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

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 12:32:05 AM
From: Steve Lokness	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

Mish; You make an excellent point talking about the 800 square foot house. We should be ashamed of our trophy homes with a throw away life span. However just as the size of homes have mushroomed, the size of the lots those houses sit on have gotten smaller and smaller as the price has gone through the roof. Todays lots have seen huge inflationary gains. You also talk of the window improvements which is indeed a legitimate observation, however some of the most basic components of a house have just recently seen huge rises in price. Concrete and copper are two that come immediately to mind. ........When I go to the grocery store, prices that seemed to stay the same for almost forever, recently are rising on a regular basis. We'll see? steve

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 1:04:49 AM
From: bart13	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

That is the nut and the nut is inflation. The rest is nonsense. Unfortunately it is damn hard if not impossible to measure the size of the nut. Amen on measuring and comparing properly. But... 1968 low end apartment in LA, $100/month. Very similar one now, $850+/month. 1921 model Ford had no planned obsolescence built in and little need for a mechanic... and of course I'd rather have certain more current models. The airline flight of today is much more in sardine packed land and service or meals are non existent. Bottom line, is its not simple as you noted. Corn, wheat, meats, etc, are all very different products from the 40s or 60s - GMO seeds, taste and size are very different. Nutritional values are different - how much, I don't know and the spin is intense. Gov't price supports also didn't exist to the degree they exist today. We're also in my opinion not very far into the ag & other commodity up cycle.

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 2:27:33 AM
From: RJA_	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

>>Yes, prices HAVE risen. But how much of that is quality, materials, size, etc. And how much of that is because of printing? bart13, can you interpret or provide additional information re this graph for us? Mish, this graph seeks to answer your question: It is on this page: nowandfutures.com Graph: nowandfutures.com Caption: How much is the Fed supporting US Treasury Bonds and/or monetizing some of the debt? "Monetize: Printing money to pay off some type of government debt or obligation. When the U.S. Treasury receives money from the Federal Reserve system, this is known as "monetizing the debt". The debt referred to is the U.S. Government debt and is caused by the government having spent more than it takes in for many decades. The basic transaction of monetizing that debt is literally an accounting entry in a computer at the Fed - one side shows the purchase of U.S. Treasury paper securities (bonds and notes) and the other represents the Fed literally creating money out of nothing. The long term effect is inflation. "

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 3:11:45 AM
From: shades	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Toxic Free Fish Mish I just posted about Krispy Kreme taking off in asia because they have a visible kitchen - this is important to asians - they want to see that duck or pig or doughnut cooked right in front of them eh - but americans don't often see the kitchen eh? Is hidden from view in all its glory. Can't see that chef sprinkle some exstacy on your food and turn you into an instant drug addict (that he just happens to sell - hehe) Chicken legs .49 lb on sale vs a price I remember (.29) They used to take twice as long to grow smaller chickens 30 years ago - today they grow twice as big in half the time - how are they doing this? What chemicals and methods are they using to achieve such productivity Mish? Where are the long term peer reviewed studies on consuming this new high productivity method food over the years? Lots of kids with ADD/autism etc etc - is that because of better diagnosis uncovering a problem already lingering or because of new environmental reasons? www.hqfish.com - these guys were just on CNBC talking about toxic free fish - tilapia that is raised in a lab - said there are too many toxins and pcb's to eat the wild fish in the open waters - how much more are you willing to PAY for the lab raised fish that is completely safe (as claimed by them?) kbk.hainan.net Reported by Dan Richman, the article described the rapidly rising demand for tilapia among U.S. consumers and highlighted the zero-toxin attributes of HQs product. It further quoted the seafood manager at QFCs Queen Anne store, a leading Seattle retailer, who acknowledged that toxin-free tilapia might be a hit with his upscale customers, even at premium prices. The article also stated, "[HQs CEO Norbert] Sporns is hoping that grocery chains including Albertsons, Stop & Shop and Whole Foods, as well as restaurant chains including Dennys and Applebees, will offer TiLoveYa brand tilapia in the coming weeks." No contractual agreements have been reached and no assurances can be given that such distribution will occur. I eat a lot of tuna Mish - prices range from 50 cent to 1.50 per 6oz container. I don't eat much red meat or much chicken anymore. Anytime I eat pork I seem to have terrible nightmares and horrible insomnia. When I eat protein bars or lots of legumes I feel better.

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 7:17:46 AM
From: TH	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 110194

mish, A gallon is a gallon and an ounce an ounce. What do you label the increase in a gallon of gas at $3 from $1.7 just a few years ago? Ditto for gold. Without exception, the average joe considers this inflation. GT TH

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 8:29:42 AM
From: jim black	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Tired of this crap, huh? My Mom is on SS and her COLA was 3.3% last year but her gasoline was up & drugs were up, and food was up and clothes were up, best guess form last years bills which she keeps meticulous records for, 13%!!!...so you go ahead and BE tired of this crap and keep your money in CDs that pay , what, 4.4 % like the last one I was quoted from BofA, and then you get taxed on that, and M3 is last count up about 11 trillion, and we have upwards of 4 times GDP in debt over our collective heads, and we have 75 million baby boomers retiring starting 2013, and NONE of them are going to really expect what they were promised, and their average savings is less than 50k, and you go ahead and buy your S&P and your DOW , oh my!! Dow is at 11,000 wow, golly gee whiz, but that dollar you were SOO glad to have in 2000 when last it was around 11,000 has lost 25% of its value in 6 years, these numbers form Federal Reserve sites...enjoy you riches in this screwed up political system, yeah, and never mind Federal Reserve Bank sites give number of 50% the amount the dollar lost on Greensputin's watch, hey , that is nothing but a piece of cake!...my Plymouth Barracuda convertible cost 2744 in 1967 and now I'd pay 30k for it, but I DO get way more for the money, now that you think of it, well worth 10 times the worth...bullshit...keep your dollars and enjoy going broke on them...never quit working and never save, and never never go onto a fixed income like my Mom I am so withered by your relentless searing acutely stunning logic...can you add? Jim black

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 9:07:39 AM
From: GST	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

You can easily compare the SAME house by looking at its price history -- it does not take much of a brain to see an enormous jump in prices over time for the SAME house.

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 9:28:26 AM
From: jim black	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Inflation is nothing, huh? And Greenspan is the great man. "In the absence of the gold standard there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value." Alan Greenspan, "Gold and Economic Freedom" 1966 see google.com Yes gold , and for that matter silver, uranium, oil, natural gas, etc, are pains in the ass. Like Churchill said of democracy, it is a terrible form of government. The only problem is that everything else is worse. Something similar can be said of the dollar, and for that matter, the Euro, the yen, the pound. "What's it to be Mr Franklin?" "A republic, if you can keep it." US Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, 1789 I am not a gold bug. I hate that I feel like I must put assets in places other than dollars. I voted for this shrub in the White House twice and he is spending like there is no tomorrow, or well, the congress is and he signs the bills into law. If you are not too enraged at the thought of not being right, perhaps you might stroll through any of or all, Rothbard's The Case Against the Fed, Griffin's The Creature From Jekyll Island, and Bonner & Wiggins, Empire of Debt, three books that have given me pause to consider I have never given our government and finances an honest hard look. And I will never look at the internal structure of the USA the same way again. And this is the rub, I would love to find my suspicions are without foundations, my worries all without cause. I work with a woman, an RN, who is taking early retirement at 62 and will depend on her pension and social security to fund her mortgage she still has 22 years on. She believes that what happened to United and what is happening to Ford and GM cannot happen to the US government. Well maybe she is right, and then so was Dr Pangloss. jim black

To: mishedlo who wrote (67868)	8/10/2006 10:32:34 AM
From: SouthFloridaGuy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Gee, take away the house and compare the price of land to 80 years ago. Are you claiming that hasn't risen? Then you go on and talk about corn and wheat without even talking about the fact that productivity gains in growing (genetics) have had a major impact on prices. With regard to everything else, you can thank the Reaganites for the deregulation and freeing up of the American economy. Been shopping in France lately, I have...or I should say, I looked, didn't buy. Point is that costs of goods has risen slowly and the cost of services is rising faster. The former is more productivity and free-market driven than the latter, which in fact is seeing slower productivity and tight labor markets.