Hi there. Did you miss me?
I'm still at the hospital, but last night I had the mother of all dex crashes. I only wakened for good about half an hour ago.
Also, I caught a cold. In the hospital! I feel pretty crappy.
Also also, I caved in on the IV line, but with a compromise: the line is in, but it's not connected to anything. So I'm still untethered.
And now the news: Inflation is down! This is PCE inflation, the Fed's favorite, and the core rate (i.e., everything except food and energy) is down to 1.6%.
On a conventional year-over-year basis, headline PCE is down to 2.2% and core PCE is down to 2.7%.
Contracting various illnesses in the hospital is quite common. Despite the best safety protocols set up. I'd say you're lucky it's just a cold.
True. There has been a nationwide effort to reduce these infections, including the dreaded and most likely the hospital evolved MRSA.
The economy is looking so good that Trump will soon start taking credit in advance for its improvement. Ditto crime -- "The thugs are so afraid that I'll get them that they've started cleaning up their acts."
If something is good he did it, if something is bad, they did it. If something was bad on his watch this time he'll fix it. Christ, the man was president for 4 years, all of that shit should have been solved under his fantastical leadership....
Indeed. The facts that (a) Trump was already president, (b) his presidency sucked, and (c) he accomplished little of what he campaigned on then, and none of what he's promising now, should be more of the national conversation.
Instead, we get a lot of "Trump promises his tariffs will turbocharge the economy, but some economists are skeptical."
As a fellow traveler on the road none of us wants to travel, I'm familiar with Dex. Hyper, crash, something else, crash, hyper.......
And the hiccups.....
I had a cancer drug try to kill me, and I kind of think Dex is still the worst.... But, apparently, it helps keep me from throwing up, and sleeping, and feeling normal...
I like the "Headline" rate of 1.1%, since if we are lucky, your average US voter may actually read a headline, assuming its part of their social media feed on their phones.
In other news, besides Florida flooding (too bad it missed Mar A Lago), Il Duce and Zelenskyy are now good buddies again! Perhaps Zelenskyy forgot to mention the fact the Trump called Putin a genus right after the invasion, or that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that don't pay enough (he probably thinks its a protection racket), or that he tried to extort him into opening a BS investigation into Biden in order to receive the arms he was promised.
Zelensky is in a tough spot. The US presidential election is a coinflip, and absent support from the US, Ukraine is likely going to lose to Russia hard and fast.
But, on the other hand, Trump is an idiot who is easily flattered. So Zelensky telling Trump that he is very handsome, had great ratings on The Apprentice, and that all of Kiev talks about what a great golfer he is, etc. may just be what Z needs to do to keep more of his people from being killed by Putin, should Harris lose.
One hopes that the rest of NATO will continue to support Ukraine if the Sauron is reelected.
I don't blame Zelenskyy for making nice with Trump, since flattery worked well for Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Orban.
Your first paragraph is an insult to Sauron.
Zelensky had a long career in comedy before he became president of Ukraine, so he should be able to handle Trump.
Inflation down, consumer sentiment up, Dow at an all-time high. Woo-hoo! What a time to be alive!
Unless you're Donald Trump. One more month of good news like this and he might have to concede by Halloween*.
* Or take a one-way trip to an autocracy to be named later.
My ancient mother used to say "hospital is no place for a sick person". As will happen with old people, she managed to get hospitalized fairly frequently, but always left just as soon as she possibly could, even checking out against medical advice on occasion.
We need you to get out and photograph our second "moon."
I picked up a nasty respiratory infection when I was in the hospital for half a day for outpatient heart surgery (catheter ablation). It knocked me out for nearly a month. And it happened in May 2020, so everyone thought it was COVID, but I never tested positive.
Kevin is up, inflation is down.
Good news, indeed.
Perfectly put, so I'm here to support this comment.
1.6% core rate. Doubt it's even that. Feels flat (or down some).
Yeah… no one cares. The media and politicians are hilarious. And creeps.
Despite claims that it was a casual affair or flirtation, Page Six has learned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and New York Magazine scribe Olivia Nuzzi had “incredible” FaceTime sex. Sources tell us that Nuzzi was at first disgusted by the Kennedy scion after he made a clumsy pass at her back in October. But — after they began talking over text — he “love bombed” her, and she quickly fell so madly in love with him that she lived a double life for nearly a year, sharing long calls, endless texts and virtual sex with the former presidential candidate, all while engaged to her partner of almost a decade. In fact, multiple insiders say Nuzzi — even after Kennedy denied their affair in the press and even after he implied that he might sue her — is still in love with him.
Well, of course. It’s full of sick people!
Welcome back! I am so thrilled that you gave in to the hep lock. You are not tied to a line and a bag but free to be you. They are so good ‘just in case’. Please remember this for the next round. Be well.
While you're in the hospital,
the chainsaw was invented as a surgical device,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainsaw#History
Wow. Such good news that it's even starting to penetrate the thick skulls of the TV news producers. Today I heard the talking head on the 5-o'clock news, talking about the presidential "race" say that "inflation is starting to ease up."
So now the pundits tell us that everyone is worried about jobs.
You got to do what seems right to you, but I'm resolved to fight unnecessary sticks in the future. I'm tempted to go into a long discussion of the emergency, reserve, conditional, never used IV stick I had after a cardiac by-pass. Suffice it to say I fucked it up by using the fingers attached to the affected arm to operate a toothbrush. I made it even worse by using that same hand to wipe my ass.
After it got screwed up, three nurses made five attempts to do a new one. Finally the senior nurse said she was going to go and find a reason to put in the record for why it was unnecessary.
Anyway, they screwed up my usable veins with their contingent IV. If they had really needed one, I'd have been in trouble. My conclusion: a contingent IV is a stupid and medically wrong idea.
Glad you're doing well (all things considered).
Next time the evil dex kicks in, here's an excellent read on the importance of government counting stuff:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/john-lanchester-consumer-price-index-who-is-government/?itid=hp_opinions_p001_f017