Friday Lite

This edition of Friday Lite will be used mostly to review some pictures from our Canada trip in recent weeks - full operational and cognitive capabilities have not yet been restored after what was truly a wonderful time away from home.

There are just a few non-vacation items to be dispensed with first.

The Dissenter

Jeffrey Lacker of the Richmond branch of the Federal Reserve has become popular in the weeks since he disagreed with all the other Fed Heads, voting for another Baby Step upward as short term interest rates were left unchanged last month. He was interviewed recently by USAToday and had this to say about the Fed's credibility in fighting the inflation that the Fed creates.

Q: Are you worried that the Fed could lose its inflation-fighting credibility?

A: I'm very concerned. And it's not a big black or white thing, losing our credibility. I think that everyone believes we wouldn't let the '70s happen again. But an erosion from 1.5(%), to let inflation, core inflation, drift from 1.5% up to 3%, I'm not sure people are convinced we wouldn't let that happen, and I think we ought to take action to prevent that notion from becoming lodged in peoples' minds.

I'm not sure that people believe anything that anyone at the Fed says about inflation. One, two, three percent core inflation - people are starting to catch on Mr. Lacker. Calculate inflation like it was calculated in the 1970s and the 1970s are happening again.

Note that in the photo above, core inflation is being indicated by the one-inch separation between thumb and index finger - Mr. Lacker's finger and thumb have been hedonically adjusted through the years, along with the reporting of changes to consumer prices, to ensure that the separation does not widen.

CAR Introduces New "Pro-Forma" Affordability Index

In what is a sure sign of a top, the California Association of Realtors yesterday released their new affordability index that has been rejiggered to make California homes more affordable at current sky-high prices.

The percentage of first-time buyers in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 23 percent in the second quarter of 2006, compared with 30 percent for the same period a year ago, according to a newly developed index released today by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.).

As noted over at Out at the Peak, an affordability index in the sub-ten percent range month after month had become a bit embarrassing to continue on with, so this new and improved methodology has been introduced to make things seem better.

Analogous to pro-forma earnings for companies with not enough real profits to justify share prices, first popularized just before the stock market bubble burst a few years back, the new housing affordability index is ideally suited for a real estate market with not enough real affordability to justify current prices.

Twice in Two Months

The second time is only slightly less entertaining than the first. That is, seeing the name of this blog in the Market Beat section of the online edition of the Wall Street Journal has amused once again (it surely will have scrolled off by the time you read this, but it was there yesterday).
Reading just the excerpt above, you might get a completely incorrect impression of how precious metals are viewed here. The use of the phrase "paper money" should have tipped off anyone who was reading closely that the words are rich with sarcasm.

Start Living the Gem Life Today

Not content with following the lead of the pre-baby boomers, settling for models such as the one below from Gem favoring electronically controlled top speeds of 25 miles per hour, the younger crowd has taken things into their own hands.
This story($) from the Economist about new American playthings will have particular significance for golfers. You see, golf courses that allow motorized golf carts in the U.K. are very few and very far between, the creators of the sport preferring a bit of exercise with their game. So, when viewed from abroad, this must seem like an extraordinarily strange development.

ACROSS America an obscure new hobby is emerging: racing golf-carts. People have started buying old carts for peanuts and bringing them up to speed with lift kits, oversized tyres, more powerful motors and roll bars. The end result is something closer to a mini-Hummer. They can do 50mph (81km), and that's uphill.

Some 3m-4m Americans may now own versions of these. Many of them are in Arizona, with its golf courses and desert trails, but the carts are also popular in California, Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida.

Of course the obvious risk in souping up gold carts is that as they increase in top speed, people start racing them, and that leads to this kind story.

Two souped-up golf carts collided as they sped down a rural road at night, killing a woman and badly injuring a man, authorities said yesterday.

The occupants of the modified carts spent Saturday night riding trails. Shortly after midnight, one cart was being driven along the shoulder of a road when the driver of the other, Mathew Krimmel, tried to pass, said sheriff's Sgt. Steve Austin.

As Krimmel pulled ahead, the carts collided, causing Krimmel's vehicle to veer out of control and roll over, throwing the driver and two passengers.
...
It was unclear how fast the vehicles were moving. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in the accident, which remains under investigation, Austin said.

Recalling a similar T-shirt from some time ago, maybe a new line of apparel for these thrill seekers would be "Instant Accident, Just Add Alcohol". Oh how we Americans must be seen by those abroad with more moderate sensibilities.

THE CANADA TRIP - THE PICTURES!

And now, a few of the hundreds of pictures from our trip north during the last two weeks of August. For a trip route see this post - we pretty much stuck to the plan, chased only once by rain, departing a couple days early from Jasper National Park and opting instead to spent a few days camping near Lake Alpine in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

There are many things you can learn about foreign countries just by spending a few days there, Canada being the most familiar of all foreign countries by a wide margin. Aside from the obvious "aboat" versus "about", there are few things that distinguish Canadians from Americans, and unfortunately for them, the gap seems to be narrowing.

Their business news television (ROB-TV) and a generally more modest approach to life are to be admired, however, one quick trip through Calgary and you'd swear you were someplace in the U.S. two years ago - the housing boom has arrived hundreds of miles south of Fort McMurray where the world seems intent on figuring out how to transform oil sands into gasoline.

There is much more to comment on regarding the people - perhaps some other time. For today, it's about the pictures.

First up, driving north somewhere in Utah, an RV owner tows his precious Hummer on his way to or from some vacation fun. Ideal bumper stickers would have been, "You should see my other car!" accompanied by the obvious, "You should see my other RV!"

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Entry to Banff National Park in Alberta is a sight to behold - park passes aren't cheap, but they are well worth the money.

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The Bow River as seen from the bridge in Banff. Anyone recalling an F Troop episode with a Burgler of Banff upon the second mention of this beautiful town - give yourself a star (that would be Banff with three Fs).

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The park rangers indicated that they've had many more problems with humans touching the electrified fences, designed to keep bears out of the campground at Lake Louise, than with the bears.

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The view from Chateau Lake Lousie to the many glaciers that feed the lake.

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A mile or so down the lakeside trail, the view back to the hotel.

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The Plain of Six Glaciers trail - about eight miles round trip from the hotel, past the lake, through the moraine, past the tea house, up the hill to where you can almost touch the melting ice.

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Lake Louise as viewed from the ski area across the valley.

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The coolest strip mall in the world - at the bottom of the hill that leads to Lake Louise. It's got a uniquely European feel to it, frequented by those world-traveling Germans shopping for supplies, postcards, and trail maps.

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A waterfall fed by more glaciers in Yoho National Park (adjacent to Banff National Park).

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Emerald Lake - see links in this post about rock-flour for an explanation of the water color.

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One of the many glaciers visible from the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper - a road that everyone should travel at least once in their lifetime.

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If you have a few hours to spare, you and about twenty other people can ride a custom built vehicle up onto the Athabasca Glacier, part of the Columbia Icefield that straddles the Banff and Jasper National Parks. If you look closely at the picture below you'll see a parking lot at the "toe" of the glacier - it is hundreds of yards wide at that point.

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Angel Glacier at Mt. Edith Cavell near Jasper.

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The view of the Jasper townsite from Old Fort Point Trail.

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On our way back through British Columbia, snapping this photo could not be resisted. In U.S. dollars, gasoline was right at about $4 a gallon, obviously motivating at least one Canadian to make drastic changes in their selection of automobile.

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All in all it was a fantastic trip, one that we will make many more times in our life - there is something very special about the great unspoilt land to the north.