Executives at Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and privately-held Cox Communications have taken their customers for granted for far too long.
Even as consumer income has barely kept up with inflation in recent years, cable bills soar ever higher. Here in upstate New York, Time Warner gets $130 from me every month so I can get high-speed Internet access, a DVR and far more channels than I ever bother to watch. I have long vowed to cut the cord, as soon as it was practical.
That day is finally here. Technologies are rolling out that will expand consumer's choices.

Labor Day weekend begins tomorrow afternoon in the U.S. It’s the traditional end-of-summer holiday, and most folks will get Monday off as a paid holiday. My own vacation is going to be a bit different: I’m going to take tomorrow off instead. This will be the last post until Sunday evening.

Not much has changed since my last post. The gold market is still over-extended in my opinion, although there are fundamentals that will probably support this market for a very long time. The stock market is still swinging wildly from day to day based on whatever traders think the news is meaning at the moment. And bonds continue to stay at high levels when many analysts think this market has no business being where it is.

Month end flow beats logic, even option expiries and market fix’s beat logic. Yesterday’s stronger US data wilted in its glory as individuals eager to accumulate EUR’s waited in the wings. Stronger manufacturing data out of China and Australia last night is yet to convince the market to go all-in before we get to see the employment data in the US. The market is nervous and lacks conviction proven by the trading strategies being employed thus far this week. Yesterday’s Fed minutes did not exude acute dissension amongst its members to the degree the market had been expecting.

The frequency of my reports on the Chinese Yuan is admittedly much higher than it used to be. Why? Call it disbelief. More than two months have passed since China revalued its currency, and after a rapid 1% appreciation, the RMB has actually fallen back. Today, it stands only .5% higher against the Dollar compared to June 18. On a trade-weighted basis, it is actually 2.3% lower. What is going on?!