A funny thing happened on the way to a lower low...

Europe momentarily suspended reality, dreamed of austerity, embraced calamity and believed in unity.

Then they woke up.

From my perspective, the only thing keeping the US dollar from embarking on an early 1980's moonshot - is our own political wranglings and posturing in Congress.

I realize that may come as a surprise.

What will happen if we actually get off our fiscal road of perdition (or perhaps just one wheel off for now) and onto a path of relative achievement and austerity?

I know - it's just a dream, but...

We might actually wake up and find that our own dilapidated fiscal house is built on the right side of the tracks and in a neighborhood about to go through a preliminary phase of gentrification. It won't be an easy path, and I do believe we will soon find that lower low I have been searching for - and perhaps more than we can comfortably chew for a spell.

But gentrification does not have to be a four letter word.

I always try to keep things in perspective. Here's a few charts that hopefully does just that.

Disclaimer: Position in UUP, ZSL & SPXU