Not much of a blizzard here so far ...
Tuesday 1:00 PM -- I woke up to the sounds of snowplows scraping along 4th Avenue. In the distance the sounds of sirens and buses were heard. The streets are basically deserted. Some people are taking the day off, others working from home. Many areas will have coastal flooding, especially after the full moon Sunday night. The temperatures are rising into the 30's so I'm looking at a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. This is very wet heavy snow to move. The storm is expected to end by 5 PM. Stay tuned ...
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant (pi).
Hey! You Can Find Pi With a Random Walk. Here's How
Wired - March 14, 2017
Let's Calculate Pi on a Raspberry Pi to Celebrate Pi Day
Wired - March 14, 2017
Albert Einstein was considered one
of the greatest physicists of all time.
refer to reality, they are not certain,
and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Will the debt ceiling be raised again? In 2015, instead of setting a specific dollar cap on the U.S. borrowing authority, Congress opted to suspend the debt ceiling altogether until March 15, 2017 allowing borrowing to continue while also punting responsibility to a new president and a new set of legislative leaders. The debt ceiling on Thursday will reset at America's total outstanding level on that day, which is estimated by the Bipartisan Policy Institute - a Washington think tank - to be around $20 trillion. To avoid missing payments, Treasury will then enact its extraordinary measures until if and when Congress moves to raise the debt ceiling. The Congressional Budget Office estimates those measures will allow Treasury to pay its bills in full and on time until this fall when those efforts will be completely exhausted. The debt ceiling showdown is the first of Donald Trump's presidency, coming just more than two months into his first term. While it's an issue that's popped up exactly 15 times before, sources told Fox News it presents a unique situation for the president since, at the same time, he is fighting for an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act and has vowed to pursue aggressive tax-policy overhaul. Those sources said there is concern among Republican members of Congress that GOP leadership may be burning its capital on efforts to repeal and replace the ACA as larger, pressing issues loom in the future including a must-act deadline for the debt ceiling in the fall and a potential government shutdown in April. - Fox Business
Will the Fed raise interests rates? YES. A Fed hike would bring its target range for overnight rates to 0.75 percent to 1 percent. Central bank officials have indicated that three increases are likely this year, though positive economic data and other indicators are spurring talk of more aggressive moves. - CNBC
Email from my friend Dean ....
If the Fed raises interest rates as expected this week, that means the banks will raise their rates as well. If the debt ceiling is not raised, then those who owe $$ on mortgages or large debt will be squeezed. There will less cash / credit to spend and the economy will shrink. Trump will blame Obama; Congress will blame the Fed; and the Fed will blame Trump. It's called 'pass the buck'.
There was already a housing bubble (and maybe another on the way). But, there was a story recently on the retail bubble now bursting. Stores over extended their retail footprint. As people shop more online, it has triggered a retracting of those large retail businesses such as Macy's who recently laid off 3,900 people. And, as stores retract and have less money to spend, it leads to shrinkage of inventories and less support of vendors. And, we all hate shrinkage - in either freezing snow or the economy ! hahaha
Beware the Ides of March
I came, I saw, I conquered.
