Almost harvest time

We are in the stage of the business cycle where the ruling class can either (A) take the massive piles of capital that have accumulated at the top and reinvest it in humans and infrastructure that supports humans. OR  (B) they can light a big fire, loot what they can, and have cops punch anyone who objects. 

We almost always get option B. We are getting option B. The reason it feels this intense is because the money pile is exceptionally high this time and it looks about ripe for harvesting. 

The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year. And some analysts believe that estimate doesn’t fully capture the AI spend, so the real share could be even higher.  

AI companies have accounted for 80 per cent of the gains in US stocks so far in 2025. That is helping to fund and drive US growth, as the AI-driven stock market draws in money from all over the world, and feeds a boom in consumer spending by the rich.

Since the wealthiest 10 per cent of the population own 85 per cent of US stocks, they enjoy the largest wealth effect when they go up. Little wonder then that the latest data shows America’s consumer economy rests largely on spending by the wealthy. The top 10 per cent of earners account for half of consumer spending, the highest share on record since the data begins.

The way we live now

Happy Mardi Gras

The officials said they have not received any specific, credible threats of terrorism. But hundreds of additional law enforcement officers from the FBI, State Police and surrounding parishes will help direct traffic and monitor suspicious behavior.

The FBI also has installed temporary cameras to monitor the celebration, presumably along the major parade routes and in the French Quarter, though FBI officials would not say how many or where the cameras have been placed. They also largely kept mum about how the added technology will enhance the crime cameras now in place at hundreds of area businesses and homes, citing security concerns.

“Assume that you are being filmed wherever you are and whatever you’re doing,” said Jeff Sallet, the newly appointed head of the FBI’s local office.

And people are fine with this. Apparently, this is what people enjoy now. 

You put up nickels and I'll drop a dime..

Your friendly neighborhood FBI office wishes you a happy Mardi Gras.

The FBI, joined by city leaders, launched a public awareness campaign Thursday urging residents and business owners to report suspicious behavior ahead of Mardi Gras, a celebration that has prompted heightened awareness among law enforcement this year in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.

Jeffrey Sallet, the special agent in charge of the bureau’s New Orleans division, told reporters that investigators know of “absolutely no credible threats” targeting the Carnival season.

Well that's good to know. Have fun out there and.. oh wait there's more. 

But the FBI, Louisiana State Police and New Orleans Police Department appealed to the public to report furtive activity that seems out of place in their communities.

Beyond unattended packages, Sallet said, the FBI would like to know about people seen photographing critical infrastructure like bridges, outsiders “milling around” neighborhoods, and unusual or incendiary statements overheard concerning, for instance, “a hatred of Mardi Gras that seems excessive.”

Oh okay so if there's a parade coming and we end up with a lot of "outsiders milling around the neighborhood," FBI is saying they will come and get them.


Suspicious characters milling about

Finally, our tent and ladder ordinances will have some real enforcement teeth. This could be a bad year for #KreweOfChad. It does put a bit of a damper on tourism, though. Not to mention that whole "hang on the corner, do whatcha wanna" thing.

Meanwhile I guess the "hatred of Mardi Gras" clause will get this guy sent directly to GITMO.



And, of course, everybody knows that asymmetric approaches to parking are never to be tolerated during Carnival. 

Cars parked in places they shouldn’t be might also be a red flag, he said.

“We have really, really great citizens in the city that know their city, and if there’s just something that doesn’t make sense to them, it probably doesn’t,” Sallet said.

Now go on out there and make this the most sensible Carnival ever. 

The people who put Bill Jefferson in jail

An FBI agent who worked on the corruption case of former Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson resigned after superiors found a list he wrote of his sexual conquests with agents and a confidential source, according to court documents.

The same agent, John Guandolo, who is married and who unsuccessfully solicited a $75,000 donation for an anti-terrorism group from a wealthy witness in the Jefferson case with whom he was having an affair, resigned from the FBI and appears to have landed on his feet on the speaking circuit playing up the threat of Islamic terrorism.

The affair list was first reported by Allan Lengel at ticklethewire.com

The relationship between Guandolo and key government informant Lori Mody, a former tech executive for whom Guandolo worked undercover as a driver, failed to derail the Jefferson conviction after a judge ruled it irrelevant this week.

More

It's like Oyster says

Eyes already rolling.

But although Oyster detects a certain amount of "unseemliness" in the T-P Sunday Magazine Personality Feature on David Welker, I would venture to say that, if anything, Brendan McCarthy has failed to provide us with some crucial bits of information about the new head of the local FBI office which we've come to feel entitled to.

For example, what does Welker smell like? Does he have an "exotic" accent? Do his words, "sometimes (dip)into a near whisper, making you lean in to hear or ask him to repeat what he just said"? People need to know this stuff.