One should never gamble on the Federal Reserve, but I tend to lean towards a neutral bias today. We'll see if I'm right or wrong. A lot of analysts are hinting at 50 basis points. They must be looking at data that the rest of us don't have or they're just thinking wishfully. Consumer spending did pick up, though it's still anemic. But inflation is here, big time. Which way do you change rates? My guess is you don't.

Update: They cut by 50 - and Wall Street took it as a non-event.

Had a look at the online photos for Miss Universe 2001. So sue me. Found it a bit amusing that the Italian representative was blonde and the Netherlands choice had dark hair.

The Supremes shot down medicinal pot. That's OK because it was a farce anyway, though I do agree there are people who could benefit from it. Let's go back and start over. Legalize it completely. This time let's come up with a better tag line. Let's do it for the economy. First, bring all that black market money back to where it's taxable again. And in this pro-business administration, who better to lobby for the legalization effort than Hostess and Granny Goose and Jack in the Box? Maybe even NordicTrack. Think what would happen to these industries if fifty million baby boomers switched back from alcohol (which they don't really like, but it's a buzz and it's legal) to ghanja. Think how much the government could rake in on personal use or the so-called "sin" tax. Maybe enough to hand out an income tax credit wiping out taxes for several million of the destitute. Isn't this a more compelling argument than "medical neccessity"? There, I just told you how to get the rich, the middle class, and the poor behind the effort. Who's left? Congress. And who do they listen to?

First USA VISA has a new twist on screwing customers. Received a letter today, otherwise looking like junk mail that basically stated their privacy policy was changing and unless I called a number and opted out, they could share just about anything they know about me (lots), with basically anybody else. So I called the number to opt out. At the end, the automated system indicated my request was being processed, and that it could take "up to 90 days" to become effective. In other words they've given themselves the legal right to share my personal info (like my spending history, what stores, what I bought, how much, etc.) with anybody they wish and I can't stop them for 90 days. So let's say they give the info to somebody today, what happens in 90 days, does the other party give it back, or are they allowed to keep it? What if they copied it to another database? Seems to me the genie's out of the bottle and you can't put it back. These guys are real bastards. They invented the concept of giving you 5 days to pay your bill after it was mailed to you and to hold onto it without opening the envelope for an extra day so they could collect extra penalties. I stopped using their card, but held onto it "just in case". Should've nuked the account. I will now...