Wednesday, January 30, 2008

This Is Common Knowledge, Right?


I never know what to think of my fellow countrymen/women. Sometimes I'm enamored of their ability to be giving and forgiving- the capacity for compassion and mercy. Then other times I'm dumbstruck at how little they actually know about anything, and the terrible harmful decisions that they make, or allow to be made in their name. Help me out here- tell me that this is common knowledge...

I was not an econ major, and every lesson I've learned about money and finance has been the hard way- and in the past number of years I've tried to change that. I'm looking at the market today and I know the vulgar intentions behind these actions, but I don't know that everyone is seeing it. The Federal Reserve (and seriously, if you don't know about the FED, spend some time on Google over this sham outfit) dropped another half point today. This is meant to forestall the inevitable drop until after the election. They'll keep dropping it until November if they have to. Secondarily, by doing this, they are devaluing the dollar in astonishing ways.

Consider- the minimum wage for 1979, when adjusted for today is $16.50 an hour, or $34,320 annually (*my source is Bureau of Labor and Statistics, as quoted by MarketWatch.com). Jimmy Carter isn't looking so bad in hindsight, eh? Now it can be hard to contrast this even using Cheeseburger Economics (a measurement of the economy based on historical retail cheeseburger costs), so again I'll mention gold. It's something like $930 an ounce these days. And the thing is, gold is no more or less valuable than it ever was. There is the same amount as has been around for years- it's the value of the dollar that is in freefall. It's back to parity against the Canadian Dollar, it takes about a buck and a half to buy a Euro, and two bucks for a Pound- and they are down as well against gold.

I'm not intending to prattle on about macroeconomics, or to inspire fear, but everyone is hip to what's really happening here- yes?

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7 Comments:

Blogger meno said...

Smoke and Mirrors.

We may be hip, but if it means we get a check, it's all okay with us.

Wish i could run my finances like this.

3:18 PM  
Blogger SUEB0B said...

Everything is fine. Mission accomplished. Keep shopping or the terrorists win!

9:59 PM  
Blogger General Catz said...

I'm watching what's going on like a hawk that spies a mouse in the brush. I have no idea what these people think they're doing. There is no regard for the future, for what's going to happen next week, much less next year or the next decade.

I'm watching my property taxes go up and my house value plummet. I'm watching gas prices ricochet and remember that time in 1975 when i drove by gas stations offering a gallon of leaded for 24 cents. I remember when $20,000 a year was a good income and could support a family of 4.

My "disposible" income is dwindling fast. Utilities keep raising their rates. The cost of maintaining a vehicle has become nearly prohibitive. And there, in the midst of it all, are my funds. In the first two days of this week i lost almost 30% from deferred comp. This on top of the 50% i lost during the dot com bust. And it's just going to get worse.

I have zero faith in the bozos making these decisions. The failing dollar scares the hell out of me. Sending me a $600 check that will be taken off next year's taxes? That means i'll owe the bastards next tax time. Even with a mortgage, the amount of my refund has dropped 75%. I don't need your fucking $600. Use it for something important like, say, balancing the fucking budget!

Ok, end of rant.

6:24 AM  
Blogger Scott from Oregon said...

Well, yeah. I've been watching too.

And now we have the media, pushing two Republicans and two Democrats, none of which have been ready to say the hard things.

The biggest problem we have, is that we decided to let "Waswhington" solve everything and run our lives.

7:25 PM  
Blogger Cheesy said...

"other times I'm dumbstruck at how little they actually know about anything," ^5 dude,,, case in point.. Rush Limbaugh fans~~~~ I'm just saying...

8:19 PM  
Blogger Scott from Oregon said...

http://www.ronpaulforpresident2008.com/news/

4:53 PM  
Blogger Jill said...

I'm taking the time-honored approach of trying to ignore it all so I don't wake up in the middle of the night with a full-blown panic attack. Slag addiction to TV news makes it hard though.

lalalalalalalalalaIcan'thearyoulalalalalalalalalal

1:17 PM  

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