The money supply is tighting up....ask a realtor.....people are starting to get scared to extend to bigger houses as they were last year...rates will start to climb.....wait and see....
<< <i>It should drop a noticeable amount in the next few months since interest rates have risen and many of the carry trades need to be undone.
The fed has raised the fed funds rates 175 basis points in the last 2 years. But that only applies to banks lending to other banks. Does your bank pay you more in your checking or savings account than it did 2 years ago? I dont think so.
Also you can still buy a car for 0% interest. No raise there. Mortgages rates are the same as 2 years ago. No raise there. Interest on credit cards can be found for 6-8%. That is much lower than 5 years ago. WHERE HAVE RATES RISEN? >>
Hello Friend,
(Sorry for the delay in answering, I'm rarely online at night, weekends or holidays )
Move your (hot) money to ING Direct Linky (no I don't work for them), they have raised the interest rate 3 times so far this year, the coupon is currently 3%. On a side note, they have actually been very good at predicting the Fed increases, they usually increase their rate before the Fed. If your married, open an account for yourself first, then have your friends open them after, they were giving $25-$50 for each referral. It's a nice way to earn a couple hundred USD. They are flexible on moving your money and are FDIC and no minimum balance required.
You mention the Fed rate, all of my "lines" are prime + some %, so the Fed rate directly affects my borrowing. I just unwound one of my carry trades a few weeks ago, so the effect has already started.
You should be able to get a credit card rate of 0-4% right now, they'll make their money on the back end of other products. Speaking of credit cards, have you seen the new Discover cards? They are fairly cool, transparent & nice nature scenes, I would get one, but who takes Discover? LOL
I don't think I've actually seen CNBC since 2002, too much chatter, not enough insight.
I'm going shopping early today, but if you need any other info, PM me before 2 pm US CDT (but not during lunch which is 11 AM - 1 PM CDT), otherwise I should be online next week.
-g
I listen to your voice like it was music, [ y o u ' r e ] the song I want to know.
I'd give you the world, just because...
Speak to me of loved ones, favorite places and things, loves lost and gained, tears shed for joy and sorrow, of when I see the sparkle in your eye ... and the blackness when the dream dies, of lovers, fools, adventurers and kings while I sip my wine and contemplate the Chi.
Japan has been experiencing this for years. Rates there are 1% or lower and that's why they buy OUR bonds. 4.48% looks like HEAVEN to a Japanese saver.
Doesn't mean a thing to an average Japanese saver as interest rates paid out to people with savings accounts in several Asian countries exceed 8% a year. Vietnam and China are 2 of those countries.
However BANKS in Japan can borrow from Japanese central banls, once upon a time at virtually ZERO and use those borrowed funds to buy US Bonds paying whatever they're paying. Subtracting even the exchange rates and that's a pretty good profit to make on money that someone else is assuming risk on.
<< <i>Doesn't mean a thing to an average Japanese saver as interest rates paid out to people with savings accounts in several Asian countries exceed 8% a year. Vietnam and China are 2 of those countries. >>
Well, sure, but how MANY "average" Japanese savers save in Vietnam or (their bosom buddy) China?
I get 10% on 1st position private mortgages but I also WALK the properties and lend no more than 40% of the value. How many mortgages do I find at those terms? VERY VERY few, but they're there. Now I can't use those for EVERY investment as they are difficult to find but I sell lesser things to buy them when I can.
And what I do is not what the AVERAGE saver here OR in Japan counts on. The AVERAGE saver relies on the banks and S&L's who can DO things like the Japanese banks and find better yields on large pack sums.
Interest rates are going to fall. (with the codicil of the Dec low as a "check") >>
Hello all,
Japan is a total basket case, it has been terrible there for 12 years.
Hard to say what will happen with the bond markets, all that export cash has to be parked somewhere. It doesn't help that the Japanese central bank buys treasuries to pressure the yen (& keep their exports competitive). Besides, who wants to lug around 1 million+ USD in cash? Give me a treasury bond any day, nice and portable. At least the EU considered the drug dealers and came out with higher D notes.
If memory serves me correctly, the carry trades in Japan are called "Samurai bonds", even taking into account FX (foreign exchange) fees, there was still yield to be had... especially for our South American friends.
I remember one month back during the Clinton Admin, the treasury had enough cash to buy ALL of the bonds in the open market, but declined, because it would have naturally destroyed the market. Upon learning of the 30-yr demise, my first question "how will we price debt now"? 10 yrs!
We went from insane deficits, to paying off the float, to insane deficits in ~15 years. This is why I'm not concerned about world events, when the US gets serious about something, our market can generate what we need. What other country can spend an extra 60 billion USD a year on defense with the flip of a switch?
-g
I listen to your voice like it was music, [ y o u ' r e ] the song I want to know.
I'd give you the world, just because...
Speak to me of loved ones, favorite places and things, loves lost and gained, tears shed for joy and sorrow, of when I see the sparkle in your eye ... and the blackness when the dream dies, of lovers, fools, adventurers and kings while I sip my wine and contemplate the Chi.
<< <i>Doesn't mean a thing to an average Japanese saver as interest rates paid out to people with savings accounts in several Asian countries exceed 8% a year. Vietnam and China are 2 of those countries. >>
Well, sure, but how MANY "average" Japanese savers save in Vietnam or (their bosom buddy) China?
No idea of the numbers but when I lived there full time ( 2000-2003) it looked like a lot. Considering the Vietnam has become the South Florida of Asia, it should be no surprise either.
More complex though than to answer in a sentence or two but after rereading what I just wrote it's as close to the reality as it can get.
Far as Japan and China relations, the protests you saw on CNN were about as accurate as the "large crowds" pulling the statue of sadamn husein down.
just checking out some charts it appears the daily volume on gold has gone down which generally means interest has waned. i wonder if that trend will continue.
It looks like the S.C. issue is shaping up just about as to be expected. This TRUST FUND, as well as the Medicare Trust fund, will turn out to be just another couple of welfare programs. The liberals know that Bush’s private savings programs will remove money out of the system that could be used for welfare for those that paid little or nothing in. I think at this point it would be a miracle for young people if that ever got passed.
It does appear that the congress is finally getting to the discussion they wanted all along, age increases and means testing. Guess who will get cheated out of all the money they poured into these programs for 40 years, you guessed it the middle, and upper middle class. Rich people of course always will pay more into the system than they would ever receive, and all those folks that did not work much in their lives will again get mail box money. I guess if a middle class citizen gets a good pension check from their company they will be disqualified from their S.C., and those that bought a couple of rental properties will defiantly be out, and if you run a small business to make ends meet to bad.
Has Middle America just been as dumb as a bucket of hair for 40 years or did they really believe that they would get their S.C. checks, and that Medicare would take care of their medical needs in old age?
they have raised the interest rate 3 times so far this year, the coupon is currently 3%. On a side note, they have actually been very good at predicting the Fed increases, they usually increase their rate before the Fed
Hi AG,
3% interest on your money market is not even keeping up with inflation. You are actually losing money by keeping it in the money market. However you dont have much alternative if you want safety.
There has been nothing to predict with the FED. They have been saying out load for the last 2 years that they were going to raise rates.
Why have they raised rates. Certainly not because the economy has been too strong. Rather it is becasue they used up all their bullets getting us out of the last recession. They are raising rates simply to get some ammo back.
Real interest rates have not changed in the last 2 years. And like someone else said earlier, if you want to know where the economy is going then watch the bond market. Yields have been going down very dramatically over the last 2 months. The yield curve is nearly inverted. We are on the verge of recession. Time will tell if we actually go there
There is absolutely no reason why we cant go to 3% on the 30yr.
I have been the idiot of the century and read this entire thread......at 0100 when I couldn't sleep.
Not being the expert as many here, my opinion may not carry much water. I'll pass on the opinions but just make a couple of naive comments. With the inflation of raw materials that have been underway for the last 12 months--I just do not see how the Fed cannot help but ratchet up rates.
And I cannot understand how the DJ cannot do anything but tank. And I cannot see anyway other than gold floating up.
<< <i>Has Middle America just been as dumb as a bucket of hair for 40 years >>
No. The hair is smarter as it does not watch TV news.
Middle class America has bought: Trickle down Busing Several undeclared wars Downsizing NAFTA GATT Reagan and TWO Bushes "Free" trade The United Nations The Federal Reserve as a "government" entity The National Firearms Act
And that paying up to half of everything you earn therefore forcing you to work whether you want to or not is representative of Freedom and that its' "needed".
roosevelt, johnson and ther republican look alikes ( bush, reagan)
“read this entire thread......at 0100 when I couldn't sleep.”
Way to go Streeter
“Spend less than you get and buy things that HOLD value and have ONE DIME more at night than you started the day with and you'll be okay.”
Topstuff, this is good, but maybe folks can shoot for $10 each day, trickier than one might think with inflation taxes and such.
Sooner or later Americans must return to the thinking of earlier generations and begin to distrust all politicians. Even if you consider that many of the folks running various governments hearts might be in the right place, finance is now so complex that there is no way these folks can be smart enough to see into the future 2 or 3 decades. As we all now know it is easy to pass these laws and entitlement programs, but nearly impossible to unwind them.
Americans need to start exercising their NO votes on every issue unless it is getting existing bad laws off the books.
<< <i>I have been the idiot of the century and read this entire thread......at 0100 when I couldn't sleep.
Not being the expert as many here, my opinion may not carry much water. I'll pass on the opinions but just make a couple of naive comments. With the inflation of raw materials that have been underway for the last 12 months--I just do not see how the Fed cannot help but ratchet up rates.
And I cannot understand how the DJ cannot do anything but tank. And I cannot see anyway other than gold floating up. >>
Hi Streeter,
Rising rates will/should make the dollar stronger, and hence gold weaker.
By Richard McGregor in Beijing 2 hours, 43 minutes ago
China's renminbi currency traded briefly outside its tightly controlled band on Friday, triggering a renewed wave of speculation that the government was set to allow a long-expected revaluation.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, late on Friday blamed the change on "technical problems", with officials speculating a dealer may have keyed in the wrong rate.
In spite of mounting international pressure for China to allow its currency to appreciate, a spokesman for the PBoC said no announcement of a change in policy was planned.
Traders said the renminbi, which has been pegged to the US dollar for a decade, was briefly in the market at a rate of Rmb8.2700 to the dollar, outside of the usual band of 8.2760 to 8.2800.
Traders could not say whether the State Administration for Foreign Exchange, the Chinese government agency which handles currency trades, conducted any business at the higher rate.
Frank Gong, a strategist with JP Morgan in Hong Kong, said he would not be surprised to see some kind of announcement from the PBoC on currency over China's week-long May holidays, which start on Sunday.
"But the point is that they are ready to do it and could move at any time," he said. He said the higher rate remained on trading screens for up to 20 minutes, a sign that the authorities may have been testing the market "to see how much ammunition they may need to keep everything under control".
Beijing has been sending strong signals in recent weeks that it has completed all the technical preparations necessary to remove the US dollar peg and allow greater flexibility for the currency.
But the government has also stuck steadfastly to its policy of not commenting on any possible timetable for a change.
The stakes have been raised by the US Senate's decision to consider in July a bill that would slap a 27.5 per cent tariff on all Chinese exports to the US unless Beijing revalued its currency within six months.
President George W. Bush however would be expected to veto legislation that would be in clear violation of World Trade Organisation rules.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the central Bank governor, said last week China may accelerate its timetable for a more flexible rate in response to the mounting international pressure, but some analysts suggest the US move could backfire.
"The move is foolish because the RMB-USD peg does not contribute significantly to the US current-account deficit, and counterproductive because heightened foreign pressure will only make it more difficult for Beijing to adopt a more flexible exchange rate mechanism," said Andy Rothman, chief China strategist for CLSA, the securities house.
The China Securities Journal, controlled by Xinhua, the official news agency, reinforced the sense of an imminent change in policy with a front-page commentary on Friday saying the issue was now "about choosing the timing".
"Conditions for China to unveil reforms of the foreign exchange rate regime are basically ripe, as joint-stock reforms of commercial banks are being pushed forward," the paper said.
Sooner or later Americans must return to the thinking of earlier generations and begin to distrust all politicians
I'm looking around this table and other tables and have a hard time figuring out who DOES trust the pols. In my short life of 51 years, I have a hard time recalling anyone who does trust them. They do not work, they do not produce, they just TAKE. Look around--do you know of anyone who trusts a pol? The problem is...in 2005...it very unpatriotic to criticize them.
With respect to rising interest rates--I never said my logic was impeccable. The FED has to do something about the inflation or let it ride. I do not see a weakening demand for oil or steel having much of an impact on prices. We are at $2.50 a gal. and our usage remains stable. I need to buy steel and copper and nickle and cyanide and chromium. I have no choice. I'm in a commodity related biz and our supplier increases this last year have been unbelievable. For the most part, we have split the increases between price increases and my bottom line.
This economy is teetering. In SoCal---much of the consumer biz has come courtesy of money generated by refi's and that IS coming to a halt. If the fed does pump up rates, CALIFORNIA is toast. As CAL goes, so goes the nation.
I leave it to you Einsteins to solve the problems. 30 years ago, I had all the answers. These days, I'm just looking to add an eagle or two a week and keep my mouth shut.
The FED has to do something about the inflation or let it ride. I do not see a weakening demand for oil or steel having much of an impact on prices. We are at $2.50 a gal. and our usage remains stable. These days, I'm just looking to add an eagle or two a week and keep my mouth shut. >>
There's a year waiting list for several automobiles being built in China. They simply cannot build them fast enough to meet the demand. ( in China and other parts of Asia) There was one, and I don't remember the name that the company was ( or is) trying to export to the US which would be under 5 grand and have a 100,000 mile warrantee that I read about in a trade mag there. The problem with that is back to demand and they just can't ( at this time" build them fast enough.
Car dealers who have franchises with mercedes, bmw etc are VERY busy there and bear in mind they aren't "leasing". The consumer there is buying them and paying cash. I friend of a friend had one of his drivers pick me up in Hong Kong, in the big mercedes, one of 2 that he owns, and drove me into szenchen which is the "free zone" in mainland china. He exports "deals" all over the world and has already had 2 heart attacks as he chain smokes while woofing down egg sandwiches and coffee . Owns several condos, as well as one condo in HK which costs about a mil US. His age? 28. Well now he's the ripe old age of 30 and from a cash standpoint can buy and sell a lot of paper a__holes in other places.
That's happening all over China, Vietnam, even Thailand where the Asian crisis started years ago has seen property values double and a friend of mine in Koh Samui is quite busy supplying expats with reverse osmosis water systems. He's from central Florida, pays 150/month for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath place under a Coconut tree forest and ask him if he's coming back and he'll ignore the question for being just plain ignorant.
Gas prices coming down? Maybe but even if that happened you can bet that something else would go up to make up the sleight of hand these liars in politics have become masters of being.
You have the right idea about keeping a low profile in my opinion. It's either that, leave, or be prepared to be on the treadmill a lot longer than you had anticipated.
By the way as far as leaving, it was clinton that had proposed the "expatriate tax" whereas the government would essentially seize half of what you have left is you decided to cash in and start doing large wires overseas, and I don't know if the present occupant signed it or not. I believe he was going to but something happened to put it off but that part I'm not sure of.
Oil makes your heat and power COST you more. Same with the gas in your car. Same with your insurance and medical expenses. But NONE of those things make you GET more money.
On behalf of communities across Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Lousyana, Oklahoma, and Texas.... Speak for youself!
<< <i>Why have they raised rates. Certainly not because the economy has been too strong. Rather it is becasue they used up all their bullets getting us out of the last recession. They are raising rates simply to get some ammo back. >>
Probably one of the finest commentary on the Fed I have seen in the past year. Period.
Your right history never repeats itself, we could never have another boom like the 20's leading to a GREAT depression. I'm sure most....
Economic History has repeated itself dozens and dozens of times over from the Romans to modern day society. The thing is that a repeat of the Great Depression is certainly still a possibility. We are taking the same steps we took all throughout the 1917-1929 era. The stats are very similar wrt credit, debt, stock market, real estate bubble, etc. One difference today is all the hedging going on and the $300 TRILLION in derivates that exist today and didn't then. The FED and govts cannot leave markets alone to fix themselves. That was one lesson from the 1929-1939 that we never learned. FDR's socialism only worsened the effects of that time.
Diamonds as a way to wealth? Maybe. That assumes you don't mind the huge markup to retailers and the fact that grading gems is probably as sophisticated as trying to grade PF68 Morgan dollars. 99.99% of the population has no clue to either. And once you get past the fact that diamond supply/demand is totally manipulated by DeBeers and others, then of course, jump right in. they have the same risks as coins. In a pinch, I'll take the gold bar or its equivalent in 1 oz gold coins. But if I have to run through the woods or jump over a ravine, I'll take the diamonds, assuming they are graded right (LOL....slabbed?).
With the first QTR showing a drop in GDP, doesn't that mean that if the same thing occurs in the 2nd QTR, we have officially been in a recession? Look for the FED and Govt to do everything to prevent such an occurrence.
Increased rates do not by implication mean weaker gold prices. It took many rate increases in the 1978-1981 era to kill the price of gold. The fact that rates were rising and gold was still rising only showed that the momentum has to be factored in. Rising rates are inflationary and tend to propel gold upwards. For some reason, the word on the street today is that any rate rise strengthens the dollar and weakens gold. It is not that simple. No one told this to the gold price when it finally peaked at $850/oz and interest rates were well into double digits in early 1980.
Its early Saturday morning and the old brain is not working as well as it should so perhaps my friends can help me with a few questions I have this morning.
Just exactly why has the value of the dollar dropped so drastically the last few years and are we having TRUE inflation in the sense of to many dollars chasing to little goods or are we experiencing price pushes in commodities across the boards because we live in a World economy and our dollar has become worth less than other currencies? Several here have made comments through the months that they don’t care if the dollar declines, they are using it here, and not in Europe, so who cares?
Look at a few quotes from Adam Hamilton a CPA yesterday as relates to the current price of gold and relate this to everything else, lumber, oil, copper, corn, etc.
“This American dollar-centric perspective versus the rest-of-the-world extra-dollar perspective is clashing today in a big way in the gold market. To Americans, gold in dollar terms is in a powerful secular bull market. Since 2001 we have seen the yellow metal march majestically from just over $250 to $455 or so, in a bullish trend that is helping American contrarians grow wealthy.
But many non-US-based investors believe that this very same dollar gold bull is little more than a secular dollar bear in reality. As the fiat dollar loses its international purchasing power, gold is merely rising in dollar terms to maintain its own stable purchasing power, directly offsetting dollar losses.
To Europeans gold has been trading sideways since 2001, the year the gold bull launched in the States in dollar terms. In May 2001 gold in euros briefly hit €330, but unfortunately today, exactly four years later, euro gold is yet again trading at this very same €330 level. In extra-dollar terms gold looks flat, not exactly inspiring for non-American contrarians.
Back in 2001 it only cost around $0.85 to buy a euro, but today this same euro runs Americans about $1.30. The euro has appreciated dramatically since the bull market in dollar gold launched in early 2001.”
Trade War Promises to Hurt U.S. Jobs By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Fri Apr 29, 3:30 PM ET
WASHINGTON - U.S. clothing, paper products and sweet corn will soon be more expensive for Europeans. For Canadians, American cigarettes, hogs, oysters and fish will cost more. For the U.S., it's all part of a new trade war that will mean lost sales and probably lost jobs.
Starting Sunday, American exporters of a wide range of products will be hit with penalty tariffs of 15 percent levied by Canada and the 25-nation European Union because of U.S. government payments to American companies that have been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization.
Given current feelings in Congress, those penalties and additional sanctions pending in other countries could stay in effect for a long time, despite the Bush administration's opposition to the law that authorized the payments.
The law at issue, known as the Byrd amendment for its chief sponsor, Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., enjoys broad support in Congress because of the millions of dollars it provides to U.S. companies.
Under the Byrd amendment, passed in October 2000, companies that bring successful cases against foreign firms alleging that their competitors' products are being sold in this country at unfairly low prices not only get the benefit of higher penalty tariffs placed on the competing products but also receive the tariff revenue that the government collects.
Before the Byrd amendment, the extra border taxes went into the government's coffers instead of being turned over to U.S. companies. Foreign companies complain that the new process amounts to double jeopardy. Not only are their products being hit with penalty tariffs but their U.S. competitors are getting a windfall from those tariffs.
The European Union and other nations sued the United States before the World Trade Organization and won the case in January 2003.
When the Byrd amendment was not repealed by the end of 2003, the EU and seven individual countries — Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea — won the right to impose a total of $150 million in economic sanctions on the United States.
That amount is linked to the levels of U.S. tariffs being imposed on companies based in the various countries. The amount is designed to rise in coming years as the tariff payouts to U.S. companies increase.
While the EU and Canada are the first countries to move ahead to impose sanctions, the other countries are expected to follow their lead in coming months to bring maximum pressure on Congress to repeal the law.
The EU, which the WTO has given the go-ahead to impose sanctions of $28 million in the first year, has levied its 15 percent retaliatory tariff on various types of clothing from women's shorts to men's trousers. Also hit by the EU tariffs will be various paper products such as writing pads and diaries, plus sweet corn, eyeglass frames and construction cranes.
Canada, authorized by the WTO to impose $14 million in sanctions, is levying 15 percent tariffs on cigarettes, oysters, live hogs, monk fish and other types of fish.
The sanctions will drive up the cost of U.S. products in the foreign countries and likely reduce sales, which could lead to job cutbacks in the United States.
And the sanctions starting Sunday are only the beginning. In addition to the more than $100 million in sanctions for the other parties to the WTO suit aside from the EU and Canada, trade experts predict the level of payouts to U.S. companies will grow significantly in future years, meaning rising sanctions on U.S. products.
For Canada, penalty duties just on that country's shipments of softwood lumber to the United States are now running at an annual rate of more than $1 billion, an amount the U.S. lumber industry is in line to collect.
The Bush administration has called these payouts an "unwarranted subsidy" and has pledged to work with those in Congress who are trying to repeal the Byrd amendment. That fight is expected to be led by new U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), who was sworn into office Friday, succeeding Robert Zoellick. But judging from sentiment on the Hill, Portman, a former Ohio congressman, will have his work cut out. To show support for the Byrd amendment when it was first being attacked in the WTO, a group of 70 senators sent President Bush a letter supporting the measure.
Reps. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., and Clay Shaw, R-Fla., have introduced legislation to repeal the Byrd amendment. Adam Peterman, a Ramstad aide, said repeal supporters hope to gain the votes of lawmakers who hear from companies being hit by the new sanctions.
But trade experts predict it will be tough to repeal the law, given that the government handed out $284.1 million in payments to U.S. companies based on the tariffs collected in 2004. That included 44 corporations that got more than $1 million each, according to the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition, one of the groups leading the repeal effort.
Repeal supporters say it is needed because the Byrd amendment is encouraging more companies to file antidumping cases to get government payouts, thus driving up the cost of imports for U.S. consumers.
"This encourages companies to seek antidumping duties against their foreign competition," said Dan Griswold, a trade expert at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. "But because members of Congress like distributing this revenue, the prospects are pretty dim that Congress will do the right thing."
Dr. Antale Fekete has posted some interesting articles in the past few months on monetary policy, gold and bonds. His theories make more sense to me than the usual hogwash coming out of most experts. The link you provided gives a nice synopsis.
I'n glad you included $20 Saints/Libs in counting towards 5-15% gold holdings. Otherwise I wouldn't make it. I tend to err on the higher side right now and think a split 15-20% into precious metals makes more sense.
Goldsaint, I was going to write along the same lines on Friday morning but the stock market was so darn volatile I didnt get a chance.
The same could be said for the price of oil. It really is only the US that has seen a huge run up in gas prices. Last year when I traveled to Poland I noticed that gas prices had only increased about 5% from the year before while in the US the increase was about 30%. During the time the Polish currency increased from 4 Zloty per $ to 3 Zloty per $. I think that really says something for the greenback, if it can lose 25% of its value against a currency whose backing country is only 1.5x bigger than Wal-mart.
Thanks for your Polish example. I am having a real hard time trying to understand why the guys in Washington want the Chinese to turn the Yuan loose. I thought the deal was that they would get to sell all their cheap products here if they would buy our excess debt? If they revalue the Yuan higher, the prices of their products here will increase, their sales will slow down, and they will have less money to buy our fiat paper. In addition it seems that if they sell less here they will want higher interest rates on the debt they buy due to continuing devaluations of the dollar?
Unlike what many Americans were thinking that the devaluations in the dollar were not affecting prices here, that appears to be incorrect. If the dollar devaluation is caused by to much debt, and the inability to repay the debt, then prices of products here will continue to move up, and interest rates should also continue to move up to entice foreigners to purchase.
What this looks like is this, the Fed and Washington hate inflation, but they can no longer cover the short falls in deficit spending, and deficit entitlements, so they must print the money to sell in the form of I.O.U. treasuries, and this is causing what they hate i.e. inflation.
This is like a bad dream of an individual that can’t pay their credit card. The credit card company makes things even tougher by raising the rate on the card because the risk of payment has increased. So when the cardholder makes new purchases it cost them even more to buy because of the high interest, but what if the cardholder’s only means to buy food was this card? Then they must purchase, and the price of survival just gets higher.
In the case of the price of Gold it appears that the rest of the World is not seeing any price increases in the price of Gold, oil, or many other products. Those price increases are occurring only here? Also most Americans have seen the price of milk increase by as much, or more than Gold, so even though Gold has moved up the last few years it is only moving up equal to all other items. Gold is not being driven either here, or Worldwide, as a safe haven or replacement for fiat money.
Unless I am reading this chart wrong the PCGS CU 3000 has also moved up just about as much as the dollar devaluation over the last several years. That means that although we think we are having a Bull market in coins here the rest of the World thinks the prices are stable, and in their currencies the prices have not moved at all?
Comments
Won't that make it worse?
<< <i>It should drop a noticeable amount in the next few months since interest rates have risen and many of the carry trades need to be undone.
The fed has raised the fed funds rates 175 basis points in the last 2 years. But that only applies to banks lending to other banks. Does your bank pay you more in your checking or savings account than it did 2 years ago? I dont think so.
Also you can still buy a car for 0% interest. No raise there. Mortgages rates are the same as 2 years ago. No raise there. Interest on credit cards can be found for 6-8%. That is much lower than 5 years ago. WHERE HAVE RATES RISEN? >>
Hello Friend,
(Sorry for the delay in answering, I'm rarely online at night, weekends or holidays
Move your (hot) money to ING Direct Linky (no I don't work for them), they have raised the interest rate 3 times so far this year, the coupon is currently 3%. On a side note, they have actually been very good at predicting the Fed increases, they usually increase their rate before the Fed. If your married, open an account for yourself first, then have your friends open them after, they were giving $25-$50 for each referral. It's a nice way to earn a couple hundred USD. They are flexible on moving your money and are FDIC and no minimum balance required.
You mention the Fed rate, all of my "lines" are prime + some %, so the Fed rate directly affects my borrowing. I just unwound one of my carry trades a few weeks ago, so the effect has already started.
You should be able to get a credit card rate of 0-4% right now, they'll make their money on the back end of other products. Speaking of credit cards, have you seen the new Discover cards? They are fairly cool, transparent & nice nature scenes, I would get one, but who takes Discover? LOL
I don't think I've actually seen CNBC since 2002, too much chatter, not enough insight.
I'm going shopping early today, but if you need any other info, PM me before 2 pm US CDT (but not during lunch which is 11 AM - 1 PM CDT), otherwise I should be online next week.
-g
I'd give you the world, just because...
Speak to me of loved ones, favorite places and things, loves lost and gained, tears shed for joy and sorrow, of when I see the sparkle in your eye ...
and the blackness when the dream dies, of lovers, fools, adventurers and kings while I sip my wine and contemplate the Chi.
Doesn't mean a thing to an average Japanese saver as interest rates paid out to people with savings accounts in several Asian countries exceed 8% a year. Vietnam and China are 2 of those countries.
However BANKS in Japan can borrow from Japanese central banls, once upon a time at virtually ZERO and use those borrowed funds to buy US Bonds paying whatever they're paying. Subtracting even the exchange rates and that's a pretty good profit to make on money that someone else is assuming risk on.
Tom
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
INGdirect is legit.
Emigrantdirect is higher.
<< <i>
<< <i>Doesn't mean a thing to an average Japanese saver as interest rates paid out to people with savings accounts in several Asian countries exceed 8% a year. Vietnam and China are 2 of those countries. >>
Well, sure, but how MANY "average" Japanese savers save in Vietnam or (their bosom buddy) China?
I get 10% on 1st position private mortgages but I also WALK the properties and lend no more than 40% of the value. How many mortgages do I find at those terms? VERY VERY few, but they're there. Now I can't use those for EVERY investment as they are difficult to find but I sell lesser things to buy them when I can.
And what I do is not what the AVERAGE saver here OR in Japan counts on. The AVERAGE saver relies on the banks and S&L's who can DO things like the Japanese banks and find better yields on large pack sums.
Interest rates are going to fall. (with the codicil of the Dec low as a "check") >>
Hello all,
Japan is a total basket case, it has been terrible there for 12 years.
Hard to say what will happen with the bond markets, all that export cash has to be parked somewhere. It doesn't help that the Japanese central bank buys treasuries to pressure the yen (& keep their exports competitive). Besides, who wants to lug around 1 million+ USD in cash? Give me a treasury bond any day, nice and portable. At least the EU considered the drug dealers and came out with higher D notes.
If memory serves me correctly, the carry trades in Japan are called "Samurai bonds", even taking into account FX (foreign exchange) fees, there was still yield to be had... especially for our South American friends.
I remember one month back during the Clinton Admin, the treasury had enough cash to buy ALL of the bonds in the open market, but declined, because it would have naturally destroyed the market. Upon learning of the 30-yr demise, my first question "how will we price debt now"? 10 yrs!
We went from insane deficits, to paying off the float, to insane deficits in ~15 years. This is why I'm not concerned about world events, when the US gets serious about something, our market can generate what we need. What other country can spend an extra 60 billion USD a year on defense with the flip of a switch?
-g
I'd give you the world, just because...
Speak to me of loved ones, favorite places and things, loves lost and gained, tears shed for joy and sorrow, of when I see the sparkle in your eye ...
and the blackness when the dream dies, of lovers, fools, adventurers and kings while I sip my wine and contemplate the Chi.
<< <i>
<< <i>Doesn't mean a thing to an average Japanese saver as interest rates paid out to people with savings accounts in several Asian countries exceed 8% a year. Vietnam and China are 2 of those countries. >>
Well, sure, but how MANY "average" Japanese savers save in Vietnam or (their bosom buddy) China?
No idea of the numbers but when I lived there full time ( 2000-2003) it looked like a lot. Considering the Vietnam has become the South Florida of Asia, it should be no surprise either.
More complex though than to answer in a sentence or two but after rereading what I just wrote it's as close to the reality as it can get.
Far as Japan and China relations, the protests you saw on CNN were about as accurate as the "large crowds" pulling the statue of sadamn husein down.
Tom
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
-g
China
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
<< <i>When the US gets "serious" about a problem, John Q. Public better pucker up.
Hahahahaha and bend over too
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
13:29
434.40
434.90
+3.90
+0.91%
431.20
436.80
Gold went up almost $4 today!
It does appear that the congress is finally getting to the discussion they wanted all along, age increases and means testing. Guess who will get cheated out of all the money they poured into these programs for 40 years, you guessed it the middle, and upper middle class. Rich people of course always will pay more into the system than they would ever receive, and all those folks that did not work much in their lives will again get mail box money. I guess if a middle class citizen gets a good pension check from their company they will be disqualified from their S.C., and those that bought a couple of rental properties will defiantly be out, and if you run a small business to make ends meet to bad.
Has Middle America just been as dumb as a bucket of hair for 40 years or did they really believe that they would get their S.C. checks, and that Medicare would take care of their medical needs in old age?
Hi AG,
3% interest on your money market is not even keeping up with inflation. You are actually losing money by keeping it in the money market. However you dont have much alternative if you want safety.
There has been nothing to predict with the FED. They have been saying out load for the last 2 years that they were going to raise rates.
Why have they raised rates. Certainly not because the economy has been too strong. Rather it is becasue they used up all their bullets getting us out of the last recession. They are raising rates simply to get some ammo back.
Real interest rates have not changed in the last 2 years. And like someone else said earlier, if you want to know where the economy is going then watch the bond market. Yields have been going down very dramatically over the last 2 months. The yield curve is nearly inverted. We are on the verge of recession. Time will tell if we actually go there
There is absolutely no reason why we cant go to 3% on the 30yr.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Many teachers, police, and firefighters already are.
and those that bought a couple of rental properties will defiantly be out, and if you run a small business to make ends meet to bad.
Not if you show a loss....
The only way to win this game, is not to play.
Not being the expert as many here, my opinion may not carry much water. I'll pass on the opinions but just make a couple of naive comments. With the inflation of raw materials that have been underway for the last 12 months--I just do not see how the Fed cannot help but ratchet up rates.
And I cannot understand how the DJ cannot do anything but tank. And I cannot see anyway other than gold floating up.
<< <i>
<< <i>Has Middle America just been as dumb as a bucket of hair for 40 years >>
No. The hair is smarter as it does not watch TV news.
Middle class America has bought:
Trickle down
Busing
Several undeclared wars
Downsizing
NAFTA
GATT
Reagan and TWO Bushes
"Free" trade
The United Nations
The Federal Reserve as a "government" entity
The National Firearms Act
And that paying up to half of everything you earn therefore forcing you to work whether you want to or not is representative of Freedom and that its' "needed".
roosevelt, johnson and ther republican look alikes ( bush, reagan)
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Way to go Streeter
“Spend less than you get and buy things that HOLD value and have ONE DIME more at night than you started the day with and you'll be okay.”
Topstuff, this is good, but maybe folks can shoot for $10 each day, trickier than one might think with inflation taxes and such.
Sooner or later Americans must return to the thinking of earlier generations and begin to distrust all politicians.
Even if you consider that many of the folks running various governments hearts might be in the right place, finance is now so complex that there is no way these folks can be smart enough to see into the future 2 or 3 decades. As we all now know it is easy to pass these laws and entitlement programs, but nearly impossible to unwind them.
Americans need to start exercising their NO votes on every issue unless it is getting existing bad laws off the books.
<< <i>I have been the idiot of the century and read this entire thread......at 0100 when I couldn't sleep.
Not being the expert as many here, my opinion may not carry much water. I'll pass on the opinions but just make a couple of naive comments. With the inflation of raw materials that have been underway for the last 12 months--I just do not see how the Fed cannot help but ratchet up rates.
And I cannot understand how the DJ cannot do anything but tank. And I cannot see anyway other than gold floating up. >>
Hi Streeter,
Rising rates will/should make the dollar stronger, and hence gold weaker.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Tom
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Tom
China says no change in monetary policy
By Richard McGregor in Beijing
2 hours, 43 minutes ago
China's renminbi currency traded briefly outside its tightly controlled band on Friday, triggering a renewed wave of speculation that the government was set to allow a long-expected revaluation.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, late on Friday blamed the change on "technical problems", with officials speculating a dealer may have keyed in the wrong rate.
In spite of mounting international pressure for China to allow its currency to appreciate, a spokesman for the PBoC said no announcement of a change in policy was planned.
Traders said the renminbi, which has been pegged to the US dollar for a decade, was briefly in the market at a rate of Rmb8.2700 to the dollar, outside of the usual band of 8.2760 to 8.2800.
Traders could not say whether the State Administration for Foreign Exchange, the Chinese government agency which handles currency trades, conducted any business at the higher rate.
Frank Gong, a strategist with JP Morgan in Hong Kong, said he would not be surprised to see some kind of announcement from the PBoC on currency over China's week-long May holidays, which start on Sunday.
"But the point is that they are ready to do it and could move at any time," he said. He said the higher rate remained on trading screens for up to 20 minutes, a sign that the authorities may have been testing the market "to see how much ammunition they may need to keep everything under control".
Beijing has been sending strong signals in recent weeks that it has completed all the technical preparations necessary to remove the US dollar peg and allow greater flexibility for the currency.
But the government has also stuck steadfastly to its policy of not commenting on any possible timetable for a change.
The stakes have been raised by the US Senate's decision to consider in July a bill that would slap a 27.5 per cent tariff on all Chinese exports to the US unless Beijing revalued its currency within six months.
President George W. Bush however would be expected to veto legislation that would be in clear violation of World Trade Organisation rules.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the central Bank governor, said last week China may accelerate its timetable for a more flexible rate in response to the mounting international pressure, but some analysts suggest the US move could backfire.
"The move is foolish because the RMB-USD peg does not contribute significantly to the US current-account deficit, and counterproductive because heightened foreign pressure will only make it more difficult for Beijing to adopt a more flexible exchange rate mechanism," said Andy Rothman, chief China strategist for CLSA, the securities house.
The China Securities Journal, controlled by Xinhua, the official news agency, reinforced the sense of an imminent change in policy with a front-page commentary on Friday saying the issue was now "about choosing the timing".
"Conditions for China to unveil reforms of the foreign exchange rate regime are basically ripe, as joint-stock reforms of commercial banks are being pushed forward," the paper said.
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
I'm looking around this table and other tables and have a hard time figuring out who DOES trust the pols. In my short life of 51 years, I have a hard time recalling anyone who does trust them. They do not work, they do not produce, they just TAKE. Look around--do you know of anyone who trusts a pol? The problem is...in 2005...it very unpatriotic to criticize them.
With respect to rising interest rates--I never said my logic was impeccable. The FED has to do something about the inflation or let it ride. I do not see a weakening demand for oil or steel having much of an impact on prices. We are at $2.50 a gal. and our usage remains stable. I need to buy steel and copper and nickle and cyanide and chromium. I have no choice. I'm in a commodity related biz and our supplier increases this last year have been unbelievable. For the most part, we have split the increases between price increases and my bottom line.
This economy is teetering. In SoCal---much of the consumer biz has come courtesy of money generated by refi's and that IS coming to a halt. If the fed does pump up rates, CALIFORNIA is toast. As CAL goes, so goes the nation.
I leave it to you Einsteins to solve the problems. 30 years ago, I had all the answers. These days, I'm just looking to add an eagle or two a week and keep my mouth shut.
There's a year waiting list for several automobiles being built in China. They simply cannot build them fast enough to meet the demand. ( in China and other parts of Asia) There was one, and I don't remember the name that the company was ( or is) trying to export to the US which would be under 5 grand and have a 100,000 mile warrantee that I read about in a trade mag there. The problem with that is back to demand and they just can't ( at this time" build them fast enough.
Car dealers who have franchises with mercedes, bmw etc are VERY busy there and bear in mind they aren't "leasing". The consumer there is buying them and paying cash. I friend of a friend had one of his drivers pick me up in Hong Kong, in the big mercedes, one of 2 that he owns, and drove me into szenchen which is the "free zone" in mainland china. He exports "deals" all over the world and has already had 2 heart attacks as he chain smokes while woofing down egg sandwiches and coffee . Owns several condos, as well as one condo in HK which costs about a mil US. His age? 28. Well now he's the ripe old age of 30 and from a cash standpoint can buy and sell a lot of paper a__holes in other places.
That's happening all over China, Vietnam, even Thailand where the Asian crisis started years ago has seen property values double and a friend of mine in Koh Samui is quite busy supplying expats with reverse osmosis water systems. He's from central Florida, pays 150/month for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath place under a Coconut tree forest and ask him if he's coming back and he'll ignore the question for being just plain ignorant.
Gas prices coming down? Maybe but even if that happened you can bet that something else would go up to make up the sleight of hand these liars in politics have become masters of being.
You have the right idea about keeping a low profile in my opinion. It's either that, leave, or be prepared to be on the treadmill a lot longer than you had anticipated.
By the way as far as leaving, it was clinton that had proposed the "expatriate tax" whereas the government would essentially seize half of what you have left is you decided to cash in and start doing large wires overseas, and I don't know if the present occupant signed it or not. I believe he was going to but something happened to put it off but that part I'm not sure of.
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
On behalf of communities across Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Lousyana, Oklahoma, and Texas.... Speak for youself!
<< <i>Why have they raised rates. Certainly not because the economy has been too strong. Rather it is becasue they used up all their bullets getting us out of the last recession. They are raising rates simply to get some ammo back. >>
Probably one of the finest commentary on the Fed I have seen in the past year. Period.
I want to hear more.
decided to surf for some reading. this article was fun.
<< <i>http://www.futurecasts.com/Depression_descent-'29.html
decided to surf for some reading. this article was fun. >>
LINKY
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Economic History has repeated itself dozens and dozens of times over from the Romans to modern day society. The thing is that a repeat of the Great Depression is certainly still a possibility. We are taking the same steps we took all throughout the 1917-1929 era.
The stats are very similar wrt credit, debt, stock market, real estate bubble, etc. One difference today is all the hedging going on and the $300 TRILLION in derivates that exist today and didn't then.
The FED and govts cannot leave markets alone to fix themselves. That was one lesson from the 1929-1939 that we never learned. FDR's socialism only worsened the effects of that time.
Diamonds as a way to wealth? Maybe. That assumes you don't mind the huge markup to retailers and the fact that grading gems is probably as sophisticated as trying to grade PF68 Morgan dollars.
99.99% of the population has no clue to either. And once you get past the fact that diamond supply/demand is totally manipulated by DeBeers and others, then of course, jump right in. they have the same risks as coins. In a pinch, I'll take the gold bar or its equivalent in 1 oz gold coins. But if I have to run through the woods or jump over a ravine, I'll take the diamonds, assuming they are graded right (LOL....slabbed?).
With the first QTR showing a drop in GDP, doesn't that mean that if the same thing occurs in the 2nd QTR, we have officially been in a recession? Look for the FED and Govt to do everything to prevent such an occurrence.
Increased rates do not by implication mean weaker gold prices.
It took many rate increases in the 1978-1981 era to kill the price of gold. The fact that rates were rising and gold was still rising only showed that the momentum has to be factored in. Rising rates are inflationary and tend to propel gold upwards. For some reason, the word on the street today is that any rate rise strengthens the dollar and weakens gold. It is not that simple. No one told this to the gold price when it finally peaked at $850/oz and interest rates were well into double digits in early 1980.
roadrunner
Camelot
Just exactly why has the value of the dollar dropped so drastically the last few years and are we having TRUE inflation in the sense of to many dollars chasing to little goods or are we experiencing price pushes in commodities across the boards because we live in a World economy and our dollar has become worth less than other currencies?
Several here have made comments through the months that they don’t care if the dollar declines, they are using it here, and not in Europe, so who cares?
Look at a few quotes from Adam Hamilton a CPA yesterday as relates to the current price of gold and relate this to everything else, lumber, oil, copper, corn, etc.
“This American dollar-centric perspective versus the rest-of-the-world extra-dollar perspective is clashing today in a big way in the gold market. To Americans, gold in dollar terms is in a powerful secular bull market. Since 2001 we have seen the yellow metal march majestically from just over $250 to $455 or so, in a bullish trend that is helping American contrarians grow wealthy.
But many non-US-based investors believe that this very same dollar gold bull is little more than a secular dollar bear in reality. As the fiat dollar loses its international purchasing power, gold is merely rising in dollar terms to maintain its own stable purchasing power, directly offsetting dollar losses.
To Europeans gold has been trading sideways since 2001, the year the gold bull launched in the States in dollar terms. In May 2001 gold in euros briefly hit €330, but unfortunately today, exactly four years later, euro gold is yet again trading at this very same €330 level. In extra-dollar terms gold looks flat, not exactly inspiring for non-American contrarians.
Back in 2001 it only cost around $0.85 to buy a euro, but today this same euro runs Americans about $1.30. The euro has appreciated dramatically since the bull market in dollar gold launched in early 2001.”
Anyone with less than 5% of their net worth in gold bullion is a whole lot more "trusting" than I am.
Better 10-20% IMO. And this is NOT "numismatic" gold. Although $20's are close enough to count.
Tom
Trade War Promises to Hurt U.S. Jobs By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
Fri Apr 29, 3:30 PM ET
WASHINGTON - U.S. clothing, paper products and sweet corn will soon be more expensive for Europeans. For Canadians, American cigarettes, hogs, oysters and fish will cost more. For the U.S., it's all part of a new trade war that will mean lost sales and probably lost jobs.
Starting Sunday, American exporters of a wide range of products will be hit with penalty tariffs of 15 percent levied by Canada and the 25-nation European Union because of U.S. government payments to American companies that have been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization.
Given current feelings in Congress, those penalties and additional sanctions pending in other countries could stay in effect for a long time, despite the Bush administration's opposition to the law that authorized the payments.
The law at issue, known as the Byrd amendment for its chief sponsor, Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., enjoys broad support in Congress because of the millions of dollars it provides to U.S. companies.
Under the Byrd amendment, passed in October 2000, companies that bring successful cases against foreign firms alleging that their competitors' products are being sold in this country at unfairly low prices not only get the benefit of higher penalty tariffs placed on the competing products but also receive the tariff revenue that the government collects.
Before the Byrd amendment, the extra border taxes went into the government's coffers instead of being turned over to U.S. companies. Foreign companies complain that the new process amounts to double jeopardy. Not only are their products being hit with penalty tariffs but their U.S. competitors are getting a windfall from those tariffs.
The European Union and other nations sued the United States before the World Trade Organization and won the case in January 2003.
When the Byrd amendment was not repealed by the end of 2003, the EU and seven individual countries — Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea — won the right to impose a total of $150 million in economic sanctions on the United States.
That amount is linked to the levels of U.S. tariffs being imposed on companies based in the various countries. The amount is designed to rise in coming years as the tariff payouts to U.S. companies increase.
While the EU and Canada are the first countries to move ahead to impose sanctions, the other countries are expected to follow their lead in coming months to bring maximum pressure on Congress to repeal the law.
The EU, which the WTO has given the go-ahead to impose sanctions of $28 million in the first year, has levied its 15 percent retaliatory tariff on various types of clothing from women's shorts to men's trousers. Also hit by the EU tariffs will be various paper products such as writing pads and diaries, plus sweet corn, eyeglass frames and construction cranes.
Canada, authorized by the WTO to impose $14 million in sanctions, is levying 15 percent tariffs on cigarettes, oysters, live hogs, monk fish and other types of fish.
The sanctions will drive up the cost of U.S. products in the foreign countries and likely reduce sales, which could lead to job cutbacks in the United States.
And the sanctions starting Sunday are only the beginning. In addition to the more than $100 million in sanctions for the other parties to the WTO suit aside from the EU and Canada, trade experts predict the level of payouts to U.S. companies will grow significantly in future years, meaning rising sanctions on U.S. products.
For Canada, penalty duties just on that country's shipments of softwood lumber to the United States are now running at an annual rate of more than $1 billion, an amount the U.S. lumber industry is in line to collect.
The Bush administration has called these payouts an "unwarranted subsidy" and has pledged to work with those in Congress who are trying to repeal the Byrd amendment. That fight is expected to be led by new U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), who was sworn into office Friday, succeeding Robert Zoellick. But judging from sentiment on the Hill, Portman, a former Ohio congressman, will have his work cut out. To show support for the Byrd amendment when it was first being attacked in the WTO, a group of 70 senators sent President Bush a letter supporting the measure.
Reps. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., and Clay Shaw, R-Fla., have introduced legislation to repeal the Byrd amendment. Adam Peterman, a Ramstad aide, said repeal supporters hope to gain the votes of lawmakers who hear from companies being hit by the new sanctions.
But trade experts predict it will be tough to repeal the law, given that the government handed out $284.1 million in payments to U.S. companies based on the tariffs collected in 2004. That included 44 corporations that got more than $1 million each, according to the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition, one of the groups leading the repeal effort.
Repeal supporters say it is needed because the Byrd amendment is encouraging more companies to file antidumping cases to get government payouts, thus driving up the cost of imports for U.S. consumers.
"This encourages companies to seek antidumping duties against their foreign competition," said Dan Griswold, a trade expert at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. "But because members of Congress like distributing this revenue, the prospects are pretty dim that Congress will do the right thing."
___
On the Net:
Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition: http://citac.info
Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org
U.S. Trade Representative: http://www.ustr.gov
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Wish we could get that and black sea bass here i8n SW Florida.
Can't even get chilean sea bass anymore here. But they sure sell a lot of meat.
Tom
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Now all they have to figure out is how to make tobacco free and in about 10 years the Social Security system will be in a profitable position.
Dr. Antale Fekete has posted some interesting articles in the past few months on monetary policy, gold and bonds. His theories make more sense to me than the usual hogwash coming out of most experts. The link you provided gives a nice synopsis.
I'n glad you included $20 Saints/Libs in counting towards 5-15% gold holdings. Otherwise I wouldn't make it. I tend to err on the higher side right now and think a split 15-20% into precious metals makes more sense.
roadrunner
The same could be said for the price of oil. It really is only the US that has seen a huge run up in gas prices. Last year when I traveled to Poland I noticed that gas prices had only increased about 5% from the year before while in the US the increase was about 30%. During the time the Polish currency increased from 4 Zloty per $ to 3 Zloty per $. I think that really says something for the greenback, if it can lose 25% of its value against a currency whose backing country is only 1.5x bigger than Wal-mart.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Cohodk
Thanks for your Polish example. I am having a real hard time trying to understand why the guys in Washington want the Chinese to turn the Yuan loose. I thought the deal was that they would get to sell all their cheap products here if they would buy our excess debt?
If they revalue the Yuan higher, the prices of their products here will increase, their sales will slow down, and they will have less money to buy our fiat paper. In addition it seems that if they sell less here they will want higher interest rates on the debt they buy due to continuing devaluations of the dollar?
Unlike what many Americans were thinking that the devaluations in the dollar were not affecting prices here, that appears to be incorrect. If the dollar devaluation is caused by to much debt, and the inability to repay the debt, then prices of products here will continue to move up, and interest rates should also continue to move up to entice foreigners to purchase.
What this looks like is this, the Fed and Washington hate inflation, but they can no longer cover the short falls in deficit spending, and deficit entitlements, so they must print the money to sell in the form of I.O.U. treasuries, and this is causing what they hate i.e. inflation.
This is like a bad dream of an individual that can’t pay their credit card. The credit card company makes things even tougher by raising the rate on the card because the risk of payment has increased. So when the cardholder makes new purchases it cost them even more to buy because of the high interest, but what if the cardholder’s only means to buy food was this card? Then they must purchase, and the price of survival just gets higher.
In the case of the price of Gold it appears that the rest of the World is not seeing any price increases in the price of Gold, oil, or many other products. Those price increases are occurring only here? Also most Americans have seen the price of milk increase by as much, or more than Gold, so even though Gold has moved up the last few years it is only moving up equal to all other items. Gold is not being driven either here, or Worldwide, as a safe haven or replacement for fiat money.
Unless I am reading this chart wrong the PCGS CU 3000 has also moved up just about as much as the dollar devaluation over the last several years. That means that although we think we are having a Bull market in coins here the rest of the World thinks the prices are stable, and in their currencies the prices have not moved at all?