The Federal Reserve put its finger on the trigger at September's FOMC meeting, proclaiming to the world that QE II could very well be at hand. As discussed in THE CONTRARIAN TAKE’s September Monetary Watch, as scripted by Bernanke at Jackson Hole, the FOMC, citing deteriorating economic conditions and subdued price [...]

The Austrian take on where we are on the monetary inflation front and what’s next… Where We Are The money supply aggregates based on the Austrian definition of the money supply (TMS) surged in August, with broad TMS2, THE CONTRARIAN TAKE’s preferred money supply metric, up an annualized 9.5%.  The more important [...]

The Austrian take on where we are on the monetary inflation front and what’s next… Where We Are The money supply aggregates based on the Austrian definition of the money supply (TMS) slipped in July, with broad TMS2, THE CONTRARIAN TAKE’s preferred money supply metric, down an annualized 2.6%.  However, the more [...]

Contrary to the popular consensus, monetary inflation is alive and well and quite possibly set to accelerate. The Austrian take on where we are and what's next... Where We Are The money supply aggregates based on the Austrian definition of the money supply (TMS) surged in June, up 15.6% annualized on narrow TMS1 [...]

Retirement village? Assisted living? Co-housing? Age-restricted or aging-in-place communities? Inter-generational cooperative? This space has explored many of the growing varieties of housing choices for boomers and elders when the time comes to downsize, rightsize, clear out or economize. Here's a new one that's making the news: think global. Even with (and [...]

Who actually likes performance reviews? Gen Y, turns out:

Ms. Reder agrees that employees are usually thirsty for feedback. She has observed that those new to the work force want it most. “One thing that’s very consistent when we look at generation Y is that they are constantly looking [...]

The 97th Tour de France finished yesterday and it was a stellar one, with an epic showdown for the yellow jersey, a celebration of 100 years of cycling in the Pyrenees, the cementing of Mark Cavendish's deserved rep as the most dominant sprinter on the block and [...]

I do a sport that results in a lot of broken toes.  What I've learned is this: once a toe is broken, it will break more easily in the future until having a broken toe becomes a regular part of life.  This is, I believe,  why God invented sports tape. Broken [...]

http://vimeo.com/9696629 Cannonball is a short film focused on a very specific side effect of The Great Recession: A glut of foreclosed homes in Fresno, California, and tons of empty swimming pools that have attracted legions of the city's skateboarders. Armed with sump pumps and skate decks, the subjects in Cannonball provide [...]

Well, it's true. Women are shoe-obsessed, according to a British study of 3,000 women:

In analyzing the spending of some 3,000 women, a British pollster finds the average female buys seven new pairs of shoes a year, and for a 67-year period. At close to $400 annually [...]