For a 2nd or 3rd straight day, the stock market showed gains. I believe this is temporary and expect at least one or two more hiccups before some form of sanity returns (irony: expecting sanity in an asylum).
It was interesting to see an editorial by Warren Buffett exhorting Americans to jump into the stock market, saying that he is leading by example. It sent a message apparently been heard by many. Still.
That message will influence the lower ranks of shareholders but not necessarily the fattest cats. Of course there is a chance of the multitude following Buffett into the market, forcing the big guys to follow or lose out. We’ll wait and see, but I will stick to some uneasiness in the market for another week or two.
Interestingly, if Buffett’s call works, Obama will reap some benefits what with Buffett endorsing him and being his adviser.
But as I write this, gas prices continue to fall fast, telling me that money isn’t yet going into the market wholesale. My personal number is about $2.65 a gallon before trending upwards. I’ve seen it at $2.85 some places.
The Saudis want to look at cutting back on production to reduce excess, but I think this is just bulletin board material. It’s for show.
When gas reached near $4.00, supermarkets amongst others raised their prices quoting high transportation costs as the primary factor, but now that gas has dropped more than a $1.00, food prices aren’t budging. Well, part of the reason for that is that there is the expectation that the price will zoom back up, and they will make a nice tidy additional profit in the meantime. Consumers, don’t expect to benefit. Supermarkets aren’t charities.
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Let me slip this one in before I forget. Kudos to FPL, Florida Power and Light. A few weeks ago I called them on an issue. My bill was due, I presumed, on a set date and I set up my alerts as such. Over the last few months, I have been paying late because the due dates were coming earlier and earlier. Each time I paid late, I’m slapped with a late charge.
I won’t bother to explain why the floating due date is, but suffice to say that the FPL returned my called, one Ms Clara Scutt, and provided a solution that should no longer create an issue.
I bring this to your attention because we all rant at the inability to breach the ‘great walls’ that service providers have fortified around them, leading to long and frustrating instances getting little or nowhere. FPL has proven to be different and I applaud them for it.
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On the other hand, there is American Express. Actually, they are very reachable, but it is their customer practices that I have issues with. I have been a card member for some time, and have rarely paid late. Recently, AmEx took 2 actions that puzzle me. On one card, they reduced my credit limit tremendously, to just a little above what I currently owe them.
The other action is too convoluted to go into, but it in effect, reduces my credit… just what was feared coming from the turmoil in the banking system. Personally I am not unhappy because I’m only too glad to wean myself off credit cards. But I’m thinking of others for whom credit cards are a matter of survival. Not talking about the addicted spendthrift, but the I-have-no-money-in-the-bank-so-my-card-keeps-my-children-alive folks.
And one can only ask what is the reason for pushing people in debt over the edge. You kill a man, you recover nothing. You work with him, to recover something. But apparently that is not fashionable in the credit market. I hope someone will explain. I believe its part of the corporate conspiracy to impose corporate feudalism once capitalism is dead. But then again, I’m the one with aluminium foil on my head.
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Colin Powell has endorsed Obama. Hohum. This he should have done long ago. Now he just cancels himself out. Already the reason advanced is because they are ‘brothaaaas’ as if Powell isn’t intelligent enough to think independent of race.
Ok, let me backtrack. Powell’s endorsement is of value because it adds momentum to Obama amongst independents. And it adds some gravity to the thought that Obama can reach across the aisle. But that is diluted because well, Powell is a ‘brothaaaaaaa’.
Still, if Obama wins, it would do him well to offer Power an important diplomatic post in either the UN, the mid-east (not Israel) or Europe. Nope, we won’t see Powell in his parents homeland, Barbados.
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The new attack against Obama is that he is a ‘socialist’. We would wish. Americans have no real understanding of political terms and only bandy them about in the context of ‘good vs evil’. They don’t know what socialism is, only that it’s ‘evil’.
They are no better than the Jamaicans of the 60’s who turned their backs on Federation just because Bustamante told them that Norman Manley had brought Russian ships to take over the country, or those who fled in the 70’s because Manley was turning the country communist.
Ignorant people scare easily and are easier to control. That should have been one of the major historical lessons coming out of the Bush era, but we are apt to repeat our mistakes instead of learning from them.
This attack is not likely to stick either, but one cannot underestimate the stupidity and racism of the American voting populace. I advise caution and continued hard work to the end for those who support Obama. Do not put to much faith in polls and in hearing what you want to hear.
The long lines formed for early voting is usually a positive indicator for the challenging party, but this election has race as a component, and one cannot foresee its effects.
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Picture caption: “Newly elected and first Jamaican woman to be elected as state representative in Florida, Hazelle Rogers, is joined by a trio of Beijing Olympic elites Sherone Simpson (silver medalist 100 metres), Michael Frater O.D. (4x100M relay gold medalist) and Nesta Carter O.D. (also 4x100M relay gold medalist) at a South Florida function (Oct 18) honoring the athletes”.
