn and see his son driving a Korean import, he would promptly die anew. Lipsky would hate to tell Simon that General Motors had discontinued the Oldsmobile marque in 2001 and that GM, itself, had gone bankrupt in 2009. Simon, who was a union man, could never have envisioned such things.

Noam Lipsky took a back way home from his accounting job this evening. Pubbernickel Road is rural with run down farms and rusted old cars


and defunct clothes washers


strewn here and there. When a mongrel, with a too big head, ran out onto Pubbernickel, Noam slowed the dull gray Elantra to a near stop. It was then he saw a tow wire pulling an old jalopy out of a barn entrance door. The shabby chic door looked like the opening to hell. He saw the distinctive two titted bumper of the Oldsmobiles of the early fifties coming out of hell, looking as if it had been in there for a long time .


And darn if the rust bucket wasn't a '55. A '55 indeed. Just like Simon's coral and white two tone 98. From so many years ago.

Ah, when that car was new ..., those were the days when you could run behind a mosquito fog truck through the streets, without fear of pollution or chemical intoxication. That was when you put baseball cards in your spokes and when your music was played off of 45 rpm records. And there was no Mickey D's.


He wondered now what was in that thick white gray haze of mosquito killer? He intuited it was DDT and for that reason he felt that his failure to lose weight all through the years saved his life. He reckoned that since DDT was stored in fat, a weight loss would poison him to death. DDT dissolution. Noam was a good rationalizer.

Simon loved that Olds. Noam, for his part, liked it, too, even if the color was the color steamed shrimp take on when they are cooked. But it wasn't the car that caused Noam to cry on Pubbernickel Road. Indeed no. The sight of that old iron made Noam Lipsky miss his father like an eight year old, who was too young to know his dad isn't Superman. Noam wasn't quite sure how he got home from Pubbernickel, the rest of the ride was a blur. Nonetheless, after dinner, he got his wits back. He decided not to watch TV, rather he checked out eBay, Oldsmobile, and he limited his search to '54-'56.

1955 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight

"Here is a ALL FACTORY ORIGINAL Southern California 1955 Oldsmobile that was built right here in Southern Calif. at the GENERAL MOTORS DIVISION PLANT that was located in the city of SOUTH GATE, CALIFORNIA.

The VIN. # is 558C17072, BODY STYLE 3637D, TRIM # 0314, PAINT # S 62 ( CORAL) and 65 is (SHELL BEIGE). It is a "SUPER 88" With the ORIGINAL 324 CU IN. 8 CYLINDER, 3 7/8 BORE and 3 7/16 STROKE ENGINE, and the ORIGINAL 4 SPEED HYDRAMATIC TRANSMISSION that it left the Factory with when new! This Vehicle was Number 7,072 & Produced at that plant in 1955.

Since I am the 4th owner of this vehicle,..."

As he checked out this offering, he could smell that mosquito spray, just like it was yesterday. And he could see Simon, dapper and proud. The bid was at $4,509, with 3 more days to go, hmm... So it goes.

The Grim Reaper is PC

Dreary and short, the 9B bus ride from Divison Downtown to Hamilton Green was always packed with people who were playing out the string. Division, a senior day care center, touted itself as rehabilatory, but it was just a warehouse with a few card tables and some DVD's and checker boards. The codgers, who had enough money, got shipped out from the ammoniacal scented HamGre Nursing Facility to rehab for the day. Not that the rehab unit was much better, but it was an outing.

Fabrico Mostacelli, a retired mason with thick hands and dumbo ears, sat across from Guadaloupe Calderon. The two of them were as brown as coconuts, despite the fact that neither had felt the sun on their hides in years. Guadeloupe had turned yellow a few weeks ago, but since she had no pain she more or less accepted her jaundice much like a 13 year old accepts her menarche. Oh well.

Bump, bump, the old bus had the suspension of a pair of stretched long johns. BUMPPP, the pothole was more like a sinkhole, the bus flexed like a popsicle stick used to make wooden fans, catapulting Guadaloupe to the floor. The ribbed rubber floor was thick with dirt and grime, the kind that doesn't ever come out. Fabrico put his powerful mitts around her waist and he helped her back onto her seat. She smiled, her white dentures making her yellow sclera glow almost greenish.


She reminded the stone man of a person who had been exposed to radioactive ooze. Indeed, exposed!

The "ooze" was pancreatic cancer. But the thought of pancreatic cancer never crossed either the mind of Fabrico or Guadaloupe. Why would it? They weren't doctors. A nasty, hard tumor had been growing in Guadaloupe's guts like crab grass for a few months. It had blocked the common bile duct, causing the poor woman's yellow bile to back up into her bloodstream. And it was still growing when the shadow of a lady was re perched on her seat.

These two cock-a roaches never spoke a word to each other, not then, not before nor after. Two ships passing in the afternoon were all they were. Headed back to the ennui of HamGre, a place to pee in the sheets, neither much cared one way or the other. Age and decrepitude are the ultimate arbiters of the last breath. As people reach the last mile, they become deferential towards one another. Why bother to build any relationships, too little time and too much energy to even consider social extension. Maybe that's why old people say whatever is on their minds.

Fabrico couldn't know it, but Guadaloupe would be dead in seven days.

She would develop ascending cholangitis, as a consequence of bacteria invading her blocked bile duct. The fact that she was three weeks constipated was no small factor in her septic shock. Even if Fabrico knew the score then, while he and she were bouncing in that bag of bolts bus, it would not have mattered. Pancreatic cancer is the grim reaper.

A short bus ride, just ten minutes time, let two lives cross. Nothing was said, nothing was gained and nothing was lost. Like all of the so many other people interactions both Fabrico and Guadaloupe had experienced in their respective lives, this one could be chalked up to experience, too. Experience? Who ever came up with that idea? So it goes.

Paris Hilton, Hot Mugshot Exemption

Paris Hilton, the snarky and suave hotel heiress, was arrested Friday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. A motorcycle officer smelled the unique scent of marijuana and he sniffed out an Escalade, in which the blond throb and her XY of now, Cy Waits, were cruising. Right there in the Strip. When stopped, the beleaguered tow headed stopper experienced the misfortune of having a small amount of presumed cocaine slide out of her purse. Yikes.

Cuffed, arrested and booked, she and Mr. Waits were released after posting a few bucks. Purportedly, the comely femme was resting later, in bed, alone, watching Family Guy. Good thing she likes the MacFarlane creation, she is fodder for the Newburyport native's imagination. Waits, was promptly fired by his boss, Steve Wynn. Mr. Wynn has a ZERO tolerance policy. Yeeeow.

Three mugshots are attached. The one to the left was taken on Friday, the other two in 2006 and 2007 going left. Man, she is hot, EVEN IN A MUGSHOT.

New Rule: Mugshot HOT exemption. It says anyone, who looks this good after performing possible illegal acts and then going through the booking process is freed on the basis of, well, being HOT. Besides in Paris's case a little marijuana and a little personal cocaine are nothing to get jacked up about, especially in Vegas. Let it stay in Vegas and forget it. That is unless your boss is Steve Wynn. So it goes.

E-Cigs, Only Way to Vape

To any observer of the human condition, query the fascination with smoking tobacco. Cigarettes, in particular. The sexy, suave, debonair and cool issues aside,


why do humans like to smoke? Umm, it makes these puffing humans feel good, might be the best and most simple response. Calmer, sharper, keener, more energized, more alive and perceptive and more. In truth, all of these positive comparatives are spot on.

The key chemical is nicotine.


The average cigarette contains 1 milligram of nicotine. A stimulant, nicotine is habit forming. Like caffeine? When inhaled, nicotine can reach the brain in seven seconds. Now that is a hit, a homer. The drug yields feelings of euphoria and pleasure. It is no wonder at all that this chemical, named after the tobacco plant Nicotiana tabacum, is habit forming.

Smokers are thinner, in large measure due to the stimulant effects of nicotine. Heightened metabolism, coupled with diminished calorie intake, keeps weight down. In the USA, the fattest of nations, it may be a shame more citizens don't smoke. Well, at least as far as portliness goes.

Upon investigation, it is clear that the most devastating and most harmful aspect of the cigarette is not the nicotine, but the 400 or so other chemicals released when tobacco is burned and the smoke inhaled.


So it was with great surprise and interest to learn that the electronic cigarette has come of age.

The e-cigarette provides nicotine in the form of a vapor (water). These clever vapors can be flavored to give the user much, if not all, of the traditional smoking sensations. Keep in mind, there is no actual burning of tobacco going on. Despite that, the physical pleasure of smoking is pretty much preserved. These battery operated devices can take any shape, but usually they ape the figure of a cigarette, cigar or a pipe.

The key parts include a mouthpiece, an atomizer, electronic circuits and a battery. Also called the cartridge, the mouthpiece holds the flavored liquid or e-juice. This material can be replenished for ongoing and recurrent use. The atomizer is a heating element. Battery powered, it vaporizes the liquid. When a user is actually inhaling and enjoying these devices he is said to be "vaping" The atomizer has a use dependent finite life (a month or so) and represents an ongoing expense for vapers. The faux cigarettes need to kept charged to allow the atomizer to work properly.

The variety of e-juice solutions available are numerous. A major dividing line is nicotine or no nicotine. Beyond that distinction, the flavor possibilities are endless. A chemist can concoct virtually any flavor or taste the palette can perceive. Some flavors even try to mimic specific cigarette brands. Even Old Golds.


Old Golds is one flavor not highly sought after, since most of the Old Golds' crowd has moved mortuary. But there is always a new market somewhere, so Old Golds shouldn't be entirely written off. Yede Yede.

A kewl feature of these e-cigs is the LED tip. Suck sensors detect inhalation and when so triggered the LED glows. Some red, some orange and some blue.


Designer colors and designer tip patterns await ingenuity. Imagine connecting the inhalation to the LED glow. The fascination is similar to a kid with a pair of those LED sneakers. The more the kid runs around, the more the sneakers twinkle. Too bad they don't have those for adults. Hmmm, IDEA!

Early on, e-cigs were touted as smoking cessation aids. While this use remains controversial, on its face the argument seems strained. E-cigs are another way of getting a nicotine boost. Isn't that really what smoking or burning tobacco is all about? But e-cigs are not smoked, they are vaped. And the smoke and the vapor are far different from each other, having in common only nicotine. Ultimately, other than having nicotine in common, e-cig use is not smoking. E-cigs swap nicotine delivery methods. No more, no less.

While the safety of e-cigs is under investigation (isn't just about everything UNDER INVESTIGATION), there is no way the health risks can be close to those of cigarettes. There is no burning, no smoke, no 400+ chemicals. Doubtless, e-cigs will be deemed a way better nicotine delivery system than traditional coffin nails.

There are other advantages of e-cigs besides the reduced lung disease, heart disease and cancer issues. Among these are the ability to vape anywhere indoors or outdoors, no secondhand smoke risks, lesser costs and more worker productivity. In addition, no smoking breaks are needed, no trips out the doors into the weather, less coughing, less phlegm and less bronchitis are all positives. Indeed, a worker can vape at his desk without being offensive making him more productive and happy.

Car vaping can be enjoyed, particularly when passengers, non smokers or children, on are on board. The travelling vaper can maintain a higher state of alertness and relaxation. Drivers who are alert and relaxed will save more lives. On a different note, imagine the beauty of 20,000 concert goers, vaping in unison, their LED tips aglow. The power of those red, orange and blue beacons are powerful signals of harmony. Whew, can't do that with the cancer sticks. Lastly, don't give short shrift to the reduction in fires. Just think of how many people light themselves up in their mattresses every day. And the forest fires...Smokey the Bear must be an e-cig supporter.

Just like caffeine, nicotine is a good thing for humans. These chemicals keep homo erectus fine, fresh and fierce. Up until now, nicotine has been delivered with so many toxins in tobacco smoke that nicotine, itself, got a bad reputation. The e-cigarette is a game changer, a seminal event, a paradigm shifter. What society wouldn't want leaner, sharper and more metabolically enhanced members?

In a decade or two from now, smoking cigarettes will look as silly as the poodle skirt.


E-cigarettes will become the standard nicotine delivery system. And what's wrong with that! For the nicotine pooh-poohers, who want to look fashionable, the e-cig can always be loaded with a non nicotine solution, umm, perhaps flavored in vanilla or marigold or plumeria. So it goes.

Mike Posner to Beth Wampeter

Dear Ms. Beth Wampeter (snooty pants):

I sent you this video cause this is how I feel. Since I couldn't say it better, listen to Mike Posner. He speaks for me and he graduated from Duke University. If you change your mind, you know about us, I am available for coffee or dinner or whatever. And I can drive to Massachusetts with a little notice.

You really, really pissed me off tonight, gadfly flitting. Strutting, flirting and fussing like you were a debutante.

All the guys were crazy for you. Remember it was you who invited me to your going back to college party (if you want to call Williams a college,

it's a bunch of preppies still in high school, if you ask me). Well maybe you didn't invite me exactly, but I know you wanted me to come. After all, we have history.

Look, I know you like me, remember the Fourth, the beach, the fireworks. Man, we didn't even know each other's names when we bolted from that party on Washington Avenue. Sure we were both drunk, but so what? And sure, I had to track you down after that, but I thought, well, after the Fourth, well, you know. Oh yeah, btw, I could lose my hardware anytime I want and the holes close up in no time. For you...

Anyways, I thought I would take a chance that you would check out my blog. I told you about it, right? You know I'm going back to college, too, Bucks County Community. BCCC is a real school for real kids, who maybe don't have super snarky SAT scores. Bucks gets you ready for real UNIVERSITIES like Temple and Holy Family. Sometimes even Penn State. (Go Nittany Lions!)

Your kindred spirit,

Luke (The Nail) Hoobler

Bedbugs, Cooler Than...

Vampires and blood sucking are de rigueur. Just look at Rolling Stone magazine, if that cover of the three naked blood spattered stars of True Blood doesn't get a rise,

nothing will. The book and movie series of Twilight has imprinted a generation of youth, who will be attending nostalgia fairs and conventions when the world runs on solar. Indeed.

When it comes to blood sucking, bedbugs are the best. Before describing how cool bedbugs do it (blood suck and mate) the International Union of Vampire Ecdysiasts should consider filing a formal complaint. The common bedbug, the one that has terrorized New York City and several lesser metropoli, has a formal name, Cimex lectularius. Not that being called Cimex or Chimey or Chi (pronounced soft or hard) or Chim would be great, but it beats bedbug. Bedbug, ummm, as a name, gives any potential human fan the heeby jeebies.

The I.U.V.E. should get their mouthpieces to file an injunction to estop the use of the pejorative slur, "bedbug". As a first step in building up public relations, the name change is critical. An astute marketer might suggest the names Edward or Bill or Eric or Bella or Sookie, er, forget Sookie. These mainstream names have already worked well for vampires. Why reinvent the wheel?

Be clear, Edwards do not transmit disease. Again, Edwards (and Bills and Erics and Bellas) do not transmit disease. Inasmuch as these elegant blood sucking machines have been around for a long time, by now, epidemics would have occurred-if they were going to happen. Some scribbles from Greece in 4 BC describe these 5 mm molting red brown adventurers. Moreover, in lab studies the Edwards have not been shown to spread disease from one person to another. Interesting aside, when a Bill sucks the blood of an AIDS infected human, what happens to the virus. Could humans learn something from the exoskeleton shedding denizens of the sheets?

What mouths these Bellas have. Truly these organs could be described as fine, fresh and fierce. Not one, but two thin needle like injecters extend out of the pie hole. One actually does shoot into the feedbag a mixture of saliva, anticoagulant and anesthesia.

This allows the host to perceive little if anything as it is being drained. In addition, the blood stays liquid so that the other injector can suck out the hemato-meal.

Yummm.

Mating is another foray into piercing. The Bellas and the Yvonnes and the Gwyneths and the (fill in any girl name) do NOT have vaginal openings. Not kidding! The Bills, Erics et al do, however, have piercing penis like doo hickeys. And as boys are wont to do, the males stick their doo hickeys into the abdominal cavity of the females, right through the wall! Sometimes, a randy and confused male will prong another male leading to the demise of the injectee. While the skewered females have babies, the poked males die. Go figure.

Right now, in the doldrums of summer and the waning days of August, everybody is on vacation.

News is S-L-O-W. Consequently the vampire insects are of interest and have become newsworthy. It is unfortunate for New York City and the the other citti, but that's life. No matter really, hotels and used furniture stores can begin to promote they are insect free. Gotta love marketing, every risk and catastrophe represents another chance to promote.

Like cockroaches (another group the I.U.V.E. needs to name change), vampire Edwards and Bills and Erics and Bellas and and and, will not ever be eradicated. Humans and nature, itself, has given these guys their best shots and no amount of DDT, carbon dioxide, freezing, boiling, steaming or biologic warfare will ever eradicate them. The law of Survival of the Fittest cannot be given short shrift. Oh well.

The sun is shining and there's is plenty of life. There's a cup of coffee waiting at the WaWa. True Blood tomorrow at PM 9. Sookie is sooo hot. Pretty, too. So it goes.

Arena, Buy Now? Winner or Loser??

No bad news YET. No safety issues, no allegations of lack of effectiveness, NOTHING. Arena Pharmaceuticals has been adrift for the last few weeks in the $6.50 to $7.00 range. The shares hit a high of $8.00 a month ago, a high which was short lived. Nonetheless there is a huge upside potential. The beauty of this potential is that it will be realized by September 16th.

Please check out these blog entries to gain some more perspective.

http://www.pplume-blog.com/2010/08/arna-dip-dee-do-da.html

http://www.pplume-blog.com/2010/08/summer-doldrums-wake-up-arna-is-coming.html

http://www.pplume-blog.com/2010/08/arena-and-its-fat-friends-update-13.html

What with the market in a funk and pessimism pervasive, a buying opportunity has presented itself. Check it out. The fat market is huge and its screaming out for a drug. Be in or be out, the choice is clear. So it goes.

Trifecta of Market Doom, 8/27

Like a black cloud overhead, the gross domestic product report is looming. No matter what the number is, the market will writhe like a man with tetanus. In its present state of mind, the market will draw pessimism wherever, however and whenever. The jobless numbers reported earlier today were a bit better than predicted (31,000), but the market sought out the 4 week jobless claims number to get maudlin over.

The naysayers are out and its de rigueur to predict a dip, a double dip, a pull back. a retraction, a collapse, a shrinkage and a crash. No matter what you call it, the changes are likely to lead to a loss of lots of money. The small, individual investors have evaporated. Who could blame them. The market is increasingly controlled by machines, Hals if you will.


Trading is controlled in milliseconds with automatons all using the same numbers and charts. Perhaps the time has come to invest money elsewhere. Canada, perhaps?

To make Friday the 27th all the more bewitching, Ben Bernanke, the white beard from Dillon SC


is going to spout off. He's at the Jackson Hole Kansas City Fed gig. Most times he speaks, he obfuscates like a Princeton Professor. Professor indeed, huh, what did he say? He has not won a Nobel Prize yet, but he assuredly will. After all! Unfortunately, he is to the market what saltpeter is to a Marine platoon.

To complete the trifecta (whoever "they" are say bad things happen in threes) there is a good chance the confirmation of the Hindenburg Omen may happen tomorrow. This Omen has predictive application for bad markets, crashes and the like. When it happens once, it's an unconfirmed occurrence, when it happens again within thirty-six days the Omen is confirmed. To wit,

The Hindenburg Omen is a term of art coined by Kennedy Gammage. Gammage is a friend of blind mathematician, Jim Miekka. Using mathematical analyses involving market breadth and other indicators, Miekka, set out criteria which suggest a stock market decline, pull back or worse, a crash. Simply put theses are the elements:

2.2% of the daily # of NYSE* stocks must hit both 52 week highs and lows (that number is currently 69)
the 10 week NYSE moving average is rising
the McClellan Oscillator** is negative that given day
the 52 week highs cannot be more than double the lows, but it's OK if the lows double the highs
If these criteria are met on a given day, the event is considered an UNCONFIRMED Hindenburg warning. A CONFIRMED warning is established if a second or more day occurs, which meets the criteria, within 36 days from the first signal. NOTE: The Hindenburg criteria were met on August 12, 2010. The criteria were almost met the day before, except for the fact that the number of new lows were only 67, just missing the 69 minimum.
http://www.pplume-blog.com/2010/08/warning-hindenburg-omen.html

A reasonable investor should cash out of whatever he can live with. Like a homeowner bracing for a hurricane,


the windows and doors need to be shuttered and the loose stuff needs to be tied down. PANIC, Never!!!

There is money to be made even in a catastrophe. The shorts could get rich if Armageddon hits. Being ready to pounce on oversold equities should be easy. There are a few things to keep in mind. First, the market will persist and recover. Next, the USA will still be open for business and ultimately all of the money lost in the short term will be recovered. And third, no matter what happens, all parties will survive and live out their natural lifespans. Except, of course, for the divers.

Market activities are exciting in any event. The boredom of the last few weeks has been maddening so the potential hubbub of tomorrow will be entertaining.

Hopefully, none of the elements of the trifecta occur. Maybe the GNP number will be surprisingly good. Alternatively, maybe the market will see through the number. Or with some luck, Mr. Bernanke will speak sensibly and define the goals the Fed is trying to reach. He can inspire confidence and hope if he's on his A game. Lastly, the Hindenburg Omen could be just a balloon filled with hot air this time around. We can hope. Twenty-four hours from now... Oh, btw, Jim Miekka is out of the market. So it goes.

House Sales Fall, Cash is King-Always

Egads! The sales of previously occupied houses were reported to have fallen to their lowest level in fifteen years. Considering that the government's tax credit program has expired and that the prices of houses are way out of proportion, why the surprise? The real estate run up of the last 10 years has been obscene, but since everybody was getting rich, who complained? The run up was fueled by lending practices, which would have been called quackery if the bankers were doctors.

It should be noted that today's mortgage rates could melt your Popsicle.


Money is definitely ON SALE. While it may actually require some documentation to procure a loan nowadays, a practice which was more or less abandoned during the halcyon housing "boom", qualified buyers need not despair. Availability and sales inventory abound. So, under most circumstances, it would be difficult to explain the fifteen year existing home sales drop.

But these times are not ordinary. By any means. The most telling black cloud in this sales scenario is UNEMPLOYMENT. The rate is flirting with 10%. Here in the land of opportunity, there is no work. NO WORK. Jobs are hard to get and layoffs, employee attrition plans and foreign out sourcing are everyday sightings. As far as goods production goes, it doesn't. What has been a staple for seventy years, the job at the "plant", is long gone. Gone with it is job SECURITY. Now, what unemployed or soon to be downsized or attrited person, who has no job security, wants to buy a house? Perhaps a California Gurl?


Kewl, if she's not already in foreclosure...

A significant fly in the sales ointment is the seller's recalcitrant position in lowering their asking prices to meet market demand. After all, most of these would be sellers bought high. Besides disbelieving that the Bush house a boom-boom has ended, these crib hawkers are in too much mortgage debt to get out without taking a beating. So they remain forever fine, fresh and fierce in their bloated asking prices. If the times had been normal, housing prices would have risen less and the fluid and flexible supply and demand curve would be better satisfied.

Not to be forgotten is the perception that things are not bottomed. Why buy something today if you can buy it for less in a month or a year? Only dire necessity would drive a buyer to be so rash. So in this Buyer's market, a house sale is hard to come by. So what? Is that surprising?

In truth, this whole housing thing is a normal product of what came before it. The exaggerated pain is the result of the binge which preceded it. Like a sot, who awakens swollen eyed, nauseous and jack hammered,


America can be best served by exercising a sensible short term hangover regimen of hydration and analgesia and a long term plan to stop binging. The correction of the promiscuous mortgage ska doos of the 00's is a start.

The free market must be left alone. Housing prices will find their true water level. Buyer demand and seller supply will come together so that fair deals will be struck. Lots of dollar spin offs will resume in time, what with the myriad fees, taxes and commissions tacked onto every sale. Perhaps the American concept of the home as an asset will be changed? Maybe it should change. Maybe all of that drivel about the house as your best investment needs to be looked at with more scrutiny? Does paying all of that mortgage interest over a lifetime make Americans better off? Hmmm.

Unfortunately, it is time to run to the exits. The STAMPEDE has begun. The economy and the housing market are going to get worse before they get better. So sellers should wait if they can, if not, price realistically and you will sell. Buyers, well you got the short hairs in your clutches. Good for you, drive the best deal, but remember what looks good today may not look so good a year from now. Few buyers will be able to catch the bottom of the market, but is that really relevant?

This too will pass, just look at history. There is no need to get one's knickers in a knot. So don't. Surely short term losses need to be accepted. House sellers of today are getting out too late. Too bad, but that is life. Right now, cash is king. Well, come to think of it, isn't cash always king? Kinda makes an argument to save more. Nah, seems unAmerican. So it goes.

The Finish

In what has amounted to one HOT summer, one great country has stumbled towards an improbable finish line. A finish line which amounts to just that, a finish. An end, a completion, a termination. Indeed the United States has moved ever closer to its end as the number one country in the world. And not surprisingly the Afghanistan nail is the closer.

Not that the "war" (if this is a war then 2010's swine flu was an "epidemic") in A-stan is of any real consequence, it is the ongoing bleeding out of cash that's making America anemic and weak. Like a deer hit by a non fatal arrow, who bleeds to death hours later, Uncle Sam is light headed and ready to say hello to terra firma. Yes, it's the money or lack thereof which which is the culprit.

The US treasury is printing money, lots and lots of it.


Other countries are nice enough to buy these increasingly shaky notes, but America owes. The Land of the Free is in arears for somewhere around $44K for every person in the country. And the debt is growing. Non stop spending coupled with sluggish to no production and bristling unemployment are toxic elements in this tragedy.

Smart people confronted with this mess would first STOP spending on all but the essentials.


Frivolous extras which increase the debt should be eliminated. For starters, the two WARS need to go NOW. Wish the Iraqis and the A-stanis well. They will both be OK, they have been around for a long time and water in a bucket always finds its mark. Next, profligate social spending to support votes needs to be halted. To wit, back out of the health care smear NOW, it's not going to be efficient or helpful and it's going to cost too much money. Nobody should be getting rich in health care, not the insurers, the providers, the drug companies, at least not filthy rich. Let the market work. Like it or not, America is a capitalistic society.

Threatening to increase taxes or eliminate perceived earned benefits (Social Security for the "rich") is the wrong strategy. Telling the 50% of Americans, who pay income tax, that they will be poorer fails to instill a feeling of confidence and it destroys incentive. Increasing capital gains taxes makes investment less appealing. Tax revenue is better derived by increasing income and purchasing, to wit, more taxes are collected and the people, who are paying them, are feeling prosperous.

The lack of new ideas, new jobs and fresh perspective makes America resemble an old man, who worries most about the weather and defecation.


The country has gone into an economic plan centered by a reverse mortgage of sorts. Eating off of what you took a lifetime to earn makes sense as death is near and palpable, but it makes no sense if life is hoped to spring eternal.

The country needs to become good, then great at something. Sadly, Americans have gotten literally and figuratively fat. A country without swagger resembles a nerd at a rave. As an idea the word is ENERGY. Essential and costly, energy is the future. Whoever develops the next energy source will lead. Like the space race, the energy race will define the world's leader. So said, set the goals, incentivize and go for it. There are billions of dollars waiting for the energy leader.

The divisiveness needs to stop. The professionals, who spend a career getting elected, are like Botox. Paralyzing. The red and blues need to cease their incessant bickering, yelping and sniping. Session after each congressional session, nothing happens. More debt, more unrest and more disquietude characterize Washington politics. But since each leader is only ultimately interested in job security, progress can only be made if the system is changed. ONE TERM and ONE TERM ONLY. That'll do it.

Peripheral topics are nice for water coolers, but they in no way make the country more fit and capable. With all due respect to mosques in New York, day after pills, Mexican illegals, pot legality, eggs, flu, spilled oil, gay marriage and yada yada, none of these issues go to the crux of America's strength and economy. Leave their discussion and resolution to the states, after all, doesn't each state have a government? When a clear and defined difference between or among the states develops, the federalistas should then and only then jump in.

Leaders need to lead, duhh. In the doldrums of this summer, America is going to hell in a hand basket. With Spain, Chicago bachelor weekend, Panama City and now the Vineyard, the well intentioned President appears unfocused and well, cool. Too cool. As small investors evacuate the stock market, as unemployment soars, as new job creation is lacking and as mortgage defaults rocket, the leader needs to get down to business. And he needs to APPEAR to be getting down to business. His fund raising antics in Texas and California last week were absurd. If he has time to jet around raising money for the Democratic National Committee while the United States is in the processing of finishing out of the race, his priorities are askew.

Seemingly it may be too late. China is now the number two economy in the world, China is the world's largest purchaser of cars, China holds much of America's debt, China is a leader in solar technology, China, China, Chhhiiiiinnnnaaaah!



It's never too late to start a diet and exercise program, not too late as long as the patient has a heartbeat. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

Don't Eat Eggs

Salmonella enteritis has caused the "recall of over a half a billion eggs. >500,000,000

Salmonella enteritidis has caused the "recall" of over a half a billion eggs. >500,000 EGGS. Man that's a lot of laying. For some idea of perspective, 6.41 billion eggs were "produced" in April 2009. So a recall of half a billion represents less than 10% of monthly egg output.

Sal Monella sounds like a Guido who might be starring on Jersey Shore. Perhaps he could be The Situation's right hand man. Perhaps Sal could wake up next to the Chilean, Snooki, after a night of absinthe

and rave. But no, Salmonella is a genus of gram negative rod shaped bacteria. These organisms are a common cause of disease, mostly gastrointestinal upsets and diarrhea. Associated commonly with little pet turtles, cutting boards and chicken, the bugs are best avoided.

Until recently, eggs infected inside with Salmonella have gotten little ink. But with the ongoing recall, the news of infected hen ovaries has become the topic du jour. If the female layer has infected ovaries, her eggs, the insides of the eggs, are infected. Hmmm. No way to wash that off.

Now, if the eggs are heated up enough, that is well cooked, the Salmonella becomes a part of the ingesters nutrition. Protein? But if not heated enough, well, get out the Pepto and stock up on the Charmin.

Doesn't everybody know that well cooked food reduces disease?

Common sense would lead a person to believe that this problem has been around a long time. Did this infected ovary thing just happen? Moreover, the raw egg eaters have been increasingly warned to COOK 'em. Maybe this news is really old news, but with a modern twist. After all, most people eat their eggs fried or boiled or poached or baked or whatever. Is this recall just poppycock? Is it just the USA exaggerated terror response mechanism at play, again. Swine flu redux.

Some people would argue, don't eat eggs. Check this out. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/avoid-replace-eggs-diet.html Pretty convincing.

As with any food selection, it's up to the consumer. This latest Salmonella scare focuses anew the ongoing food controversies with chickens and eggs. Wouldn't some yogurt be a nice alternative? Oh, dairy, cows, bacteria (lots), lactose, er, OK, Cap'n Crunch it is. So it goes.