Gold & Silver: Is This It?

That's awesome Coinvet! You've been blessed in the timing of your purchase and sell.

No, those of us who are older remember better times and the lessons they taught. When/if this takeover comes, the economy will tank worse than it ever has. The ensuing psychological factor will drive people to try to seek more security. It will be the second major round of economic upheaval in the past ~4.5 years. People versed in history/reality knew what was happening and were driven to PMs for a feeling of safety. The amazing heights which PMs reached say a lot to the reality of the trouble that has been caused.

PM markets are not in a vacuum, but reflect the reality of what people are facing. When/if this new system kicks in, the cost, admitted now even by some of the framers, will be absolutely astronomical - guess who will have to foot the bill unless Constitutionality is adhered to?

This will drive people back to PMs and the prices will rise.

I remember when an Apple IIe with 4 KB of RAM was $1300. Now you can get a computer with 2 GB of RAM for $299. Not everything has gone up in price.

@Ed_B: You didn't say everything has gone up in price. I was simply pointing out something that has gone down significantly even it fixed dollars.

Telephone service is another item that has plummeted in price even in fixed dollars. I remember back in the 80's calling long distance was a very big deal in my family because at $0.20 / minute it really added up quick. We didn't call just to talk, you said what you needed to say and got off the phone.

Cars are interesting. Yes, we pay more but we get so much more as well. Today economy cars have features that weren't even available on luxury cars years ago. A modern minivan makes as much horsepower as an 80's Corvette and gets twice the fuel economy.

Five years ago I went from driving a 1961 Buick Skylark to a 2005 Toyota Prius. It is amazing what we take for granted now. For example we expect our car to start every time regardless of the weather. :)

It is interesting that you mention your parent remember when a loaf of bread was a dime. I recently read an article that said the ingredients in a loaf of bread on the shelf today only cost a dime. The rest is labor / shipping, advertising, profits, etc.

Love more details...never too old to learn.

It would be interesting to see a very detailed evaluation of home ownership as priced in ounces of gold for various 20 year time periods over the past 100 or so years. My thought is that home ownership as an investment is not nearly as rosy as it looks when calculated in inflating dollars. Personally, I do not consider my home as an investment. It's where I live and I have to live somewhere so it might as well be here. I like the personal rewards that come with home ownership and if I can break even or come close to that after all the expenses and inflation are figured in, then that will be great. I don't expect to make a fortune from selling my home in a couple of years, even though I do have a lot of equity in it. There will be some price appreciation but whether or not there is any value appreciation, who knows?

I agree that we take a lot of tech for granted. But unfortunately the overall quality of materials used in workmanship is nowhere near what it used to be. The advances in the reliability area are better. But some people here might remember the days when people would deliberately bump their bumpers when parallel parking and neither car fell apart or needed bodywork! No one thought anything of this action b/c the cars were tough enough and the bumpers were even made for this purpose (hence the name). Just a (comparatively) small hit to a modern car totals it or requires thousands in repair work.



Do not forget that a lot of cost nowadays is for insurance. The judges who have permitted sue-happy people to bring/win ridiculous cases have driven costs up tremendously. Since insurance companies have to pay out so much they raise their costs (the root of the problem with the healthcare issue).

The regional manager/friend at a local Burger King told me each Whopper patty costs them only 33 cents! The rest is labor/packaging/operating costs/and liability (a big chunk).

I do not know if it is true, but I heard there is another "stimulus" plan in the works. PMs should shoot through the roof if another one of these failed, fiat-based farces occurs. But if the politics of the next election change, I can see PMs falling.

Right on, Fredd. The primary difference between renting and buying a home is that the payments end when buying but not when renting. In the right circumstances it can pay to rent, such as when moving every 2-3 years for a job.

I also agree with Earle about cars. Years ago, lots of guys worked on their cars and kept them in pretty good condition. Cars could be tuned and worked on with simple tools. They didn't have 300 yards of rubber and plastic tubing under the hood for one thing. Now, you need some pretty specialized tools to do much of anything on a car. The good news is that the new cars don't generally need a lot of tuning or fiddling with. When they do need work, though, stand by to pull out your wallet, big-time! I guess this is progress.