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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ahda who wrote (72205)	6/22/2001 7:47:00 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116820

Hi Darleen, I will color your post with some anecdotal information on USD, piracy, MSFT and such in Hong Kong/China/Taiwan. <<Asia is asking for a strong dollar the stronger the dollar>> A godly portion of the savings (money not needed for immediate spending) out in Hong Kong is in US$, but freely, instantly and easily convertible to any number of currencies via phone and even on-line, without fuss. This is true in much of SE Asia, and Taiwan. The interest income is not taxed in HK and so folks do not mind treating cash for what it is … unit of purchase that ought to hold value until value shows up in other units of assets, such as equity or real estate or fancy watches. At this moment, most of my cash is in staggered fixed term deposits in US$ earning pitiful 2.8 – 3.5%, and staggered treasury strips yielding a slightly more respectable 4.5 - 5.5%. I had started to convert some USD to Euro, but am generally distrustful of Euro socialism. I am looking at the Australian Dollar; while I do not care for the government or the tax regime there, the value is getting enticing, with a yield north of 4%, backed by resources. I had a small Japanese Yen loan outstanding, but have since covered because I am fearful that they will do something herd-ish, like exiting the USD, either due to psychology or due to need. So, the bottom line, my USD is on account because it is the base currency of account, and protected by many aircraft carriers, even though a senile central banker manages it to win CNBC kudos. Should USD start to exhibit weakness, it is a simple, fast and non-criminal trade to flip it for something relatively better, and then switched back later. <<Msft in China is not doing so well called piracy which i guess was a way of life so one could live like the new pilfering of electricity here>> My wife and I just saw the sequel to Mummy at the theatre. The tickets, dinner and transport cost a total of around USD 90. I can buy a good DVD copy of the new movie in a few months (the minute VCD/DVD/VHS comes out in the US) from a shop next to my hotel in Hangzhou for USD 1.29, VCD for slightly less. The quality is perfect. Before the movie started at the theatre, an anti-piracy advertisement warned against in-theatre video taping (fines, jailing). The next advertisement that came on was for a Chinese Linux operating system, complete with anti-virus, firewall, auto-update, etc, for USD 25.80. The office applications package is around USD 100. My office has 5 desktop and 4 laptop PCs. My extended family has 2 desktops and 3 laptops. On average we collectively buy 3 PCs every 12-18 months, with the oldest machine donated to whomever. I make all the spec decisions and have a good systems contractor on retainer. He has demonstrated his dual Linux+Windows OS PC and a Linux only PC, networked into his office system. Everything works. I will not buy multiple licenses, and I will not upgrade from the current Windows ME + Office 2000. MSFT Windows and Office is in trouble. Lower the price or figure out a way to force me to upgrade. Chugs, Jay