America is a Great Place. (If you like lines…)
Most of us don’t do “waiting” well. My career “waiting” began sometime in mid 1948. It wasn’t until 1949 that I could stop waiting and get on with life; because that’s when I was born after a 9-month wait.
The main feature of growing up, after grade school, was catching the bus. Again, waiting. After patiently explaining to my parents that “waiting” in pouring down rain verged on child abuse, parents overruled, and I was subjected to an inadequate education.
In class, I waited for the “good stuff.” Which there was scant little of in those days. But, counting my blessings, we could still look at both sides of the Civil War and not file lawsuits.
Three quarters of a century later, I’m still waiting.
Except for Housing Starts
Thank God – at least something has happened in economic news. Not terribly exciting, but any press release on a slow day. And they were hotter than expected. Way hotter:
Housing Starts
Privately?owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,560,000. This is 14.8 percent (±14.0 percent) above the revised October estimate of 1,359,000 and is 9.3 percent (±14.6 percent)* above the November 2022 rate of 1,427,000. Single?family housing starts in November were at a rate of 1,143,000; this is 18.0 percent (±12.9 percent) above the revised October figure of 969,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 404,000.
Since this is hotter, we need to ask why? I think with no evidence at all, that with inflation back front-of-mind, buying a home is one of the few assets regular people can build and make money (using inflation) over time. Maybe that’s it?
With the early Futures pricing today, we’re waiting to see when the mania will break (and down will come baby, cradle and all).
That said, markets never crash from highs – and we’re putting in a new top for Wave 2 – so we will have to see how the wars and disasters around the world bend-up the future into something that will have a hard time equaling yesterday in its grandeur.
Put another way, we’re back to waiting.
Wars While Waiting
Ukraine is still at war: High-powered strike: Soviet FAB-1500M54 bomb dropped on Ukrainian positions – “Carpet bombing” by Su-34 on Kherson-Liman-Kupiansk. Which means (guess what?) more waiting until enough dead or one side (Ukraine) runs out of ammo and/or money and starts talking about where to draw the new border between people. Which is what this comes down to. Well, maybe a pinch of illicit everything clearing through Ukraine, even Biden money, but there’s a potential forever wait for all the facts on that ever coming out. You guessed it: just keep waiting.
War in/on Gaza continues, as well. While waiting for that to end, we see how Israeli strikes hit Rafah houses, at least 20 killed – Gaza health ministry. While we wait, little sign of the mainstream talking about the end of the Two-State solution. But our money is on Israel taking most (the northern half) of Gaza. Ostensibly to slow the launch of missiles. But, more realistically, to finish River to Sea and swipe the offshore gas deposits off Gaza. West Bank to become West Beach.
It would be so refreshing in the world is we could just skip to the conclusion of things. Because the waiting in wars is filled-in with killing people. Most of whom don’t benefit much one way, or the other, from whatever the outcome is. They just die; end, finished.
While the World waits: I told you last week that as soon as elections were finished and president Sisi won his third term as president of Egypt, that we would likely see a hardening of position on Israel’s landlord tenant dispute in Gaza. Quite predictably, as soon as the vote was in: Sisi reaffirms Egypt’s unshakeable stance in support of Palestinian cause-SIS.
All that remains is to see how far his pivot harder will go. (Yes, more waiting).
Know who else is waiting? The UN. UN Security Council delays Gaza ceasefire vote amid US Veto concerns – Doha News | Qatar
Turkey’s Erdogan is a masterful “waiter.” Because while he’s calling out Israel’s takeover of Gaza, he’s “playing the waiting game” to snag some American-made F-16s for his (nominally, for now), NATO air force. Erdogan says signals from U.S., Canada could help Turkey move on Sweden NATO bid. To us, this has the look and feel of robbing people who are standing in line (for wars to end) but not to be too judgy.
Finland isn’t waiting. They are jumping in bed with NATO which, frankly, pisses off the Russians. Putin threatening Finland and preparing for potential war with Nato, warns think tank. What no one seems to count on is Finland may be a red line, which once past, will bring on preemptive war by Russia. Which will have a much higher survival rate than America because they still have viable Civil Defense plans. We would encourage you to study Search Unavailable – CIA.
Which – right in tune with how the day is rolling – involves waiting for the document to reappear. If it doesn’t, there’s probably something int he CIA’s “COMPARISON OF US AND USSR CIVIL DEFENSE” they don’t want us thinking about.
We’ll wait.
OK, we couldn’t: Comparison of US and USSR Civil Defense Programs – DocumentCloud. Point is?
Not Everything is Waiting
For example: Ma Nature in Iceland. Iceland volcano eruption in ‘state of equilibrium’ as scientists assess overnight activity. Lava, no waiting.
Or, in China which was rocking and rolling: Over 120 killed in northwest China earthquake. Quakes, no waiting.
Moving at double-time is U.S. Warplomatic efforts to increase pressure on Yemen: US Announces 10-Nation Coalition to Combat Houthi Attacks in Red Sea. The word “coalition” is almost as suspect around here as “waiting” but maybe war marketing neocon (lying to anyone dumb enough to still listen to them) really works only with a Coalition of the [name to be plugged in as the marketing campaign rolls out].
Marketing monikers aside, the first sale has been made: France joins 10-nation coalition against Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes. Gets us to wondering if there’s there a government office that invents “coalitions” for all occasions?
Courts aren’t waiting on several fronts. Among them:
Didn’t Dickens write a book with that title?
News, Santa, Returns
While waiting for Elaine to wake-up, I couldn’t help but notice the Christmas (waiting in line for) returns stories are beginning to rumble.
Decades ago, as something of a newsroom joke, I wrote a memo on “Fill in the Blank News.”
_____people were ____ today when their _____, _____with a _____at_____.
This News Template often appears in local press reports like:
3 people were injured today when their Red Flyer Wagon, collided with a parked car at Elm St. and Main.
Secrets of the Templates are out. But let’s just say an old-school news exec loves this time of the year for “evergreen templates.” Two of which include the “tree stories” and the “returns” stories.
We can see these just beginning to wiggle the “news meter” today, but it will be a flood in a week, or two. Some “conditioning” stories may spoil the (mock) surprise when they appear, but we like the spoiler role.
Predictable Christmas tree stories are another highly templatized annual filler.
All that’s missing is the (also highly templatized news form):
____people were____ when their Christmas tree caught fire at the family home in____.
I always hated covering those kinds of stories’ as they may have contributed to my taste for strong scotch. Sticking a microphone (this was radio news, right?) in someone’s face and asking “So, how do you feel now that your Christmas tree has burned down your house and destroyed your future?”
Yeah, there’s a reason I got out of news and into management.
At least there, I could spend a lot more time.
Waiting.
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
