SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:43 P.M. ET: 

JOLT – From AP:  "TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's economy contracted at a larger than earlier estimated annual rate of 7.1 percent in April-June, as companies and households slashed spending following a tax hike.  The revised data released Monday show business investment fell more than twice as much as estimated before, or 5.1 percent, while private residential spending sank 10.4 percent, in annual terms. The earlier estimate showed the economy contracting 6.8 percent."  Weren't these the people who were supposed eat us alive about 30 years ago?  And they shouldn't have attacked Pearl Harbor either.

LIBERAL GOVERNMENT SHINES AGAIN – From the Detroit Free Press:  "Detroit is so broke that firefighters get emergency alerts through pop cans, coins, door hinges, pipes and doorbells.  And they make these gizmos themselves — one involving a pop can that gets tipped over by an incoming fax. The clink of the can means there’s an emergency. Then there’s the chain-reaction gadget: a fax hits a door hinge, which then tugs on a wire, which then sets off a doorbell.  'It sounds unbelievable, but it’s truly what the guys have been doing and dealing with for a long, long time,' said Detroit Deputy Fire Commissioner John Berlin, adding that technological upgrades are long overdue. 'We’re in desperate need. We’re probably 30 years behind.'"  The fact is, the people of Detroit would probably again elect the same people who got them into this.

THE DREAM FACTORY DREAMS ON – From Bloomberg:  "Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” again led the box office as movie ticket sales tumbled to the lowest level in 13 years during a traditionally slow weekend.  The superhero film from Disney’s Marvel division collected $10.2 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, racking up its fourth win, the most of any film this year, Rentrak Corp. (RENT) said today in an e-mailed statement. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” from Viacom Inc. (VIAB)’s Paramount Pictures, placed second with $6.5 million in its fifth week.  Ticket sales for all movies were $65 million, the weakest total since the weekend that started Sept. 21, 2001, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, said by telephone today. Sales followed the typical slowdown that occurs after the U.S. Labor Day holiday, he said. Also, there were no new breakout releases."  Of course, the quality of the movies has nothing to do with this decline.  We all know it's caused by global warming.

September 7,  2014