Friday beaver - patriotic edition it is the 4th

(The beaver raises its' tale to slap the water warning others of danger.)

So the DOW is up over 17,000. There's no reason in the world it should be that high because it's supposed to be based on the perceived value of a company's worth or at the very least an expectation of what it will do in the near future, normally 6 months. However mathematicians and ultra-fast computers have taken away any sense of perception or even realistic forecasts. Tiny glitches present a golden opportunity to pounce and scrape fractions of a percentage in profits and on the grand scale that's a lot of cents being pocketed. But it's all an illusion because sales didn't have to go up for any of this to happen. It's all just bets but even a bet takes research and facts none of which are necessary in today's market.

It should have been apparent near the end of the last great bull run when the talking heads sluffed off any talk of recession saying that if there was one it would be short lived. How wrong they were. Now the talk is of how great things are becoming but are they really? They may have added jobs to the latest stats but it's a fair guess that those jobs don't pay anything of what they use to and then there's still the long term unemployed cast out and still wondering how they'll survive with little or no income. If you're over 50 or under 25 you're screwed. And it's a safe bet nobody's tracking those numbers.

So wave your American (made in china) flag and wonder where it will all end. We don't need another war because the chinese already won, well them and their  vulture capitalist cohorts. You want to see welfare bums? Look no farther than Wall Street they're the guys who produce absolutely nothing of value and yet think they're the ones who work hard. Give me a break.

One bank fail last week in OK

Parting shot - Never have a fifth on the forth or you just might get ten in the pen.