My pal – The Major – and I were about age 7 – maybe 8 – when we started jumping off his family carport in earnest. Somewhere in here, his grandmother made him a Superman outfit. She was quite the seamstress.
Unassisted by the included cape she’d sewn for him, I continued to jump regularly (and – on dares – from even higher – sometimes the adjoining house roof). With no cape, all those 8 and 15-foot jumps may have damaged my DNA. Because my offspring now has just over 2,500 skydives spanning base-jump shorties at stadiums to team HALO jumps. Now, follow along:
Mister Mxyzptlk came into existence about this point in DC Comic – Superman history. Mid Fifties. We’d rush up to to Owen’s Pharmacy at least once a week (the new editions came in on Fridays) to see what the latest was with Superman’s archenemy (Mxyzptlk) from Bizarro World. Which is off in another dimension, which explains the Wikipedia note:
“Mister Mxyztplk was introduced in the Golden Age as an imp from the “fifth dimension”. Not being bound by physical laws, he can do things that seem to be magical. In his first appearance, Mxyzptlk wreaks havoc across Metropolis by using his powers to pull all manner of pranks, first pretending he got hit by a truck and killed, then increasing his weight when the ambulance gets there and waking up to shock them. What is more, he destroys Superman’s worldview of himself. Mxyztplk jumps out a window, fooling Superman into thinking he is committing suicide. When he appears unharmed, an astonished Superman exclaims, “I-I thought I was the only man who could fly!!” He gives the Mayor the voice of a donkey, and then blows papers over the town. Mxyzptlk soon tells Superman that he is a jester in his home dimension, explaining why he uses his powers to play practical jokes, but one day he finds a book that tells him of this world.
Originally, Mxyzptlk has designs on conquering the planet for himself but soon settles for tormenting Superman whenever he gets the opportunity.”
As the tale took form – into the Sixties – the Myxl fellow somehow leads to the Phantom Zone and from there to? Bizarro World which was Earth spelled backwards. We won’t even attempt to lay out the short version of Bizarro World, other than point you at its own Wiki entry here.
“Which has what to do with Modern markets, Ure?”
If you haven’t figured it out by now, you must be a college drop-out or democrat. Because we are skirting the edge of the Fifth Dimension (of Bizarro World, no, not the singing group) right now in real-time.
I ask you: Where else could Marco Rubio become Secretary of State?
Evidence of the comical (or, maybe not-so-much) pseudo reality can be see in both political developments as well as market numbers and economic factoids. Let’s start there.
To the TEF Question
The Economic Fractalist was asking if Friday was a possible market top – and along came Monday’s “half-a-holiday” (bond markets closed) session. The problem, clearly visible in our U.S. Aggregate Index view, is that we have two possible upper bounds for the next trend channel that’s in trouble overhead.
As you can see (depending on the resolution served by our “dollar store” server and compression software) is the pair of yellow lines (upper right). There’s a dashed one, too, but we nailed that yesterday.
Now the problem with technical analysis (chartograhy, if you will) is the “rules” are straight out of Bizarro World (which also delivers Fed policy guidance).
On Thursdays, ahead of a full moon, the upper solid line is resistance and where things could turn down. But at all other times, except during an incoming tide in Nantucket (where charts are so wrong we said Phuket Thailand…um…) in which case, the dashed line is overhead, we’ve gone slightly over and so the end is near. Like Iran fighting kicks off after a small pullback today and WW III goes into ramp. Or Zylensky freaks and goes balls-out (not a far stretch for him…er…) and he “goes deep” into Russia and (repeat after me) “and WW III goes into ramp.”
Crazy as this all sounds, it’s still starkly logical compared to a Kamala Harris Word Waldorf.
Bitcoin is also now in position to “jump off the higher roof” having made it almost to $90,000 per made-up number before sobriety came by and whacked things down to $85,850.
TEF has noticed one of his indicators (a global index) peaked last week. But this gets us walking up the mountain to the monetary monastery to pray for more wisdom. “Oh, lord Mxyzptlk, how is it that indices and assets are selected to break from the general stampede?”
- Some Globals have rolled over.
- Taiwan’s market fell 2.3 percent overnight. AI bubble-up?
- MMCE (mostly minor craters elsewhere). Japan only dropped 157, for example.
- BCE (bigger craters in Europe), though: France is down 1.3 percent, the Unemployed Kingdom down one percent and Germany is down 8-1oths.
Truth is Gold may have peaked for this cycle in Bizarro – global indexes are looking “carport-like” and we have unlimited confidence in the ability of Buydem-Harris to turn defeat into utter calamity. But let’s save Jane for later.
The Big War is still coming. Because most of the time when the Fed has to lower rates, there’s a major market decline (almost 50 percent) within six-months or so. Here in Bizarro World, please keep your eyes on Fed Chair Is Ready for a Legal Fight because Trump wants him gone. And since the Fed policy reversal should begin to bite any minute, (see the stampede above), Trump will need a “donkey to pin it on.” As luck would have it, dems have plenty of jackasses to go around.
NFIB Summary
Press release just out:
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 12, 2024) – The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose by 2.2 points in October to 93.7. This is the 34th consecutive month below the 50-year average of 98. The Uncertainty Index rose seven points to 110, the highest reading recorded. A seasonally adjusted net negative 20% of small business owners reported higher nominal sales in the past three months, the lowest reading since July 2020.
“With the election over, small business owners will begin to feel less uncertain about future business conditions,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Although optimism is on the rise on Main Street, small business owners are still facing unprecedented economic adversity. Low sales, unfilled jobs openings, and ongoing inflationary pressures continue to challenge our Main Streets, but owners remain hopeful as they head toward the holiday season.”
We’re half-expecting a run on the National Bank of Dad this year. (Because they can…)
Actuals
MTBOE (meantime, back on Earth):
Elections weigh in pending Trump case: Judge to rule on throwing out Trump hush money conviction. We’re going to be really interested to see how Jack Smith’s legal future looks after all this.
Logical pick, looks like to us: Trump chooses Elise Stefanik as ambassador to the United Nations. We’re curious what the Trump HR unit will do with Kari Lake now that Trump ally and election denier Kari Lake loses Arizona Senate race to Ruben Gallego.
Weathering Life
Mentioned the Taiwan stock market drop overnight. May be somehow keyed to Typhoon batters storm-weary Philippines and displaces thousands more people as a new storm threatens.
Europe could be in for a tough early winter this year: Weather experts predict snow bombshell for Europe.
And we do look in on the NOAA Solar Cycle Progression periodically. this month we can see the solar peak pretty clearly (might have something to do with all the “hottest year ever” stories). But the real question is whether the Sun is done for this cycle (in which case we slide into the higher risks of X-class flares for a three to five yer period) or if there might be a double top in the works:
Been OK (sometimes even good) on ham radio over the past couple of months onto he HF radio bands. But the real question is “what’s next?”
Criminals and Clicks
Big outcry over the rioting in Amsterdam after an Israeli team soccer match. But we don’t know yet if Watch: Amsterdam tram set on fire in new wave of violence days after ‘Jew hunt’ is related, or not. (We wouldn’t be surprised, sadly.)
The Swamp is acting fearful: Change is a bitch, sometimes: Report: Pentagon Officials Plot Against Trump’s America-First Agenda. So much for the Pentagram. Butg how about the alphabets? Being Libertarian on X: “Kash Patel- New CIA Director ? Yes, we agree with the need for a “declassification office” next to the Oval. As rumors go, this one is strong as Kash Patel emerges as a top contender for CIA director shows in the NYPost today. Oh, and we would want all contact disclosed between Dick Cheney and Liz out in the open as GOP Rep. Mike Waltz tapped to be Trump’s national security advisor. Deep Stater or good guy?
Slow Leaks on COVID keep appearing: Dutch government admits Covid was a military operation coordinated by NATO – “it was a military operation that had nothing to do with health care.” Why are we not, oh, you know… Say, here’s another conspiracy theory-turned-fact booster: Ex-Pfizer VP: Covid ‘Vaccines’ Were ‘Deliberately Designed’ to ‘Kill & Reduce Fertility’
Stiffed! “Melania Trump declines to attend traditional White House meeting with Jill Biden” / X.
Around the Ranch: Drone Writing Frenzy
If you like sUAVs and want some interesting speculation about the future and how drones could be a major aid in reduction of climate loads…you’re going to love our Peoplenomics.com report tomorrow.
Quake-Ready?
This week’s big quake – which showed up in a dream for the wife of one of our readers – continues to be a concern. Bounced off one of our SMEs (subject matter experts):
“Well, the Juan de Fuca plate subduction zone is still locked, and tensions continue (probably, as I have no access to measurements) to rise. Note the recent mag 3.1 quake 30.2 km deep, 26 km SE of Rio Dell, CA. That’s inland a little ways, and deep enough to be subduction plate slippage. BUT, the location is along the far southern edge of the JdF plate. NOT basically inland from that off shore 6.0 and 5.0 that were along the much longer main southern edge. (There is a chunk of the JdF plate that lies even further south than the primary southern edge, in a sort of hatchet shape. The 30 km deep subduction quake was along the southern edge of that hatchet extension. But the main pressure seems to be building further north. A wordy way of saying, sure, a big thump could well be coming for WA and OR. And sooner than later, too.”
And since it’s about a hundred years overdue and since a “talking picture” was said to give a 5-days warning from Monday of this week, we are taking this more seriously than most.
People sometimes forget how dreams “encode” knowledge of the future. For example – and this is something our reader’s wife will find interesting as hell – ask her “What is a talking picture?”
To anyone with some dream work under their belt the “talking picture” is a possible mental metaphor for…(ready?) Television!
So if you see quake damage coverage on TV this weekend, remember where you heard it first. And WHEN. The Future is always almost here.
Write when you get rich,
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