STRANGE BREWS

A dangerous trend is brewing-- Beer prices are rising and not just locally-- Reports claim worldwide up-ticks-- Barley, beer's main ingredient, is now being planted in less acreage as farmers chase the increased profits from rising corn prices due to increased demand for corn from the ethanol/alternative energy equation-- As corn becomes more expensive cattle feeders search for other grains to fatten their bovine profits and, as demand for barley as cattle feed spikes upward, supply coming from fewer barley fields drives up prices further-- Couple that with the rising cost of transporting product, both barley and finished beer, due to ever rising oil prices, and the rising costs of aluminum, paper, labor, freight maintenance and many other commodities, and it becomes quite easy to ascertain that inflated beer prices won't come down any time soon nor will this inflation be factored into the CPIl-- All so dweeb economists at the DC level can maintain the fiction(as well as their mahogany foxhole) that inflation exists as a potential threat somewhere out beyond the edge of town and not as the snake slithering to the bottom of devoured wallets and maxed-out credit cards--

So, it comes as no surprise that US workers have had their confidence more than fractionally pummeled -- Job security is a major worry for more than many workers-- For the first time in nearly a year more workers are financially pessimistic than optimistic-- Factory orders fell in May as did pending home sales while gasoline prices continue to savage the individual budget-- Foreclosures at all time record highs and the slick predatory frauds attendant to such emergent angst continue to stalk the troubled sub-prime milieu--A nearly 9 month inventory of unsold homes nationwide indicates a market whose accelerator is stuck on idle at best-- Late payments for home equity, autos, boats, and home improvement loans show a sharp first quarter rise reflecting a stinging financial distress that is clobbering consumers-- Beer consumption, however, may not dramatically decline during this July 4 holiday period but psychologically the rise in beer prices represents one more penetrating chink in the armor of the working class-- Coming soon to the middle class, on an auction block near you--

Projected GM and Ford sales for June in both retail and fleet sectors came in south of the break even line(down 13% @ GM, 9% @ Ford), while leading Japanese auto companies will show up-shooting sales and continuing increase in market shares--Not good news for sure nor much surprising either-- The once proud backbone of American Manufacturing is in such serious trouble (raped by its own financiers) even master spinners find great difficulty putting any positive sheen to the ongoing downfall in Detroit-- Losing ground while running in place is not an optimum strategy but fewer options appear available from the bankrupt leadership across America's boardrooms-- Portfolios everywhere share a case of the nerves--

Insolvent leadership from the Federal level offers its own paralysis as collateral--Both action and money promised has neither arrived nor aided as promised ongoing struggles to rebuild New Orleans and other environs demolished by Katrina-- Let us not even mention the twin holes not filled in New York's wounded skyline in the nearly six year interim while erstwhile presidential campaigners evoke the towering absence as some perverted justification for the bona fides of their vision-limited candidacies-- Homage, let us all pay, to the Spin Machine


The life styles of America may be fancied by Vice-Presidents as non-negotiable, but while all the derelict non-negotiations are taking place, facts on the ground suggest those lifestyles are taking multiple hits from seriously damaging fire incoming from too many fronts at the same wrong time-- The canard of immigration reform blew up in the face of both the anemic demies and the running-scared repo-men-- The President merely added another impressive notch to a coup stick made mega-supple by a litany of repetitious failure-- American is being driven to its knees financially, stalemated militarily, out-maneuvered on diplomatic fronts, out manufactured worldwide, intoxicatingly stupified by entertainment fantasy, shipwrecked on a reef of dissolved civility and familial disorder, all the while oblivious to the coming credit crunch (only '$3bil of the $20bil junk bonds for offer last week actually sold') and the severe consequences demanded by the heretofore invisible creditors holding the mega-debt our collective soul--

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