I've been getting deeper into farming, bartering, foraging and all that and there seems to be a huge surge. Lots of people are canning, sharing goods, wanting to find ways to secure cheap and easy food. Mutual aid networks are on the rise and more people are starting gardens.
The people this draws also have useful skills like sewing, small engine repair, hunting, or fishing. Our barter economy has gotten rip-roaringly hot. People are trading their skills for food and skipping the money aspect altogether. More farmers are accepting gold and silver as payment.
Originally most of my clients were hikers who just wanted to know how to survive if they got lost. Now I'm getting a lot of people who would rather spend money up front to learn as a way to defer the future cost of groceries.
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
@RedneckHB said:
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
@RedneckHB said:
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
.
So, what's your assessment of the present economy? How are things in your neck of the neighborhood?
@RedneckHB said:
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
.
So, what's your assessment of the present economy? How are things in your neck of the neighborhood?
.
If you report your answers to your own questions here first, I will then give my assessment.
@RedneckHB said:
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
.
So, what's your assessment of the present economy? How are things in your neck of the neighborhood?
.
If you report your answers to your own questions here first, I will then give my assessment.
@RedneckHB said:
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
.
So, what's your assessment of the present economy? How are things in your neck of the neighborhood?
I'm pretty much out in the sticks although I am on the road quite a bit for my job. I can report business as usual in Amishville. The crops are booming and as tasty as ever. Just ate some of the sweetest cantaloupe I have ever tasted this morning. They were on the small side but the produce stand I stopped at last night was blowing them out at $1.50 each, $1.00 each if you purchased 2 or more.
We don't eat out much but I do observe surprisingly full parking lots at the restaurants, long lines at local convenience stores with people dropping $30-40 a pop on their 2 packs of cigarettes, bottle of pop and bags of chips. We hit Steelers training camp in Latrobe last weekend and the lines were long purchasing extremely overpriced merchandise.
At the grocery store however I do see peoples shopping carts are less full, people seem to be looking at prices and taking their time before putting items in their basket. Places like Lowes and Home Depot seem to have less traffic than previously. Kubota and John Deere dealers are packed full of new tractors and UTVs, Car lots are packed full of new cars and any houses going for sale around here are sitting on the market and not selling. A year or so ago they were selling as soon as they hit the market.
I don't know what to make of it actually. People are certainly more cautious about spending money on necessities and higher dollar items however seem to be careless as ever when it comes to convivence, restaurants, and entertainment. RGDS!
Edit to add: There are quite a few restaurants in the area that have been closing up shop, including ones that have been in business for decades. So I could be totally off on my parking lot observations. THKS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
PE ratios double historical averages, all time highs in Price/Sales, Price/Book, falling dollar, debt increasing at alarming rate since outlier June surplus, collapse in foreign tourism. The only thing boomin' these days is my WiFi.
I’m seeing similar things to blitz.
Grocery stores are more full of instacart and in store shoppers, fast food and restaurants seem just as full as ever. So people seem to be paying for convenience.
Home sales in my area are still pretty strong, but instead of 1-2 days on the market some are a couple weeks.
People are still fixing their cars here, but that could be a sign of people not wanting to spend on new cars.
Being a big tourist town, they’ve been reporting on the news a drop of about 10% in visitors and hotel occupancy for both July and June compared to last year.
Being a big tourist town, they’ve been reporting on the news a drop of about 10% in visitors and hotel occupancy for both July and June compared to last year.
Does that seem/feel accurate to you? If so, do you think drop in international visitors?
Being a big tourist town, they’ve been reporting on the news a drop of about 10% in visitors and hotel occupancy for both July and June compared to last year.
Does that seem/feel accurate to you? If so, do you think drop in international visitors?
It's hard to say. I live far enough out of town that I don't see the downtown area much. I was downtown last week for the Vegas coin show. The traffic on Friday and Saturday through downtown seemed lighter than I remember, but the show was the busiest I've ever seen it.
Just saw a new report. Air traffic into Vegas down 6% Total tourism down around 10% but Casino revenues higher than previous numbers.
Also to keep in PM related. At the show I did more in bullion sales than coin sales. I was one of the cheaper sellers in the room and sold several ASE @ $42, but just one offs. Sold every Libertad I had @ $45oz and sold almost all of my more vintage stuff @ $45oz
Edit to add.
The same news that reported the above numbers suggests much of the drop is international visitors because convention business is up. So domestic visits have increased while international has decreased. I'm sure if that is the case, some or much of it is current national policies, but over the last 5 or 6 years, Vegas has gotten much more expensive in general. Most of the casinos took out buffets during Covid and haven't returned. them. Inexpensive "Family friendly" attractions have gone by the wayside. Most of the newer casinos have seemed to taylor towards higher end clients. Including some of the new casinos from a company that typically were catering to locals.
@RedneckHB said:
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
.
So, what's your assessment of the present economy? How are things in your neck of the neighborhood?
.
If you report your answers to your own questions here first, I will then give my assessment.
.
I wrote about my restaurant observations.
So how is it in dcarville?
Ok, then.
It is a mixed bag here. Some things seem strong and other things weak. Commercial property prices appear to be sagging, but property taxes keep going up, regardless. A unit (that is equipped as a commercial kitchen) in the industrial building next to my workshop has been for sale for a couple years now. No sale.
I went to visit the local National Park a couple days ago. All the parking lots at the scenic overlook points and visitor's centers were full or nearly full.
In my own business, sales for some product types never recovered after 2008. Fortunately, my operation is relatively low-cost since I don't have to rely on a fragile supply chain or on any employees. So I can make lower product quantities and charge more for them than I did in 2008.
Wholesale prices in July up 0.9%. That's 11% if annualized. Current policy has not returned inflation close to "target" 2% (we're still 50% above that). Unemployment is 4.2%, historically low. is there any sound argument for even discussing interest rate cuts at the moment?
Some of the downturn in tourism YOY here is now being discussed by casinos as likely due to higher than normal tourism for the past 2 years. F1 began here 2 years ago, and we had the superbowl here.
They don’t seem concerned based on revenue numbers. News is a funny thing.
Ironically, Nevada gambling revenues are actually up this year despite the big drop in foreign tourism. The tipped staff are making less, and some are probably "resorting" to placing bets in attempt to make up the difference. The good news is that the Olympic rivaling Enhanced Games makes its debut in Vegas in 2026. The local economy will go parabolic (or perhaps "anabolic") when that happens.
I was watching this machine since it was over $700 on the minor payout.
The other 2 machines were both recently hit around $450 and reset at $100 starting level.
This machine takes in $1 to move the minor progressive a CENT.
I watched it rolled over from $999.99 to $1000.
Everyone else around Really figured it would pay out before it got this high, but it's still climbing.
It's an Aristocrat gaming machine...
It has taken in $90,000 and has not even paid the minor progressive of $1000
I don't think the casino game makers are hurting for money.
@Goldminers said:
The bond market seems to have short term optimism, but long-term fear.
The spread between 3 month and 10 year yields averages about 150 basis points. Today it is about 8 basis points. So the FED could cut by 100 bps and the 10 year yield could go up by 50 bps and we would only be at a normalized yield curve.
In such a scenario, savers would be hurt (lower interest earned) and borrowers would be hurt (mortgage rates wont go lower). There will be no economic growth with a lower FED funds rate. The dollar would get weaker thus lending support to PM prices.
Went out for a drive yesterday in Maine for a few hours and only saw one car from Canada. Normally on a nice summer day you'd see one every ten minutes. For sale signs seem to be staying up longer. Large bags of potato chips for $7.49. Gangs of guys with hoods over their heads and guns roaming our streets, dragging people into their vans. Do they really need to wear hoods? Not the best thing for my youngster to be seeing growing up. The middle class still getting the short end of the stick. I'm expecting my health insurance costs to go up again this year, especially when we have to start covering the cost of the new uninsured forced to make regular trips to the emergency room for basic health care. At work we are stocking up more than normal on back-up imported equipment just in case it is hard to get or delayed.
Gangs of guys with hoods over their heads and guns roaming our streets, dragging people into their vans. Do they really need to wear hoods? Not the best thing for my youngster to be seeing growing up.
What city? Seriously, is law enforcement doing nothing?
Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally
@jmski52 said: Gangs of guys with hoods over their heads and guns roaming our streets, dragging people into their vans. Do they really need to wear hoods? Not the best thing for my youngster to be seeing growing up.
What city? Seriously, is law enforcement doing nothing?
Cripes, Burger King want's $15.49 for the new brisket whopper combo plus tax here in The Commonwealth. Seems like not that long ago I was eating steak and king crab or at least steak and shrimp with sides for the same price. Either time has passed me by, and I've officially became an old fart, or we have entered inflation trainwreck. RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
@blitzdude said:
Cripes, Burger King want's $15.49 for the new brisket whopper combo plus tax here in The Commonwealth. Seems like not that long ago I was eating steak and king crab or at least steak and shrimp with sides for the same price. Either time has passed me by, and I've officially became an old fart, or we have entered inflation trainwreck. RGDS!
Was just having this discussion the other day. Remember when Carls(Hardee’s) came out with the Six dollar burger? Same great burger you pay $6 for at a fancy restaurant for $3. Good times.
Comments
Good, bad, ugly? Where are we these days?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
On the verge of a big, beautiful, bankruptcy. However, real wealth being generated in many places for those that decided not drink the Kool-aid.
RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
teetering on the razors edge of technological nirvana or societal enslavement
Loves me some shiny!
I let gold price tell me the state of the economy.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
I've been getting deeper into farming, bartering, foraging and all that and there seems to be a huge surge. Lots of people are canning, sharing goods, wanting to find ways to secure cheap and easy food. Mutual aid networks are on the rise and more people are starting gardens.
The people this draws also have useful skills like sewing, small engine repair, hunting, or fishing. Our barter economy has gotten rip-roaringly hot. People are trading their skills for food and skipping the money aspect altogether. More farmers are accepting gold and silver as payment.
Originally most of my clients were hikers who just wanted to know how to survive if they got lost. Now I'm getting a lot of people who would rather spend money up front to learn as a way to defer the future cost of groceries.
Feels like storm clouds are slowly rolling in
The US dollar is losing global dominance.
Hard assets are being accumulated.
I also believe the current administration will revalue gold to a much higher amount sometime around July 2026 (250 year anniversary).
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
Why? How would they profit from that?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
:roll! LOL!!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
Well, well. It seems messengers do get shot. Confidence goes a long way, right derryb. Will we have more or less going forward? Greater transparency? The importance of leaving ones own bubble take on greater importance.
What is our assessment on current economic conditions? Lets see some examples such as...I got to the same restaurant on the same day at the same time every week. There have been more empty tables in the last month than in previous months and compared to the same period last year.
What do you folk see?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Gold seems to have reacted somewhat strongly to the revised jobs reports. End the Fed - there is no reason for it to exist.
The market's gonna do what the market's gonna do. Nobody needs a banking intermediary to manipulate interest rates.
I knew it would happen.
Jobs report boss got fired. I have commented here for years that "liars figure and figures lie" when it comes to jobs reports.
New boss same as the old boss?
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
>
New boss worse.
With old boss maybe we thought the numbers were half right, now we probably can't even say that.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
.
What i see is that you still ask a lot of questions and don't provide much in the way of answers or facts.
If you want to make a point, then state it. You will have to work harder and not expect others to do the work for you.
.
So, what's your assessment of the present economy? How are things in your neck of the neighborhood?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
.
If you report your answers to your own questions here first, I will then give my assessment.
.
I wrote about my restaurant observations.
So how is it in dcarville?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
I'm pretty much out in the sticks although I am on the road quite a bit for my job. I can report business as usual in Amishville. The crops are booming and as tasty as ever. Just ate some of the sweetest cantaloupe I have ever tasted this morning. They were on the small side but the produce stand I stopped at last night was blowing them out at $1.50 each, $1.00 each if you purchased 2 or more.
We don't eat out much but I do observe surprisingly full parking lots at the restaurants, long lines at local convenience stores with people dropping $30-40 a pop on their 2 packs of cigarettes, bottle of pop and bags of chips. We hit Steelers training camp in Latrobe last weekend and the lines were long purchasing extremely overpriced merchandise.
At the grocery store however I do see peoples shopping carts are less full, people seem to be looking at prices and taking their time before putting items in their basket. Places like Lowes and Home Depot seem to have less traffic than previously. Kubota and John Deere dealers are packed full of new tractors and UTVs, Car lots are packed full of new cars and any houses going for sale around here are sitting on the market and not selling. A year or so ago they were selling as soon as they hit the market.
I don't know what to make of it actually. People are certainly more cautious about spending money on necessities and higher dollar items however seem to be careless as ever when it comes to convivence, restaurants, and entertainment. RGDS!
Edit to add: There are quite a few restaurants in the area that have been closing up shop, including ones that have been in business for decades. So I could be totally off on my parking lot observations. THKS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
PE ratios double historical averages, all time highs in Price/Sales, Price/Book, falling dollar, debt increasing at alarming rate since outlier June surplus, collapse in foreign tourism. The only thing boomin' these days is my WiFi.
I’m seeing similar things to blitz.
Grocery stores are more full of instacart and in store shoppers, fast food and restaurants seem just as full as ever. So people seem to be paying for convenience.
Home sales in my area are still pretty strong, but instead of 1-2 days on the market some are a couple weeks.
People are still fixing their cars here, but that could be a sign of people not wanting to spend on new cars.
Being a big tourist town, they’ve been reporting on the news a drop of about 10% in visitors and hotel occupancy for both July and June compared to last year.
My Ebay Store
Does that seem/feel accurate to you? If so, do you think drop in international visitors?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
It's hard to say. I live far enough out of town that I don't see the downtown area much. I was downtown last week for the Vegas coin show. The traffic on Friday and Saturday through downtown seemed lighter than I remember, but the show was the busiest I've ever seen it.
Just saw a new report. Air traffic into Vegas down 6% Total tourism down around 10% but Casino revenues higher than previous numbers.
Also to keep in PM related. At the show I did more in bullion sales than coin sales. I was one of the cheaper sellers in the room and sold several ASE @ $42, but just one offs. Sold every Libertad I had @ $45oz and sold almost all of my more vintage stuff @ $45oz
Edit to add.
The same news that reported the above numbers suggests much of the drop is international visitors because convention business is up. So domestic visits have increased while international has decreased. I'm sure if that is the case, some or much of it is current national policies, but over the last 5 or 6 years, Vegas has gotten much more expensive in general. Most of the casinos took out buffets during Covid and haven't returned. them. Inexpensive "Family friendly" attractions have gone by the wayside. Most of the newer casinos have seemed to taylor towards higher end clients. Including some of the new casinos from a company that typically were catering to locals.
My Ebay Store
Ok, then.
It is a mixed bag here. Some things seem strong and other things weak. Commercial property prices appear to be sagging, but property taxes keep going up, regardless. A unit (that is equipped as a commercial kitchen) in the industrial building next to my workshop has been for sale for a couple years now. No sale.
I went to visit the local National Park a couple days ago. All the parking lots at the scenic overlook points and visitor's centers were full or nearly full.
In my own business, sales for some product types never recovered after 2008. Fortunately, my operation is relatively low-cost since I don't have to rely on a fragile supply chain or on any employees. So I can make lower product quantities and charge more for them than I did in 2008.
Wholesale prices in July up 0.9%. That's 11% if annualized. Current policy has not returned inflation close to "target" 2% (we're still 50% above that). Unemployment is 4.2%, historically low. is there any sound argument for even discussing interest rate cuts at the moment?
Some of the downturn in tourism YOY here is now being discussed by casinos as likely due to higher than normal tourism for the past 2 years. F1 began here 2 years ago, and we had the superbowl here.
They don’t seem concerned based on revenue numbers. News is a funny thing.
My Ebay Store
Ironically, Nevada gambling revenues are actually up this year despite the big drop in foreign tourism. The tipped staff are making less, and some are probably "resorting" to placing bets in attempt to make up the difference. The good news is that the Olympic rivaling Enhanced Games makes its debut in Vegas in 2026. The local economy will go parabolic (or perhaps "anabolic") when that happens.
And the debt clock. RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
I was watching this machine since it was over $700 on the minor payout.
The other 2 machines were both recently hit around $450 and reset at $100 starting level.
This machine takes in $1 to move the minor progressive a CENT.
I watched it rolled over from $999.99 to $1000.
Everyone else around Really figured it would pay out before it got this high, but it's still climbing.
It's an Aristocrat gaming machine...
It has taken in $90,000 and has not even paid the minor progressive of $1000
I don't think the casino game makers are hurting for money.
Ive never understood why some folk find enjoyment in casinos.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Have to agree with you on this!
I prefer to lose my money on gold and silver trinkets!
The bond market seems to have short term optimism, but long-term fear.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
The spread between 3 month and 10 year yields averages about 150 basis points. Today it is about 8 basis points. So the FED could cut by 100 bps and the 10 year yield could go up by 50 bps and we would only be at a normalized yield curve.
In such a scenario, savers would be hurt (lower interest earned) and borrowers would be hurt (mortgage rates wont go lower). There will be no economic growth with a lower FED funds rate. The dollar would get weaker thus lending support to PM prices.
Sorry (not) if this is interpreted as bickering.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Went out for a drive yesterday in Maine for a few hours and only saw one car from Canada. Normally on a nice summer day you'd see one every ten minutes. For sale signs seem to be staying up longer. Large bags of potato chips for $7.49. Gangs of guys with hoods over their heads and guns roaming our streets, dragging people into their vans. Do they really need to wear hoods? Not the best thing for my youngster to be seeing growing up. The middle class still getting the short end of the stick. I'm expecting my health insurance costs to go up again this year, especially when we have to start covering the cost of the new uninsured forced to make regular trips to the emergency room for basic health care. At work we are stocking up more than normal on back-up imported equipment just in case it is hard to get or delayed.
Jim
Gangs of guys with hoods over their heads and guns roaming our streets, dragging people into their vans. Do they really need to wear hoods? Not the best thing for my youngster to be seeing growing up.
What city? Seriously, is law enforcement doing nothing?
I knew it would happen.
That is the law enforcement. Lol, not lol.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Cripes, Burger King want's $15.49 for the new brisket whopper combo plus tax here in The Commonwealth. Seems like not that long ago I was eating steak and king crab or at least steak and shrimp with sides for the same price. Either time has passed me by, and I've officially became an old fart, or we have entered inflation trainwreck. RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
National debt is bloomin', inflation is ruinin', the only thing good is that my WiFi is Boomin'.
Was just having this discussion the other day. Remember when Carls(Hardee’s) came out with the Six dollar burger? Same great burger you pay $6 for at a fancy restaurant for $3. Good times.
My Ebay Store