anybody home?

[jk]

this site was down for quite a while, but i kept checking it occasionally. now here it is, functional again. i was just wondering whether anyone else was checking in and would like to resuscitate the discussions.

[Milton Kuo]

I'm here. The site wasn't just down, it looked like it had been hijacked by some Eastern European group flogging whatever garbage they were selling.

[touhy]

Even Maga is gone....feels kind of post apocalyptic.
Ironic when you consider that perhaps "Ka-poom" might really be a thing soon.

[Woodsman]

.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

What a surprise to find this site back up again. For a long time I checked every few days, always getting an error.
Today, on a lark, I tried again and it works. Go figure.
And good to see all of you.

[kbird]

Hi all. Glad the website is back.

[shiny!]

I check every few days. Usually there's a database or some other sort of error, like Milton says. Hi Milton! Hi everyone!
Mega got banned for some reason or another. There's so much happening with oil these days, I'm hoping GRG55 will check in. I wish EJ would check in. EJ, are you there???

Since this site has been down so much, Finster has been posting a lot of good insights on his personal site: financology.net

[Prazak]

Disappointing

[rjwjr]

Hi guys. I don't post much but, I do read your discussions from time to time. I especially miss EJ's insights. That was a fun number of years.

Mega created activity but not much worthwhile content. GRG55 always had terrific boots on the ground perspectives. Who was the member that posted that he was selling all his gold then he never posted again? His timing was eerily spot on.

[Milton Kuo]

Who was the member that posted that he was selling all his gold then he never posted again? His timing was eerily spot on.

That was jtabeb. I wish he and some of the other old iTulip users would drop in and let us all know how they're doing.

[santafe2]

I hadn't checked in several months, apparently before late July as I'd not seen this thread. We've just about wrapped up our lives in Santa Fe and are moving to Annapolis next year. The Southwest is drying up under the worst drought in 800 years. Lake Mead began restricting water flow out of the dam this year after the level had fallen to 1,075 ft. Since then the lake has fallen another 32 feet to 1,043. At 895 the lake is dead as a hydro electric or water source. The problem is more about 85 years of over allocation than drought, although the 20 year drought has added to the problem. As California housing has gotten much more expensive more and more families are moving to Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas - as they say, out of the frying pan... It's too bad, this has been a great place to live but we've found an equally charming community in Annapolis.

One of us should start a new thread: When will the recession be official? We had one in Q1-Q2 of this year but our officials cleverly said it wasn't a 'real' recession. There is one coming as money supply continues to tighten and interest rates move up. It's good to see the US$ falling, it's retraced about half its 2022 move but that's probably not enough to keep Europe from being the first major area to fall. Apparently they didn't get the message last year when the US decided the global economy wasn't really working for us. Are we really bringing jobs back or simply automating with AI / robotics to an extent that building here will be cheaper than employing folks in Asia. And what do we do to employ all the Americans who will continue to be put out of work as this next wave of smart automation continues to take jobs? I've a dozen more issues I like to discuss here but we'll need a quorum to make it worthwhile.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Great to hear from you Santafe2. It seems that every couple weeks an old timer wanders in and posts something as you did here.
I find one of your point pretty interesting:

"...apparently they didn't get the message last year when the US decided the global economy wasn't really working for us. Are we really bringing jobs back or simply automating with AI / robotics to an extent that building here will be cheaper than employing folks in Asia..."

The US is building big capacity in semiconductor fabs just as China starts saber rattling towards Taiwan ( the source of 90% of advanced microchips). Rather unlikely to be a coincidence.

[santafe2]

Moving semi production to the US and other locations is a good move since we have no intention of going to war with China. Our less than clear policy is more likely about keeping Taiwan in check than China. I think listening to Zelensky talk about total victory over Russia has the administration wondering how Ukraine intends to pay that bill. We're not going to war with Russia, it's bad for business. We certainly don't want Taiwan to provoke China, so it's just best to move our strategic assets out of a bad neighborhood.

[*T*]

I pop over every year or two. Macro's quite a difficult read at the moment, so might be worthwhile.

[santafe2]

I hadn't checked in several months, apparently before late July as I'd not seen this thread. We've just about wrapped up our lives in Santa Fe and are moving to Annapolis next year. The Southwest is drying up under the worst drought in 800 years. Lake Mead began restricting water flow out of the dam this year after the level had fallen to 1,075 ft. Since then the lake has fallen another 32 feet to 1,043. At 895 the lake is dead as a hydro electric or water source. The problem is more about 85 years of over allocation than drought, although the 20 year drought has added to the problem. As California housing has gotten much more expensive more and more families are moving to Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas - as they say, out of the frying pan... It's too bad, this has been a great place to live but we've found an equally charming community in Annapolis.

One of us should start a new thread: When will the recession be official? We had one in Q1-Q2 of this year but our officials cleverly said it wasn't a 'real' recession. There is one coming as money supply continues to tighten and interest rates move up. It's good to see the US$ falling, it's retraced about half its 2022 move but that's probably not enough to keep Europe from being the first major area to fall. Apparently they didn't get the message last year when the US decided the global economy wasn't really working for us. Are we really bringing jobs back or simply automating with AI / robotics to an extent that building here will be cheaper than employing folks in Asia. And what do we do to employ all the Americans who will continue to be put out of work as this next wave of smart automation continues to take jobs? I've a dozen more issues I like to discuss here but we'll need a quorum to make it worthwhile.

Just checking in. Unfortunately, crickets. We're in Annapolis, enjoying a place with water and more modern amenities.