Seeley Lake (without the fires)
I see that the Flathead Beacon has some very good coverage of which schools will be getting budget cuts, and by how much.
I wish the Missoulian had this level of detailed coverage, but our corporate paper is shoddy at best.
Let’s get to our economic forecasts.
I told you back in January that the Dow would reach 22,000 and sure enough, it looks like it will either today or the next or sometime this week.
I told you that the Euro would be at the 0.85 range, and that’s where it sits today.
Gold is still at the $1,200-level, though I expect that’ll fall as well.
Oil is at $48 a barrel, down from the $55 it was at in January.
My assessment of nursing home stocks was correct.
Welltower went from $68 in January up to $77 last month before falling down to $72 or so. Brookdale and the Ensign Group have seen gains, but small...though both did shoot up after December.
Pharmaceuticals was another I told you to keep your eye on.
Roche went from $29 to $34 at the end of June before falling to around $31. Gilead didn’t really go anywhere but down until getting back to where it was.
One I didn’t mention were the marijuana stocks. I can’t help but feel that’ll be a good, long-term investment in some states.
But please remember, I’m not an investor, nor do I have money to invest. I just look at demographics and how this might affect the economy.
Something else that might affect the economy is war.
The Dow hitting 22,000 is an ominous sign. I’m sure that’ll be the signal for the crash to occur, or the war to start.
Seems we’re pretty much going to war with North Korea again.
We’re in the process of building an $11 billion base there that’ll hold 45,000 people.
I’m not a big fan of war, but what do you do when a country keeps lobbing missles towards ya?
The media was quite adamant on this last one that it could’ve reached Denver.
How much of that is truth and how much of it is bullshit?
I dunno, but war isn’t going to help most of us. It’ll sure distract from fixing this country’s problems, I know that.
I wish the Missoulian had this level of detailed coverage, but our corporate paper is shoddy at best.
Let’s get to our economic forecasts.
I told you back in January that the Dow would reach 22,000 and sure enough, it looks like it will either today or the next or sometime this week.
I told you that the Euro would be at the 0.85 range, and that’s where it sits today.
Gold is still at the $1,200-level, though I expect that’ll fall as well.
Oil is at $48 a barrel, down from the $55 it was at in January.
My assessment of nursing home stocks was correct.
Welltower went from $68 in January up to $77 last month before falling down to $72 or so. Brookdale and the Ensign Group have seen gains, but small...though both did shoot up after December.
Pharmaceuticals was another I told you to keep your eye on.
Roche went from $29 to $34 at the end of June before falling to around $31. Gilead didn’t really go anywhere but down until getting back to where it was.
One I didn’t mention were the marijuana stocks. I can’t help but feel that’ll be a good, long-term investment in some states.
But please remember, I’m not an investor, nor do I have money to invest. I just look at demographics and how this might affect the economy.
Something else that might affect the economy is war.
The Dow hitting 22,000 is an ominous sign. I’m sure that’ll be the signal for the crash to occur, or the war to start.
Seems we’re pretty much going to war with North Korea again.
We’re in the process of building an $11 billion base there that’ll hold 45,000 people.
I’m not a big fan of war, but what do you do when a country keeps lobbing missles towards ya?
The media was quite adamant on this last one that it could’ve reached Denver.
How much of that is truth and how much of it is bullshit?
I dunno, but war isn’t going to help most of us. It’ll sure distract from fixing this country’s problems, I know that.
I see that Seeley Lake is being evacuated due to the bad air quality.
There are several fires in the thousands-of-acre-range now.
Welcome to Montana summers.
We also saw yesterday that Matt Rosendale joined about 4 or 5 other GOPers to challenge Tester next year.
He's smart. He might not win against Tester, but he'll build a vaster network of donors, and give himself a lot more options come 2020 and beyond. It'll be good for his son's political ambitions as well.
I see a win-win here for Rosendale, and that's even if he loses.
I think Rosendale has the best shot, so far, of all those GOPers.
Isn’t he a millionaire like Tester is? That always helps.
I don’t see either of those two men helping my life, which is while I’ll probably vote for the libertarian or just stay home.
I am excited to see if we can get a primary challenger for Tester, and a real one, not some backroom-chosen-hack that’s only there so Tester can raise more money since he’d now have a primary.
Democrats love to throw these paper tigers out there.
It's why they have no bench to speak of. They must truly be scared that a primary challenger could win. Montana history gives us plenty of examples to prove this, as you've read on this site before.
Whether it's a Jerry O'Connell or a Leif Erickson or even a Tom Judge, these out-of-left-fielders can often get it done.
I think it costs about $1,700 to file to run for federal office, so that puts it out of reach for most of us.
I expect the filing deadline is in March or so, maybe earlier. If March, then you’d have 8 months to raise that.
That comes out to over $200 a month you’d have to raise...and that just so you could file to run.
Could a regular Joe-blow actually go that route, and then, with a real stand-out message, take out Tester?
Only in America could that be done, we have to believe that.
It’s what the American Dream is all about, it’s what the idea of this country was all about.
Anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it and work hard.
Or is that no longer true?
Because if it’s not, don’t you think we have some serious, serious problems?
I mean, hell - why even get up in the morning if no matter how hard you work, you can’t get ahead?
A lot of people feel that way right now.
I don’t expect Tester or Rosendale’s words are going to change how they feel.
So Tester and Rosendale will ignore those voters and bash everyone with ads and mailers and social media spam, while sticking to safe-zone rallies where a miniscule fraction of their base can attend, knowing for a few brief moments that, yes, their zeal is matched by others.
Could a regular Montanan with no money and no name recognition and no chance at media attention actually come in and topple that established-way-of-doing-things-applecart?
My God I’d like to think so, and My God, it’d be great to see!
So if any of you are feelin’ lucky, why not break out that piggy bank and start saving?
I bet you could pull in $200 this month, and next too.
And just think of the impact that’d make, the feathers it’d ruffle, and the attention it’d get.
A statewide run would be easy after that, a legislative run pure cake.
It’s how the bench is made, and you could be the star player sitting on it come 2020.
So start saving. We need people like you, we need ‘em bad.
