The best laid plans... The violins are late. The street went dead. The net went dead. Spent the day re-arranging merchandise in near total solitude. Think I've got the rental stuff pretty much under control. Weak on trombones and saxes. To be fair I've got close to a dozen trombones but I don't want those foul horns associated with the store. When the two or three good ones are gone I'll put the old ones in hiding. I can probably keep enough saxes around for a couple of weeks, but they don't pay for themselves for close to two years. It's always dis-heartening knowing in advance where you'll lose business this year and can't do much about it. If Christmas is ok, that'll fund this sector for a better showing next year. Any excess fall profits are already slated for amps. Big freaking amps.

So it all kind of falls in a timeline. I'm expecting a significant boost in business this year, but it's nothing compared to what I'm aiming for next year. The new Yellow Pages don't land for another month or two. So this entire rental season is still working off the old and barely noticeable ad.

But it's all about next year anyway. I'm even going to rent out the colored clarinets which will give me instant name recognition with all the kids. They will likely have their instruments for this year by then, but when they're ready to buy one, they'll remember the colored clarinets at Mountain View Music.

Not to be outdone by the pope, her royal majesty bestowed an honorary knighthood on Sir Greenspan. Sir Alan wouldn't do him justice. This is just a wild thought, but you suppose the old gal is on a knighthood binge because she's getting those kinds of affairs in order for retirement? Oh, I suppose tossing out a knight's medallion or whatever it is once in a while helps keep the loyalty of the royal subjects. But like her grandson is now around the age she was when she took the throne. The best thing that could happen to the monarchy is if the old lady abdicates, and Chuckie hands it directly to Billy. You're right - that won't happen. Chuckie has groomed himself for this job from the get-go. Such a shame that at fifty-something(?) he has never shown any ability to lead anything. Course mum's no good at it either. And they have nothing to lead but a few processions meant to remember the glory days of the empire. They don't seem to add any discernible value to the republic.

Wonder what China is doing with all the money... They're much worse than Microsoft - they can dominate any market they desire. It all started with AK-47's back in the eighties. Then came the ban on assault rifles and they were reaping speculative money for an entire year before it passed. That gave them a taste for big money. They sold millions of the things for a hundred bucks each. Now they're building strips of manufacturing plants all over China, though Shanghai is the visible center. They can make anything. And they can make it for less than any other workforce in the world.

It's obvious looking at my own store that for American production of anything to survive, there's no stopping a lowering of wages. Our stuff might be worth twice as much as everybody else's - but ten times as much? That's pushing it. My customers will only buy something for ten times as much if it's ten times better. Then again, I shudder to think what the political winds might blow in. A protracted trade war with China would change my business overnight. 90% of my products unavailable. Now that would sure suck. Oh but it gets worse, because of the remaining 10% of stuff I get from elsewhere on the globe, 90% of them depend on Chinese goods for at least some part of their operations. I'm positive for instance that the plastic bottle your shampoo comes in is made in mainland China. They've slowly captured so many markets that to threaten sanctions is completely laughable. American commerce would pretty much STOP. That's not a very good position for us to be in.