| The story of the day is how fast the bear market in social mood is taking control. Across global markets and of the culture at large, previously cited bear market phenomena are asserting themselves. As the quote above and the last 18 months of Socio Times entries indicate, this is a departure from the rate of change over the last several months. Until recently, the deliberate pace of the transition to decline was one of its most prominent aspects. But the article at left illustrates a sudden bear market burst. Late last year, lenders resisted the urge to call in loans and pull in the credit reins. Just last Friday, The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast, revealed the new willingness, and already USA Today is blasting out word of cinching credit standards on its front page.
The article includes a story, which newspaper readers might as well get used to; they are going to see it over and over again. In this case, the focus is Betty Jean James, a 70-year-old, retired glass inspector living on Social Security. Two years ago, she refinanced her home where she's lived for 25 years. Her payments started at $1,032 but have since climbed – to $1,761. James fell behind two months ago and is facing foreclosure. She says, the mortgage broker "explained to me he could refinance the house, and he did. He didn't explain the interest rate could go up." So, yes, it’s safe to say, the great credit crunch is bearing down like never before.
There are many other signs of a quickening pace, like this update to last week’s entry on Britney Spears:
Britney: "I'm The Antichrist"
Friends of Britney Spears have revealed the singer scrawled the devil's digits, 666, over her bald head and screamed "I'm the Antichrist" in rehab last weekend.
One pal told the News Of The World, "Later that night she tried to kill herself. She attached a sheet to a light and tied it around her neck. Paramedics were called but luckily she was unhurt."
Friends say Britney's apparent suicide attempt was just a cry for help rather than a serious bid to end it all.
SLJ
On the one hand, the behavior might be an excellent career move; bear markets love anti-heroes, and Britney seems to be making a bid for this category. Of course, it can have the unwanted side effect of amplifying the celebrity death spiral covered last Thursday.
On Friday, we covered a possible bull market -- in gang activity. Here’s the story that turned up in today’s local paper:
White Supremacy Gangs Clout Rising
Public Enemy No.1 is a white supremacist gang that began two decades ago as a group of teenage punk-rock fans from upper middle class communities in Southern California.
According to authorities, this violent gang is dealing in drugs, guns and identity theft and gaining clout across the West. Their clout rose after they forged alliance with the Aryan Brotherhood. As a sign of just how bold Public Enemy has become they have compiled a "hit list", that is targeting five officers and a gang prosecutor.
"They make police officers very, very nervous," said Cpl. Nate Booth, a gang detective with the Buena Park Police Department.
Associated Press
And here’s a piece that concurs with our February 5 write-up, “Super Bowl TV Spots Tap Into a Vein of Anxiety and Fear:”
Commentary: Time for TV Detox
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large
WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- The bilious index is up in America as television commercials resort to mindless anger to sell their wares. A Snickers ad featured two plug-ugly bruisers chomping at either end of a candy bar until their lips touched and kissed accidentally -- and then quickly tearing clumps of hair from their chests to prove their virility.
TV "shockvertising" is now an "edgy" amalgam of someone zapped by a meteorite while waiting to disembark at his office on the moon; real car crashes; passengers side-swiped and tossed around like crash-test dummies; a car that terrorizes and attacks a lovesome pink piggy bank; everybody slaps each other hard in the face; a guy throws a rock at somebody's head; a couple driving at night pick up a hitchhiker carrying a large ax (and some beer), followed later by a second hitchhiker with a chainsaw; a sky diver sans parachute throws himself out of a plane to chase a six-pack of beer.
UPI
The columnist notes that the National Institute of Mental Health says there are now about 16 million suffering from “explosive rage disorder.” Given the numbers, the uptick in crime seems relatively spotty, (see July 17 entry), so far.
But one locally generated story about teenage girl bank robbers indicates (“Police Nab 'Barbie Bank Bandits' Suspects,” CBS News March 2) that this may also be changing fast. The girls parents say they are nice girls, and they don’t know what on earth got into them. Blame it on the inescapable pull of the most powerful phase of the bear market.
POSTSCRIPT from Tiane: Comcast has been airing a TV commercial in Atlanta, Georgia, in which co-workers at an office lacking cable-modem hi-speed internet grow increasingly surly. At the end of the ad, shots are heard as office workers jump out of the way. I thought this bizarre ad would be pulled, but I've seen it several times since the SuperBowl too. Note today's news about an office shooting in California -- "Disgruntled Employee Wounds 3 Co-workers, Kills Self at California Printing Company." |
