Best Buy signals "The End Of An Era"

Well folks, this is really too wild.  MSM is now running many valuable ‘Right On’ news stories.

And here is another one.

And once again, I included many of the 'Real Folk's' comments at the end of the article, because they DO GET IT, unlike the 'Paid For Pundits,' sycophants and those various and sundry 'Talking Heads' that are seen daily on the Sheeple's FV's (Funny Visions).

Apparently, no one - And I Do SAY NO ONE - does really understand why these Seismic Shifts are occurring in the US and World’s economies.

BUT, as anyone who has read these Blogs or has read the Home Page and the New Normal Page and Econometrics Page on our website at www.polestarcomm.com does realize, there is really something different this time around!

And, it is the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave’s reemergence after 80 years, and there is NO STOPPING it now!

Are you and your company ready for the SECOND wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave that is most definitely coming and will sweep over the US and World’s economies, AFTER the “Great Deception of 2012” does play out and all the “Sheeple” have been persuaded to put their last Dollars into common stocks; so that, they can be COMPLETELY and TOTALLY wiped out in the multiple crashes of 2013 and 2014?

If you do not believe what we say, perhaps you had best subscribe to our Market Reviews and Quarterly Updates.  For, the evidence that we do offer there – at great effort – will sharpen your “Credulity Meters” about such things, I assure you!

And it has quite rightly scared the CR_P out of some of our readers, and they are getting prepared for the ordained macro-economic debacle that is directly ahead of all of us!

The Era of Big Box Retail Dominance Is Coming to an End
Bloomberg; By David Welch, Chris Burritt and Lauren Coleman-Lochner - Mar 30, 2012 10:16 AM ET

“When Best Buy Co. (BBY) said yesterday it was closing 50 big stores and opening 100 smaller ones, the world’s largest electronics retailer was adjusting to reality: The era of big-box retail dominance is coming to an end.

The new mantra is small box. ...After 50 years of putting mom and pops out of business, big-box retail is having a mid-life crisis. A slow economy has hurt same-store sales, narrowing margins at big stores. Meanwhile, consumers, armed with price-comparison technology, are visiting more stores seeking deals or exclusive merchandise rather than making one-stop, fill-the-cart excursions.

“We’re undergoing a seismic shift,” said Natalie Berg, an analyst with Planet Retail in London. “People are still cutting back. People are buying more products online so there is a real case for downsizing stores.”

Big-box retailers essentially come in two flavors: so- called category killers such as Best Buy that focus on one type of merchandise, and discounters like Wal-Mart and Target, which sell a broader range of goods.
Declining Sales

Since the recession, big-box retailers have struggled. Until its third fiscal quarter last year, Wal-Mart had posted eight consecutive quarters of declining sales at stores open more than 12 months. Best Buy posted five straight quarters of profit decline before reporting a $2.6 billion loss on March 29, while analysts forecast declining same-store sales and profit for Target this year.

...Big boxes boomed in the go-go 1990s. Fueled by an inflated stock market and loose credit, Americans expanded farther into the suburbs and filled their new homes with appliances and consumer goods, said John Lupo, a retired Wal-Mart executive who now sits on the board of AB Electrolux. The housing boom propelled the big-box retailers into the new millennium. Then came the crash and consumers pulled back.
Conspiring Forces

Other forces are conspiring against the big-box model. Baby Boomers no longer have kids at home and don’t need to stock up on food and packaged goods. Their kids are marrying later and delaying having their own children, meaning fewer are buying houses that need to be updated and furnished.

… “The biggest challenge for big boxes is increasing consumer confidence in making online purchases,” said Matt Arnold, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in Des Peres, Missouri, who rates Best Buy and Wal-Mart as buys. “Best Buy is arguably more exposed than the Wal-Marts of the world that are heavy in the food, apparel and consumables category. In the case of consumer electronics, it comes down to price.”


If Best Buy and its big-box ilk are to survive, they’ll have to evolve and do a better job of integrating their brick- and-mortar locations with their Web stores, Arnold said.


yahoo-HH36YO5DPQKA3NPDWBWSHPLWKU 1 hour ago

The UK is the most tech-savvy marketplace in the world.
There, with high land costs in a limited area island nation, big box stores make no sense. The population, which spends more time online than many other nations, with TV viewing rates dropping dramatically, is buying more and more online. Game stores recently folded in the face of pressure from online sales.

 Since the USA follows Europe in most social trends, the era of going out to buy goods is coming to an end.













    MIM74 2 hours ago

    Once again, this is an example of economic logic gone wrong. The era of large retail stores is far from over. Large retailers continue to benefit from agglomeration economics, and therefore remain at an advantage over smaller stores. What changed is the economic environment. During the current depression the economic environment has changed in a way that is not favorable for the retail sector. We don’t need smaller Best Buy stores, we simply need fewer Best Buy stores, and the same applies to most other chains. Going small is a mistake on the part of the management that will once again entrap their shareholders in the long run. 

    dinoSnake 2 hours ago

    It's a SHAME that Wal-Mart does not realize one of their greatest business failures, one of the reasons that they posted eight consecutive losses.

    Are you listening, Wal-Mart?

    I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart, generally and "generically" for most items, about 2 years ago.  Why?  BECAUSE SHOPPING AT WAL-MART JUST WASN'T WORTH THE HASSLE.

    The Super Wal-Mart where I lived was claimed to be the busiest in that part of the national sector.  They had 36 cash registers...yet, NO MATTER WHEN I WENT, THE MOST THEY HAD OPEN WAS 12.

    8 o'clock in the evening of a workday?  Long lines at the checkouts.  3 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekend?  Long lines at the checkouts.  3 IN THE MORNING?  LONG LINES AT THE CHECKOUTS!

    YES, I've actually been there at 3 o'clock in the morning.  1 register open, 7 people waiting in a stalled checkout line.

    No matter WHAT time you appeared at Wal-Mart, you ALWAYS had a intolerable wait to get to a checkout.  After a few years of doing this, I realized that MY time was worth something...and decided to spend my money elsewhere.  Did I pay a bit more for the items?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  YES.  Less frustration, more time for other things in my life and I felt I was getting a quality trade for my money because the increased price I was spending was balanced off by spending less of MY valuable time.

    In comparison, shopping at Target was a pleasure.  They did not have the selection of the Wal-Mart in the area due to the fact that it wasn't a "super" Target, just a standard one (very small food selection, for example).  But Target understood the value of their customer's time and attentions - a helper directing shoppers to the quickest-moving checkout lines, rapid checkout processing AND if they had more than 3 people waiting, they opened up more lines.  Wal-Mart?  NEVER EVER EVER do you see a manager actually walking the floor to adjust response to problems and NEVER do they open up more checkout counters to meet demand, no matter how many people are backed-up in the queue.

    I am in business and yes, I was a manager and yes, I'm ashamed of Wal-Mart manager's inability to properly control their customer experience to be a pleasant one.  Did I REALLY have to wait 4 MONTHS for your Pharamacy department manager to restock an item that I like??  Do I REALLY have to visit you 5 TIMES before you get a decent selection of toothbrushes back in stock?  Must I REALLY walk through the umkepmt pigsty that you call your "Fashion" department (admittedly, you finally did get better regarding this last year)?

    davebarnes in reply to dinoSnake 1 hour ago

     I make a visit my local Walmart for the first time yesterday as the garden center has good bargains on tulips.
    This Walmart Super Center is 2 miles closer than the almost Super center Target.
    The Walmart is "ghetto" as the reviewers on Yelp write while the Target is clean.
    Not one employee at the Walmart said one word to me. On every visit to Target, multiple employees ask if they can help and then walk me to the location of the item I am seeking.
    Does Walmart have lower prices? Why, yes, it does, but gives a damn about saving 1 penny on chicken broth?
    As the economy recovers, Target will continue to gain and Walmart will struggle. No one, not even poor people, want to shop in a dump.


    davebarnes 2 hours ago

    What does Best Buy sell that I cannot get from Amazon?
    Two things:
    1. Overpriced Monster brand HDMI cables (wait that isn't it)
    2. White goods. Which I would never even consider buying from Worst Buy.

    What does Amazon have that Best Buy does not?
    Amazon Prime and a MUCH LARGER selection of goods.

    And, the winner is...


    johnwallis42 6 hours ago

    In the end it will just be Amazon. If Best Buy even exists as an operating company in 5 years I'll eat a copy of Barrons.

Barely Making it on $100,000

Well Folks, as with yesterday’s Blog, every so often MSM does run a story that is quite informative.
And the following one is one of those rare gems.

This personal account of what has happened to the American Family’s spending power over the last several years, while ‘Helicopter Ben’ has been pumping out loans, swaps, guarantees and other various and sundry money machinations totaling roughly $ 21,000,000,000,000 to US & European and Chinese and Japanese and Canadian and Australian Banksters - and other financially strapped entities and Nations, is a heartfelt description of the New Paradigm for “Just Barely Making It IN America” - on $100,000!

Do you know of any Americans that received ONE Dollar of that roughly $21,000,000,000,000?

I don’t know of one red-blooded American that did receive ONE Dollar.

And, remember “Helicopter Ben” has just begun his “Money Drops!”

There are many, many, many, more  to come.  

Apparently, everyone in America KNOWS that inflation is destroying the value of the dollar except:
#1 The United States Commerce Department,
#2 The Federal Reserve,
#3 And all the sycophants that work in those institutions!
And that is why we intend to create a real inflation measurement index!

First Person: How to Earn $100,000 and Still Feel Poor

By Laura Cone | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Mar 12, 2012 11:12 AM EDT
"Our family income recently topped $100,000, but we aren't spending as though we make six figures. We don't sip Mai Tai cocktails at resorts or buy pricey tech toys.
According to recent data, incomes are rising and consumers have more money to spend. They are also taking on more debt for the first time in three years. Financial experts say the increase in borrowing can be attributed to buying cars and paying for college . We bought a new car this past year so our son could earn money for college delivering pizzas. He may need to borrow money for grad school.
Is six figures the new minimum wage?
Although I admire people who live on fixed incomes or minimum wage, I have no idea how they do it. When I was younger, I got by on a salary of just $19,000 a year. At that time, I did not have a mortgage or two sons attending college. Back then, the high cost of childcare took a big chunk out of my pitiful paycheck . Still, I never thought we would have trouble living on $100,000.
What's up with my net worth?
I always figured my net worth would increase as I earned more income. In fact, I thought that clearing that six figure "hurdle" meant we would be financially set. However, our net wealth plummeted since the housing bubble popped. Our home is on the "liability" side of our net worth chart. Although the stocks have recovered, our retirement accounts do not reflect the balance I would have expected once we earned six figures.
Why don't I have money to burn?
My lifestyle isn't extravagant. We are spending less money on clothing, entertainment and anything that is not a necessity. We don't have money to burn because of the high cost of gasoline, car insurance, groceries and college tuition. We also have a high tax bill every year.

Housing: We live in the Tampa, Florida area, where we had our 1,800-square-foot home built at the top of the housing bubble. I’d feel a lot richer if I could take the $183,000 we spent seven years ago and buy a home twice the size today in a better neighborhood. Some of the homes in my subdivision have been vandalized. I never thought I’d see broken sliding glass doors and graffiti on the walls of homes that people had to get on a waiting list to buy. Houses were in such high demand we put a $3,000 deposit on our lot at the builder’s model home center before even seeing the subdivision. To try to stay above water on our mortgage, we pay an extra $250 a month to the mortgage company. That way, we will at least have the option to move if we need to in the future without ruining our credit.

Expenses: Our fixed expenses include $350 a month for utilities, $300 for car insurance, $175 for Internet, cable and phone. We owe $1,222.02 a month on our mortgage and $300 on a car loan. We have no other debt. We save 10 percent of our income for retirement. We spend at least $500 a month on gasoline and an astounding $1,000 a month on food. I’d feel rich if I was eating at upscale restaurants or buying gourmet foods, but our food budget just provides the basics for four people.

Education: We are spending about $15,000 a year for tuition and books to send our two sons to community college. When they transfer to the university in another year, those expenses will more than double. My older son pays $5,000 or about half of his tuition costs since he has a part-time job, but my younger son hasn’t been able to find employment. I’d feel wealthy if I was struggling to send my sons to an Ivy League College, but this is just community college.

We purchased stocks to help fund our sons' college education, but the stocks took a big dive. We are hoping the value of their stocks will recover to help pay for the last couple years of college. We don't want them to take out college loans, but they may have no choice.

But it's not all bad

I may never have money to burn, but I hope to have a chance to enjoy something before the tax man takes his cut."

Another Reason America is Going Under

Today’s Blog highlights and ‘Showcases’ just one of the many, many reasons that this OGCC is being gradually turned into a ‘Third Rate ‘ nation.  Just read the sad tale here presented by Michael Kinsley, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY read the comments that I included from the ‘Real Folks’

Every so often the MSM writes an article that has some merit.  And this is one, but it certainly doesn’t explore the issue of ‘Age Discrimination” and the current ‘Government Enforced’ code of hiring to fill ‘Quotas of Certain Minorities’ (QCM), which is destroying this country’s competitiveness and job output and job product, rather than on the merit and the abilities and the capabilities of the job applicant.

Before graduating from College, I was a card-carrying member of three unions and personally witnessed the horror, for the employer and for the employees and for the work place and for the output of everything, of the just then ramping up QCM.

I need add nothing else to what you will read in the following article and comments, other than this country’s job output per employee in the world market place is diminishing rapidly under the QCM, and this country is basically   FINISHED.

Too Old to Get Hired, Too Young to Retire

Bloomberg; By Michael Kinsley Mar 22, 2012 7:00 PM ET

“A friend of mine had his name in the paper the other day.

It was an article speculating about who might inherit a prestigious post in the literary world when the current grandee retires. The article said that my friend would have led the list 10 years ago. Ouch! The obvious though unstated implication is that now he’s too old. He just turned 60. He says he already has his dream job and didn’t mind the idea that, because he is 60, some career opportunities have moved beyond his reach. But I mind.

Another friend of mine, whom we’ll call “Nick” (because that’s his name), is doing something about it: He’s suing. Nick grew up in North Dakota and went to Stanford, where he graduated with honors and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. Unlike Greg Smith, the guy who wrote that already legendary op-ed piece last week about quitting Goldman Sachs, Nick never won any medals in the Jewish Olympics. On the other hand, he never worked for Goldman Sachs, so that’s a wash.

Where was I? Oh yes: So after Oxford, Nick went to Stanford Law School, where he was managing editor of the law review. He clerked for the Supreme Court, won election and re-election as attorney general of North Dakota, served for eight years, then lost a race for governor, went on to practice law and served as chief legal officer of several Fortune 500 companies. Then he decided that he wanted to teach.

Just Two Interviews

If you want to become a law professor, one of the things you have to do is submit your resume (plus a fee) to the Association of American Law Schools. Every fall in Washington, the group holds a conference to recruit faculty, at which law schools interview candidates they are interested in. Just about every accredited American law school participates. Two years ago, of 172 law schools, only two offered Nick an interview, and he already worked part-time at one of them.

He got no job offers. Good heavens, why not? Was he attorney general of too small a state? Did the competition have even more Fortune 500 companies under its belt? Was it that lost race for governor -- the only blemish of failure on his record of success?

Nick suspects otherwise, and I suspect he’s right: It’s age discrimination. He was 60 at the time. Now he’s 62. Law schools just do not hire people in their 60s as tenured or tenure-track professors, except for the occasional “adjunct” (temporary) professor moving up or a lateral transfer from another law school faculty. …

Well, Nick has been a friend of mine for many years, and he’s not a jerk. He would have made an excellent governor of North Dakota. But I do have qualms about his lonely legal campaign.

I don’t raise this topic easily or happily. I am one year younger than Nick. Of all the forms of discrimination that the law forbids -- racial, gender, sexual orientation in some states -- age discrimination is the one that nevertheless goes on most brazenly. Corporate recruiters and human resource departments are carefully trained to talk in code, saying that they’re looking for “fresh thinking” or “energy, dedication and willingness to work long hours.” You know what they really mean. Hiring or promotion to top positions in government and private corporations doesn’t even pay lip service to equal opportunity for people over age 60 or so.

…. The most severe staff reductions among white- collar workers have come in my own industry, the media.

My literary friend who apparently is 10 years too old for a job now held by an octogenarian may well be telling the truth when he says it wouldn’t interest him anyway. But remaining gracious as the generations shift is harder than I would have expected. Fortunately, we all get a chance to be victimized by this shift -- if we’re lucky.

• newman1979 2 days ago

And if his health insurance is going up 18% a year because of age and risks, he will jump for joy when he gets Medicare. The real age where it becomes difficult to find meaningful work is somewhere around 50. As inflation heats up in essentials, I hope everybody understands Republicans won't be the friend of unemployed seniors.

·         The Federal Farmer, Email doc@halebobb.com in reply to newman1979 17 hours ago

No political party or government agency or official or politician is a friend to anyone not in the ruling class.

·         ratiocination in reply to PVN52 2 days ago

Most companies require you to bring a passport or other proof of citizenship which also has your birthday.  How did she get around that?

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·         Lawjunkie in reply to PVN52 1 day ago

I am 62 and was a law proffessor until layed off two years ago from NYU. How did she get away with this when you have to show triple proof of age one being an original birth cert. with seal intact? I have to take early retirement even though I want to still be employed.

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• Sunshine Connie 2 days ago

Welcome to the real world Mr Kinsley.  Now imagine being the blue or white collar employee who has been denied opportunities for more than 30 years because they are a white male.  At least I was a white female and finally got a promotion.  It was always fun to have to train incompetent people who got their job based on being "historically economically disadvantaged" as well as being about as capable as a box of rocks!

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• Gray Wolf 1 day ago

The more outrageous hiring practice than this actually happens in business schools around the country. Go to the websites of Havard, Chicago, Wharton, ... you name it, you will find that they are packed by young faculty who only went from one school to another and had no work experience at all. You have to wonder what these people know about business in practice beside what they learn in the book. How relevant is today's business education? 

·         simonts in reply to Gray Wolf 1 day ago

 Good point, many of them know nothing useful. The result is the thousands of MBA-s who  were taught that profit is everything and there is no leverage too high. Hence, the disaster of 2008. The business schools played a great role in causing this disaster by teaching the wrong things for decades. Did they change? Some did most did not.

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• tweets21 2 days ago

Very interesting article. I am from what is referred to as the silent generation so am now 73. I recall age discrimination started en mass when I was in my 50's. The Boomers definitely were an overpowering generation simply because of their numbers. Over 70 million of them and they thought anyone past 50 was not with the program. H/R also saw the advantages of the salaries and benefit cost they could shed by canning older people, or offering them early retirement, or just freeze their wages as in demote them, anything to get them off the payroll. The country has been managed by that generation right into the sewer. Self absorbed is the reason. Now that millions of older people have to work we will perpetuate higher un-employment numbers.

·         stefanstackhouse in reply to tbone65 1 day ago

Don't leave ANY job unless you have something else lined up first, if you possibly can.

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• HowardFinesucky 1 day ago

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·         Derwood in reply to JosephB77 5 hours ago

Nonsense. I am 53, IT worker in one of the main Too Big To Fail Banks--and I've worked in such institutions for the last 20 years. The "model" as you describe it, is to hire 25-40 year olds, pay them reasonably well (I'm talking IT, not banker/trader, etc), and expect them to work 55-60 hours/week minimum. Of course, if you work out the actual hours worked vs income, the pay is not that generous. Such a worker hits the compensation ceiling around 45, and from there increasing age means decreasing wage--I have seen my income decline each and every year for the last 7 years--one of the unseen aspects of a discretionary bonus comp scheme--it's easy to pay less. I've seen this happen with my peers as well. And for the record, my skills and willingness to work long hours rival those in the 25-45 year old group. Over the hill at 50--that's the model--and that's a far cry at worrying about investing in a hire and having them retire in 2 years. And to top it off, these corporations howl they can't find competent workers--and thus have to off shore the jobs. It is pure BS.

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• laker12 1 day ago

There are millions of us out here who are well educated, experienced, and eager to accomplish more for ourselves and our employers.  Unfortunately age discrimination is so deeply embedded in our institutions that it will be many decades before it is ended.  In the meantime these resources are being lost for the betterment of our society.

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• map0557 2 days ago

I have some sympathy for Nick.  I'm 55, thankfully still employed, but would love to change jobs or retire.  Unfortunately, I can't do either.  Not enough money to retire, and definitely age discrimination as far as finding another job, especially in today's competitive employment market.  I am grateful to be employed, as I have no doubt I'd have to figure out a way to retire if I lost my job.

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·         strathyre in reply to map0557 1 day ago

Welcome to the non-optional gulag. I'm in the office next door.

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• gdcksn 2 days ago

I find this article very much on target for today, But possibly five years to late. I guess this is just starting to get to the upper echelon. I too was let go after 30 yrs in management of new car dealerships, for someone 20 yrs younger and 10k cheaper. I was 55 at the time and even with this experience could not buy a job. I have had to change careers and start over at a time when most want to think of retirement. With the powers that be wanting everyone to work longer, I wonder where we will all find jobs.

·         ratiocination in reply to gdcksn 2 days ago

I had the same experience.  I started work in media when I was 22, but I learned that you are dead meat when your age starts with a 5.  I made a mid-life career switch to join an investment advisory, an industry in which gray hair is a plus and not a negative.  I'm not making much money yet, but I'm having a ball.  I wish I made the switch much earlier.

• iwbia826 1 day ago

Many politicians claim that the salvation for Social Security, Medicare, etc. is to raise the qualification age.  They seem to have missed the fact that many older people are frozen out of the labor force in their late 50s or early 60s.  Just how they are to manage the gap until they reach the age to qualify for Medicare, etc. seems to have escaped them.  

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·         stefanstackhouse in reply to iwbia826 1 day ago

This is a problem. You can't both tell the oldsters to get out of the way and to keep working longer at the same time.

• Gary 2 days ago

Dont expect this DOJ to investigate age discrimination claims.  Holder may be the worst AG we ever have had.  Age discrimination is rampant, with job adds frequently putting an upper limit on experience. Imagine if they stated that they wouldnt hire members of specified minority groups? But Holder lets this rampant violation of the law continue, without so much as an acknowledgement it is problem.

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·         Croydon in reply to Gary 22 hours ago

 Holder is beyond bad. I feel he was taken on by Obama because he was a friend.

• Muni Pereira 2 days ago
• Poor baby  !
  Many smart Engineers wuth patents who got laid off in the Nortel bankrupycy had to settle for work at approx. HALF their Nortel salaries (if they found anything)
  That is the reality for educated workers. for the blue collars perhaps worse
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• VintageVNVet 2 days ago

Agree with you Michael, I am in that exact same situation, with super experience and skills.... Luckily, following my grandmother's advice, I have a trade in addition to my profession, and have been able to fall back on that to keep working.

Good Luck to all of us in this situation, and God Bless America, we need it.

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• Allocator 2 days ago

I have a simple solution to all of this. Re-establish the importance of ability, accomplishment and merit in all hiring decisions. Let the best-qualified, best credentialed candadate win  no matter what their race, religious, sexual orientation or age happens to be. Ever since we moved away from "ability and merit" in hiring and other allocation decisions in the mid-sixties, the United States has declined as an economic and military power. Coincidence? I don't think so. So Nick....go get em!  

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• Jamodit 2 days ago

Sign me up.  62 & canned after 24 years.

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• Gary 2 days ago

It is typical for job ads to specify upper limits for experience.  I understand the excuses. Imagine if they specified their desire to exclude certain minority groups. I am sure there would be excuses for that too. Neither is acceptable and the law should be followed. But dont expect the DoJ to do anything, especially with Holder as AG

• PseudoTurtle 2 days ago

Been there, done that.

Welcome to the realities of getting older -- I am a CPA/MBA -- and losing your job when you never planned to retire at all because you enjoyed the work you and were good at it.

The only difference is the wealthy in such a position have other options -- like suing, which was never an option for me and many others.

Sorry, but your article simply fails to generate any sympathy from me.

·         JosephB77 in reply to PseudoTurtle 1 day ago

I have an MBA in accounting also. and I have come to the conclusion that my career might consist of a career until I'm 60, and then bouncing around interim 6-month positions and/or consulting, parttime, etc.

It's not necessarily the end of the world, but it really underscores (double-underscores?) the need to save everything you can.

There are a lot of people that have it worse.  I'd hate to be the 60 year old construction worker looking for a job.

If I have to emphasize anything to the younger generation, it's to save as much as you can, and to be as employable as possible.  I think everyone thinks about working until retirement, but 55-67 are your prime earning periods, and you can easily lose a chunk of that time due to health, economic, or just bad luck.

If you're working 3 days a week at age 60, and have your 401k fully stocked, life is still pretty good.  But if you haven't done any saving, then it will suck, just at a point where you should be enjoying yourself.

MSM setting up the Sheeple

  (These original projections of ours were extended over five times: we were forced to do so by the continual extension of the FED's ZIRP - by the Panicked Banking Authorities.  Therefore, we were forced to extend the projected timing of the ultimate Mother of All Crashes out to roughly the summer 2016!)

As subscribers to our Market Review and Quarterly Updates (and readers of ALL of our Blogs) will clearly recognize, ALL the world’s equity markets are in lock step with our predictions of last fall.

Today’s article highlights what we predicted – in depth –in our Market Review, i.e. EXPERT after EXPERT after GURU after GURU after Pundit after Pundit will be given “Front Page” exposure by the MSM.

These ‘false shepherds’ will lead the Sheeple to the SHEERING OF THEIR LIVES.  I’ve seen this ALL before in the three false Dow rallies of the late ‘60’s and ’72 that SET UP THE SHEEPLE of that generation for the SHEERING OF THEIR LIVES in the stock market crash of ’73 & ’74 and the very same scenario is being played out right now!

The poor ignorant Sheeple are, right now, being set up for the SHEERING OF THEIR LIVES, when ALL the world’s equity markets WILL completely implode after the “Great Deception of 2012” has tricked them into buying common stocks, at totally insane valuations.

The ‘Push’ is really on by the MSM.  The MSM’s PORE (Psy-Ops Reporting and Editorializing) has given “Center Stage” to the really foolish and deaf and blind ‘talking heads’ and various and sundry pundits who are ever so willing to ignore THE FACTS.

Incidentally, I do NOT include Barton Biggs in the above crowd.  For, as an astute 'Money Manager' he sees the future for the markets - very clearly - and is taking advantage of a HUGE opportunity.  What I am referring to above, is the fact that all of the above 'false' shepherds will cause the Sheeple to buy at EXACTLY the wrong time, later this year and into 2013, when the Dow will - IMO - surpass 16,500!

Once again, ALL the world is now hearing from the above fools, sycophants and intellectually challenged that the recovery from the Credit-Crisis is in place and gathering steam!  They are all betting that this is a normal CYCLICAL recovery!

IT IS NOT!  For evidence (which will soon become proof) of these things, subscribe to our Market Review and Quarterly Updates or go to our many Blogs on these things or go to our many pages on these things at www.polestarcomm.com.

In short, the current economic debacle that is sweeping over the entire earth is not in a recovery stage - PERIOD!

This is a SECULAR downturn unleashed by the FIRST wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave contraction.

Are you and your company ready for the LAST (that is, for roughly thirty years) consumer durable and non-durable ‘Buying-Surge’ of the newly energized and completely ‘dumbed-down’ Sheeple later this year and into 2013?

And then, are you and your company ready for the Second wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratiieff” Long- Wave to crash over the entire earth?

Biggs Boosts Bullish Bets on Stocks to 90% Net Long

Bloomberg; By Inyoung Hwang and Tom Keene - Mar 20, 2012 11:24 AM ET

Barton Biggs, the hedge-fund manager who increased bets on equities before the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied this year, is getting more bullish.

“I’ve been gradually increasing and I’m up to 90 percent now,” said Biggs, referring to the proportion of his fund that benefits from higher share prices. He spoke in a radio interview today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “There is an awful lot of money that is out of stocks and in very low- yielding fixed-income instruments. I think the odds are that money is going to migrate back.”

Biggs, the founder of the Traxis Partners LP, said last month that his net-long position, a gauge of bullish versus bearish investments, in stocks is about 75 percent, up from 65 percent in January…  

Net-Long Positions

… He sees risk to the markets from tensions in the Middle East. If Israel were to “take a shot” at Iran, it “would be very, very serious for the world economy and would cause a double dip,” Biggs said today.

“The ‘gloom crew’ is looking over their shoulders at what’s happened, and it certainly isn’t a perfect world,” he said. …”

The Future is NOW Crystal Clear!!

  (These original projections of ours were extended over five times: we were forced to do so by the continual extension of the FED's ZIRP - by the Panicked Banking Authorities.  Therefore, we were forced to extend the projected timing of the ultimate Mother of All Crashes out to roughly the summer 2016!)

OK, folks this is a real smart guy telling you all – in veiled and subliminal terms - what I have been saying for the last six months about:

#1 further and necessary Quantitative Easing by the FED,

#2 a coming CRASH in the worldwide Bond Markets when the Biggest ‘Bubble’ (the Bond Bubble) of All human history does explode!

#3 the reemergence of massive inflation (we are actually experiencing 9-13% right now- IMO) that will kill this economy once and for all!

However, quite apparently, Mr. Gross does not understand that the end of the Bull Market for Bonds will be a TOTAL OUTRIGHT CRASH of bonds as interest rates do go through the roof and precipitate the SECOND wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave!

Are you and your company ready for the inevitable CRASH in the US Economy and the world’s economies, after the TOTAL insanity of the coming HUGE Stock Market Rally ends when the “Great Deception of 2012” has completed the tragic and disastrous transfer of the “Sheeple’s” investments into stocks in 2013?

If you are unsure and getting just a bit suspicious of the UTTER AND ARTFULLY FABRICATED economic BALDERDASH, that now spews out of the FV’s (Funny Visions) all over this OGCC, then perhaps you had very seriously consider subscribing to our services.

As you ponder these things, go to our home page at www.polestarcomm.com and scroll down to the bottom.  Take a look at just a few of the companies that were not prepared when the FIRST (and weakest) wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Waves did hit this county and the world in 2007-8!

PIMCO’s Bill Gross: QE3, Inflation, Muted Growth on the Way

Yahoo Finance; by Daniel Gross | Daily Ticker – 4 hours ago

Another round (or two) of quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, muted growth and an end to the 30-year bull run in government bonds.
That's what Bill Gross, one of the largest bond investors in the world, sees for the U.S. economy in the coming year. Gross is co-chief investment officer of PIMCO, the giant asset managers whose Total Return Fund is the largest bond mutual fund with current assets of about $250 billion.
Gross says long-term interest rates have been rising in recent weeks (here's a chart of the 10-year U.S. bond) for two principal reasons. "Yes, inflation is rearing its head. We're seeing that in oil prices and other commodities, and we're seeing it in the numbers," he said. The consumer price index has risen 2.9% in the past 12 months. In addition, Gross says, the Federal Reserve's "Operation Twist" is scheduled to end in a few months… Despite the Fed's communiqué earlier this week, Gross doesn't believe the central bank's interventions in the bond markets are over. In two rounds of quantitative easing (QE), the Federal Reserve printed money to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. "I believe there will be a QE3, and perhaps a QE4," he said. …”

The Euro's "DEAD MULE" Raffle to EXPAND to ALL GIIPS

  (These original projections of ours were extended over five times: we were forced to do so by the continual extension of the FED's ZIRP - by the Panicked Banking Authorities.  Therefore, we were forced to extend the projected timing of the ultimate Mother of All Crashes out to roughly the summer 2016!)

This Greek ‘Bond Swap’ (and many similar ‘Swaps’ to come for ALL the GIIPS in 2012 – 2015, by which Germany and France and the Northern States of Europe WILL be unfairly SADDLED WITH ‘DEAD MULE’ Raffle Tickets!!!) is what we referred to back on December 16, 2011 in our exposition on the trading of ‘DEAD MULE’ Raffle Tickets by the US Government and then teaching the Europeans this wonderfully deceitful ‘Financial Legerdemain of Absurd Sovereigns’ (FLAS)** technique, -i.e. these ‘DEAD MULE’ Raffle Tickets are known by the Banksters as the BDST or Bad Debts of the Stupid Taxpayers that will NEVER be paid off – EVER!

The deceit and trickery of hiding and obscuring the ugly truth of ALL Government debt in the US goes back to the mid ‘60’s when the US Government needed - VERY desperately - to fund its ILLEGAL and STUPID Vietnam War. 

(After a caller took issue with my prior statements on the US fiasco known as the ‘Vietnam War’ I politely offer the following personal (I was there for 12 months, in a non-combat role) observations:

I do say that the Vietnam War was ILLEGAL because the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Incident’ - that did precipitate the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’ by the US Congress and got the US in BIG TIME - DID NEVER HAPPEN and that means that more than 50,000 American youth were killed and more than 350,00 were wounded and over a 1,000,000 were just plain - mentally - messed up by that experience, which turned out to be a “Stupid” mistake – IMO and the opinion of many, many other veterans of that fiasco. 

By the way, US forces were NEVER strategically defeated and “Kicked A__” almost every time out!  Our tactical and ‘firefight’/’incident’ reversals were ALL temporary and were GROSSLY exaggerated - for some evil intent - by an inimically EVIL American Press led by the NYT, which ‘Yellow Rag’ I will NOT read to this day!!!)

As past readers will know from our earlier Blogs, the US Government has now taught the European Community the art of selling and swapping ‘DEAD MULE’ Raffle Tickets.

Are you and your company ready for what WILL ABSOLUTELY transpire in ALL the World’s economies after the “Great Deception of 2012” does run its course and the SECOND wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave storm does sweep over ALL the earth?

Please review the bottom of our home page at www.polestarcomm.com to see a partial list of those companies that did not survive the FIRST wave of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave that did hit ALL the earth in the Credit Crisis of 2007-08!

**FLAS is our latest Handy-Dandy Polestar acronym and is ‘Financial Legerdemain of Absurd Sovereigns.’  For complete list of Handy-Dandy Polestar acronyms, go to the bottom of our Home page at www.polestarcomm.com.

Here are the earlier Blogs that we reference - above:

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Dead Mule Trading at its BEST

OK, Folks.  This deal with the Greek Debt being switched for "similar" Greek Debt is “Dead Mule Trading” at its best!

Namely, both sets of Greek Bonds are worthless, pure and simple, but the first set obviously has call dates and terms that make the fact too obvious to hide, thus the "Switcheroo!" 

For the full story on how the Euro community has adopted the selling of Dead Mule Raffle Tickets to their Stupid Taxpayers Please reread our Blog of 

Friday, December 16, 2011

Euro Crisis to be SOLVED in 2012 by 'Mule Trading'

The US Government has known for years that the really BIG BUCKS (as in Dollars) are in 'Mule Trading!' Back in January of 19 & 64 Curtis & Leroy saw an ad in the Starkville Daily in Starkville, MS. and bought a mule for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day...."

Greece Closes In on Swap as Investors Agree

Bloomberg; By Maria Petrakis and Fabio Benedetti-Valentini - Mar 8, 2012 11:01 AM ET

“Greece moved closer to sealing the biggest sovereign restructuring in history as investors indicated they’ll participate in the nation’s debt swap.

Holders of about 60 percent of the Greek bonds eligible for the deal, including Greece’s largest banks, most of the country’s pension funds and more than 30 European banks and insurers including BNP Paribas (BNP) SA and Commerzbank AG (CBK), have agreed to the offer so far….

… The goal of the exchange is to reduce the 206 billion euros of privately held Greek debt by 53.5 percent and turn the tide against the debt crisis that has roiled Europe for more than two years.

“A historic process will be completed tonight,” Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told Parliament in Athens today. “If all goes well, tomorrow we can announce that we are relieving Greeks of 105 billion euros of debt.”

…Investors who participate will get new bonds with a face value of less than half the previous securities, longer maturities and reduced interest rates, leading to a net present value loss of more than 70 percent. The new bonds do come with warrants that will provide extra income in years when Greek economic growth exceeds certain thresholds...”

MSM POURS on their PORE for the "Great Deception of 2012"

As all you readers experience the continuing economic world-wide implosion that is in reality being systemically AND discretely caused by the after-effects of ONLY the FIRST of THREE waves of the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Wave (that hit ALL the world in the Credit-Crisis of 2007/08), I am rather certain that you will actually come to enjoy and to laugh uproariously at the PSOP (Psy-Ops Reporting and Editorializing) of the MSM (MainStream Media) as much as I do and have over the years.

Their activities are really quite entertaining and most emphatically ‘Showcased’ on the FV (Funny Vision) every day, especially on the morning financial shows on the FV’s Financial Channels, which will provide you all with hours and hours of great laughs and ‘side-splitting’ moments of the greatest fun and humorous entertainment!

Namely, the poor, befuddled, disoriented, ‘blind,’ ‘deaf,’ and ‘dumb’  “Sheeple” are even NOW being moved out of GOLD, Silver and all inflation hedges into ‘Believe it or Not’ (and this WILL go down in history as one of Ripleys’ most famous inexplicable phenomena EVER – IMO) common stocks at outrageously and horrifically over-priced levels, i.e. the aggregate US Market PE is simply insane and has been knowingly prompted to the these COMPLETELY UNSUSTAIBNNABLE LEVELS by Bernankes’ TOTALLY insane ZIRP. 

But, trust us, these insane PE levels will be eclipsed in the “Great Deception of 2012,” after which ALL common stocks will crash and ALL inflation hedges (especially GOLD and Silver) will quite literally explode.    

 (These original projections of ours were extended over five times: we were forced to do so by the continual extension of the FED's ZIRP - by the Panicked Banking Authorities.  Therefore, we were forced to extend the projected timing of the ultimate Mother of All Crashes out to roughly the summer 2016!)

Folks, this is an economy under assault by the Super Tsunami “Kondratieff” Long-Waves (there will be a total of three).

  

If you have read our thoughts on all these things on our web site at www.polestarcomm.com, and in our inaugural Market Review and in our 1st Quarterly Update and in our Blogs of  11/18, 21, 28, 12/9 & 1/4/12 & 1/11/12 and 1/14/12 and MOST especially 2/3/12, then you will know we saw all these things way ahead of time!

Stocks Rise Third Week as Housing, Jobs Improve

Bloomberg: By Andrew Theen and Lu Wang - Mar 3, 2012 12:00 AM ET

“U.S. stocks rose this week, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index completing its best February since 1998, as data on housing and the jobs market improved and monthly sales from Gap Inc. to Ford Motor Co. (F) beat estimates.

Equities trimmed their advance March 2 after the S&P 500 climbed to the highest since 2008 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 13,000 for the first time in nearly four years during the week. …

“We didn’t think the market would jump as much as it did the first six weeks, …

(Primarily, because they did not subscribe to our inaugural Market Review, nor did they read our many Blogs - predicting this very insanity)…

 but given the positive economic numbers, it raced on up,” Thomas Nyheim, a Greenville, Delaware-based fund manager for Christiana Trust, which oversees $9.6 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The market raced up to our target on the S&P. So you might sort of flat line for months and months.” …

(If these guys want to know what is going to HIT them, they better subscribe to our Market Review and read our Blogs - and quick!) …

Global Growth

Stocks advanced as more Americans than forecast signed contracts to buy previously owned home, jobless claims declined to a four-year low and the Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence rose to the highest level in a year. The S&P 500 (SPXL1) fell 0.3 percent on the final day of the week amid concern that the rally that drove the benchmark gauge to the highest level since 2008 has outpaced global growth prospects.

“We suspect that any pullback or pause here should be one that refreshes,” Louise Yamada, managing director of Louise Yamada Technical Research Advisors LLC in New York, said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

…The index has the potential to reach a record high of 1,700 this year  …

(This is MSM PORE at its best - EVER! 

I haven’t seen unmitigated Cr_p like this in the MSM, since the three false DOW rallies above 1000 of ’66, ’68, and ’72, right before my Father’s generation got TOTALLY wiped out in the crash of ’73-74!)

… should economic growth surprise investors the same way falling bond rates did in 1995, Birinyi Associates Inc. said.

Potential for Surprise

An expansion that exceeded forecasts in the world’s largest economy would help stocks rally after economists tempered their estimate for growth in 2012 to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent earlier in the year, according to Laszlo Birinyi, who was among the first to suggest buying stocks in March 2009. The potential for surprise is similar to 1995,…

Are you and your company ready for the future?

This is going to be THE year that will offer a HUGE opportunity to reposition your company’s Marketing and Advertising and your company’s product offerings and their inventory levels to take absolute advantage of what – quite apparently - no one else sees coming in 2013, 2014, 2015 and beyond – AND most especially in 2017 to 2022!

And this is going to be a fun year that will offer a HUGE opportunity to reposition entirely into GOLD And Silver and ALL metals and ALL inflation hedges, before the after-effects of the “Great Deception of 2012” does 'run out of steam' (as in HOT AIR!) and the does TOTALLY reverse ALL markets with a vengeance!