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Why A Market Defined By Apple Is A Symptom Of Something Very Wrong
Must read commentary by BigMacro & Co.'s Daniel Somos on how "Apple is really taking over the world" which confirm why the entire market can be summarized by the following equation: APPLE = STOCKS = AUDUSD = GOLD.
From BigMacro & Co (full pdf)
When the NASDAQ index was “founded” they put a cap so that no company could be larger than 24% of the index. This was because Microsoft would have been dominating the index if they would not have capped it. Now, it’s Apple approaching the limit because of its rapid growth, currently it is 20% of Nasdaq. Now look at the chart below. It is the Australian dollar plotted against Apple. To my knowledge Apple as a company has no specific exposure to Australia large enough to account for the fact that in September they started to move in sync. This leads me to a simple equation:
APPLE = STOCKS = AUDUSD = GOLD
What do I mean by that? Seemingly uncorrelated assets start to correlate – this is a classic symptom of something being wrong. I believe the reason Apple and Australian dollar trade the same is because the market is now driven by a single factor – cheap dollars. This goes back to my first point.
Everything is moving based on the FED quantitative easing program, the market does not even care about other economic or company specific factors anymore. Is this a healthy market which will translate into a self sustained bull market? No!
And what does this say about the US. I believe growth - and I am not talking about Keynesian growth, I am talking about something that took you 2 hours to produce before now only takes 1 hour to produce, like GDP per capita per hour – comes from 2 factors: technological advances and lower barriers of effective capital allocation. We know that we can forget about lower barriers of effective capital allocation, which has banking and regulation as the two main components. US banking is mostly involved in capital miss-allocation, small banks are going out of business at record pace (yes, more than last year) and it is not like small business regulation and taxes are getting any better anytime soon. So the last hope is technology.
So once upon a time the biggest company in the Nasdaq index was Microsoft, and I think it’s pretty easy to argue that Excel and Word did make a lot of things more efficient (real growth) than compared to typewriters and whatever people used before Excel. So isn’t it great that Apple is growing like crazy. Well, I have an iPad and it actually makes some time savings for me. But overall, I think the growth behind Apple is not based on a massive industry spending motivated by increased efficiency, but rather consumers who stopped paying their mortgages and are now buying iPhone 4 with the money instead so they can play Angry Birds. So that does not make me very optimistic about the future of the US economy.
And the greatest trick that Apple ever pulled is not lost on at least a few out there: we have just learned that another stock is about to define its own host market: Brazil's Petrobras weighing in the MSCI Brazil Index will rise from 16% to 21%, and its weighing in the MSCI LatAm Index will increase from 11% to 14.5%.
Soon, the entire world GDP (because after all GDP is now only a reflection of the stock market) will be determined by a guy drilling for oil off Rio, renting Netflix movies on his 2,837th generation iPad, while buying cocaine on Amazon.
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Another symptom of something "very wrong":
Baby Boomers committing suicide at unprecedented rates"It may be, as we look back from a more austere future in which the retirement age has been raised to 85 or so and the elderly - far from guzzling pina coladas on cruise ships whilst simultaneously occupying badly-needed residential property - are compulsorily relocated to robot-staffed retirement homes, that we will regard the Boomers as the jammiest generation ever to have lived. Their apparent propensity to top themselves out of drug-addled foolishness, in a tantrum at the "rude awakening" of middle age, or simply like mindless sheep because they have seen others do so, will be all the more puzzling." - The Register.
http://j.mp/bug3WT
Maybe they are just showing solidarity with the Chinese workers who also are commiting suicide in alaming numbers, while manufacturing I-crap for the western market?
Just sayin'.
And maybe the pursuit of happiness by endless mass consumption of products such as I-crap have something to do with the increasing rate of youth suicide in developed nations? Just sayin ;-)...
Welcome to the new normal!!!
<sarc/>
Actually, it's nice to see others seeing the same bubbles ... although just exactly what that means in terms of disaster planning, I don't have a clue.
Marinate some ice cubes and get well back from the fire pits ... maybe?
ARLINGTON, VA — The American Trucking Associations’ advance seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 2.7 percent in August, which was the largest month-to-month decrease since March 2009. The latest drop lowered the SA index from 110 (2000=100) in July to 106.9 in August.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 113.5 in August, up 3.2 percent from the previous month.
Compared with August 2009, SA tonnage climbed 2.9 percent, which was well below July’s 7.4 percent year-over-year gain. Year-to-date, tonnage is up 6.2 percent compared with the same period in 2009.
http://www.truckline.com/pages/article.aspx?id=791%2F{8E1C7279-ED27-4C03-B189-CEEEE26BBB12}
I saw this earlier this morning. Just another straw piled upon the camel's/market's back.
Thanks for posting the chart !!
Isn't it upside down?
that chart is what's known in the biz as charlie brown's good grief expression.
excellent article btw.
Nevermind I got it.
Please post said chart when it predicts the direction we're headed in clearer detail.
What a good equation!
APPLE = STOCKS = AUDUSD = GOLD
It captures the market sentiment.
The only problem is that things not identical should not be equal. Yet it happens because the Fed gives up its day job and trade against the market all weather full time.
It is fitting that a glorified version of FAO Schwartz, making bright and shiny toys for aduts, is the symbol of this market. To my knowledge, the US doesn't manufacture a single thing Apple makes.
Hi Ned,
There is nothing wrong about AAPL. I will buy the stock if the price is right.
What is wrong is the market represented by the equation. All those markets are market no more. It is a pity that APPLE is wrapped inside a casino capitalism.
Hi CB,
Maybe what is wrong is not with AAPL (the Stock) but Apple Inc., the company. More specifically what it represents culturally.
A quick review of the most popular downloads from the app-store will tell you all you need to know.
Plus, entire generations of people are going deaf listening to their Apple Inc. iPod/pad/pid/dle with those sexy white ear-buds. Public service message: Ear Buds will make you deaf. It's like being in the front row of a WHO concert.
So, Cboy, maybe that is the point. Apple the company and what it represents as a social engineering product designing company is a curse.
The machines have us.... hooked!
Gotta do the beer glug thingy now!
Bye!
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Hi ORI,
Thank you for your reply.
My respects,
chinaboy
Worse still, we have a culture defined by Apple. Everything you need in your iPod, and earbuds in all the time. Scary.
Those early ads with the shadow people ... way too accurate.
My ZuneHD, also made in China, does it make me one of those scary shadow people, too? Sometimes, I walk around with my ear buds in but nothing playing so that fewer people will try to talk to me.
Yes you are definitely ... wait no I take that back, that's brilliant. Even better, not even own a music pod thing and just stick the other end of the earbud leads into a shirt pocket. That would impress. That would be subversive. But you would still have to head-bob, you know. And maybe sing lyrics off-key. Just for effect.
I know of two people who do this. Ear buds without the iPod or whatever attached. They both commute, one in a car pool who he says is occupied by "idiots" and one who commutes on a crowded train which is populated by the "great unwashed". Those are quotes. Both do some serious reading during their commutes and don't wish to be disturbed.
We need a word or phrase for this. Anyone? Bueller?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zyjLyBp64
Deconscious?
wirewalled
Budvoidance
Disconnect.
easily confused with those who are paranoid about other types of buds.
Unplugged in
earbuds
the unplugged
the unBearable bullness of beIng
For the record, I do remove my earbuddies at the proper times, like when approaching a cashier or when someone still motions to talk to me. Also, I do it as much for others who don't really want to talk either but just have a hard time being quiet.
talkblock
iSolated
wi-solation
Nice!
Or maybe Wisolated
Easy!
Roxanne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sgfRb5v4Fo
Be sure to get the battery-powered noise cancellation. Throw 'em in the charger overnight.
apple was cool when everyone had IBMs and hated it....
well you know i hate apple. but i have my ear phones in to hear music and be happy and smile while everybody stares at me and snarls. people try and stop me to ask me questions, even when i roller ski and they have no brakes. i just say i don't want to talk to you leave me alone. the solicitor's harass me, too. i like the camera so i can take pictures of all my boyz i run into. my collectibles.
Apple's are good salesmen, I own a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, both nice and working nicely, still....what's all that fuzz about Jobs and the business and tra la la it still is just a piece of tech nothing else, other companies have good products too, they just seem not to know, yet, how marketing works! When everything goes down so will Apple, period.!
Ya I think you mentioned that before.
Marketing works by evangelizing. The marketing department starts evangelizing the products and hopes the public takes over the job. In other words they hope you say you buy the stuff and people don't think your a complete idiot.
It's not working. Please continue praising all the merits of all things apple.
You may be right about Apple going down with everyone else, but their success is not simply from marketing. Apple provides consistency: the accessories that you bought with your first iPod still work with your iPhone, the music that you bought for your first iPod still works with your iPhone, all of these things work on all of Apples devices. People buy Apple because of value and lower total cost of ownership.
Other companies market products that don't live up to expectations, and when they flop in the market place they drop them, leaving those who bought them out in the cold. If Americans ever get back to valuing (affording) value, then Apple products will sell even better.
Marketing sells a consumer the first unit, it is everything else that brings Apple customers back multiple times.
Blah blah blah blah. You don't know anything about computers. What realtek sound chip does your apple use. What intel, via, etc ethernet chip does your system run.
Apples a software shop. They simply code linux and mach kernel to work in a nice finished polished way. The big difference between linux and OS/X is that OS/X only supports the hardware that apple uses or has sold. They are simply a large value added reseller. That's the business model they've used and always have used.
The computer industry started with a slow growth good support model becasue it was so new. Now that advancement rates have fallen off a cliff they are going to try to go back to that model. Problem is there are 800 lb gorilla tier one suppliers like gigabyte who can run circles around foxconn and every mac supplier.
You scare me seriously with your brain washing. Original Ipod accessories working on your iPhone. What a case you bought for you Ipod will work for you iphone. A standard ear bud plug you bought for you ipod will work on your iphone. Big deal.
ok, i'll take my texted words and go home.
Dude: BSD, not lee-nooks. Licensing matters.
And you kind of contradict yourself after stating that "Apple's a software shop."
Glass houses and stones and whatnot.
Dude no. You're splitting hairs that don't exist. Who runs the Xorg project. hmm who. Well not runs but who is lead on it.
If they were simply selling modified "Linux software" (GPL license) then they would legally have to provide source code.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODU4Nw
The GPL is constantly fighting these hijackers.
Sadly, I think that you are the one who is ignorant; either an investor or a desk-side support specialist who thinks they know more about computer systems than they actually do. (or someone with a vested interest)
As many regular people care about the type of chips in their computer as care about the type of fuel injection module in their car. Most users don't care about the components, they just want it all to work as a unit. I also don't think that your perception of how the computing industry has evolved is correct, not even in a simplified for brevity way. I hope that you are not charing for your advice.
I honestly don't care what you think, and I'm not even interested in changing your opinion. But, people who say Apple is just marketing or Apple is just a VAR don't see the big picture.
BTW, I have no position in Apple, but that is because I think that they are currently overpriced.
thanks for the input
yea like 3 new MacBook hard drives in 18 months.
macs break too, get over it.
That September correlation is 0.99999999999999999999999
insane
I expect the Fed's next mandate to be: keep Steve Jobs alive at all costs.
They've already hired 3 body doubles, frozen 28 pancreases and cloned his DNA from toenail clippings. (you pluralize pancreas!)
pancreai
LOL
What was the point of an index again?
The point of the index is to distract you while they take all your money.
To track AAPL.
There is nothing to discuss people buying Apple "gadgets". I have one, too. But it´s absolutely insane that one stock has a weighting of 20 % + in an index. Bullsh1t.
I still don't buy the proposition that people are buying I-pads and I-phones and such at the expense of other bills. I make it a point to keep in touch with poor people and I am seeing none of that. What I am seeing though is fewer odd jobs for them to make a little extra cash and rising costs for food and fuel. So in sum i wish these people would stick to their expertise which is stocks and correlations and stop making up stories about poor folk who they obviously know nothing about let alone dane to actually talk with them or visit their accomodations.
I've been in grocery store lines behind people using their food stamp card while talking on what appears to me to be a new I Phone on more than one occasion. Maybe the phone or the card was stolen. Or maybe both were stolen. Or neither. Who knows. But the system is being gamed from top to bottom.
If they are on Food Stamps they get a free cell phone and I think around 150 minutes per month.
Are you serious? are they donated phones? even still.. that's messed up.
SafeLink Wireless is a government supported program that provides a free cell phone and airtime each month for income-eligible customers. Learn more at https://www.safelinkwireless.com/
No they are new phones. They can get them at the Health Centers that base what you pay on your income. So, if you only make like $700. a Month your Doctor visit is $5. You can also qualify for $0. cost to see a Doctor.
Ever heard of saving?
Ever heard of hand-me-downs?
Ever heard of buying used?
It's not like the person is wielding a gold rolex
It's a shitty cell phone. Hardly gaming the system.
He isn't talking about poor folks; he is talking about the former middle class blowing their savings and unemploylment on crApple gear. They will figure out that they are poor eventually.
Yes, it's here. Welcome to the Depression. No, don't drop whatever it is you're doing. Don't get up. It's not going anywhere. It will wait. It's just going to sit over here in the corner and read a magazine while you do whatever it is you need to do.
A Depression doesn't run hot and fierce like some crazed meth burner. A Depression is methodical, purposeful, patient. It will build a shelter out of tree branches and newspaper, light a small, well-contained campfire and wait you out, brother. While you feed on the empty calories of denial and popcorn, it will quietly gather shards of broken dreams and fashion them into a terrible weapon of blunt force reality.
~Kevin Depew 2008
nice quote. I'm re-posting that somewhere.
Hmm, so if Apple is a MAJOR portion of the NASDAQ and SPX and the powers that be are pumping the hell out of the indexes by way of the futures as well as Apple stock, do you suppose Apple might have received an all clear to play with their numbers?
Just askin'
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2006/nf20060523_2210.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
You haven't met my sister-in-law, who's living with us after a short sale on her home in Maryland and nowhere to go. She pays 1/2 my mortgage as rent and uses the remainder of her income as a means to have the time of her life -- drinks, parties, new gadgets, travel. It's almost entertaining to watch her live her oblivious life.
What happens when the wife turns to you to pick up her sisters pieces when the Big Fail appears? Because your wife will not let her sister go down in flames. Or will she?
BTW have ya got an extra bedroom to spare? :>)
That's already in the plans, my good man. Unbeknownst to my wife, my SHTF plans include the sister-in-law staying with us. The extra set of hands and eyes at the homestead will be welcomed after we break her in to some real work. No spare bedroom at the moment. Will a semi-private office with a sleeper sofa do? If not, you'll have to bunk up with the sister-in-law.
Got any pictures? Wanna buy some?
the markets are a sick farce
and the real economy NECESSARILY is dying as a result
every moment above fair value is bad for the future
the banks and the fed have lead and continue to lead us to total collapse with these bullshit """"markets""""
The stock markets are not the economy.
The economy is not the stock markets.
It is even possible that the economy and the stock markets do not intersect in any fashion on any set of abstract axis.
The stock markets are a casino. People with money to lose go to casinos to enjoy themselves, that's the only tie in with the economy; people flush with cash play the markets. People with no money or who are afraid to lose any more money do not play the markets. You play expecting to lose in the end, you play with hot money for the fun.
The days of "investing for value and return" ended long ago. Those days are never coming back, and the SEC has nothing to do with it.
Invest in real things like local businesses, or store your money in a mattress. All else is illusion.
Stock markets are not casinos. Casinos have strict rules that are enforced. Stock markets - not so much. TPTB are pumping the stock markets to inspire confidence - the only thing that seems to matter. This is a political machination, although the Fed is supposed to be apolitical.
Dammit, you're right. My bad.
[ahem]
Sorry casino guys, for comparing you unfavorably to stock markets. You provide a valued entertainment venue and cute chicks and free booz while you take peoples' money, and they know in advance this is what is going to happen. The stock market manipulators and banking oligarchs OTOH blatantly rip off widows and impoverish value-producing small businesses in violation of standing law and every kind of moral principle. I was wrong to try and make my point using casinos as an example of fraud and malfeasance. And I apologize.
I feel much better now.
I found your apology very sincere and I hope Casino operators everywhere understand that you are truly contrite. I hope this retraction is enough to head them off from suing you for libel. ;-D
I was more worried about the Las Vegas Mafia.
I didn't mean it guys! That's a joke! Ha ha! Funny guy here. Hey why aren't you laughing?
Okay I'm shutting up now.
Just peed my pants coug.
Now Cody, you wouldn't happen to be one of them there "enforcer guys" would ya? We really like Cougar around here, has some use if you know what I'm saying. Now if you really want a few targets that are in need of some enforcement muscle, to go after someone that has NO USE, let me direct your attention over here. I'd like ya to meet Ben, Mary, and Tim.
Now we know why Johnny Bravo is gone...
Now just where did I leave my AR-15?
Ben, Mary and Tim - the father, mother and holy ghost.
"Soon, the entire world GDP (because after all GDP is now only a reflection of the stock market) will be determined by a guy drilling for oil off Rio, renting Netflix movies on his 2,837th generation iPad, while buying cocaine on Amazon."
Brilliant
Was the last phrase intentional?
Coca leafs from the Amazon = Excellent tea (also great mixed with tobacco and other herbs when smoked)
"Cocaine on Amazon" = Horrible synthetic substitute
i agree market is bubble not moving on fundamentals. Gold reminds me of oil in summer 2008. When things change look out below!
More like black gold sometimes acts like gold but can't quite pull off the same feats. So similar, yet so different. But, yeah, the petro-dollar seemed to have died around that time period, so to speak of the peaks.
Hmm today oil reminds me of oil in 2008, up $2 in minutes? Banana Ben supporting the mid east today my how nationalistic.
Takeaway: the Fed economists with PhDs from Really Good Schools have it all under control.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, meet Feddie Ben.
Ahh, a case of the AppleCart being placed before the Horseshit.
Here Amigo's pass the cigarettes around:
http://www.jonco48.com/blog/horseshitcigarettesdn3.jpg
Robo in his way has been pointing this kind of thing out, with his charts, and yesterday I made an observation like this over on the Hugh Hendry thread. Not Aussie dollar, but the general idea that certain things seem to be getting pumped up on fed money in unison.
All over the net (including here) you hear logics about how to front run the Fed. Traders here such as jm admonish us to trade the market and make a buck and work with what we have rather than whining.
This post makes so much sense, the Fed is animating a Zombie.
I don't know how to google to find the term for the phenomena, but if you have a whole bunch of soldiers marching across a suspension bridge together, the bridge will collapse. There is a harmonic created by being in sync that has destruction power. If the same soldiers walk over it, no problem. The laws of nature are on display for anyone who wants to see it.
For you Senorita,
http://www.jonco48.com/blog/horseshitcigarettesdn3.jpg
....And please Senorita don't tell me ya quit smokin'
Tell me why it is horse shit.
Waves in unison, being created by an unnatural force (the Fed), at the micro, macro, and messo level until such a time, there is too much structural strain for the system to hold together any more. I am taking a physics metaphor and making some observations about all of this.
Why is my metaphor wrong?
Answer that Mr. Horse Shit, or will you just say nanny nanny fucking boo boo again because you ain't got squat?
Well Sister,ya misunderstood ma crack/joke.Neither the article or your comment are horse shit.
Its just the Fed see,thay don't want as ta stap smokin' that shit see.
Ya Dig.
I'm wid ya now partner. Apologies. I'm all riled, hoping around and stuff.
Apology accepted.
Just pass the cigarettes around sister and give one to Tyler.
Oh just one thing folks,don't inhale,just pretend,like they do in the movies.It looks cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw
Sympathetic resonance or acoustic resonance or mechanical resonance can be very destructive. There have been many machines created over the centuries that literally blew themselves up because of this. Including a few car engines. The same thing happens during earth quakes, wave action etc.
In your case, you point out that the Fed is trying to create exactly this phenomena to spark the herd to stampede into risky assets, thus creating a "demand" where none is now. They want inflation, must have inflation, must create a demand for products that can only be sated with spending. The system either grows by whatever means or it dies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_resonance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_resonance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_resonance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonance_frequency
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_theory
Look its Unkle Bennies helo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z-SSumb2ZA
LOL
Found another camera angle. Is that Ben up front?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4EvVR10AF0&feature=related
Here is an early model of Ben's helicopter coming in for a landing. Ops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDb_UCZs7ZM&feature=related
Right to the point!
It's a physical phenomenon called Harmonic Resonance.
That is a useful analogy. These "market swings" are already becoming self-reinforcing. Each swing contributes to the next, and the next one is further and faster still. Bubbles within bubbles and each that collapses forms the next ... and faster.
The Real Economy (tm) cannot take too much of this. There are Real People (tm) behind everything that has value, and they are being beaten to death. Small businesses, retirement systems, real estate developers, students in college, waitresses, truck drivers. It's a long list of people who cannot make plans when the system dynamics are swinging all over the place, and accelerating even as they turn in upon themselves.
They are animating a zombie ... with real blood. From real people. This is not a game. This is summoning death.
Thanks for stopping to say that.
On the macro level, you hear traders talking to each other, not about the fundamentals, but about what the Fed is going to do next. The Fed must know this, and so they react to that. It is the sociological/psychological relationship between the Fed and the investors. The Charts are visual representations (of the tracked price/values). But the real waves are rippling through society as investors turn away from a dialogic relationship with the fundamentals and turn instead to dialogging with the Fed.
I can't emphasize how important I think this post is. What do we do? I'm with Old Turk up there. Get away from the pit (trading pits too).
The "flash crash" thing is very worrisome. It's a bad sign, and clearly I'm not the only one thinking it. This machine is set to eat itself. The next act in this drama might well be the machine taking itself apart for the last time ever. Anyone still trying to work from inside it will be taken apart as well. There is the potential for vast and catastrophic losses in the final act.
Stay clear of the pit, indeed.
Wait till a *black swan* appears.
What will the *trigger* be ? Who knows but its coming very,very soon IMHO.
I think they need a big old black swan to land before they can sell *Q.E. 2.3* to the masses. So this gives them about 4-5 weeks before elections to stir the pot.
I'm *all-in* on VXX, that is my call ...
I still don't understand how Goldman Sachs is able to supply anything to the Fed.
In fact, I do understand and it is complete and utter bullshit.
Resonance. The vibrations force a random group of people to start marching in sync, which makes the vibrations even stronger, which increases the resonance etc until the whole thing collapses. One difference here is that there is an external source feeding the synchronization: the Fed.
Thanks for that. I guess I'm resonating with this idea a whole lot just now!!
Probably because it scares you to death.
As well it should. Harmonics are not motion, they are stresses. They give the illusion of motion with no net travel --- nothing goes forward. Something sits in place and vibrates furiously and someone points to that and says See it's going somewhere it's finally moving! but you can see it is not going anywhere like that, and you can hear the damned thing coming apart as you look at it, and you want to be a mile away when it blows up.
When it blows up because blowing up is all it can do.
Talking on vibrations..thanks for last night Mscreant. I hope I behaved as after a few Margueritas I can get like...well like a Fed reserve chairman with an itchy fat finger- out of control and later perhaps regretting my reckless actions. Tell me it wasn`t so...
what are you two talking about vibrations? are you two having cyber sex?
Because their products are junk?
Willit blend? That is the question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko&feature=player_embedded
50 cal. durability test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4EEt6W9s8
will it blend, don't want to break my blender. my blender is my staff of life. you know the vibrator app doesn't work.
On the blender or the iPad/phone?
JUDGEMENT DAY IS NEAR
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/09/judgement-day-is-near.html
BTW, if you go into the Apple Store on 59th and 5th, it is certainly not loaded with Hillbillies trading in food stamps.
On the other hand, America is the land of burger flipping Lexus drivers.
Pizza delivery drivers in Range Rovers here.
Flash Judgement Day - is that like a Flash Crash?
Badda bing, badda gone.
Live imitates the stock market. :>)
Thanks WB7.
Yesterday's AAPL mini flash crash required a reset of the global atomic clock in Greenwich. The one in England you folly faces not Connecticut.
Awesome. Nature usurps God. I like it.
what is the difference between autozone and advanced autoparts? Eddy Lampert!!!!! Show's you how terrible the corruption is.
Less lubricant?
oh and autozone's balance sheet is a big fat turd
They need to change the weighting of stocks like Aapl. It seems like the higher they get the more weighting the get in the exchanges. That is why they keep pumping only certain stocks. The ones with the highest weighting in the exchanges. Cat is also one of those stocks.
F*ck Apple and the container ship they rode in on.
And only slightly OT - http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/you-vs-corporations/
And you thought Max Headroom was just a TV show...
Ooooooo - a junk.
Was it the Apple sacrilege, linking to BR or Max? Or did I get a trifecta?
Bought a couple refurb Mac Minis from Apple a couple of years back. Ran with them for biz and non-biz. Lots to like, more to dislike, the latter being what you don't see.
I gave them away to what I trust are good homes.
The whole rebel against the corporations thing is nothing new though. It's part of graduating from one set of me vs them to another dichotomy involving individuals pitted against groups. I'm not saying it's wrong, for we need a healthy amount of radicals fighting co-opts; just seeing it for what it is. Corporations, unions, governments, teams, and other organized groups are necessary evils if we want economies of scale to help propel humans forward, for instance, quite literally in the case of putting man on the moon.
Actually, I see it ("Corporations, unions, governments, [...]") as being taken to the next level. The next "America" (in our mythology) will be about freedom from this alleged useful tyranny (rock), this consequence of maxing out the petri dish (hard place).
Humanity does not always march foward you dope, Rome is all i need to say.
And the sky is blue, just look up! See, I can show baggage when reading way too much into what someone else just said. Stop projecting onto me, yo. I never said any such thing. Madness.
Guess what else? People die, too. Does that mean you should stop trying to be a better person? You won't live forever, yo.
And 1 week since the FOMC announced 'Well, no Q/E ust yet but maybe later or something', today the media has directed to re-buzz the hype of 'Is Q/E imminent'? Hype at all costs, lies mean nothing, and hypocrites everywhere.
[sarcasm on] Yep, because functioning markets work this way. Nothing to see. The recovery is here. Now go home [/sarcasm off]
Some great reads from LaRouchepac.com/updates today (...and a couple from a day or two ago)
It's 'Official': The Breakdown of the World System Is Here!
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15915
Kesha Rogers Asks: Why Is Olson Supporting Obama's Treasonous Policy in Afghanistan?
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15917
World Government Cabal Overdoes It
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15921
Nero Is Just Too Good for the Roman People!
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15922
Obama's Empathy Deficit Disorder Revealed: He's Actually a Dangerous Sociopath
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15909
China Sets High-Speed Rail Speed Record
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15928
Colombian President Santos: "I Don't Negotiate With Terrorists"
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15924
edit: forgot one
LaRouche Lecture Shown at Dubna University Round Table
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/15916
Everyone I know is buying (or has bought) a lot of Apple gear. I mean they own ALL of the Apple stuff, macbook pro, iphone, ipod, ipad, lots of money invested through iTunes. Apple has pioneered the beautifully-designed mobile gizmo with the cool mobile apps, and marries their hardware and software, and is an expensive status symbol (it achieves a lot of things at once, sort of like that ugly Prius did early on). But I suspect everyone has nearly had enough gizmos; now people complain about them. I have heard this conversation at work, kids' school, socially, etc. Popular books like Hamlet's Blackberry (a dull read) describe a whole country of headline and blurb readers. Apple = stocks; Apple = media; Apple = technology. The fact that they "own" so much of the index is because they own so much of the mindshare in the tech/media/information space. It won't last forever, but it is quite rare in my experience (I own a technology company), that a) users have taken over technology decision-making from the IT department (who should all be shot); and b) consumers actually want something that is fairly easy to use. As a user of all the leading gizmos (Apple and NOT Apple) Apple is winning handily. Disclosure: I sold my Apple stock about $50 ago (sadly).
Lots of sheeple buying (in many cases) inferior products because they just want to 'not think' about what they should buy. Oh it's apple, I don't know tech, it's easy, I'll buy them. Sad.
Apple the idiots tech.
Sad. The Apple II was actually the opposite.
That's the mindset with Apple. Buy them, because you sure and the hell don't know any better, and can't be bothered with finding that out.
anythingbutapple(dot)com
Actually...Apple can appeal to both types of people -- people who know tech and people who don't.
With a Mac you can open up a terminal window and operate from the command line. You can do this on Windows as well, but because Apples are on a Unix platform, you have greater control at a lower level (using non-GUI tools.) I know a super geeky IT guy in my office who only buys Apple gear specifically because it is easier to get into the "guts" of an Apple than it is a Windows machine.
I sent this brief blog out to my clients in July:
From: Ben Bush [mailto:ben.bush@digitalanalysisgraphics.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 4:49 PM
To: Ben Bush
Subject: Apple and the State of the economy
What do Apple's blow out earnings tell us about the state of the economy? Absolutely nothing! In fact they are probably a contra-indicator as to how well people are doing and feeling. It used to be in the olden days that companies like MCA Universal and other entertainment companies would do well during difficult economy times. Now Apple has become the latest purveyor of entertainment / feel good technology. Do all of the apps and such for the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and even Macs provide productive benefits to the economy? There is a reason the products are all prefaced with "i," it's because of the consumer / "all about me" society. The products Apple has been so successful in marketing provide a halcyon benefit for the end user through immersion in music, constant texting, face book applications, or other social networking apps. These allow people to interact but provide no be economic benefit besides creating sales and profits for Apple and its workers. Kind of similar to how the drug industry allows one to escape from reality.
So Apple can cater to the "all about me generation," and that's supposed to be good for the economy?
Ben Bush
Along similar lines...that Facebook movie is coming out soon...and in the ads for it, one of the taglines is "the company that defined a decade." So, a company that basically has zero profits...and provides no benefit to society other than improving ways to waste time and bullshit with friends...defines the decade? Yeah, sounds about right.
I'll say it again...Apple is one of the biggest contibutors to the fall of mankind. They have control over everybody's minds and feelings with all their addictive gadgets. I know, your life can't exist without it right? Maybe you should attend the next Apples anonymous meeting because you're in denial. I was at my son's lacross game the other day and one of the moms was telling everybody how excited her son was to get his first i touch. My only comment to her was... Say goodbye to your son now because you will not know him within a few months. She questioned my reponse and I told her to just look around her at that very second. At that moment we observed at least 20 of the 35 people attending staring down at their phone, i pad or their i touch. She was shocked to say the least because people don't even take notice anymore. These gadgets are nothing more then a way to control you. They not only have GPS that can track your every move, they also can watch everything you are doing. What a great way to control the sheeple... get them hooked on a hand held version of American idol and censor their every move. Pretty sad society we live in where people communicate via microwave via face to face. The children of today have lost their one on one social skills. They have a hard time communicating face to face yet online or in a hand held chat they seem to be on top of their game. God forbid you go camping or boating or anywhere where there is no wi fi, they are simply not interested. Where will it end? We will soon just have micro chips injected into us which will allow us communicate without any gadget, or without the need to speak. To me this new era is nothing but a way to control you! They have you in their grasp and there is no way to get out once your in it. They watch you, they feed you what they want and they get you addicted so as the next big wave rolls in you are ready to surf on the new mind fuck board.
Great post. Ancilliary facts: Anyone in marketing knows that the most powerful image in the world is a woman. I notice TV is cranking up the titillation, you see tons of it. For a man it is distracting (all the way to disorienting research shows), but after some desensitization requires more and more to even take notice, so they crank it up.
It is 100% true that Skank TV is built as a titillating distraction - why talk about anything real when we can watch the dregs of society all over the "boob" tube.
Your post feels almost like a science fiction script but I cannot agree with you more. This entire "so called" "smart phone" revolution ETAL makes me feel old fashioned when I want to engage in social face to face interaction. I'll say no more because you have put my own feelings in words better than I could ever articulate. As the common cliche' says,,,"this will not end well". Thank you.
Great post, great observations. Brace yourself. I don't even own a cell phone. Not one. Still have a land line. Meanwhile, the computer itself dominates many of my waking hours (I am here a lot because my work is of a nature that getting my head into something else for a while is helpful). But my laptop is as portable as I will let it get and it mostly stays home. You get me by email, I don't answer the phone. Never the less, I would say the whole family is online too much. I make them eat dinner at the table with me. My husband and I have had to come up with rules about the computer. You are right on the money, but I think things are even more far gone than we know.
+10EBernanke.
+10Bernankruptcy \Ber”nank”rupt*cy\, n.
Oooooh, so THAT's the other way to write 10 to the Bernanke power....
So, do we call our folding money "Bernankrupty notes"?
well goody for you. i have two cell phones, but no one to call. you guyz kinda make me upset.
Yet, here you are, online, struggling to keep up.
Do you make them say grace at dinner, too?
Wow, looks like having the family physically present at the dinner table is controversial. I would have never guessed it. Seems common sense to me. That's okay, everyone is different.
We have face to face interactions that are not possible any other way. Kids that have families that eat together do better on a number of other issues related to their performance in school and emotional adjustment. Folks talk, we get a sense of each other's day, sometimes we have (gasp) fun. No electronics. I cook (mostly), I figure we can eat it together.
Really, it is just not controversial to me. I wish no rules on the matter either way.
I would like to see the studies you're referring to. I would guess the correlation is positive, but I would think it's true for much better reasons than having to do with sitting around a table eating together. What makes your family a good family is the same thing that brings you together for dinner, not the other way around. If other families need escape from one another, maybe we shouldn't always blame what they escape into.
I have sickle cellphone anemia.