More specifics than generalities now, as we roll through the details of what we think will happen in 2020. Already, we have seen Bitcoin drop under $7,000 as one of our outlooks seems poise to fulfill.  Though $7,132 at click time today.

Other outlooks are not particularly “scary” if you are “system independent” but if you rely on government to “rent you your life” then there could be some difficult times ahead.  This is because compound interest effects will – necessarily – over time, swamp current incomes and taxes.  Runaway compounding can take down everyone.

We will start with financial views and then the other systems.  Not how Maslow is laid-out, but it is how us greedy capitalist-types view things.  After a few headlines and charts…

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Normally, our Annual Forecast is a single issue, but I wanted to try something  bit different this year.  Instead of going through our usual Major Systems of Life (food, shelter, transportation, energy, environment, and finance) I thought it would be useful to look at two overarching generalities, as well.

So in Part 1, some comments on the global problems of investing and “why we work” plus a perspective on 2020 and what’s coming from “the Dream Realms:   It’s a surprising take on tech and economics.

Which we will delve into right after charts and a few “warm-up” headlines.

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As humans begin to define their relationship with AI, is privacy already lost?  It’s a profound question we all need to answer at some level.   The Machines are here.  Problem is even those “secret questions” that secure “your identity” may just be means to profit from hacking what’s between your ears.

Today, a step-wise discussion of how privacy ran off the rails.  Well make the case that it’s not people so much as the tech itself that lends itself to piercing the Bill of Rights.

After our short pass through  headlines and our ChartPack, as always.

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A new kind of Grand Unified Theory appears in our meta data work. Our work here at Old Man Labs is loosely based on the idea that there is an acoustical “trap door” to space-time.  In a review of extensive anomaly reports, cross-tabbed to religious traditions, we seem to have uncovered possible “pay dirt.”

Today, we’ll go through things semi-sequentially so you can follow the evolution of this most novel thought.

As you will read, some of the pieces fit so damn well together  that we’re inclined to relabel the work from “crack-pot theory” to “pending experimental confirmation.”

Importantly, this changes our instrumentation plans dramatically…such that we’ve started research on optical scatter, scatterometers and difusion meters.  Because opening what we had considered a “time portal” is not an instantaneous.  In data, such events seem to take a few minutes to measurably begin and longer to become fully manifest.

First, though, work before pleasure (which is what research is, after all!).  A few headlines and trends and a walk-though of how the markets are holding up the weight of the circus tent…and fresh consumer price data just out.

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Addicted to Accounting is the focus of this Chapter. Conventions, depreciation, and the time-value of money may be driving toward unsustainable and anti-environmental outcomes.   A journal entry for delusion?  Or a T-account for Depletion?

Because as we look at what much of the world is doing wrong (high non-renewable resource burn rates for one), accounting’s curious ways of “valuing technology” becomes a focus.  Accountancy has helped shape consumption and idealize product lifespans..

We will lay it out after a few weekend headlines and our ChartPack…

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One of our guiding principles is that “Everything’s a Business Model.” So looking ahead to next year, we have a couple of interesting observations about how this “new business” is doing.

My consigliere made an interesting observation while visiting.  “Just like ESP and paranormal research like remote viewing peaked a number of years back, watch for climate to peak in a similar way…”

Interesting concept – which we will wade into as we beat the bushes looking for macro trends (like climate marketing) to begin changing consumer behavior, possibly by limiting consumer choice. Oh, you didn’t get the memo explaining how fewer choices is one of the fall outs?  Tisk, tisk!

First, though, we get through a few headlines and this morning’s Job Data…plus the ChartPack.

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Holiday weekend, but the ChartPack today is most instructive!    Yes sir: No rest for the weary around here.

We’ll hop to it, as soon as a few headlines roll by.

Say, pass the leftover stuffing, would you?

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Problem on the table this morning is “When to take the money and run?” Which we will muse on with an “indicators review.”

Before that, a few general economic notes plus we have a slug of fresh economic indicators to consider as we head to the table for turkey.

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Besides mastery of self- discipline, holidays are  a great time to construct  a “10-Year Investment Program.” These can be simply monitored with a 1-Year Investment Horizon.  Done every 3-6 months.

Unlike very short-term trades (based on various cockamamie schemes, some of which don’t work, others of which do, but with lots of qualifiers), long-term choices are what drive genuine net worth.  It’s the long game.

Today, some ideas to kick around during your upcoming “down time” over the Thanksgiving holiday.

After the usual appetizer course of headlines and that on-going Replay of 1929.  Think of this as July 18, 1929.

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Since we’re going into the “slow holiday weeks” I thought it would be useful to work on self-discipline.  Which by extension includes organization  of “life parts:” in addition to finances.. 

This came up because my consigliere will be visiting from this weekend and over the Thanksgiving period.  Not a big deal, but I decided to clean up my office-lab-electronics-and ham radio room.   It was while doing this, I had some remarkable insights into one of my own character flaws.  But also a revelation about why some people are intrinsically organized while others…well…not so much.

After we get through charts and a few headlines.

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With the stock market closing the week in record high country, we focus today on ways to tell when we have started to turn down. One of the simplest tools to use are simple trend channel lines.

If you have a spreadsheet program which some chart tools, you can skip the technical 2 or 3 standard deviation calculations and simply eyeball what can be very useful trend changes.

Before we do that, however, a few headlines including a few comments on the “peach” show trial which spend who knows how much taxpayer money Friday heading from someone who had know knowledge of anything having to do with the Trump phone call to the Ukrainian president.

Here,. all this time, we though the fishing season closed for the winter.  Our bad.  But, then again, we’re not members of the attempted coup in progress, 

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solutions to the problem revealed in a recent Bloomberg story “Richest 1% of Americans Close to Surpassing Wealth of Middle Class .”

As one who has always enjoyed “word problems”  in math classes, we can achieve some remarkable insights  by carefully reading “the facts”.  As you will see when we outline wealth concentration as “The fishing hole problem.”

First, though, we have some headlines to scale.  After which we go swimming through the charts.  Eventually, though, we get around to floating some useful thinking.   We trust you’ll catch-ion.

Frame it as taking the billionaires to Walden Pond for an outing.

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Big discussions today on Fed Repo actions, the rise of Non-depository “banks,” the Berlin Wall 30-years later, and some business activity numbers.     We’ll stick mostly with useful numbers and concepts this morning.

All worthwhile ponders as we continue watching the Great American Subpoena Festival in the District of Corruption.

After some caffeine, headlines, and a deep dive into our charts.

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