Junior Mogambo Ranger (JMR) Rick K. thinks that I am being too critical of the Dow Jones Industrials when I snort in derision at that index sporting the unheard-of price-to-earnings ratio of 87, as “almost all of the insanity comes from just one company: General Motors (NYSE:GM).”He explains that “GM lost $74.29 per share over the last year (on a stock priced at only about $17 per share), compared to earnings for the rest of the Dow of $92.37 per share. So GM alone lost 80% of what the rest of the Dow companies made over last year! If GM’s loss was excluded from the Dow’s earnings, its P/E would be around 16 rather than over 80.”

Naturally, I figure that, as the old saying goes, “What’s good for GM is good for the country,” and so it reflects what is actually going on in the country. And besides, it really makes no difference anymore, anyway, since accounting itself has gone to “the dark side of the Force”, like everything else.

And to show you what I mean, Bloomberg.com reports that regulatory filings show that “Banks and securities firms, reeling from record losses resulting from the collapse of the mortgage securities market, are failing to acknowledge in their income statements at least $35 billion of additional writedowns included in their balance sheets.”

And so everything is lies, lies, lies! Hahaha! We’re freaking doomed!

This saved me from having to mention that the other indexes are just as weird, as the historical average for a Price-to-Earnings ratio is 14, with a P/E of 20 being near the extreme of “overvaluation”, and while currently the P/E of the DJ Industrials is 86, the DJ Transportation Index has a P/E of 24, the DJ Utility has a P/E of 16, the S&P500 has a P/E of 23, and the S&P Industrial Index has one at 22! Hahahaha! Apparently meaningless, as the prices of these stocks are actually rising! Hahahaha!

And the reason is that nobody is buying, because nobody has any money! I say this as a way of introducing this week’s episode of “What is wrong with this picture?” The scene opens with the Commerce Department reporting that consumer spending rose 0.2% in April, which is down from the 0.4% increase in March.

The more stupid of us are busily trying to multiply this 0.2% increase for April by 12 months (to get an annual figure), and screwing it all up pretty badly, and we keep re-entering the data over and over and making stupid mistakes until we are so frustrated that we are jamming the calculator’s keys with murderous force, and our fingers hurt.

Coincidentally, the Commerce Department also said that incomes grew 0.2%, which even included the $134 billion in the government’s tax rebates that are only half sent out! Hahaha!

If you are like me, you are suddenly realizing that your income did not go up by 0.2%, or any percent, because if it did, it seems like you would have remembered it. And anyway, if my income DID go up, then where in the hell is all of this money?

In fact (and I think I speak for everyone), we’re slaving away at our stupid jobs like the caged, workaholic rats we are, and all we ever get is an ungrateful boss, an ungrateful spouse and ungrateful children whining, whining, whining that you don’t give them enough money, and how I “owe” them money just because they were born and how they didn’t “ask to be born”, even though I sure as hell did not ask them to be born, and pretty soon we are yelling about who is responsible for their being born at all, but everyone knows it’s about the money.

In fact, everything is about the money these days. Mostly the lack of it. But mostly, mostly because of businesses and governments lying about it. Ugh.

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Editor’s Note: Richard Daughty is general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group, serving the financial and medical communities, and the editor of The Mogambo Guru economic newsletter – an avocational exercise to heap disrespect on those who desperately deserve it.

Source: A Phantom Increase in Income

Silverjet, which never made a profit in 16 months, was the last of three business-class only operators flying between London and the U.S. following the bankruptcy of Eos Airlines and MAXjet Airways Inc. More than a dozen carriers have collapsed in the past six months after the price of oil jumped 41 percent. The industry may report $40 billion in combined losses this year, more than three times the level after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to independent airline analyst Chris Tarry.

Oil is trading near $127 a barrel, compared with about $55 when Silverjet started flying on Jan. 25, 2007. Higher fuel expenses have contributed to the collapse of other airlines in recent weeks, including long-haul budget carrier Oasis Hong Kong Airlines Ltd., Columbus, Ohio-based Skybus Airlines Inc. and Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. of Denver. Carriers everywhere are seeking to cut costs and some have begun charging for items such as snacks and checked luggage.

Despite the problems facing airlines, the US Dow Jones Transportation Average is soaring, says Martin Denholm in The Smart Profits Report.

“With the index made up of airlines like American (NYSE: AMR), Continental (NYSE: CAL), JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) and Southwest (NYSE: LUV), plus shipping companies FedEx (NYSE: FDX) and UPS (NYSE: UPS) – all of which are buckling under the weight of high oil and gas prices – economists are now hotly debating whether it’s throwing the market a curveball.

“Traditionally seen as a sign of US economic strength and turnarounds, the fact that the index is soaring while consumers and the economy are struggling is a source of confusion … Oil prices and the Dow Transports usually move in opposite directions – and you’d think that with fuel being the biggest expense for Transportation Index companies and high oil prices pressuring so many areas of the transportation sector, the index that represents these firms would also be under severe pressure.

“Against the odds, the Dow Transportation Index is one of the market’s best performers, with some of the companies within it still going strong. Choose wisely and you could grab profits from a sector that many investors wouldn’t even consider at the moment.”