Outside of creating human beings from scratch, I think the greatest achievement from science would be a perpetual motion machine. The ultimate dream would be a machine that would stay in motion forever (once it is turned on) without any source of energy. Someone on Kickstarter is making the claim of such an invention… It’s dubious at its best, but still, it’s cool to think that it could happen one day.

Until now, I would have to say that the closest thing we have to a perpetual motion machine is our welfare system, where those who are born and raised in the system are encouraged to stay by tales of limited opportunities and even-sweetened benefits. From a machine that works forever, to man living forever, and the ‘mad’ science that Hollywood is using to cure death, there is a lot of talk of anti-aging breakthroughs. This is powered by long-held fantasies, financed by the rich who have decided it cannot get any better than this. For instance, there is talk of ninety-one-year-old Sumner Redstone, who has no plans of dying. He starts his day off with goji berries, which promote longevity, "Green Machine” smoothies, and tomato juice, followed by a fish dinner and a shot of vodka. There is no doubt technology will get mankind to the point of altering the natural timeline of DNA, but will we be happy with the results?

One thing that has not lasted forever is kingdoms. Kingdoms (large and small) throughout history have all crumbled for a variety of reasons. Now is the time to consider the fate of America's supremacy in the world? For certain, a lack of leadership will play a central role to America slipping into the pack. Of course, it will be the lack of leadership coupled with the complacency that took down the Roman Empire and the debt that helped derail the British Empire, to the ignoring of the competition that had befallen the great Chinese civilizations that thought the outside was a backward land of savages that may cause America to lose its supremacy ranking.

This week, America had to grapple with policy of cheapening the currency and borrowing more and more money. Everyone will be focused on near-term market reaction, while few will care that we are being propelled to that day when the dollar does not reign supreme, and the world buys our debt because it will be the best game in town.

Today’s Session

The markets are creeping higher this morning after spending the weekend in the red. There will not be too much data released today, however, what has been released, the Empire State Survey and the Industrial Production survey, are strong indicators to where our national economy is heading.

The Empire Survey

For the month of September, the Empire State Manufacturing general business conditions index came in at an impressive 27.54, 12 points higher than the prior month and significantly higher than the consensus estimate of 15.9. Interestingly, with new orders rising to 16.86 from 14.14 in August, employment growth decelerating to 3.26 from 13.64, and shipments growing to 27.08 from 24.59 the prior month, it is unclear how the general business component was able to grow so sharply. However, with such a positive outlook for 6-month prices which came in over 12 points higher than the previous month at 32.61, it’s possible that positive sentiment towards the future is the leader behind an impressive headline. On that note, while the Empire State number came in ‘strong’ certain components actually work in favor of the Fed number changing language this week. For instance, the prices paid component fell three points to 23.9 and the workweek slipped to 3.26 from 7.95.

This is going to be a very cautious market going into the Fed meeting.