Thursday, August 9, 2012

Arachnapocalypse



We're not known for our giant spiders in the Pacific Northwest. This one was hanging out on our garage door.

7 comments:

Mr Slippery said...

We don't have too many spiders in SoCal, but black widows are prevalent in my area. About once a month, I find a black widow web in the yard or garage and have to do battle with it.

I can always tell a black widow web when I try to remove it because it is so much stronger than normal spider webs. And they don't give up or die easily. So far, my chemical weapon superiority (spider spray) has won the day, but they always come back.

Troy said...

Since I don't have my own blog, and DeLong may or may not publish this comment, I reprint it for your pleasure:

Businesses that ought to be expanding and hiring cannot, because the depressed general level of financial asset prices

This doesn't match my thesis all that well, LOL

In April 2009:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=9ot

we can see the worst of the firings recede.

I think this was largely just because the purge after the Bush bubble binge was over:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=9ov

and the situation was returning to the status quo of the dotcom recession.

I believe the $7T mortgage bubble of 2001-2007 was what powered us out of the recession, and the loss of that massive money flow in the the paycheck economy is what caused the 2008-2009 recession in response.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=9ox

The flow peaked at $1.2T/yr in 2006.

What we've been doing since then is making government be the replacement stimulus agent:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=9oy

blue line is total jobs, red line is YOY consumer debt take-on, green is YOY federal debt take-on.

I think we're worse than Japan. They have a similar debt-to-the-moon outlook, but at least they're running a trade surplus, more or less, and have a $3T net capital position vis-a-vis the ROW.

[what would I do without FRED, LOL]

Troy said...

Also, having spent the weekend at a million-dollar "lake house" in Southern CA I was looking at homes in Bellingham today again.

The beauty of Bellingham is that if you can bring your own job, you can get a pretty good deal going.

A Trader Joe's within weekly shopping distance is basically non-negotiable at this point for me, so Bellingham is a big win here. The lake view is gravy.

Just don't know about the damn climate.

I'd also be happier closer to Seattle, but closer to Seattle puts you on the Microsoft land value gradient slope.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Mr Slippery,

...they always come back.

Your spiders are a lot like recessions. D'oh! ;)

Stagflationary Mark said...

Troy,

I believe the $7T mortgage bubble of 2001-2007 was what powered us out of the recession, and the loss of that massive money flow in the the paycheck economy is what caused the 2008-2009 recession in response.

That pretty much sums up why I became a permabear in 2004.

MaxedOutMama said...

So I'm guessing you got rousted to do the manly thing and deport it?

You don't seem too terrified in the pic.

WV = victrve - I guess that's a verb meaning "to revel in victory"?

Stagflationary Mark said...

MaxedOutMama,

Manly didn't enter my thoughts. I assure you that I would have jumped if the spider had.

I figured that if a professional journalist can enter a war zone for a story then surely an amateur journalist can enter his home garage. ;)