Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Path to Free Toys!


Click to enlarge.

I wonder if the financial experts telling us all to invest in China were factoring in the price of toys.

November 20, 2013
Walmart's Black Friday, Thanksgiving Plans Try to Control Crowds: Will They Work?

Over 100 toys will be a part of the pre-Black Friday deals that begin on Friday. Among the deals are Hot Wheels cars, which are Walmart's biggest unit mover in its toy department, on sale for 60 cents from 97 cents. A game of Monopoly will be available for $5, down from its usual price of $11.77.

For what it is worth, I remember paying $1 per Hot Wheels car in the 1970s.

Source Data:
BLS: Inflation & Prices

9 comments:

Rob Dawg said...

Convbert those Chinese toy factories over to bitmining ops.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Rob Dawg,

Automate the @#$% out of those bitmining operations too! Let those Chinese workers know who is boss!

Mwuhahaha!

Gallows humor. Sigh.

mab said...

For what it is worth, I remember paying $1 per Hot Wheels car in the 1970s.

Yeah, yeah, we all have a Toy Story or two.

Try saying "toy-boat, toy-boat, toy-boat" tens times without a mistake!

I'm thinking we need a brood of craft brewed buzz lite-beers. Maybe the first one should be named "brewed awakening". Or knot.

Stagflationary Mark said...

mab,

I dove in and said it three times but then everything went to hell in a handbasket, lol.

Seriously! :)

dearieme said...

About inflation: we are looking to buy a young second-hand car.

We don't want a diesel engine: modern ones can't cope with our low mileage. But EU law has obliged many manufactures of cars we like to swap to diesel-only.

We don't want many gizmos whose failures would push up our repair bills. But EU law has, for instance, encouraged sales of cars with the objectionable automatic switching-off of the engine when you pull up at the lights. Aargh!

Here's my question: how much of the inflation in car prices - or of the disinflation forgone - is a result of mutton-headed government rather than market forces?

Gordon Scott said...

Yeah, I had to have the Beatnik Bandit. A buck was a lot, for an 8-year old.

And I learned that stepping on a Hot Wheels car slowed its track time.

Stagflationary Mark said...

dearieme,

Your comment was saved from Blogger's SPAM police (which would seemingly be incompetent at its duties).

Here's my question: how much of the inflation in car prices - or of the disinflation forgone - is a result of mutton-headed government rather than market forces?

47.34%

Don't let the precision fool you. It's still a wild @$$ guess. (The mutton-headed government loves extra precision in all things. ;))

Stagflationary Mark said...

(Note that Real GDP is good to a whopping 8 digits! ;))

Stagflationary Mark said...

Gordon,

And I learned that stepping on a Hot Wheels car slowed its track time.

Oh, man. You just gave me a nightmare flashback. I'm picturing those wheels bent upwards.

I stepped on at least one. Not good!

What Matchbox cars lacked in speed, they sometimes made up for in durability.