Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
| "Selfie" Fashion Trends: Cheap Dresses and "Rentabag"; Mish Handbag Tips Posted: 29 Jul 2015 04:56 PM PDT Impact of the "Selfie" Are you into Facebook, Instagrams, and "Selfies" (taking lots of pictures of yourself and sharing them instantly)? I'm not but, but in my travels I see lots of it. The popularity of sending "selfies" has even influenced retail sales and women's fashion. After all, one cannot be seen in the same outfit too often! Here's an amusing video that discusses the impact of the "selfie". In the above video, FT's Andrea Felsted visits online fashion retailer Asos to see how it is adapting its business model in the era of the selfie. Link if video does not play: How the Selfie Is Shaking Up Retail. Cheap Dresses and Rentabag Allegedly it's a faux pas to be seen too often with the same bag. So enter the "rentabag". I had to look this up. There's a huge selection of choices.
Mercy! There's even a site promoting Make Extra Money Renting Handbags and Purses. Really Expensive Bags  $100,000 for a bag? That is the full price though, not a rental. Phew! For comparison purposes, who wouldn't want this "beautiful" Valentino Leopard Calf Hair Rockstud Trapeze Bag, bargain-basement priced at $3,995?  How about this trendy Fendi Baguette Bag Bugs Shoulder Bag "beauty" for a mere $2,610?  $100,000 Bags Totally Worth It? Those prices seem shocking, but the PurseBlog gives 8 Reasons Spending $1,000 or More on a Bag is Totally Worth It. Real Reason for $100,000 Bags For those looking for the real reason behind $100,000 handbags that sometimes look rather ordinary and sometimes purposely gaudy, blame the Fed and central banks in general. The income inequality the Fed and politicians rail against comes directly from middle class killing policies of the Fed and government officials. What Your Money Rents Who in their right mind wants to pay $300 a month to rent this ordinary brown bag?  For a "mere" $45 a month you can rent these sunglasses.  Designer Bags BagDuJour offers the following designers for rent.
With so many "designers": Would anyone really know if you had a designer bag or something similar? One final question: Is it really millennials renting this stuff for selfie instagrams, or do the bulk of these rentals go to people pretending to be youthful and rich? Designer Bags For Cheap I did some searching and found some genuine leather bags that look nice (at least to me). Here's a couple from DesignerHandbagRescue.  That's a Coach Bag (I have no idea how popular that brand is or isn't) but I like the clean looks of it. It retails for $235, but went for $89.95 used but in near-perfect condition. Sorry ladies, sold out. Here's a Michael Kors Rhea Medium Zip Shoulder Bag for just under my top-end splurge limit. It retails for $268 but you can still get it for $124.95.  With that, my fashion preferences are now exposed and subject to immense criticism from all my female readers (as well as any males who happen to like purses). By the way, I get nothing for promoting any company mentioned in this article. I Just decided to see what I could get and stumbled on that site. I suspect there are numerous nice-looking purses under $50, and even $300+ designer purses for close to or under $100. Mish Practical Tips
Finally, if you select option number 1 and someone asks about your bag, just tell them it's a soon-to-be-very-popular, genuine MishabagTM. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Fed Sheds No Light, Plays Charades with Media; Tiptoe Balancing Act Posted: 29 Jul 2015 11:47 AM PDT Fed Says Little, Sheds No Light If the Fed had a clue as to what it will do in September, it likely would have said so. Instead, it reiterated the same hash we have been hearing for years. Here is the complete text of today's FOMC Press Release. Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June indicates that economic activity has been expanding moderately in recent months. Growth in household spending has been moderate and the housing sector has shown additional improvement; however, business fixed investment and net exports stayed soft. The labor market continued to improve, with solid job gains and declining unemployment. On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year. Inflation continued to run below the Committee's longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and decreasing prices of non-energy imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey‑based measures of longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.Charades I suspect the Fed is concerned about retail sales, sentiment, housing, China, Greece, oil, Canada, the US dollar, and a host of other things. At this stage in the charade game, the Fed cannot possibly come out and say any of that. Nor can the Fed hint at a September hike, even though it wants to, because retail sales may continue to slump and auto sales could easily collapse. The Fed expects "further improvements" in the labor market, but what if all these inane minimum wages hikes kill jobs. High consumer sentiment has not led to higher retail sales as the Fed seems to believe it would (See Sentiment Measures vs. Retail Spending: Clueless Clues and Random Noise). Tiptoe Balancing Act To avoid saying anything that might be seriously wrong, the Fed says the risks are "nearly balanced" then disproves that with lovey-dovey hogwash about "keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run." I just happen to have the right musical clip for the Fed's tiptoe charade game. Link if video does not play: Tiny Tim Tiptoe Through Tulips No doubt you can stand no more than 30 seconds of that, which is also about how long a knowledgeable reader can stand the Fed's charade game playing. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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