Special Week Coming Up
The UN takes center stage this week. All week, New Yorkers will trip over "dignitaries" and their security details who've taken over mid-town hotels and zip around in big black SUV's with police escorts interfering with our already congested and chaotic local traffic. If, like me, you tend to walk the streets of our fair city, It's not unusual to come upon the front of a hotel swarming with men with little ear pieces (security) looking in every direction. In that case, I try not to get too close and have developed the habit of crossing to the other side of the street. If these guys are concerned about some "dignitary" being attacked, I don't want to be caught in the cross fire.
Along with the invasion of all these UN bureaucrats, at some point the President of the US will arrive in the midst of it all, with the usual warnings of extra "delays" in getting around town - above and beyond those caused by the "dignitaries." Frankly, the NYPD does a pretty good job of keeping things flowing considering it all. But it's still best to assume either you won't be able to get where you want to go or, if you do, get there when you want to get there.
Along with the buzzing bureaucrats - aka "dignitaries" - we expect a visit from hurricane Jose in the next couple of days, albeit a quick and muted one (thank goodness): some rain, a bit of wind, lots of beach erosion from the whipped-up surf. It could have been worse, a la Harvey or Irma, but they say it won't be.
Contrasting with all this hub-bub, the weekend turned out to be refreshingly sanguine. Now there's a word - "sanguine" - that's always puzzled me. It derives from the Latin "sanguis" which means 'blood.' So you'd think sanguine might mean 'bloody' - which it did in it's archaic (old) usage. How it came to mean "optimistic or positive, especially in a bad of difficult situation" escapes me. Maybe you know?
In any case, what was so sanguine about the weekend? First, it was the last weekend in "official" summer (which, as we all know, really ends with the Labor Day weekend) - and the weather reflected that: warm, humid, appropriate to summer. We visited family - always a treat - and talked to other family - second best to being there. Somehow I stumbled on a bottle of really good champagne hanging around from the Christmas-New Year holidays and thought it would be good weekend to put it to good use. That was Saturday. On Sunday, after an hour of serious stretching to sooth the muscles put to the test by an especially vigorous daily exercise program, I managed a walk in our local park; then caught some rays while barbecuing and reading a really great book (more on the book in our next post).
After such a weekend, today's most dramatic financial headline had little impact:
Not saying it shouldn't have some impact, just that it simply didn't. Maybe after Monday gets put to bed tonight, Tuesday will find me more in tune with the never-ending drama of the Fed's historic messing with the economy and financial markets after the 2007-2009 crisis.
Why "Maybe"? First of all, because what the Fed says and what they do aren't always in sync. Second, the reasons they took these extraordinary measures ("historic buildup") had as much to do with their ongoing, persistent meddling in affairs frankly beyond their understanding and expertise - something that's unlikely to change as long as the Fed exists. And third, even if a Great Unwinding commences (whatever form it takes), we'll likely get another crisis midstream, maybe even one caused by the unwinding itself. And that crisis will cause the Fed to take some other "historic" measures sure to keep things at the very least interesting, if we're lucky; or worse, if we're not so lucky).
Actually, the more I think about all this, the more I'm looking forward to next weekend - the first official weekend of fall - if it's anything like this past weekend.
Along with the invasion of all these UN bureaucrats, at some point the President of the US will arrive in the midst of it all, with the usual warnings of extra "delays" in getting around town - above and beyond those caused by the "dignitaries." Frankly, the NYPD does a pretty good job of keeping things flowing considering it all. But it's still best to assume either you won't be able to get where you want to go or, if you do, get there when you want to get there.
Along with the buzzing bureaucrats - aka "dignitaries" - we expect a visit from hurricane Jose in the next couple of days, albeit a quick and muted one (thank goodness): some rain, a bit of wind, lots of beach erosion from the whipped-up surf. It could have been worse, a la Harvey or Irma, but they say it won't be.
Contrasting with all this hub-bub, the weekend turned out to be refreshingly sanguine. Now there's a word - "sanguine" - that's always puzzled me. It derives from the Latin "sanguis" which means 'blood.' So you'd think sanguine might mean 'bloody' - which it did in it's archaic (old) usage. How it came to mean "optimistic or positive, especially in a bad of difficult situation" escapes me. Maybe you know?
In any case, what was so sanguine about the weekend? First, it was the last weekend in "official" summer (which, as we all know, really ends with the Labor Day weekend) - and the weather reflected that: warm, humid, appropriate to summer. We visited family - always a treat - and talked to other family - second best to being there. Somehow I stumbled on a bottle of really good champagne hanging around from the Christmas-New Year holidays and thought it would be good weekend to put it to good use. That was Saturday. On Sunday, after an hour of serious stretching to sooth the muscles put to the test by an especially vigorous daily exercise program, I managed a walk in our local park; then caught some rays while barbecuing and reading a really great book (more on the book in our next post).
After such a weekend, today's most dramatic financial headline had little impact:
The Fed, a Decade After the Crisis, Is About to Embark on the Great Unwinding
After a historic buildup of its bond portfolio to support the U.S. economy, the central bank plans to shrink its holdings, entering uncharted territory
Not saying it shouldn't have some impact, just that it simply didn't. Maybe after Monday gets put to bed tonight, Tuesday will find me more in tune with the never-ending drama of the Fed's historic messing with the economy and financial markets after the 2007-2009 crisis.
Why "Maybe"? First of all, because what the Fed says and what they do aren't always in sync. Second, the reasons they took these extraordinary measures ("historic buildup") had as much to do with their ongoing, persistent meddling in affairs frankly beyond their understanding and expertise - something that's unlikely to change as long as the Fed exists. And third, even if a Great Unwinding commences (whatever form it takes), we'll likely get another crisis midstream, maybe even one caused by the unwinding itself. And that crisis will cause the Fed to take some other "historic" measures sure to keep things at the very least interesting, if we're lucky; or worse, if we're not so lucky).
Actually, the more I think about all this, the more I'm looking forward to next weekend - the first official weekend of fall - if it's anything like this past weekend.
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