Dazed & Confused: Balloon, Unemployment & Inflation Confound

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Maybe the title should be ‘Dazed and TOTALLY Confused.’

Of course the title came from the 1993 movie of the same name and the movie was certainly funnier than what’s actually going on in the news currently. That’s not to say the constant barrage of news is funny, but it sure leads one to be dazed on a daily basis. Trying to make sense it all is truly confusing.

So what are we talking about?

The Balloon

Let’s start with the “big one.” The balloon. It seems a large Chinese spy balloon found its way from China to the U.S, spent a bit of time over sensitive missile command bases, and then flew over to the east coast where it was……”deflated.” It may have had a nice safe journey were it not for some very clear weather over Montana where it was spotted by a few alert cowboys. Then the media took over. How did it get here? Why didn’t the military shoot it down? How long has this been going on? Etc, etc.

Dazed yet?

Here’s the confused part. Immediately voices cried these Chinese balloon “excursions” have happened before but were UNDETECTED. Huh? If they were undetected how do you know they happened? Were the balloons confused as UFOs but are now really spy balloons?

I’m confused.

Unemployment

Which brings up the next news event. Friday it was announced the economy added 517,000 jobs last month with the employment rate dropping to 3.4%. That 517K beat every estimate by 2.5 times. No one saw it coming. BUT, after it was announced, “everyone” could explain WHY it happened. Huh? If you can explain WHY something happened shouldn’t you be able to see it coming?

Totally confused.

Inflation

On that note, inflation talk abounds. Inflation is easing. Inflation is going to rise. The Fed will ‘fix” inflation. A year or so ago, inflation was non-existent. No sign of inflation anywhere. Oh wait. Well, yes, there is inflation (understatement) but it’s “transitory”. Oh wait. It’s NOT transitory. Huh? Now the very same folks who missed all that assure us that they will “fix” what didn’t exist.

Super confused.

Which brings us back full circle. If previous spy balloons went undetected, huge employment numbers went undetected and inflation went undetected, what will finally be DETECTED? 

Dazed and confused is an understatement.

Maybe getting the real “scoop” comes from TikTok. And now they may ban it. Now I’m really confused.