1. With social mood rolling over back into a more serious bear market environment, it is always interesting to see new social trends begin to grow and take off. This article/video blog highlights a large crowd of hipsters gathered at Union Square in New York City for what looks like a spontaneous “fight club” event. Note that we have not reached the point where either 1. the fighters are actually skillful, and 2. the fighters are actually moderately violent. The rules included no punches to the face.

It was interesting to read the author’s mini-history on New York’s Union Square, including the consumerist transformation of the area. Fighting for fun, in front of a range of unique folks, in a setting known for its social movement roots, in front of Whole Food Market, is to me, just a classic sign of the times. I will not be surprised to see more social trends like these in the coming years. Hopefully they remain fun, competitive and light hearted, and don’t head in the more raging violent direction. The folks in the videos on the blog seem to be having a real good time. Cheers.

2. Concurrent with such spontaneous social activity, there is a huge growth in popularity of “Mixed Martial Arts” (MMA) in the sports world today. MMA combines boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and all out athletic and beast skill. Basically two fighters go at it, with minimal rules, trying to either knock the other fighter out, submit him via a hold, or win in a decision (decisions are rare). The fighting has definitely become more skillful over time and popularity has surged, thereby setting up major business and money-making opportunities, thereby ensuring there will be even more skilled fighters in the future.

One rising star in the MMA world is Kimbo Slice. This huge fighter with a bald head and massive beard, became famous in YouTube “Backyard Brawls”. As the mainstream world has gradually moved towards supporting MMA, and fight organizations like UFC have become big-money entities, Kimbo has moved into a position of broad fan support. As an indication of the growth of MMA popularity and the mainstream interest in Kimbo, CBS will air its first-ever “EliteXC’s Saturday Night Fight” tonight at 9 PM pacific time (check listings if you are interested). I, for one, am excited to see Kimbo on major network TV. The guy brings it and he started as a nobody on YouTube videos. This is a pretty cool success story.

3. Long time Bush associate, friend and Press Secretary, Scott McClellan came out loudly this week denouncing Bush’s spin in leading us into the Iraq War. To hear one of Bush’s own key insiders further bash the President for his clear deceit to the American people in heading our country into a no-win situation where hundreds of thousands of lives have been evaporated, provides some amount of poetic justice to this long range farce that has enveloped the American republic for far too long. Many cynics speculate that McClellan is doing it for the money, in terms of selling his book, but my belief is that it is more of a step on his part to clear both his conscious and his name, he decided he did not want to go down with a sinking ship.

So with his harsh words for the president, joining those of a large and growing contingent of Americans of all stripes, as well as international individuals, people are starting to wonder is this the end for the BIG-WAR, BIG -GOVERNMENT, BIG-CRAZY neo-CONS?

4. And as the big-government neo-CON crazies begin to die off as a relevant political group, there is a continuing growth in the impact on the national consciousness via those who support limited, constitutional government, and its corollary, individual freedom. The leading speaker on such issues over the past year has been Ron Paul. He will go down in history as a man who helped spark a movement. Hopefully the consciousness of the American people continues to head in the direction of awareness, reason, honesty, and freedom. Newsweek, corporate media mouth piece that it is, interviewed Ron Paul for its upcoming issue. Notice, for Newsweek, Ron Paul’s followers are fanatics, but what would that make George W. Bush’s followers at this point? Pure lunatics?

5. In the rotted and decrepit economic and banking sphere, having been made insolvent by long-run idiocy and lack-of-diligence on the part of the people and our leaders, banks are moving to package a bunch of garbage mortgage bonds into newfangled repackaged securities in order to get the rotten hot potatoes off their books. Mish reports on some such activity at Deutsch Bank. I would like to point out that economics do not avoid the law of the conservation of matter. When you put garbage in, the garbage does not disappear, instead garbage comes right back out. Maybe some really stupid people will fall for these banking shenanigans.

6. USA Today reports people are not traveling because of hassle and expense. I am guessing expense is the bigger factor and will grow as a factor. When food and fuel prices are very high, home values are getting knocked, jobs are becoming more hard to find due to the boom-bust cycle, production outsourcing and ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense, and quality levels are in decline, it makes sense that people would hunker down and enjoy things more close to home. Why not save the money and do something more inexpensive in your own area or at home? How much does it cost to have a barbecue with friends and family?

One thing I would like to take issue with, economically, in the article is the assertion that the economy “loses” billions due to the trips. This is a false statement. Who loses billions are those who are trying to sell certain goods and services to travelers. The money does not disappear from the economy, instead the people KEEP it rather than SPEND it. Just because money changes hands, does not make it more economically beneficial. Sometimes saving money and using it for key expenses rather than going into debt to support consumption, is really a GREAT thing for the long run economy. Just spending money like wild people is not an economically viable solution in spite of what Keynesian nonsense says.

Filed under: Politics, Social Mood, Sports, Economics, Entertainment, Six Packs, Current Events