Neptunus Lex

21 responses so far ↓

• 1 Larry // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:27 am

  It’s a DNC Festivus Miracle! Get thee out ye aluminium poles!

• 2 Tammi // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:43 am

  In my head I’m hearing that scene w/Kevin Costner in Guardian. Where they’re goin’ for records…

  *read in deadpan voice*”Wow. He’s great…He’s fast….”

• 3 Kris, in New England // Aug 28, 2008 at 8:23 am

  Yes indeed, I’m enjoying thoroughly the post-retirement Lex writing.

  Given that Obama gives his acceptance (GACK) speech tonite in a model of a Greek Temple, can we expect headlines tomorrow to talk about how choirs of angels sang? I mean - confetti is going to rain down upon The One - why not singing angels with harps and wings?

• 4 Casey // Aug 28, 2008 at 9:04 am

  Naaaah, not gonna swallow the hype yet. I’m still waitin’ for Barry to heal the lame and cause the rising seas to fall…

• 5 Flatlander // Aug 28, 2008 at 10:22 am

  Almost any business in North America that is capable of actually making something, that is, manufacturing an actual tangible product, is booming! People literally can’t get enough shipping containers to handle the export demand. And the reason for it is simple - the dollar is cheap, cheap, cheap. Things ARE coming back into balance, and good old-fashioned American productivity and ingenuity are becoming quite competitive.

  When Obama raises taxes on businesses and capital gains, that equation is going to change significantly for the worse. It would be a lot more convenient for him if we could just focus on the housing bust for another three months…

• 6 fliterman // Aug 28, 2008 at 10:36 am

  Barack might be faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings. But alas, our economy still remains anemic.

  While the unexpected 3.3% jump in GDP may sound impressive, unfortunately due to inadequate accounting for Q2 inflation (4.2%), it merely gives us an illusion of growth.

  Additionally, a GDP inflating jump in exports fueled by a weak dollar do not help the average American household. Nor do rising prices, especially since household income has remained stagnant for nearly a decade despite a growing GDP.

  Our perceived economic wellbeing when tied to flawed GDP accounting is a misconception.

• 7 Flatlander // Aug 28, 2008 at 11:14 am

  Not everything is rosy. We are all paying more for everything as the price of gas ripples through the economy, and we have further work to do in alternatives. The housing overhang is putting a damper on things as we work through the after-math of that bubble. But all is not gloom and doom either.

  Export-driven growth DOES directly create jobs and increase income for many Americans, and indirectly helps the entire economy.

  Go tell the guy or gal who is working overtime to get out product that it is an illusion! Go tell the rail workers who are running trains scheduled back-to-back that it isn’t real! The export economy is very real, and it’s the one thing that is helping to offset the weaker areas of the economy right now.

  We need to make sure we feed that success, and not quash it by taxing the most productive areas of our economy! The markets will be very tuned into this, and if Obama rallies in the polls, you can bet the stock market is going to tank, along with the outlook for American companies.

• 8 Skippy-san // Aug 28, 2008 at 12:39 pm

  Re: “if Obama rallies in the polls”

  Thanks for that cheery forecast for my 401K………

  I’m not so sure the market will tank. It has had a mind of itself lately. There have been lots of times it has defied the conventional wisdom. I think its becoming immune to the political news anymore and focused only on economic news.

  Sure wish the big exports would also translate into increases in the overseas markets………..international stock funds are taking a beating of late.

• 9 Flatlander // Aug 28, 2008 at 2:09 pm

  If there is anything the market is sensitive to, it is capital gains tax rates, which BHO will sharply increase. You can take to the bank that the market will sink in proportion to BHO odds of win come October. You think the economy is bad now with the problems of the consumer, wait until business investment dries up and blows overseas.

  The Dems are dreaming of Great Society again if they can gain solid control of both house, senate, and presidency. It will be far to the left of anything Clinton ever imagined doing.

  At last the country seems to be waking up to the dangers at hand.

• 10 Skippy-san // Aug 28, 2008 at 2:23 pm

  I think the market will give Obama a honeymoon of sorts-unless oil prices go back up.

  And besides the election is not over until its over. McCain is going to win-but the market will be no kinder to McCain, especially as America wakes up to its debt crisis.

  And oil is going to go back up. That is something you can take to the bank.

• 11 Flatlander // Aug 28, 2008 at 4:14 pm

  The reason oil is so volatile is that you cannot take it to the bank. There are a number of huge uncertainties that could drive it in either direction.

  But I like the odds of it falling if the geopolitical environment remains reasonably stable. Why? In the near term declining demand and the slowing economy, but more importantly for the longer trend are the supply factors: increasingly attractive substitutes, and accelerating development of known reserves.

• 12 km // Aug 28, 2008 at 4:25 pm

  So Kris in New England had her vote…does anyone else miss the pre-retirement Lex writing? You know, when you’d tune in and get those little gems of writing that transcended the blog genre–that pondered the broader human condition with both tongue-in-cheek irreverence and genuine affection for human foibles (true Americana writing–kind of Mark Twain’s newspaper style), that stuff? See, I’m not finding so much of that (its very welcome when it appears). I think post-retirement Lex seems grouchy–and I can find grouchy on plenty of other blogs.

  So speaking selfishly, I’m wondering what we would all need to contribute to the tip jar to buy the man a decent plane…might cheer him up…might get his creative juices churning.

• 13 geo6 // Aug 28, 2008 at 4:33 pm

  Flit,

  Admit it. you just like to piss in the wheaties of anyone that doesn’t share your world view. Illusion of growth, sheesh.

  geo6

• 14 Michelle // Aug 28, 2008 at 5:20 pm

  Umm, far be it from me to criticize what we got (I’ll take Lex pre or post-retirement any day of the week over most any other blog) but … well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind his own personal plane prOn and who’s to argue with the musings of a happier Lex?

• 15 MissBirdlegs in AL // Aug 28, 2008 at 6:14 pm

  IMO, this election season (forever) is enough to make anyone grouchy! I don’t find Lex nearly as grouchy as we all have a right to be. Like Michelle and Kris, I like Lex’s writing now just fine. I think we all do or we wouldn’t be flocking here every day.

• 16 Flatlander // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:10 pm

  I hear ya, Ms. BL. I sat down to watch the dem convention with the best of intentions but just could not sit through Gore without getting so worked up I finally just turned it off.

• 17 Marianne Matthews // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:16 pm

  Gents and ladies … as far as Lex and his wonderful writing go, I can detect no change or deterioration at all. But I’d remind you all, who have all probably gone from an old job to a new job, with its constant challenges and changes, that it takes at least six months of doing it before you can wear it comfortably like an old shirt. Up until that point, you’re pretty much on the ‘qui vive’ all the time.

  Add to that this creepy wild election season, the thrills and chills of raising two beautiful teenage girls in today’s all too free-and-easy environment, even iron-nerved Lex could be forgiven for getting a tad brisk in his communications at times.

  I’ll gratefully accept any time he can give us.

  Marianne

• 18 lex // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:37 pm

  There are adjustments to make transitioning from wearing a uniform and Being In Charge ‘n Stuff to being a support element, third rank. It is potentially plausibly possible that some of the attendant issues bleed through.

  Time remains the fire we all burn in. So many other things muscle in, demand and deserve attention. I myself am unsatisfied at times with the odd snip and vague grouch. Still, even if
  “we are not now that strength that
  in old days moved earth and heaven
  that which we are, we are…”

  And yet, you know what? The hit count increases steadily. Go figure.

• 19 Casey // Aug 28, 2008 at 8:17 pm

  I have to say that fliterman speaks truth, at least some.

  Apparently there are more than a few folks out there who view the govt method of defining inflation with a very large grain of salt. Add to that the still-anemic dollar, and we aren’t out of the woods yet.

  True, we aren’t really in a recession, but that’s doesn’t mean we aren’t facing some significant challenges.

• 20 PeterGunn // Aug 28, 2008 at 8:26 pm

  What difference in Lex’s writing? I thought he’s just caught on and decided an Obama-nation isn’t what he wants any part of. Fine with me!

  I heard a report that unemployment hit a 13-year LOW for the first fiscal quarter of 2008.

  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988048.html

  Then I turned on Mr. me-O-my’s acceptance speech tonight and heard him say that we’ve never had it so bad! He says we don’t want any more of that, he said that we want change.

  Funny thing: nobody asked me what we want. How do you explain that away, fliterman? Or… are we just expected to all bow down and repeat the mantra: “Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Etc, etc?”

  How about this, Obama: “We are. We are!”

• 21 Flatlander // Aug 29, 2008 at 5:59 am

  Just remember, the weak dollar is a blessing in many ways.

  For one, I don’t know any other way to eradicate 30% of your foreign debt in one year any faster way.

  For two, the stuff you make suddenly looks like a great deal to foreigners.

  For three, it sure is cheap for them to vacation here now.

  On the other hand, be prepared to pay $35 for continental breakfast in Europe!

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