Iceberg, dead ahead

The more I add up these numbers on the back of an old grubby envelope the more I become convinced that we are headed for a catastrophe.

The total of all the U.S. treasury securities in foreign hands is three trillion dollars and has grown 30% in just the past year. The total of all the bailouts including the upcoming municipal and state handouts may exceed ten trillion dollars. The outstanding national debt is over 10 trillion dollars. The total of all U.S. money (M2) is almost eight trillion dollars.

Foreign governments are reeling and have slowed their purchase of U.S. debt in order to bolster their own currency. When they begin redeeming their treasury securities will people begin dumping dollars? Will that be a signal?

Extra Size Directory, Plus-Tall-Petite

I have decided to develop an extra-size directory, which will be an integral part of the Andifashion Directory as the twelve existing extra-size pages are now, but the coverage will be expanded, given in greater detail and there will be a separate extra-size index page.

Some coverage will begin to improve right away. Editing the individual entries is among the most rewarding and fun aspects of this directory but it is also the most time-consuming. The extra-size section is already the best edited and most up-to-date part of the entire site and because it is drawing significant traffic it will continue to be the main focus of my attention. I plan eventually to have a plus, tall, and petite page to compliment every existing category but have not yet projected a target date for this.

Twelve existing extra-size pages:

http://www.andilinks.com/plus.shtm A-C
http://www.andilinks.com/plus-size-2.shtm D-K
http://www.andilinks.com/plus-size-3.shtm L-R
http://www.andilinks.com/plus-size-4.shtm S-Z
http://www.andilinks.com/tall.shtm A-K
http://www.andilinks.com/tall-2.shtm L-Z
http://www.andilinks.com/petite.shtm A-K
http://www.andilinks.com/petite-2.shtm L-Z

http://www.andilinks.com/plus-size-formal-wear.shtm
http://www.andilinks.com/large-shoes.shtm
http://www.andilinks.com/small-shoes.shtm
http://www.andilinks.com/custom-tailored-clothing.shtm

Whipsaw, Recovery and Panic

Many are reporting that the current bailout total stands near 8.5 trillion, that is three quarters of GDP or more than 100% of M2. What is keeping runaway inflation at bay besides fear and a reluctance to lend on the part of those bailed out? Why are so many buying treasury bonds while Warren Buffet and others are buying equities? Is the value of the dollar balanced on a knife's edge here? It seems so...

The mysterious sensatious computer

For the past several months every time I got up from my computer and walked away it would play the Windows sound "Device Disconnect," sometimes called the "XP Hardware Remove.wav." I found it disconcerting that the computer sensed my departure and that it considered me "hardware."

This didn't happen 100% of the time, but it happened a lot--maybe 80% of the time. So much so and over so long a period of time that coincidence is out of the question. This was both spooky and reassuring in an odd way, like my computer was actually tracking my presence. I never mentioned this to anyone, too many people already consider me crazy--this was just over the top.

But I'm posting about it today because I finally figured out the connection. Probably capacitance, but more simply put the sound was triggered by a static electricity charge--my body and my keyboard represented a different electromagnetic potential.

This was confirmed this morning when I noticed a tiny spark jump from my finger to the keyboard when I sat down, which triggered the sound.
__________________

Bloggingheads.tv

Maybe cancelling DirecTV was the best thing that has happened to me. I've rediscovered Bloggingheads.tv and have decided that even with some annoying verbal quirks (y'know) the diavlogs have a higher signal to noise ratio than the shoutfests on Cable. And it's possible to just listen and do other tasks on the compter while the video is running.

And again I'm devoting more time to my Start Page. It is getting more traffic since I began tweaking it earlier this month so this is creating positive feedback for me and a happy endless loop. I'm still making it for myself though and there is still some cryptic anchor text. This does make it possible to cram more links onto one screen and once you've figured out my abbreviations the page gets ever more valuable.

Fake Websites

I've been finding a lot of parked domains registered to New Ventures Services, Corp. which may have a special relationship to Network Solutions and is an offshore corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands. Their ad server, at least on those I checked, is Yahoo.

I find this disturbing because the parked domain page is not trying to sell the domain but is strictly a vehicle for ads yet has the appearance of a real website. And that's only a problem because it makes the Internet a labyrinthine puzzle for newbies and children. Perhaps it does make my own straightforward directory presentation more valuable but I hate to be made more valuable because the internet itself is degraded.

Jeans, Casual, Lingerie, Sleepwear

This is why microblogging is not for me. I'll be spending the entire weekend updating these pages and won't have any time to twitter.

Twitter? That was quick

My investigation of microblogging is over and I won't be twittering. I don't particularly need to let anyone know what I'm doing since I'm always working on my web site. Except when I'm out buying stuff and that needs no reportage in real time. There are already too many shopping blogs.

So maybe I'll be left behind as the world twitters on, we can't all be on all the time. I think I can be happy here just adding stuff to my web site, how 1990's...

iList, social classifieds.

iList sends social classifieds across Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, and Pownce as reported by TechCrunch. That's great if you're a flea-market kind of person who is constantly selling and buying second-hand stuff. I once was, and it was fun. I have considered getting into the second-hand and liquidation business but rejected it finally as a part of my self-definition process over the last decade or so. I'm more of a wholesale person, I don't like retail. I do like Vintage Clothing and Vintage Jewelry though. Time consuming hobbies again.

Commerce over social networks intrigues me more than the social networks themselves do but just like eBay, I think the scammers and the crooks may have a field-day with this. My experience with eBay was unfortunate, if everyone had my experience there would be no eBay.

Streaming Social

I am going to spend a little time familiarizing myself with this new phenomenon. Yes, I know that in Internet time it isn't exactly new, but OTOH as someone who first sent an IM and first entered a chatroom in 1993 and spent a good part of the '90's in chatrooms and sending IMs I think I am capable of seeing Twitter, Friendfeed, Seesmic, and the other streams as more of the same, just better and faster. I have resisted this trend for the same reason that I abandoned chatrooms around the turn of the century. I began feeling that although chatrooms and IMs were very exciting and occasionally tuned me into things much sooner than I otherwise might have learned, they were also highly time consuming and sometimes obligated me to friends and strangers in ways that I would have preferred to avoid.

Now I don't want to begin psychoanalyzing myself and my social connections here on my blog, let's just say I'm not close enough to anyone using these services to make it worthwhile getting involved with them. But the phenomenon is getting big and while I don't want to make this my entire life the way IM's and chatrooms almost became, I don't want to be left behind not knowing what's going on either. So I'm going to research this some more and grab ahold of some of the vision that I left behind when I largely abandoned this type of communications eight years ago.

No, I don't think I'll begin Twittering and tweeting. Call me old fashioned if you like, I don't think I like that pace. I have complete control of my own life and answer to no one, and though some might find that lonely I call the open options empowering. I'm fine, just curious. :)

The Start Page

Once again I am working on the Start Page. I added some text at the bottom suggesting that others copy the source code and create their own version, building from scratch will always be better than using the one-size-fits-all templates given by the big portals. Yes, mine is just another template if you will, I know that and no I don't fancy myself another Google or Yahoo...

I'm going to be spending a lot more time on the Start Page and on the site in general because of DirecTV. They began billing me for things I hadn't ordered so I called to complain. Their automated voice-jail got me so frustrated and angry that instead of complaining and asking for a refund I just cancelled. I was very abrupt with the customer service rep and began by telling him that if he started into a sales pitch trying to persuade me not to cancel that I would scream obscenities at him until he got back to the cancellation process. I wouldn't be surprised if the tape of that call got played at their next sales meeting.

So all I'm left with is the free basic cable that comes with Comcast's broadband which is extremely basic. There are 22 channels, but half are Spanish language, three are shopping channels so all there is left are the local broadcast channels plus C-SPAN. I'll probably order a premium Comcast package eventually but until then I'll get a lot more done on the Andilinks site.

Britney Spears

Many years ago I made a series of pages on pop stars, there were about thirty. Britney was the first, and while the pages did get a lot of traffic they were a lot of work to maintain and this was cutting into the time I could devote to the rest of the site. So I removed those pages but about a year later I accidentally uploaded the Britney page. It began getting traffic again so I left it.

Now that Brit is back in the news in a good way (mostly) the page began getting traffic again so I revamped it.

I like Britney, I enjoy her work and I wish her well.

Green-eco-organic-vegan-etc

I've collected two or four pages of Green-Eco Apparel retailers and these will be on the site in a few days. They range from the mildly green, having just added a new line of organic fabrics, to the stridently vegan. I'm not trying to grade them, I'll just throw them all together.

I've also found that there are a huge number of green directories and I may add a page or two just for those. Either they all list nearly the same sites or I could expand the Green Apparel section to six pages. But I don't think these will draw much traffic so I'll settle for two and see how that goes. I just can't predict which pages Google will like but anything having to do with shoes or size seems to go over big. So maybe I'll expand shoes again soon.

Men's Shoes

I have added two pages of Men's Shoes (89 listings) and a page of "About Shoes (36 listings)," which are blogs, information sites and videos about shoes. Since the shoe section is doing extremely well I'll be adding to it and refining it more than any other section. I expect that not only will I be adding to the "About Shoes" page I will be using it a lot too.

Just like last year, the Sunday after Black Friday is the best day of November and may well be the best day of the year. I am hoping that more people are shopping online this year.

The case for reparation payments to descendants of slaves.

Under most economic situations large cash payments to huge segments of lower income people would be highly disruptive and extremely inflationary, but our current and unique situation is not likely to repeat during our lifetimes and would be ideal for such payments.

Paying reparations to the descendants of former slaves would be a good way to effect an economic stimulus and get the reparations issue off the table. President-elect Obama did say he wanted to do something very big quickly as a stimulus and likely he and his team will.

I'd have some trouble seeing Michael Jordan and Oprah collecting reparations, but if there were a means test, say a net worth under 300,000, I'm all for reparations to slave descendants but it would have to be done quickly to be a stimulus package. It would also bailout the big three automakers and a lot better than just dumping $25B on them. Just throw a Chevy Ford or Chrysler into each reparations package.

Reparations payments unfortunately would precipitate the "mother of all inflationary spikes" and some recipients would claim the inflation was a conspiracy to rob them of their money. So I think including a new Big Three car as part of the deal would soften the blow of the inevitable inflation and incidentally bail out the big three. The inflation would also solve the mortgage crisis because all the homes now underwater would emerge, wet but above water.

The inflation spike wouldn't begin when payments are made though, it would begin much sooner. The moment they looked likely people and governments worldwide would immediately start dumping dollars so it would have to be sprung as a surprise so those getting the payments would get the greatest benefits. Double reparations should be offered to those who commit to three years in the military or Peace Corps.

However, springing a full-blown reparations plan on the nation without selling the idea first would be a very bad first move for Obama, he would immediately be perceived as governing as a black man and not a President of all the people. The reaction from the public would be worse than the initial reaction to Treasury Secretary Paulson’s $700 bln bailout for the banks. So it probably won’t happen, even though it would solve many problems, it would create others and perhaps bring out the worst in some people.

On a related subject that would be thrown into the reparations debate I have heard it said that blacks are not capable of racism or its corollary group-think because they do not control the means of production. This is nonsense and nothing but a carefully crafted fraud designed to keep blacks in the status of a perpetually victimized class. By establishing that various concepts like group-think and racism can only be practiced by one race and not the other it is possible to perpetuate a race-based privilege. That is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment ironically designed to protect blacks from such discrimination, but by establishing that there can be race based concepts even the election of an African American President cannot shake the idea that this group is oppressed.

Reparations would blow that argument off the table, but that is not likely a motivation Barak Obama would consider for the payments so that could not be used as an argument to sell the idea to the American public. Probably a hard sell even as an economic stimulus package, and selling the idea would raise awareness around the world that the value of the dollar would be diluted. Dilution would occur with any stimulus, and a Paul Volker type of clamping down on the money supply will occur rather quickly after a recovery begins in any case so reparations as a stimulus package would cause more problems for a new Obama Administration that their likely to want.

So, even though this may be a perfect moment for reparations in some respects it would cause huge political problems for the new President. Probably worse than the gays-in-the-military thing was for Clinton.

Honesty, Racial Politics, and the "About Shoes" Page

I recently engaged in a discussion on the forum linked in this post's title. I want to archive my thoughts here and not there so I will synopsize and paraphrase the other participant's posts so as not to violate any copyrights or moral rights, but I am including their thoughts only in as much as they are needed to give credit where credit is due and provide coherence to my own words which I will also rewrite, but for the purpose of improvement, not copyright.

I have been editing and rewiting this material between running personal errands and doing my daily exercise and workout and it is turning into a larger task than I had anticipated . But I do plan to work more on this today as well as finishing up a new directory category, "About Shoes"

Housing bubbles

The failures that have occurred are partly the fault of those responsible for teaching history. Housing bubbles collapse with disastrous results often, this has been happening for a very long time. It happened in Southern California in 1990, I was there.

The current crisis is the most massive that has ever occurred but it is a well worn and familiar pattern to anyone who takes the trouble to read the history of land speculation and speculative bubbles in general. No one person or group of people engineered the crisis. Certainly many saw it occurring and allowed it to happen but most who were benefiting did not realize they were climbing out on a very dangerous limb.

Executives in the failed firms who made many millions over the past several years have strong ties to both political parties and will get away with their crimes with the possible exception of an unlucky scapegoat or two. Indeed they will not even be villified and in some cases will be called upon to perform heroic deeds to save us from our "plight." Which they knowingly caused. Trying to blame one person, party, or group is futile because so many were involved.

The accounting structures used to hide toxic assets before this crisis were very similar to those used in the Enron scandal so if you need to spill someone's blood (a metaphor) over this I suggest following the money. Where did it go?

If any crime in recent history deserves harsh punishment destroying the world economy should qualify.

Handcrafted Jewelry

I have found a large number of new (to me) Handcrafted Jewelry sites and will be incorporating these into my listings very soon. It's sad that I didn't find these sooner because so many are independant artists depending on Christmas sales.

Obama again

It was not an intellectual decision, if we had only their resumes before us and couldn't take the measure of the two men while they were before us thinking on their feet, McCain would have won. The strong desire for the more articulate and bright candidate is certainly a lingering effect of the embarrassment we have suffered with GWB for the last eight years.

If executive experience were the criterion guiding our decisions we'd have gone with Sarah Palin because she has more executive experience than all three others combined. Bill Clinton was right Obama was a roll of the dice, we rolled and won.

It was a decision from the heart, not the head. Risk taking is in our DNA, we're Americans. We or our ancestors risked everything to come here. Yes, even that strong wandering stock that walked here from Asia 10,000 years ago--it's the same American risk taking heritage. We shouldn't count our chickens before they hatch though, no matter how well Obama does we'll never know what "might have been..."

There is an interesting argument to be made comparing the acheivements of the descendents of slaves vs. African Americans who are not. e.g. Barak Obama and Colin Powell vs. Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas. Some say that the slave lineage carries a resentment that cannot be shaken on the left, only on the political right. Certainly immigrants from the Carribean and Africa seem to follow a different path from those descended from slaves. Who may say that I have no right to even discuss such things, it's a black thing, I just can't understand. Well no, I'm sorry. It's an American thing and I don't just have a right to discuss this I have a duty and responsibility to try to understand it.

About Shoes

After all those political posts I have to report on the progress I'm making with the site. I'm working on shoes again and the new progress won't be visible for a few days but I've found a lot of new listings. I'm thinking about three new pages, Mens Shoes, Boots and About Shoes. I need to have a separate page for shoe blogs and shoe information sites because these are crowding the regular listings.

I did create a job listings directory which is helpful for the times we're in but I thought of it because the Sample Cover Letter page is now getting a lot of traffic. No one has yet clicked through to Jobs from the Cover Letter Page but the Jobs pages have just entered the Google index yesterday and have begun getting traffic from there.