So How Fragile IS the Economy?

Macy's in Holladay is finally closing.  Congratulations, Holladay, you've finished the job of turning a regional mall into a cow pasture.  For those of you keeping score, Macy's is also closing the Layton Hills store and the stores at the Three Rivers Mall in Kelso and the Everett Mall.  Sixty-eight stores, over 10,000 jobs.  Lowe's is chopping 2,400 full-time employees in effort to cut costs by using more part-time workers, in the further Walmartification of the US job market.  The Limited has filed Chapter 11, but it isn't reorganizing, it's liquidating.  American Apparel is gone, along with its 110 stores.  Albertsons is shutting down stores all over the territory.  Sears is closing the Vernal, Layton, and Tacoma K-Marts and the Alderwood Mall Sears (I'm waiting for the K-Mart next to Ivy Place to go.).  And in local tech news, Endurance International Group, which went public in 2013 and is still trading below the IPO price, is closing its Bluehost business in Orem (I wonder if Governor Available is going to mention that while bragging about all the jobs he's brought in.).

These aren't just lost jobs.  They're a sign that people aren't buying because they can't buy.  And as more people lose their jobs, more people can't buy.  That's called "spinning in."

Slaps on the Wrist

US, UK, and Swiss regulators have slapped fines against Chase, Citi, Bank of America, UBS, RBS, and HSBC for turning forex trading into a fraud factory for their own benefit.  The fines total US$ 4.3 billion, trumpeted as the heaviest penalties in history.  The traders involved have been shown the door, along with one of the forex chairs at the Bank of England.  And the fact that this crap is being touted as some sort of regulatory triumph shows just how messed up the system is.

First, this scam went on for years, the players were brazenly communicating their activities with each other, and no one did a thing.  Second, the forex market trades over US$ 5 trillion per day.  Even if these banks took only 0.1% commissions (HA!) and held just 10% of the market (They're well north of that.), the fines would amount to less than two weeks of commissions.  Third, once again only the little people have been punished while the players who make the policies that created these crimes remain in place.  It would be as if Donald Segretti took all the blame for Watergate and everyone else got to stay in the White House.

The game is rigged.  Makes you want to run right out and put your retirement in the market, doesn't it.