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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ahhaha who wrote (47938)	12/22/2005 3:19:00 AM
From: NOW	Respond to of 110194

is there any reason you need to make such an ass of yourself all of the time? your knowledge of economics is apparently impressive, most of all to you yourself. but your demeanor is intolerable. were you always so arrogant?

To: ahhaha who wrote (47938)	12/22/2005 3:27:15 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

Americans have put savings into all kinds of investments. You can say that again, a ton of my redneck friends have bought shotguns, lottery tickets and crystal meth in massive amounts. My grandpas hidden cache of moonshine was his greatest secret investment however - he told all his kids if any followed him out to find where he buried the treasure - he would kill them. hehe He had an amazing german beer can collection that he kept investing into. My niece took the gold I gave her and pawned it and started her collection of brittney spears cd's. I think she has them all now. I once heard imelda marcos put all her investments into fashionable shoes - I know many women that share in her investments - entire rooms filled with hundreds if not thousands of pairs of SHOES! Self Storage spaces rented so they could store MORE shoes! I read once in the great depression people could not afford to buy new shoes and shoe cobblers did very well in those days - maybe imelda was onto something eh? hehe www.ebay.com - it is amazing the stuff I see on ebay that people invest in - to them it is PURE TREASURE. local10.com Grilled Sandwich 'Holy Pan' For Sale On eBay 'Virgin Mary Pan' Up For Bids POSTED: 1:54 pm EST March 21, 2005 HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- If you missed your chance to bid on South Florida's famous Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich, now you can buy the pan in which the highly publicized sandwich was fried. Diana Duyser has listed the "Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich Holy Pan" on eBay. As of midday Monday, there were 11 bids on the pan and the price is up to $142.50. That's quite a bargain, considering the 10-year-old sandwich went for $28,000 to GoldenPalace.com, an online casino. Just For Fun: Who do you see in the grilled cheese? Duyser, 52, said she took the image in the sandwich seriously. "I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary Mother of God," Duyser, a work-from-home jewelry designer, said in a statement from GoldenPalace.com. In the new ad for the frying pan, Duyser says, "I have chosen to auction off the Holy Pan on eBay instead of the auction house 'Christy's of London' to give the world a chance to bid on it." The ad goes on to say, "I've been to the Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida and Las Vegas where the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich was put on display for the world to see and I have witnessed people who would become dizzy, cry, and pray to her or just wanted to touch me, because she came to me 10 years ago." If you want to take a look at the pan on eBay, click here. Bidding ends March 23. In the eBay ad, Duyser asks that people e-mail her only serious questions, not "jokes or ridiculous comments."

To: ahhaha who wrote (47938)	12/22/2005 4:45:37 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

My friend in Ga used to run a title pawn check cashing business before the state shut him down - the army wives would come in and pawn poor soldier boys truck for a new hairdo! news.bbc.co.uk Profits cut for Zimbabwe hairdressers By Steve Vickers BBC, Harare Christmas is usually the busiest time of the year for salons A joke doing the rounds in Zimbabwe is that Christmas has been cancelled this year due to economic constraints. That may not be the case exactly, but most people are feeling the pinch, and many women are having to cut back on their hairdressing budget and opt for long-lasting hairstyles. So while it used to be fancy sets like spirals and bobs, it's now fishtail, carrot, and other types of plaiting. Weaves are also in, as are dreadlocks, wigs and short hair. "When you get to the festive season, this is normally the busiest time, when there are parties and everyone is bubbly and excited," says Jackie Granger, one of Harare's leading hairstylists. You have to adjust to your pocket - I'd like to change my hairstyle once a month, but I just can't do that Salon customer "But this year there's been a downward trend. People don't seem to be spending as much as they used to spend, particularly when it comes to hair, people would rather look for food or keep money for school fees rather than having their hair done. Shorter and shorter So the majority of fashion-conscious Zimbabwean women have had to compromise with their hair, though they're not finding it easy. Shaving your head is easier to manage and cheaper, says Vimbai "My hairstyle is very very short and I have a tint - it's called copper," explains one salon customer. "I used to have long hair with weaves." Another says: "It's difficult but you have to adjust to your pocket. It's just beyond my means to have the trendy hairstyles. I'd like to change my hairstyle once a month, but I just can't do that." You could even go for the ultimate in low maintenance hair - the completely bald look. It's becoming increasingly popular," said one shaven-headed lady called Vimbai. "I find myself more of a natural woman when I carry this hairstyle - It's very easy to manage." "And the other advantage of being bald is it's very versatile. I can change it to suit the occasion - if I get invited to a dinner I can just put on my wig and go." Costs soar Zimbabwe's year-on-year inflation is now running at 502%. But official figures for prices at hair salons show a rise of 2100%, the highest rate of all categories monitored. In other words, on average, a hairstyle costs 20 times more than it did a year ago. "With hairdressing they say it's a luxury business so when they bring in the products, there's a 60 or 65% duty on that," Jackie Granger says. "When you look at it sometimes you wonder if it's worth being in business because we are being out-priced."

To: ahhaha who wrote (47938)	12/22/2005 10:45:25 AM
From: el_gaviero	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

"I claim the savings rate is higher than normal..." and “Most Americans have put savings into all kinds of investments.” Bidding up the price of a house makes other houses in the neighborhood more valuable. People living in those other houses feel better off and spend more. Call this the good ole wealth effect. Also, the now wealthier people of the neighborhood let their other assets run down (stocks, bonds, money market funds, traditional bank savings account). They also borrow against the increasing value of their houses, so that over the last generation, even though their houses are more valuable, the amount of equity they have in them has fallen. Do you doubt any of this? Does one have to go to the links in Russ’s header to pull down the relevant graphs? The picture painted by the data doesn’t look pretty. What if the value of those housing stops going up? Also, what if reality proves inconvenient, e.g, the primordial reality of our time: the great slow, relentless ice sheet of Hubbert’s Peak now crossing the human landscape. People with their big houses located a long way down the road are going to get ground into bits and pieces by energy costs. Ah, but not to worry says Ahhaha --- our Dr. Pangloss with attitude --- we live in the best possible of all possible worlds.