tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post7614021337966335346..comments2024-02-17T12:34:01.400-08:00Comments on Illusion of Prosperity: The Sarcasm Report v.168Stagflationary Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-85751356626107687002012-10-15T15:16:47.891-07:002012-10-15T15:16:47.891-07:00dearieme,
As you might imagine, this makes me kee...dearieme,<br /><br /><i>As you might imagine, this makes me keener than ever to invest in these pieces of paper even though the terms on offer have deteriorated so much.</i><br /><br /><b>December 3, 2007</b><br /><a href="http://www.treasurydirect.gov/news/pressroom/pressroom_reducedpurchaselimit.htm" rel="nofollow">Annual Purchase Limit For Savings Bonds Set at $5,000</a><br /><br /><i>The reduction from the $30,000 annual limit in effect for both series since 2003 was made to refocus the savings bond program on its original purpose of making these non-marketable Treasury securities available to individuals with relatively small sums to invest.</i><br /><br />I will always find it amusing that they announced the reduction in the amount we could buy the very month that the recession officially began (even as the vast majority of economists thought we would avoid a recession).Stagflationary Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-62913310541586378742012-10-14T14:33:20.995-07:002012-10-14T14:33:20.995-07:00A straw in the wind: Her Majesty's Government,...A straw in the wind: Her Majesty's Government, in the shape of National Savings and Investments, has recently announced rules that make new issues in its heretofore glorious Index-linked Savings Certificates a much less attractive investment.<br /><br />I interpret that as screaming "HMG expects increases in inflation and doesn't want you to protect yourself against them". As you might imagine, this makes me keener than ever to invest in these pieces of paper even though the terms on offer have deteriorated so much. Would that be classified as a negative elasticity of demand?deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-7055439176490878162012-10-13T16:53:57.424-07:002012-10-13T16:53:57.424-07:00Bonus thought!
If aluminum becomes worthless due ...Bonus thought!<br /><br />If aluminum becomes worthless due to it making up so much of the earth's crust and...<br /><br />If labor becomes worthless due to 7 billion people looking for work in an increasingly automated world and...<br /><br />If real estate becomes worthless because labor doesn't have enough employment to pay for new homes and...<br /><br />If dollars will become worthless due to excessive monetary printing activities...<br /><br />If video games become worthless due to next generation gaming consoles making the previous generation games obsolete...<br /><br />Then everything becomes worthless simultaneously! Burn it all! Nothing will have value!<br /><br />I've been doing this all wrong clearly. I've been enjoying the heck out of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderlands_2" rel="nofollow">Borderlands 2</a>.<br /><br />I don't even want to guess how many hours I've played so far. This is so irrational. How can I enjoy doing something that I KNOW will eventually become worthless to me? ;)Stagflationary Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-20351297043137807692012-10-13T16:42:05.157-07:002012-10-13T16:42:05.157-07:00Your link to the gold article appears to be broken...Your link to the gold article appears to be broken. That said, I think I've read all I need to read.<br /><br /><i>Why Gold-Related Investments Are Slowly Becoming Worthless</i><br /><br />Believe it or not, that title actually hits two pet peeves of mine at once!<br /><br />"Are" implies that there is proof that it is already happening and there is proof that it will continue. Neither of those things are true. No proof! Just opinions.<br /><br />"Becoming Worthless" implies that gold's future value will be zero. Even as a gold heretic (would not buy at these prices), I would never claim something so ridiculous.<br /><br />But for the moment, let's assume the headline is true.<br /><br />If gold will be worthless, then that means <a href="http://illusionofprosperity.blogspot.com/2012/03/where-are-aluminum-speculators.html" rel="nofollow">aluminum</a> will be worth much, much less than worthless!<br /><br />And if aluminum is worth much, much less than worthless then we surely will NEVER hyperinflate!<br /><br />And it also means that the dollars of the future will be worth than any amount of aluminum we could possibly ever hoard! Hurray!<br /><br />In all seriousness, I'm not holding my breath, lol. ;)Stagflationary Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-57210513123538168552012-10-13T16:24:28.021-07:002012-10-13T16:24:28.021-07:00Wow! Freudian slip!
Anyone knew showed up? LOL!Wow! Freudian slip!<br /><br />Anyone knew showed up? LOL!Stagflationary Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-21919201151523021592012-10-13T16:23:42.079-07:002012-10-13T16:23:42.079-07:00Mr Slippery,
I just read the comments of the arti...Mr Slippery,<br /><br />I just read the comments of the article again to see if anyone knew showed up.<br /><br />DOGS THAT BARK!<br /><br /><i>Always enjoy the food for thought...Thank you Ian<br />..but nearing retirement and being a conservative investor...</i><br /><br />Yes! Someone gets it!! A dog lover too apparently! Hurray!!<br /><br /><i>...I'd take any investment that returns 6% and be happy as a lark.</i><br /><br />Forehead. Desk. Whack. Whack. Whack.<br /><br />It was going so well until that point. He then points to TIP and clearly expects the 6% returns to continue even though the real yield of the fund has fallen to <a href="http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/TIP.htm" rel="nofollow">-0.89%</a>. Tack on 3% inflation over the long haul say, and we could expect the fund to get 2% per year at best. And that assumes that real yields don't rise. I don't think they will but they could.Stagflationary Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-26631700642347483082012-10-13T07:38:49.753-07:002012-10-13T07:38:49.753-07:00That article is so funny. It might have been titl...That article is so funny. It might have been titled, "Everything Stagflationary Mark Believes is Worthless", or "Stagglationary Mark Kryptonite". TIPS bashing, CPI conspiracies, Shadowstats praise, and comment confirmation by none other than Dread Lord Naf! Hahahaha.<br /><br />A quick search turned up a Mr Slippery Kryptonite article, <a href="" rel="nofollow">Why Gold-Related Investments Are Slowly Becoming Worthless</a>. From the article:<br /><br />"The basic answer is that in the long run the price of gold can only go down. And it will keep going down until mining virtually stops."<br /><br />Since that was written, gold is up over 11%. Genius!Mr Slipperynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515247115132134144.post-25860367370330058532012-10-12T16:30:03.443-07:002012-10-12T16:30:03.443-07:00I don't mean to be mean, but my eyes could not...I don't mean to be mean, but my eyes could not stand the strain of reading the article and the comments. It was just too much. There were too many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_peeve" rel="nofollow">pet peeves</a> all in the same place.<br /><br /><i>A pet peeve (or pet hate) is a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to them, to a greater degree than others may find it.</i><br /><br />That is no doubt the case here, lol.Stagflationary Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568993350246477976noreply@blogger.com