Clark,
Gas prices are down, electronics prices are down, some cheap clothing prices are still cheaper now than they were a year ago. Don't see many other prices actually falling, just holding. Some are rising (things like housing, real estate, medical bills, services--things that imports can't influence as much).
Comstock has made "sense", sounded reasonable, for as long as I've read them, since maybe 85 or 86; they used to appear in Barrons pretty regularly. However, they've also been wrong for nearly that long, very very wrong, so wrong that Barrons has stopped interviewing them for several years now. Even they can't keep interviewing people who have been so wrong for so long (though they keep Alan Abelson, he's too witty to fire).
But of course, Henry and you are right: the question is, will we import deflation along with everything else from Asia? There was a discussion on free trade on the DD thread recently which asked that question in the context of the question, "can free trade be bad sometimes"?; hope LK and RD are listening here, and tell us why we will be immune to it. Or perhaps Henry can, since I would guess that he would line up with them in how he answers it.
Best wishes,
Sam |
