[onlooker]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-0 ... st-7-years
Before you mainstream pundits criticize this article because it is from Zerohedge, note that they are referencing records/statistics from the Govt. itself.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')Of course the US government manipulates financial data for the advantage of the wealthy. It's what Dems and Repubs do. They feed off your tax income.

Sure . . . the government tells the truth lol. The government looks out for your best interests? lol Fool me once, fool me a thousand times LOL

[onlooker]

You see Outcast your simply naive. If you were not so, you would have discovered that just a few corporations own all the mainstream media. You would have also uncovered that they own our government. The Media is nothing but a bullhorn and propaganda tool of the financial elites. The Media will say what is in they're interests. Paint a rosy picture depending in which candidate and party the Oligarchs may prefer. Yes, we are a Oligarch/Plutocracy. Ever wonder why the media have occasionally some stories about global warming conceding some disaster or some risk, yet nary a word about peak oil. Because if the investors, and common folk really knew and believed PO, the whole house of financial cards would tumble down. Nice to see your doing your part in keeping it going for awhile longer.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'Y')ou see Outcast your simply naive. If you were not so, you would have discovered that just a few corporations own all the mainstream media. You would have also uncovered that they own our government. The Media is nothing but a bullhorn and propaganda tool of the financial elites. The Media will say what is in they're interests. Paint a rosy picture depending in which candidate and party the Oligarchs may prefer. Yes, we are a Oligarch/Plutocracy. Ever wonder why the media have occasionally some stories about global warming conceding some disaster or some risk, yet nary a word about peak oil. Because if the investors, and common folk really knew and believed PO, the whole house of financial cards would tumble down. Nice to see your doing your part in keeping it going for awhile longer.

[onlooker]

Thanks for correcting my English, grammar was never my forte. I do make a blanket statement about our official media because it is patently obvious how corrupt the government/corporate/media matrix is. As for which threat is more likely to be realized, I believe it is the economic/peak oil one. The entire structure of our Civilization economically is predicated on abundant and cheap energy which contrary to the glut proponents will not be forthcoming like before see Etp model. . We have a vulnerable population who is reliant on this system for basic necessities. The AGW situation will be over the longer term even more disruptive and daunting though.

[copious.abundance]

Car Buyers, Online Shoppers Lifted U.S. Retail Sales in December
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')merican consumers finished last year spending at a solid pace, splurging on cars and pouring money into online shopping during the holidays, a sign the economy is on a steady footing as the country prepares for a change in the presidency.

Sales at U.S. retailers rose 0.6% in December from a month earlier, the eighth monthly increase in nine months, helping to extend the economy’s long expansion. Retail sales rose 3.3% in all of 2016, faster than the prior year’s gain of 2.3% and similar to the underlying trend during the expansion.

The holiday season is the most crucial part of the year for retailers, and the final months of 2016 coincided with a booming stock market and a pickup in Americans’ wages. Measures of consumer confidence hit multiyear highs at the end of last year, too, helping to keep spending strong.

[...]

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', ' ')As for which threat is more likely to be realized, I believe it is the economic/peak oil one. The entire structure of our Civilization economically is predicated on abundant and cheap energy which contrary to the glut proponents will not be forthcoming like before see Etp model. . We have a vulnerable population who is reliant on this system for basic necessities. The AGW situation will be over the longer term even more disruptive and daunting though.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'O')utcast_Searcher: "Ok, so you're blindly spouting liberal talking points about evil corporations. No facts. No data. Just empty liberal fantasies, and using words like Oligarch/Plutocracy."
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')omcast and GE formed the joint venture holding company NBCUniversal, LLC. NBC Universal, Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of the holding company and was renamed as NBCUniversal Media, LLC.

[onlooker]

Haha, some posters here P, despite their professed taste for Capitalism do not seem to understand very well how it works. It is about Big fish eating small fish and pretty soon your left with only one VERY big fish. Competition. Or did you guys think the invisible hand was benevolent

[onlooker]

And here is what I mean by my above post.
Just 8 people now have the same wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/st ... 6-billion/

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'S')igh. Yes, some media outlets are owned by corporations. I get that."

[ralfy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '
')OK. So that's your outlook. If/when ETP bites hard for years or we truly have a global economic meltdown, then that's another scenario. However, the past dozen years has NOT (overall) been at all kind to such forecasts. So we'll have to see.

We agree about AGW, but for when that gets serious as far as day to day living is some (or many, I don't know) decades out.

[ralfy]

Reminds me of these articles:

"These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America"

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6- ... ica-2012-6

"These 10 Companies Control The World’s Food"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 84782.html

"Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world"

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... -the-world

[copious.abundance]

This has gotten waaaay off topic.

[copious.abundance]

Housing Starts Jumped in December, Capping Best Year Since 2007
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U').S. housing starts hit their highest level in nine years in 2016, but a slowdown in the pace of new apartment building suggests that it may be difficult for construction to hit new highs this year without a strong rebound in single-family home building.

Housing starts rose 11.3% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Permits, an indication of how much construction is in the pipeline, were down 0.2% to 1.21 million.

[...]