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* The CPI came out this morning with inflation numbers, and it was a yawner. Not much inflation out there. Yes, energy is expensive. But that's having a bigger impact on where consumers direct their money. Look at the price cutting going on from retailers, restaurants and casinos. I've been eyeing a new LCD monitor, myself...
* The latest diet craze in Australia? CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet. It's another low-carb, high-protein diet. But while the diet has found plenty of fans, it has also come under fire for recommending nearly half a pound of red meat be eaten four times a week. YEESH. NO THANKS!
* Delta and Northwest file Chapter 11, and that was a mighty big tremor that just shook the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. No doubt the airlines will try to offload their pensions on to the PBGC. Remember back in the day, these big airlines would charge you $1000 to fly from coast-to-coast. Now the discounters out there are doing the job for $200. So the big airlines have had to slash costs to compete, but they've got so many big union salary, benefits and pension deals out there that make it such that they just can't do it.
* LA Governor Blanco decided she wasn't going to let President Bush get all the glory for taking responsibility for Hurricane Katrina. Blanco says "NOT SO FAST, BUSHIE! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" No word if New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will let himself be upstaged by this, or if he will announce that it's all his fault.
* The markets? The September Swoon seems underway. Lots of folks on that bandwagon (including me), so that's a reason to be wary of it. But, I have to go with it for now. I remain invested, but looking to get more aggressive if folks get really pessimistic. I'm looking for something in the neighborhood of 1200 on the SP500 on a pullback. Plus or minus a bit. But instead of looking for a specific number, I'm just watching my market-timing indicators. Which, seem to be asleep right now.
* Good grief. Check this out. Billy Bob Thorton, Virginia Madsen, and Bruce Willis in The Astronaut Farmer. Why not "Bad Astronaut?" Sounds like a bad movie. The Warner Independent Pictures story centers on an eccentric farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) who dreams of space travel and sets out to build a rocket in his barn. His neighbors consider him an oddity, the government thinks he is a threat and the media see him as a story.
* Britney Spears had a baby boy. Maybe this should be the most important bullet of this blog entry.
* Anti-cancer compound found in beans, nuts, cereals. People who eat a lot of these things probably tend to be thinner than those who don't, wouldn't you think?
* We must be near the end of the Reality Show era. I see that Fox is going to have a show that just gives recaps of other reality shows.
* I haven't heard where the NBA's New Orleans Hornets plan on playing this year.
* AOL is adding a podcast search. Google added a blog search. Power to the people, baby.
* Did you see the pictures of President Bush from yesterday? Looks like he colored his hair.
* So, if the US government is dropping at least $62B on the Gulf to recover from Hurricane Katrina, where is that money coming from? Debt, obviously. The Democrats will call for tax hikes, since that's their solution for just about everything. The Republicans don't seem too concerned about where it comes from; heck, they probably want to cut taxes to stimulate the economy and create more government revenue, right? One idea I read about was what if each state cut back on one pork-project? I doubt this will happen, and I doubt we'll raise taxes. So, more debt..