
THE *DON* JONES INDEX…	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED
	1/22/14… 15,154.07
	1/15/14… 15,194.12


	6/27/13… 15,000.00

(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 1/22… 16,337.38; 1/15… 16,471.50; 11/19/12… 12,592.22)

LESSON for JANUARY 22, 2014

Well, gain a little, lose a little.

Last time out, the Don enjoyed one of its best weeks in a long, long while – due, in about equal parts – to a restructuring of our debt and deficit indices and to a huge drop in official unemployment.

We’ve noted… courtesy of the nice folks at Debt Clock… both the official and the unofficial jobless toll as an appendix. Beginning next week, we are going to split the Unemployment Index (currently a weighty 1,350 points or 9% of the total, tied with Inflation for the uppermost factor) by thirds. Two thirds will remain posted to the official rate but a third (450 points total) will reflect the actual number of unemployed. How Debt Clock has been able to tally the number of those off the grid and/or not “looking for work” (or, even more likely, those looking for work more rewarding than shoplifting or drug dealing, but not counted because they are not receiving government benefits) remains a mystery, even an enigma, but their other numbers are more or less reliable, so the DJI is going to fine tune itself… just another of the many improvements you’ll be seeing in the weeks to come.

Well, the Don came back to earth last week. Actually, a little below… like six feet, in the case of those who froze to death in the cold or starved or died from lack of access to medical care. Don froze too, (except in California where he was running from the wildfires), but a couple of things happened that would have set his blood to boiling, had the media chosen to inform him.

The first atrocity might not have been so vulgar or so costly as the atrocities seeping out of Syria, but it’s unmatched in recent history for the sheer insolence of the doing.

A bankruptcy court allowed the ironically-monikered Freedom Industries the freedom to receive $4 million in credit from a “lender” which, the court documents disclosed, was “essentially is run by the company's top executive, J. Clifford Forrest of Pittsburgh.” The water supplier for nine impacted West Virginia counties objected to the deal on the grounds that Freedom Industries' financer “could foreclose on the company's valuable assets and abandon the rest, leaving behind "only the toxic facilities and huge damage claims caused by the Freedom spill," but eventually capitulated to a deal drawn up by Chief Judge Ronald G. Pearson when Freedom Industries attorney Mark Freelander warned the water company that, since Freedom already owed so much in back taxes they’d forgotten to pay, they would just have to shut down and let the toxic, licorish-tasting chemicals continue to flow into the Elk River.

According to Fox News, “Department of Environmental Protection officials have said that money was set aside to fix the cracked containment wall that ultimately let chemicals seep into the Elk River. But (Freedom Industries’ President Gary) Southern would not specifically say the money was for fixing that wall.”

For his part, Southern stated that the money would address "perception problems" for the firm caused by the spill. Freedom’s toxic turf was chain-fenced and its spokesmen inaccessible despite a handwritten sign on the fence, advising “media” to call (304) 545-8006. So go ahead and call. After all, we’re all media, and some of us are mediums, too.

I guess the whole sordid story just proves the bumpersticker slogan… “Freedom isn’t free.”

Meanwhile, the still-unemployed, still-destitute folks kicked out of America’s safety net remained so… including the individuals and businesses whose lawsuits against Freedom were stifled by the deal. Perhaps they could’ve done better shoplifting a gallon of antifreeze and pouring it into the water coolers on Capitol Hill.

And, on another front, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the Intercontinental Exchange Group reported that, as a result of the cold and the snow that had blanketed the Northeast, the price of natural gas (which had varied between ten and twenty-five dollars per million British Thermal Units on Friday), had been raised to $135 for deliveries beginning today… a jump of about 1000% over five days! The poor, afflicted gas traders whined and moaned that the polar vortex was causing such an increase in usage, that their supplies of the price-kited gas were being drained.

At least they weren’t being offered a bailout by the Department of Energy. Yet…

Speaking of natural gas, the most recent inflation disclosures by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported only a minor spike in home heating fuel… wait until next month for the shock… but did report that gasoline prices rose by 3% for the month, leading an inflationary binge that (coupled with a three cent decrease in wages, per capita) sent the Don plummeting back downwards by about forty points.

What’s worse was how widespread was the decline… every individual index either lost value, remained the same or was not tallied for the week save one. That was government revenues… popularly (and populistically) referred to as taxes. SO – after the euphoria of lowered official unemployment, Don crashed back to earth. Not only was he down across the board, he was either freezing or on fire. And next week could be even worse… no football. At least we can all be distracted by the Grammies!

_______

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/ VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000.00

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

See a further explanation of categories here…

Simply recording gains or losses is deceptive, because some of the indices here represent GOOD things (like incomes and life expectancy) while others represent BAD things (unemployment, terror). So, increases in good things and decreases in bad things are considered GOOD (and are depicted in GREEN) – decreases in good things and increases in the bad are considered BAD (and are depicted in RED).

The sum of good things, less the sum of bad things, equals the gain (or loss) to Don Jones.

DON JONES’ PERSONAL ECONOMIC INDEX (45% of total Index points)

INCOME

(24%)

BASE 6/27/13

RECKONINGS

LAST CHANGE NEXT

DON 1/8

DON 1/15

OUR SOURCE(S)

Wages (per cap.)

10%

1500 points

1/1/14

-0.3%

1/22/14

1516.90

1512.49

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 10.30

Equality

750

9/10/13

n/d

711.55

http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=IDD .038 nd

Unemployment

1350

1/22/14

n/d

Feb. 2014

1570.39

1570.39

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 6.7 (See B below)

WEALTH

Dow Jones

300

1/22/14

-0.8%

1/29/14

321.30

318.68

Dow Jones index 16,337.38

Home Valuations

300

1/1/14

sales n/d price n/d

1/29/14

177.12 188.22

http://www.realtor.org/topics/existing-home-sales http://www.realtor.org/research-and-statistics prices 196.3 nd

Debt (Personal)

300

1/22/14

+.04%

1/29/14

288.17

288.05

http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/data_indicators/household_index.html and http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 51508

OUTGO

15%

(See a – below)

Inflation

1350

11/26/13

+0.3%

Feb. 2014

1340.97

1336.95

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.3

Food

300

12/24/13

+0.1%

Feb. 2014

297.45

297.15

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.1

Gas

300

12/24/13

+3.0%

Feb. 2014

273.56

265.47

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +3.0 (heating +2.4)

Taxes

300

variable

n/d

300

UNITED STATES ECONOMIC INDEX (15%)

ANNUAL

Income (per cap.)

150

4/23/12

n/d

Yearly

151.08

http://bber.unm.edu/econ/us-pci.htm

Expends. (cnsmr.)

150

12/24/13

n/d

Feb. 2014

149.70

http://www.bls.gov/cpi

U.S. Debt

450

1/22/14

+0.07%

1/29/14

434.17

433.87

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 17340

CUMULATIVE

Revenues

150

1/22/14

+0.34%

1/29/14

158.93

159.47

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 2835.5

Expenditures

150

1/22/14

+0.09%

1/29/14

151.81

151.67

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 3488.7

Total Debt

450

1/22/14

-0.04%

1/29/14

436.66

436.47

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 60791

WORLD TRADE

Exports

150

1/22/14

n/d

Feb. 2014

157.48

157.48

http://www.census.gov/foreign- trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html 1949.1 n/d

Imports

150

1/22/14

n/d

Feb. 2014

147.99

147.99

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html 2291 n/d

Trade Deficit

150

1/22/14

n/d

Feb. 2014

171.87

171.87

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html 343 n/d

Foreign Debt *(c)

300

1/22/14

+2.94%

1/29/14

326.91

317.22

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5827.6

EDUCATION INDEX (10%)

World Standard

600

2010

n/d

Yearly

599

Test Scores

300

2010

n/d

Yearly +

300

Dropout Rate

300

2010

n/d

Yearly +

300

Costs

300

8/15/12

n/d

286.36

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76

HEALTH INDEX (10%)

Life Expectancy

600

2012

n/d

unknown

600

n/d

Medical Costs

300

1/22/14

n/d

Feb. 2014

297.90

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm n/c -.8

Environment

450

1/22/14

-1.0%

1/29/14

444.93

440.48

Poison a million Americans’ water and you get branded a terrorist and sent to Gitmo. Unless you’re a chemical company – then you get a $4 line of credit from yourself to stiff the creditors and victims.

Natural Disasters

150

1/22/14

+1.0%

1/29/14

140.36

138.96

No matter what they say, the polar vortex is back… and the California wildfires raging too. Don’t need a weatherman to tell which way this winds blowing.

SECURITY INDEX (5%)

Crime Rates

450

2013

+0.1%

unknown

447.80

n/d

Prison Population

150

2013

-0.1%

unknown

155.15

n/d

Terrorism

150

1/22/14

+1.0%

1/29/14

146.55

145.08

Suddenly, the winter Olympics seem on ice. Russians blame a headscarf wearing superbabe, the Black Widow. If she pulls off a caper, she’ll be the idol of a billion Muslim adolescents… most of whom hate the West (if not our culture) already.

LIBERTY INDEX (5%)

Freedom

450

11/26/13

n/d

As occurs

460.82

n/c

Corruption

150

11/26/13

n/d

As occurs

170.28

n/c

World Peace

150

1/22/14

-0.3%

1/22/14

144.24

143.81

Syrian peace talks faltering – and now political violence has spread to Thailand and the Ukraine. Behind the scenes, the Russian bear is pulling strings… but ineptly… could Putin be headed towards a Rob Ford meltdown?

TRANSIENT INDEX (10%)

All

10%

1000

1/22/14

-0.3%

1/29/14

985.93

982.97

Some weeks are good, some are evil… this one was just plain stupid. And we didn’t even mention Christie or the Beebs!

SUMMARY:

The Don Jones Index for the week of January 8^th through 14^th was DOWN 40.05 points.

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator/Editor. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-off” are fictitious or mere pawns in the e-serial “Black Helicopters” - and promise swift, effective legal action against all parties promulgating this and other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations): feedme@generisis.com

(A)Consumer Price Index Data for December 2013 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Food

The food index rose 0.1 percent in December, the same increase as in

November. The index for food at home was unchanged, although four of

the six major grocery store food groups posted increases. The index

for nonalcoholic beverages, which declined in November, rose 0.5

percent in December. The index for dairy and related products rose

0.4 percent for the second month in a row, while the indexes for

meats, poultry, fish, and eggs and for other food at home both rose

0.3 percent. Offsetting these increases was a sharp decline in the

fruits and vegetables index; it fell 1.5 percent as the fresh

vegetables index declined 2.7 percent. The index for cereals and

bakery products also declined, falling 0.1 percent. The index for

food away from home rose 0.1 percent in December after a 0.3 percent

increase in November.

Energy

The energy index rose 2.1 percent in December after falling in

October and November. The energy index has now risen 0.2 percent over

the last six months. The gasoline index, which fell 1.6 percent in

November, rose 3.1 percent n December. (Before seasonal adjustment,

gasoline prices rose 0.7 percent in December.) The fuel oil index

also rose, increasing 2.4 percent in December. The electricity index

rose 0.4 percent, its fourth consecutive increase. The only major

energy component index to decline was the index for natural gas,

which fell 0.4 percent, its third consecutive decrease.

(B) Unemployment (courtesy Debt Clock)

Official 10,068,111

Actual 19,988,676