Archive for September, 2008
Thin Air?
This is a test post to try the “Blog Post” feature in MS Word 2007. This is a really nice feature that allows one to use the word processer to make a post to a blog without even having a browser open, much less the blog. While the internal WordPress editor works fine, I am quite impressed with the utility of ScribeFire for making a quick post in response to something while surfing without having to open the blog; but for essay type posts, this feature of Word is awesome. It even automatically went out and imported the “Category” list so one can categorize the post as it is made. Sweet.
By some estimates, one trillion dollars was lost in the stock market yesterday. Where did it go? The same place the “value” in our homes went in the past year? The same place the new $650 bn of credit came from that the FED made available to the financial markets yesterday, perhaps? This demonstrates how worthless our currency actually is. 34,722 Tons of gold didn’t just disappear at the Wall Street casino yesterday. Nor did 22,569 Tons of the stuff suddenly materialize over at the FED. No wonder it seems like every other commercial one hears on radio and TV these days is for some gold trading company. (I miss my forum emoticons… eyes should be rolling here.)
The thing to notice is that the value of individual savings denominated in U.S. Dollars took yet another enormous hit yesterday. Those invested in the stock market took a double hit. On average, their stocks, mutual funds, and retirement accounts lost 7% of their value in a single day. Then, the buying power of what is left was diluted by the introduction of another $650 bn of brand new funny money, representing nothing but thin air, by the FED. One way to understand the effect of that mindboggling figure is that it is the equivalent of adding another 21,666,667 welfare families to our population overnight. Then giving them each an unearned $30K tax-free income for a year, to compete with us in the marketplace for exactly the same amount of goods and services that existed yesterday, none of which they helped produce. The market is rational, even if the government is not. Supply and Demand are always balanced by Price. In a free marketplace, it could not be otherwise. Is there any question that prices will soon increase accordingly?
That is why, when I could not buy silver with it, I went and bought another $1K worth of coffee, tobacco, and beans. It is interesting to note that back when I was earning that money just a few years ago, a three-pound package of Jose’s Columbia Supremo coffee beans at COSTCO was under $7. I buy some every trip I make there and have watched the price steadily climb the past couple of years. I had to pay almost $11 a bag for the two cases I bought yesterday; but I have no reason to think it will ever be cheaper. As an imported commodity, assuming that COSTCO survives, it will be interesting to see how much it costs a year from now. If they don’t, it may be more valuable than gold.
Today, I am thinking of going to buy some more ammunition. Not that I need it; but since I can’t find any silver, it will undoubtedly conserve the value of my ready cash better than all these worthless green pictures of Franklin. Besides, if we do spiral into unfettered hyperinflation, bullets could come in handy for bartering. ◄Dave►
777
This is a test post using ScribeFire (new tool) on my old blog, which I am now resurrecting. It has been a few days since I stopped participating on the Reasonable Rationals forum (where I made 2,240 posts in a year), and with the world as we know it coming to an end, I need a place to comment on current events… even if nobody reads them.
I moved the index page of my blog to the front page of this website; but all the old files are still where they always were. My old index file has been renamed, so that it can be accessed at the [Old Site] link on the right in the Internal Links section and will then function as it always did. Once there, the “Home” button will bring you back here. (Eventually, I will change its name to “Blog,” and delete the current “Blog” button, which is currently a broken link… I don’t have Expression Web installed on this machine, since all my websites are now dynamic, so I will have to drag out the laptop to fix it.)
I guess the word for today is 777. Interestingly, that was almost exactly 7% of the market wiped out in a single day, and I got the news from a TV set in a bank as I drew out most of my ready cash. I left just enough to keep my debit card useful for gasoline stations, etc. I expected to get an argument, but didn’t. She even had it in the drawer and didn’t bother to call a manager. There wasn’t a long line, or anything like that; but I got the impression that they had become quite accustomed to folks walking in and withdrawing several thousand dollars in cash. I intended to buy some more silver with it, but silver has dried up all across the country. Even Kitco can’t supply small denominations:
The following products have been temporarily removed from our Precious Metal Store until further notice due to production and delivery delays that retailers are currently facing; 1 oz Gold bars, 1 oz Kitco Gold bars, 10 oz Gold bars, 1 oz Silver Eagles, 1 oz Silver Maples, 1 oz Silver Philharmonic coins, 1 oz Olympic Silver Maples, 100 oz Silver bars and 1 oz Palladium Maples.
Since congress promptly decided to take a couple of days holiday after their failed bailout bill crashed it, tomorrow’s stock market activity should be rather interesting too. It sure feels good not to have any assets invested there. Since they did not pony up the $700bn the financial markets needed, reports are that the FED printed another $650bn today! The future for gold is looking brighter all the time. ◄Dave►
