Stocks, Gold, Silver, and the printing press.

[lucky4034]

crazy stuff

 

[BehindBlueI's]

$5 for a lb of butter? Is it made from the milk of a mermaid? $13.69 for 2 lb of coffee? Must be foofoo Starbucks. $1.30/lb for potatoes? So you are paying $13 for a 10 lb bag of regular ol' potatoes? Where are you shopping? Hippie Free Trade Organic Co-op?

Get some coupons and head to Meijer or Wal-mart. Butter is $2/lb and you can get 3 lbs of Folgers for less than that if you shop right. Kroger has 10 lbs of potatoes for $4. That's 40 cents a lb, not $1.30.

I'm not saying there's no inflation, but honestly that seems pretty ridiculous on the grocery charges. The gas number is pretty cherry picked, too. Go 4-6 months before the $1.69 prices and its knocking at $4. Gas is cheaper now that it was at its peak in '08.

 

[smokingman]

$5 for a lb of butter? Is it made from the milk of a mermaid? $13.69 for 2 lb of coffee? Must be foofoo Starbucks. $1.30/lb for potatoes? So you are paying $13 for a 10 lb bag of regular ol' potatoes? Where are you shopping? Hippie Free Trade Organic Co-op?

Get some coupons and head to Meijer or Wal-mart. Butter is $2/lb and you can get 3 lbs of Folgers for less than that if you shop right. Kroger has 10 lbs of potatoes for $4. That's 40 cents a lb, not $1.30.

I'm not saying there's no inflation, but honestly that seems pretty ridiculous on the grocery charges. The gas number is pretty cherry picked, too. Go 4-6 months before the $1.69 prices and its knocking at $4. Gas is cheaper now that it was at its peak in '08.

Those are national averages.The data came from the bureau of labor and statistics.

 

[smokingman]

QE3,QE2.5,and Operation twist are currently in progress.85 billion per month is the goal set by the Federal reserve.That is right at 1 Trillion per year(slightly over).

What would 85 billion per month do if directly put into employing people?

$1 trillion / 15k = 66.666 million jobs @ 15k/year

But who wants to make minimum wage?

$ 1 trillion / 50k = 20 million jobs at 50k/yr

Since 2008 we have lost roughly 9 million jobs.In the money spent bailing out the banks(16 trillion by the fed according to the congressional budget office one time audit) where spent directly in the labor market over 320 million 50k jobs would have been created.If just the Federal Reserve balance sheet had been spent(currently 2.5 trillion and growing almost daily)55 million 50k a year jobs could have been created.

Instead we shoveled money into financial institutions that should have been allowed to fail.
Banks,and bank shareholders have been made whole,and will continue to reap the rewards of borrowing money at zero interest,and earning interest while parking money at the federal reserve.All those nasty assets that are losing the banks money will continue to be purchased by the Federal Reserve dollar per dollar to further bail out the banks(MBS purchases from QE3).

Mean while your purchasing power is declining and the cost of everything you need will continue to rise.

 

[dhnorris]

and forty percent of all collected taxes go to pay .gov debt. This whole "crisis" as been a theft from the american people on a massive scale and nobody goes to jail.

 

[smokingman]

Hmm. I tried following your work and have been unsuccessful on my first 4 attempts. Actually I'm not even seeing the BLS data being current through 2012 M10.

Then there is this table...
Average retail food and energy prices, U.S. city average and Midwest region

Found a better way to look at the data.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Check out Consumer Price Index Detailed Report, (complete text and tables) , December 2010 around half way down the page.Page 7 of that report has a real gem.Most of the reports say adjusted via 1985 data set,or something to the effect of see notes on chart.The notes generally tell you what YEAR the data is adjusted to.Most of the time the inflation is adjusted to with in the last few years dollar value.
The reason the dec 2010 report,and line on page 7 is important is that it actually gives you the percentage of 1982-84 and sets 1967 as the base value of the dollar.
What are the figures.Purchasing power of the consumer dollar (1982-84=$1.00) $ .457 $
Purchasing power of the consumer dollar (1967=$1.00) $ .153

The figures are probably shocking to most.In 2010 terms the dollar purchased just .457% of what it did in 1984 and only .15% of what it purchased in 1967.
Or to put it another way.Your dollar officially has lost 95% of the value it had in 1967 or almost 55% since 1984.
No wonder they adjust the data to the current year using THAT formula!
Read the notes on page 7 to understand what I mean.This is exactly how they are manipulating inflation lower in the official figures.They keep setting the base value of the dollar lower,which it is BUT they are then adjusting inflation using that data point.So when the dollar loses say 10% of the value,they adjust all the figures DOWN 10% and the "official" inflation rate would be 0.
On a side note.The link I posted is the best way I have found to look at the data yet.

 

[HavokCycle]

im going to invest in potatoes.

 

[smokingman]

Montana Lawmaker Jerry O’Neil: Forget Dollars, Pay Me in Gold and Silver | Fox News Insider

A Republican lawmaker in Montana, wary of the lessening value of the U.S. dollar, has asked the state to pay him in gold.O’Neil said last night on On the Record that he’s looking to make a point about what is happening to the country’s currency amid the $16 trillion national debt.

He argued that the current policies of the Federal Reserve are only going to make the problem worse, devaluing the dollar more and more.


“As long as they continue spending money that they don’t have, borrowing it from China and other places and spending it for things that nothing comes back to us, the dollar’s going to devalue. The only way they have to pay the debts is to print more money, and the more money you print, the less it’s worth,” said O’Neil.


It is very likely the bottom will fall out from under the U.S. dollar. Only so many dollars can be printed before they have no value. The Keynesian era of financing government with debt appears to be close to its demise. If and when that happens, how can we in the Montana Legislature protect our constituents? -- The only answer I can come up with is to honor my oath to the U.S. Constitution and request that your debt to me be paid in gold and silver coins that will still have value when the U.S. dollar is reduced to junk status. I therefore request my legislative pay to be in gold and silver coins that are unadulterated with base metals.


Jerry O'Neil, Montana Legislator, Asks To Be Paid In Gold Coins

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

How sweet would it be to instead of a paycheck, they give you gold bars

 

[teddy12b]

How sweet would it be to instead of a paycheck, they give you gold bars

In my case I'd prefer silver bullion but yes I'd love to see some competing currency's become legal.

 

[smokingman]

US Inflation Rate for Purchasing Power Of The Consumer Dollar

 

[smokingman]

A must read.
It Ain

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

A must read.
It Ain

I wish i understood this stuff more, that article was like reading Greek. The people in the comments section didnt seem to think this was such a good thing though

 

[smokingman]

New home sales almost back to 1963 levels! Hey it is an improvement!

I see green sh**s!

 

[smokingman]

White House Plan on Fiscal Crisis Draws G.O.P. Ire - NYTimes.com
"WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a detailed proposal on Thursday to avert the year-end fiscal crisis with $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, $50 billion in immediate stimulus spending, home mortgage refinancing and a permanent end to Congressional control over statutory borrowing limits"

In short the president/Geithner plan is to raise taxes,raise spending,and take away control of the debt ceiling from congress(ie no ceiling).

So in short "Congress just give up control of the budget,the Federal Reserve and Treasure have it under control.We can spend our way to prosperity."
Thanks for your vote *wink
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

White House Plan on Fiscal Crisis Draws G.O.P. Ire - NYTimes.com
"WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a detailed proposal on Thursday to avert the year-end fiscal crisis with $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, $50 billion in immediate stimulus spending, home mortgage refinancing and a permanent end to Congressional control over statutory borrowing limits"

In short the president/Geithner plan is to raise taxes,raise spending,and take away control of the debt ceiling from congress(ie no ceiling).

So in short "Congress just give up control of the budget,the Federal Reserve and Treasure have it under control.We can spend our way to prosperity."
Thanks for your vote *wink
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[ATOMonkey]

Just setting up for the revaluation.

Step one is inflation that will result in a default on sovereign debt, and bank runs.

After that will come the bank holiday, followed by the confiscation of greenbacks and the issuance of monopoly money.

Things are accelerating. People who think it will take 20 years to collapse the currency are looking at the progression linearly, which it is not.

 

[smokingman]

Just setting up for the revaluation.

Step one is inflation that will result in a default on sovereign debt, and bank runs.

After that will come the bank holiday, followed by the confiscation of greenbacks and the issuance of monopoly money.

Things are accelerating. People who think it will take 20 years to collapse the currency are looking at the progression linearly, which it is not.

I do not think we will get a new currency at this point.I think they will do a revaluation like the British did in 1967,though I expect our revaluation will be more than 20%.
You get to keep the same money,it is just worth less.They did 20% overnight and unpegged the Sterling from the US dollar.There would be no need for a bank run,the damage would be instant.The DOW might even rise(same companies priced in a lower value currency),some companies would be bankrupt instantly though.

 

[ATOMonkey]

I do not think we will get a new currency at this point.I think they will do a revaluation like the British did in 1967,though I expect our revaluation will be more than 20%.
You get to keep the same money,it is just worth less.They did 20% overnight and unpegged the Sterling from the US dollar.There would be no need for a bank run,the damage would be instant.The DOW might even rise(same companies priced in a lower value currency),some companies would be bankrupt instantly though.

I don't know, I think the problem is bigger than that.

Argentina tried the same thing and it only accelerated their problem.

Things didn't turn around for them until they hit the big red reset button.

 

[smokingman]

Interest take on how hyper inflation will occur.This is by John Williams.Which no one in their right mind has ever heard of.He is the man that created our modern day Consumer Price Index(CPI).
He also says by his original formula current inflation in the CPI would be over 6%.
Here is his take on hyper inflation and how it will happen(he does not think it can be stopped).
No. 414: Hyperinflation Special Report 2012