Wages vs. Aluminum

Click to enlarge.

Here's what hindsight says.

1. 1980 was definitely a commodity selling opportunity.
2. 2001 was definitely a commodity buying opportunity.

What will hindsight someday say about 2010? I'm unwilling to predict that.

On the one hand, Ben Bernanke is doing what he can to turn us all into commodity speculators.

On the other hand, I continue to think that the China story has major plot holes.

Update:

Here's a version of the chart that forces zero wages to equal zero aluminum production.


Click to enlarge.

The correlation isn't as high, but it has a certain common sense quality about it.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Wage and Salary Disbursements
USGS: Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities