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RaiseYourPrices.com
Marlene Jensen talked me into using a price that was 20% higher. She said nobody would notice the difference between it and my previous price. She was right - I never heard a peep about the price increase. But the shocker to me is that my renewal rates went up - from 90% to 95%! Great advice!
I think someone is using the advice in this book over and over again on crude oil. Allow me to demonstrate.
Cushing, OK WTI Spot Price FOB (Dollars per Barrel)
00. 12/10/1998: $10.82
01. 01/07/1999: $12.99 (+20%)
02. 03/25/1999: $15.66 (+20%)
03. 05/03/1999: $18.83 (+20%)
04. 09/07/1999: $22.58 (+20%)
05. 01/27/2000: $27.22 (+20%)
06. 06/14/2000: $32.72 (+20%)
07. 05/06/2004: $39.41 (+20%)
08. 09/21/2004: $47.11 (+20%)
09. 10/26/2004: $56.37 (+20%)
10. 06/14/2007: $67.62 (+20%)
11. 09/25/2007: $81.20 (+20%)
12. 11/26/2007: $97.66 (+20%)
13. 04/21/2008:$117.48 (+20%)
We managed ten in a row before things really started falling apart (the credit crisis in August of last year). We managed three more 20% increases since then. I'm not a superstitious person, but for whatever reason I must admit that thirteen 20% increases in the price of oil doesn't seem all that lucky to me.
The next stop is ~$141.98. Feeling lucky?
In any event, I find comfort that very little of these price increases have trickled through into plastic toys made in China yet. We can still count on cheap goods from China into the distant future just like we always have been. Right?
April 21, 2008
Mattel not playing - toy prices will be hiked
Mattel (MAT, Fortune 500), the world's largest retailer and maker of iconic toy brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels and Elmo, said Monday that the company will raise prices for its brands in the mid-single digits by June.
Oh crap. It is almost June. Forever time flies when you're having fun.
Real Estate Newsletter Articles this Week: Existing-Home Sales Increased to
4.15 million SAAR in November
-
At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:
[image: Existing Home Sales]*Click on graph for larger image.*
• NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increase...
17 hours ago
5 comments:
Here's a bonus question.
If the first five 20% increases helped popped the dotcom bubble and the next five 20% increases helped pop the housing bubble, what would the next five 20% increases help pop?
Stag,
Multiple Choice.
a) SUV bubble
b) Credit bubble
c) Commodity bubble
d) Dollar bubble
e) Financial wizard bubble
f) Financial hope bubble
Answer: f) Financial hope bubble. (aka, all of the above)
MAB,
The first option could be generalized a bit.
a) Investments with catchy names bubble
a1) SUV bubble
a2) SIV bubble
a3) CDO bubble
a4) ARS bubble
Here's some good news though.
Fifth Third exec predicts end to credit crisis
http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/05/fifth_third_exec_predicts_end.html
Collapsing investments with catchy names such as CDO, SIV and ARS have led to what Fifth Third Bank's Mitch Stapley called "a crisis of biblical proportions."
"I'm not talking New Testament biblical, I'm talking Old Testament hellfire and brimstone," said Stapley, chief fixed income officer for Fifth Third during his semi-annual economic outlook speech Thursday at Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. "This is the worst credit crisis we've ever seen."
So what's the good news you might ask? He goes on to say...
The upside of all this is Stapley sees an end that could come soon enough to avert a true recession -- or at least make any national recession short-lived.
Assuming freshly printed paper money dropped from helicopters cannot fully extinguish "Old Testament hellfire and brimstone" of "biblical proportions", here's an alternate ending as seen in a popular 1979 movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fORb1Ennbg
Stag,
I still see too much hope. Way more bulls than bears. Lots and lots of bottom callers.
The popular bear predictions have been for a stock market crash or a financial meltdown. The fed seems to have prevented those. Thank goodness for fiat currencies.
Going forward I see negative real interest rates grinding away wealth and financial hope. Too many have spent too much. I don't see higher wages saving the day. The least worst option seems to be higher inflation and higher taxes on the wealthy.
MAB,
I still see too much hope. Way more bulls than bears. Lots and lots of bottom callers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7W4_QX2JBD8&refer=home
``This idea that the consumer is going to completely capitulate is probably overblown,'' James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, which oversees $222 billion, told Bloomberg Television.
Why does he have to use a "probably" disclaimer when describing "complete" capitulation. I'm a bear and I wouldn't.
I can say with 100% certainty that the consumer will not completely capitulate. There will be at least one person in America who will eat in a restaurant in the future. I'm just not sure that one person can keep our restaurant industry afloat if economic conditions continue to deteriorate.
Darden Restaurants rose 4.3 percent to $33.10. The restaurant company can withstand a slowdown in consumer spending better than smaller chains, Merrill Lynch analyst Rachael Rothman wrote in a report. Merrill upgraded Darden to ``buy'' from ``neutral'' and set a price target of $39.
Here comes the sarcasm! That's the reason to be bullish? It now deserves a buy and a $39 price target?
Here's a similar $59.99 price target.
Demons battle mobsters in The Darkness
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2887&iArticleId=5018591
He gains the ability to withstand gunshot wounds more effectively, and his supernatural abilities add various possibilities. I was able to guide one of the tentacles around corners to take out enemies from afar, for example.
You also can summon little demonic buddies who'll help unlock doors and fight for you. (Just be sure to shoot out all the street lamps; demons in this world don't last long when exposed to light).
Oops. I thought it said summon economic buddies, not demonic buddies. Nevermind.
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