yeah right, sure glad they arent tracking ida

Unflation incertain

He said it was also the issue of whether “you are generating the conditions that might foster a bubble that really might come back to hurt you later? I think this will be a big issue for the committee.”

Attention Mr. and Mrs. Fed: You are generating serial asset bubbles right NOW. Please see the prices for glod, sliver, roady-yum, wheatabix, and platynumnum. And please google "Carry Trade" as you are enabling it with the dollar. Today!

Now you can't say you weren't warned. "Might foster," indeed.

Edit: correction: parallel asset bubbles

Have already seen small business's go belly up inflating prices to make up for less cashflow and less profit. Not to big to fail.

To MaryAnn:

The tea-bag thing was political. I'm not talking about politics, lobbying or dollars to do that. We don't have much power as citizens I will agree, but as individuals we can make choices. It is in those Apoliticalchoices that a larger message can be sent.

The immediate needs which include hunger, homelessness, and children shouldn't be confused with political needs. Media sucks as do the the jabbering heads that fuel blame mongering and confuse/divert and make neighbors enemies.

====================================

On topic: What Bernanke fears most is deflation, all the actions thus far have been efforts to reflate real-estate and the economy, its largely been a failure. He can't increase interest rates as the economic is way too fragile, deflation is bearing down in consumer discretionary.

I'm not an economist but it appears to me central bankers have run out of bullets worldwide. Brown breaking up Lloyds and RBS is the giant clue there. Its interesting and compelling as RBS is a primary dealer to US fed. hummmmm. If the EU follows Brown's lead, then Bernanke get painted into a corner? lol. Who needs a soap opera

NervousRex wrote:

Attention Mr. and Mrs. Fed: You are generating serial asset bubbles right NOW. Please see the prices for glod, sliver, roady-yum, wheatabix, and platynumnum.

Out of curiosity, what happens to the money supply when large amounts of these commodities are purchased on margins, and the value (or at least the price) of them drops precipitously?

Anyone else get temporary aphasia and read the title as "Fed's BullTard"?

Union breaking?

If you do something long enough you forget why you were doing it in the first place. The how becomes more important than the why. This particularly true of the Fed. fighting inflation. The reason to contain inflation is because high inflation leads to unsound economic decisions and capital allocation which ultimately causes economic problems.

Thus failing to asset inflation into account misses the whole point of why you are fighting inflation in the first place. It is no coincident that bubbles take place when conventional measures of inflation are low. BTW including the cost of saving for retirement into the CPI would help capture some of this broader inflation.

I worry a little about old Ben. He never saw a problem in the future, claimed it was contained when he finally admitted to it, and used "unconventional methods" to "fix it". Given his record, massive inflation is in the cards, tho maybe that's what he truly wants.

,rad dr,

I think Cagey B is like the rest of them, simply in too deep. His 15 minutes of fame came and went long ago.

nanoo
wonder how long "as the fed churns"will run. looks like we,the people are going to have do things ourselves wonder if tptb would notice, do we care whether they do or not. personally ive given up on them.

I had a BankUnited Representative actually come to my
law office door seeking business. I told her about Fred
Camner.

Since when do bankers go door to door?

I keep a vestigal trust account there just in case.

Ida is a Cat 1 storm.

If you don't have any money, it doesn't matter what it can buy.

gabyjan wrote:

wonder how long "as the fed churns"will run.

O! the plot lines;

will Sheila leave Timmay?

will Ben be exposed as a marginal though helpless introvert given to long bouts with depression?

will there be a return of paulsen and his bully tactics?

will anyone leave Alan?

will shopping at home become more than a minor obsession?

will Fall City close up shops serving the homeless?

When was the outlook not uncertain?

lawyerliz wrote:

When was the outlook not uncertain?

Under Volker.

When the tv news weatherman comes on and says there's a 50% chance of rain, you just know he's angling for a job with the Fed.

A lack of inflation expectations would be a serious worry, though.

The hub paid roughly what I paid for my car over
3 years ago, and about what my mom paid 7 or 8
years ago for comparable cars. This is not inflation.

The greenback is ailing today. Out on injured reserve.

Donner Jerky?

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

The greenback is ailing today. Out on injured reserve.

That reserve status is in danger. The other teams just don't want to pick up his option either. Insert expansion team draft reference here.

Yalt wrote:

A lack of inflation expectations would be a serious worry, though.

Nah, the great unwashed doesn't pay attention to inflation targets, right? I mean, the most they're going to do is postpone their major purchases until prices decline further, and maybe postpone smaller purchases until next week's flyer comes out, and then buy as little as necessary because next week's flyer is going to have even better deals...

Oh crap.

noob goldberg wrote:

I've been told Volker took an awful lot of heat

he was once described as "...a son of a bitch who smoked cheap cigars"

he responded: "I don't smoke cheap cigars."

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Pass me an A.R.M. and that bottle of ketchup, please.

You're sick and twisted and thats why I like you because it takes one to know one. LOL.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Pass me an A.R.M. and that bottle of ketchup, please.
You're sick and twisted and thats why I like you because it takes one to know one. LOL.

You are both going to HELOC for that.

Cinco-X wrote:

especially if unforeseen circumstances arise in the future-

I've wondered what would have happened with AIG if we had a bad hurricane season this year or tornado outbreak or earthquake or..or..or. It was a quiet year for disasters of magnitude.

,rad Dawgma,

You know how it is with fading stars, who can't work as cheap or make as much as they used to do, washed-up, but hanging around for one more season, because it really needs the paycheck, having squandered it's savings long ago...

Ida could strengthen. . .

Or she could drop enough rain that Home Depot and Lowe's
would rejoice.

Liz, has there been a run on plywood, bottled water, batteries and generators yet?

Nah. It's only a one and not expected here.

That brief Warehouse thing made such little sense and
was so weird, I rather enjoyed it.

Only inflation that is important is the the Stock indexes and of course the GS stock price.....

w10949 wrote:

Only inflation that is important is the the Stock indexes and of course the GS stock price.....

Speaking of which, someone quick print up some "DOW 11K 2.0" hats; we'll need 'em by the end of the week.

LL- if we are trading anecdotes- what is the difference between college tuition 7 years ago and today.? Since not all things go up by the same amount some things will go up less than the average and others more. The cost of manufactured goods should be going up by less so as to compensate for those going up faster.

The reason that are inflation statistics are a joke is that they fail to incorporate taxes. Taxes are what pay for services that are least able to generate productivity gains- e.g teachers and cops- plus because we run chronic deficits we don't even pay the full cost of those.

The Dethroning of the U.S. Dollar - Coming Soon!

The Dethroning of the U.S. Dollar - Coming Soon!

Volker had the BB's (brains and balls) to pay the bills. Not extend and pretend. Obama the pitch man used Volkers reputation to get elected and now ignores his advice. It think Volker and Reagan would never have let this country engage in the fraud and rape we have now. So yes we would be much better under Volker. I cussed him when we had to 18% on a commercial RE loan.

Bulltard is another Fed liar. There is absolutely no reason to worry about inflation or deflation in a free market. The Fed's main CONcern is propping up the value of trillions in bogus credit issued by banks over the past two decades. The Fed is papering over their own mistakes and preserving the value of faux wealth. The cost of such actions are felt every day and every year by the productive Americans (the producers) who see their surplus stolen via inflation.

"Friedman and Schwartz estimated that prices in general fell from 1869 to 1879 by 3.8 percent per annum. Unfortunately, most historians and economists are conditioned to believe that steadily and sharply falling prices must result in depression: hence their amazement at the obvious prosperity and economic growth during this era." -- Murray Rothbard

My first mortgage was 13% in 1985 - the Republic was doing rather well back then. All this gnashing of teeth that an increase in the funds rate will cause all sorts of problems is just pure BS. If we accepted that the economy wasn't that sensitive to to 1/4 % changes in rates how many people on Wall Street would be without a job? Thats why we don't.

I was totally serious too and thanks mock turtle. Perhaps one of their children will resemble Linda Blair only there will be no exorcism and bio-engineered locusts that have needles for teeth will eat them nibble by nibble starting with preferred private parts . ewww...sorry. I have watched too many movies.

crazyv-my health insurance premiums with a very large base rose 100% last year. ALL of my insurance of any kind have gone up (homeowners, auto which of course are mandated.) Food prices fluctuate, gas remains high and heating my home this year is still over 1/3 more than 2 years ago, last year it was 2/3s more than the previous year that was 1/3 more. Deflation is only evident in consumer discretionary spending. Taxes have increased in this neck of the woods on everything making the cost of living here breathtaking. I expect that will continue to go up as tax coffers in the states continue to be stressed.

Oh, rsj, what a horrible choice to make!!

Do you get along with the dad ok?

We lived poor when we first married, but
our relatives helped us.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

These were the prices of things when I ventured out into the wild blue yonder, from somewhat constricted circumstance, way back when on the edge of the new frontier, in the City of Angles...

My mother set a rule for my father, that he was not allowed to pay more for a vehicle than they paid for their first house, which was $27K. Due to the fact he needed a large diesel 4x4, he finally had to break that rule in 1999 after only 25 years.

rsj

you make a number of great points

im not sayin you dont have cause to be angry

but sometimes the anger blunts one's point and puts allies in opposition

theres a lot of anger on these pages... and all around us

i second your call that the more affluent here, myself included..yeah...i need to check my smugness

good people, many poor are going to get crushed...and we all could do with a little more humility

and kindness

i havent spoken to the father since a month pregnant. he is nine now. They have never met, and I do not even know which state the father lives in.

I sounded really shrill and mean up above. For some of it I apologize. Look people I get tired of the whole condescending snottiness about the whole walmart socio-economic level.

The choices I have made have contributed to where I am now, and I accept that. I am working, thinking, planning for worst case, best case and middle. The army issue is worst case, and most likely will not happen however however however there is a segment of this population that are making these choices, and I tell you they are the ones you mock with the whole wal-mart/those people meme (hehehehe i stole broward's word) and it enrages me.

My real question is if wal-mart sucks, and the people who shop there suck, what is next? how do you end that? I can see some ways down the road and none of them are very pretty. But dont worry! If and when it all hits the doom loop we can all go down to wal-mart together and purchase our made in china Cloaks of Squalor and Doom. Ill even show you where the damaged goods and day-old bread sale stacks are.

rsj: I wish you and your family all the best. Please consider alternates, what a heartbreaking decision to make. Resources are thin I know and not savory. Words cannot express how much your example fuels anger towards those who do not see us and who have taken our opportunities away to provide for ourselves. May you and yours find peace and a path towards keeping you and your family intact.

rsj wrote:

I sounded really shrill and mean up above. For some of it I apologize. Look people I get tired of the whole condescending snottiness about the whole Walmart socio-economic level.

I buy all of my diapers at Walmart. It's the best deal for diapers, and although I'm sure some parents believe their precious snowflake's bum deserves only the finest organically-grown and sustainably-harvested linens, I'm all about minimizing the costs of a disposable item that only sees an hours use.

rsj,

No. Not mean at all. As I have been homeless, done the shelter, foodstamp thing also. Sometimes I want to scream a big FU to people. I dislike the entire "people of wal-mart" thing. FU. Your shit does not stink? Maybe you had better choices you smug prick.

Sheeple - another FU! They are not sheeple. They are your brothers and sisters. You dip shit. You do not laugh. If you were a "good" person you would understand the concept of Protect and Defend those who have less. Smug, self-righteous, planet raping, consumerer, cock sucker of the media illusions...just wait.

This is a groovy economic weapon:

Measuring Worth - Purchasing Power of US Dollar

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Here's a snapshot of pricing: (a great resource, by the way)

Whoa, that's so cool!

The price of cars is fascinating. From 1971 to 1981 they tripled, and then almost tripled again from 1981 to 1991, and then went almost no where for the next ten years or so. I am going to waste too much time on that site.

I loves Silver MT.

Wow, I almost stepped over into CAPS and spittle on that one.

nova,

no worries until you start jacking up the font size

Oh liz no no. I do not expectpeople to apologize or feel badly for not having to shop there, never that honest. That is part of capitalism, and free will, and choice. I respect that. I just get irate about the attitude that many have towards those that do have to shop there. that and I am a bit stressed and cranky, and it just hit a nerve. Oh, smoke free 8 days 1 hr and 23minutes and I am feeling it.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Anybody ever unload on Target shoppers?

You suck.

rsj (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 11/9/2009 - 10:09 am

The choices I have made have contributed to where I am now, and I accept that. I am working, thinking, planning for worst case, best case and middle.

Nothing I hate worse than the entitled talking about "choices". I'm from a close-knit midwestern family with lower and lower-middle class roots and have relatives on food stamps, government assistance and just at or above the poverty line. I hate the notion that your socioeconomic status is primarily the result of "bad choices" (it being a catch-all part of the American entitlement mythos), but more because it implies that those higher up the pyramid somehow made much better and smarter choices from an identical playing field. I don't feel at all superior for being (merely) "upper-middle class"; I sometimes feel a bit guilty in fact.

Cheer up doomsters!

We have 89.8% employment! That's a big number! It's great!

ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

The rich could eat the homeless... this would be deflationary and also reduce income inequality, plus fewer would starve. Win-win

Soylent Green flavoured Doom Loops?

crazyv wrote:

Those who object to Wal Mart for its labor practices are put into opposition to those who shop at Wal Mart (and who will benefit most from improved labor practices throughout the economy).

Before Walmart, the distribution systems of every major retailer were horribly inefficient, leading to huge amounts of waste. This waste was reflected in the prices charged by everyone. By minimizing distribution costs, Walmart forced the entire industry to pull up their socks and focus on that one issue. This was their competitive advantage for a decade or more.

Once the industry saw the light and tightened their supply chains, Walmart had to look elsewhere for a new competitive advantage. They cut costs by sourcing to China and cutting costs at home, especially labour. Walmart is a company in a death-spiral, because it's competitors are almost as efficient logistically as they are, but with none of the consumer-associated bad impressions. And it'll be very hard to change everyone's collective impression of Walmart.

But we really should appreciate them for their contributions, both negative and positive.

negative, oh uni-horned one - we have 58.5% employment, and the rate of decline year over year has accelerated into the Potemkin Recovery:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/EMRATIO/

shill- the most interesting part of the story is that it was filed by reporters in India !!

I hope that came across right. I didn't want JD to feel unloved.

rsj: I doubt I can add to the kinder words spoken above, but fwiw: If somebody doesn't like the way you live or what you do, to hell with 'em. Learn what you can from them, but don't let it get under your skin because life is too short.

Good luck and godspeed.

Edit:

Oh, smoke free 8 days 1 hr and 23minutes and I am feeling it.

Count that in money too.

Cinco-X wrote:

to a giant "Block" "N"

Was it this one? Because I don't remember this logo at all.

I also didn't have a TV for the first portion of my childhood.

rsj (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 11/9/2009 - 10:29 am

Arent they already eating the poor?

Exactly. Smart man. Just remember, the more you can grind into the dirt of wretched poverty, the wealthier you become.

Up until this month, I had not shopped at WM because I really want things not produced in China.

However, our room mate lost her job last week. She has a 7 yr old son. ( no way will we ask a woman with a child to leave, regardless of income) Hubby's business is super slow, has been for over a year now. At this point I am going to be suporting 4 people. Price is now the primary factor in allot of decision making.

The other very difficult decision was to no longer have one person working with me. Hubby will take over that work and we will keep more of the income in our household. Things change, we change to meet new situations.

walmart... blah, blah.
I always refuse to believe that the few smart blogs are filled with people on the dole yacking while their scooter recharges, sucking on a coke.

The big news is what Shill posted, Advanta just shut down. 1 million small biz's just lost one of their credit arms. This is a kick that will have repercussions. Knock on effects have to be spectacular over the next 30 days. And sales will be charged to ???

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

I always thought Advanta had the best chance as being all things to everybody:

It sounds like a car, a prescription drug or a failed credit-card lender

Same with 'Altria', except that sounds like a health-care company, a failed bank, and shoddy Oldsmobile. But since 'healthcare' is the first thing to pop into my head, I'm pretty sure Phillip Morris got their money's-worth with that one.

JP,

No problemo, I get that a lot, heck you leave the store with a bullseye on your bags, for crying out loud.

So I shop @ Target, is it any better/worse than Wal*Mart?

We have a Target and Wal Mart literally across the street from each other, built at nearly the same time and in nice part of town. Shopping at the Target you see nice cars, well dressed people, and decent employees.

Shopping at the Wal Mart feels like you walked all the way across town it's so drastically different, trashy people and horrible employees.

The only thing I can think is the Wal Mart perception kept away the higher end shoppers, and at some point critical mass was reached to where none of them shopped their anymore.

FWIW, not to far away is a newer Wal Mart that puts the Target described above to shame.

I

rsj wrote:

I am actually considering giving up rights to my child to join the army to provide a bit better for us all and you guys get to whine about theose horrid wal-martians.

I don't think you need to give up rights in order to join. Unfortunately, the reqs. to join the service have gone up due to the economy [edit], and you may not get the placement you would have if you'd joined previously. Additionally, having joined the service during the Carter Administration, I recall that the military wasn't very well taken care of at the time, and a lot of poor kids that joined after knocking up their girlfriend had a very rough time of it, since the COLAs for off post housing weren't enough to survive on, and of course, inflation was still rampant then. It was much better for soldiers a few years later, so you can hope. All in all, the Army was good to me, but you better get accustomed to the idea of taking orders. Good luck-

noob goldberg wrote:

Was it this one? Because I don't remember this logo at all.
I also didn't have a TV for the first portion of my childhood.

Not quite; it was the "N" with a solid fill and no peacock. The one you linked was the updated response after months of ridicule
Its still funny to me .....

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

When somebody has to tell you over and over again that they traded their gold for paper money @ $1085, what's in it for them, really?

Are there points for achieving ignore status?

Oops! Nothing to say-

I walked into a morgue last week, and realized it was a Sears only after entering.

shill wrote:

Advanta files for bankruptcy protection

And the reporting on the story was done from Bangalore, delivered by a firm based in London, but owned by Canadians.

Angry Saver wrote:

The notion that the Government will screw creditors in favor of entitlement beneficiaries is goofy and shows a lack of understanding of how our system works.

A lot of the inflation/deflation debate reminds me of the arguments over C. Wright Mills back when I was in school. Those who basically agree with Mills and think that US politics is largely run by a moneyed elite for its own benefit are more likely to expect deflation; those who disagree and think US politics tends to favor large masses of voters are more likely to expect inflation.

ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

I hate the notion that your socioeconomic status is primarily the result of "bad choices" - this is what elites from both the left and the right would have you believe as they systematically knock out the rungs that would allow people to climb higher. However, there is one thing that people can do- which they don't and that is to vote. If not actually cast a vote than at least register t vote. It is ironic that in a poor country like India the poor vote in far large numbers than the middle and upper classes. In the US we have allowed the notion that my vote doesn't matter to become a self fulfilling prophecy at precisely the time when your vote has actually begun to matter a great deal. Just think of the margins of victory in some prominent races. If you don't vote expect to be ignored. If you are unhappy with whats going on vote against the incumbent.

We are trying to buy a house out in the country. I do not want to use any of our money if possible. I was just told that even though lenders say they are lending as low as 5% down - no one is. It is a minimum 10% for under jumbo.

I wouldn't want to be even 5% under Jumbo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The possible failure of JIT logistics is the thing that scares me the most. If it fails, it will not matter how nice little garden you got there, people are going to try to steal your tomatoes and potatoes like desperate zombies. Unless you live inside ammo factory, your little garden will be gone pretty soon...

That is why "screw you I got mine" is not going to work so good during times of economic chaos.

ResistanceIsFeudal,

I was trying to do the real estate lingo thing and sound smart.....

Charles Kiting wrote:

The next shock to the monetary system will likely give an upstart a chance to eat into WalMart's market share.

Now there's a theory I've never heard before. Fascinating, and I'll have to mull it for a while.

While I don't deny Sears' investment into IT, the difference between them and Walmart was not the investment, but the inter-relationship between retailers and manufacturers. Whereas Sears may have had efficient internal distribution systems, Walmart provided manufacturers with huge volumes of retail data, to the point where manufacturers would know which items were being bought where in real time. No one else had ever done this to the level Walmart took it too, and it allowed manufacturers to reduce their held inventory because they had a better grasp of final consumer demand. No more warehouses full of obsolete goods created 'just in case' or because of distorted demand data.

noob goldberg wrote:

Ah this one then: File:1975 NBC logo.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yes, I can see how someone might be wanting a portion of their $1 million back for that.
On the flipside, think of how much LSD you could get for a million bucks.

Yup; I suspect that some heads rolled.
If you had a $million, the thing to do would to be to buy capacity rather than the drug itself. You could probably set up labs in every state, but then again, LSD wasn't particularly popular during this era; to many memories of the "brown acid" fresh in peoples minds at the time-

@nova
Primary residence or second home? Are you a veteran?

I hate the notion that your socioeconomic status is primarily the result of "bad choices" - this is what elites from both the left and the right would have you believe as they systematically knock out the rungs that would allow people to climb higher.

I think we had a period where it largely was, maybe for a couple of decades or so. I certainly see that in the people I know in my day to day life as well as my family members. We may have come from a period where this wasn't the case, especially for certain groups, and I think we be entering a period where it won't be the case in the future, but what I see at least in my day to day experience is that the people who tried to make something of themselves generally had pretty good lives.

CaptainMorgan wrote:

FWIW, not to far away is a newer Wal Mart that puts the Target described above to shame.

Give it a dozen years. The objectives/incentives a WalMart store manager faces in a new store are much different than in an established store. Most district managers have little understanding of how different the clientele can be 2 or 3 miles away but the profit goals are the same so 2 stores are operated by the 2 individual managers differently.

Cinco-X wrote:

My understanding was that Walmart could change shelf space allocation and stocking in 24 hours in response to a sales trend, and was able to basically maintain a significant portion of its inventory in transit, which is something Sears was never able to do, as least as far as I've heard.

Yes, at the time. Now it's common industry practice. Walmart institutionalized the practice of 'dock-to-dock' inventory movement, which meant that distribution centers were no longer inventory warehouses, but simply a place where stuff is moved from one trailer to another.

To the concerns of LoserBeachBum and others, they are right in that no one holds inventory in a giant warehouse anymore.

However, what good is inventory in a huge distribution warehouse compared to not having it at all? Whatever knocks out the ability for JIT to operate would have a similar effect on the ability to move fixed inventory from a warehouse to the retail outlet. So we'd be equally screwed.

Have any of you talked to your neighbors next door, or down the street about matters financial or other assorted doomabilities?

noob goldberg wrote:

While I don't deny Sears' investment into IT, the difference between them and Walmart was not the investment, but the inter-relationship between retailers and manufacturers. Whereas Sears may have had efficient internal distribution systems, Walmart provided manufacturers with huge volumes of retail data, to the point where manufacturers would know which items were being bought where in real time. No one else had ever done this to the level Walmart took it too, and it allowed manufacturers to reduce their held inventory because they had a better grasp of final consumer demand. No more warehouses full of obsolete goods created 'just in case' or because of distorted demand data.

No0B,
You are correct, or at least that's the narrative that I've heard. Of course, Walmart originally chose to put its stores in markets that everyone else, besides the Sears Catalog was ignoring; Rural, redneck communities. It's only in the past 10 years or maybe less that they've started putting stores in more built up areas where they face real competition. This factor, more than their debt overhead, will play a role during the "next" cycle.

"However, what good is inventory in a huge distribution warehouse compared to not having it at all? Whatever knocks out the ability for JIT to operate would have a similar effect on the ability to move fixed inventory from a warehouse to the retail outlet. So we'd be equally screwed"

US military is probably one of the largest logistic system in the world? How they do it, large warehouses in places like Ramstein, Germany or JIT?

Cinco-X wrote:

This factor, more than their debt overhead, will play a role during the "next" cycle.

When stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and others are using large amount leveraged capital to purchase land to prevent competitors from opening stores in urban areas, you know we're about to see the seeds of the next cycle.

And the more I think of it, the more Charles Kiting's theory of monetary disorder leading to reorganization of retailers (and the rest of the economy) as the megaliths can't match the flexibility and opportunities provided by a relatively clean credit slate. I believe he's providing the context, and I'm discussing the mechanism of how Walmart overtook Sears.

Whatever happens, the next couple of decades shall be interesting.

LoserBeachBum wrote:

US military is probably one of the largest logistic system in the world? How they do it, large warehouses in places like Ramstein, Germany or JIT?

Yup! Those WWI k-rats taste mighty fine when you haven't eaten for 48hrs.

crazyv wrote:

In fairness to Wal Mart they also stood the pricing model on its head. Unlike all the other retailers they backward engineered. They figured out what price they wanted to sell a particular commodity at and worked backwards to figure out how to do it. That thinking led them to China way before anybody else figured it out and was in large part the reason they were successful.

They also marketed very heavily on the ghost of "small town values" Sam Walton, as Disney has with Walt Disney for many years.

Dollar down, Market up. End of story?

Bucky burning.

Film at 11.

We had to destroy the dollar, in order to save it.

Nova,

If you are buying as a primary residence, you could use VA(if you don't have a VA loan on current home). There is also 100% financing through the USDA rural development program(must be only home you own to qualify for that program). I am not aware of any loans for second homes with less than 10% down-payment.

and ................... SPIKE!

black friday ads are trickling out
Black Friday Ads - Official Black Friday Site for Black Friday 2009 Ads, Black Friday Deals, Black Friday Sales, Thanksgiving Sale, Thanksgiving Deals and Browse Black Friday Ads, 2009 Black Friday, Black Friday 2009 | 2009 Black Friday Ads
are the best compilation sites from a quick search, sam's club apparently had theirs come out today
I don't know how different they actually are, but the ads aren't being received on blogs/forums with the same enthusiasm and euphoria from past years

14,000 Today!! Why not, when measured in arbitrary scraps of printed paper...

In the late sixties, I ate K rations from the fifties, complete with four cigarettes and a pack of matches for desert.

My son worked briefly at a Walmart.

He was not impressed to say the least.

He didn't see any nimbleness or marketing
genius. He saw a dirty store, with sloppy habits.

Making useful products cost less money is a net benefit to everyone in society regardless of income. To the lowest incomes, it means more essentials are available and to the 2nd quintile that less money needs to go to necessities, freeing it up for stuff like cable TV, football jerseys and NASCAR tickets. Your TP costs 5% less and so does Lord Blankfein's.

Of course, it's accomplished by grinding down suppliers with market power, exploitation of lowest-cost labor etc, but...

update: Kraft offered the same deal for Cadbury today when it was required to make the bid hostile or walk away by regulation
in terms of national pride, it is like China buying GM perhaps

Dow to hit 14K by XMAS

U.S. Joblessness May Reach 13 Percent, Rosenberg Says (Update3) - Bloomberg.com

Additionally, the so-called under-employment rate, which includes part-time workers who’d prefer a full-time position, and people who want work and have given up looking, reached 17.5 percent last month, the highest level since records began in 1994.

The economy has lost 7.3 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

Commenting on the third quarter’s surge in worker productivity, Rosenberg said “we are producing more with fewer average hours worked -- how sustained is that is anyone’s guess.”

I'm sick of Christmas already and be SCROOGE and just IGNORE it except for what I said before. I guess I'm a strange female as shopping for me is punishment rather than a source of entertainment and has always been. I'm too neurotic I suppose.

Maybe I should just do what George Costanza did, create that imaginary "Human" non-profit donation card for everyone...lol.

Festivus for the restofus. I need to dust off that pole.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

Festivus for the restofus. I need to dust off that pole.

Which pole would that be, Nanoo? Would it be made of brass, per chance?

energyecon (homepage, profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 11/9/2009 - 11:23 am

How about if that tends to make income zero except for government transfer payments via the loss of manufacturing jobs?

Yeah, that's a problem, isn't it? I guess we should have thought of that. On the other hand, we make the folks in third-world nations that took them a lot better off and they have a lot more stable lives (at least temporarily). It's also grand for the execs and politicos, and anyone who lives off passive income generated in the tertiary financial economy.

rich - if you're here, just watched the CCC program on American Experience. Thanks for the recommendation. Excellent show.

The Civilian Conservation Corps | American Experience | PBS Video

The 2009 Jobless Recovery

,rad Windward,

It was stunning, there were veins of oak trees with 22k gold-looking leaves, from around 4,500 to 6,000 feet, the ones in the distance looking like so many gold nuggets stuck in the middle of the deciduous...

Lloyd Blankfein says he's a banker “doing God's work.” Mr. Blankfein, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Inc., told London's Sunday Times the Wall Street giant has a social purpose...

On Goldman's success : "Everybody should be, frankly, happy …. The financial system led us into the crisis and it will lead us out."

That shitbag needs to be boiled in urine (tonight)! Then financially engineered into hamburger for madcows!

Cinco X they were individual rations, but all I really remember, was it was raining so hard the water coming off my poncho was spilling into my mess kit. Good Times.

Leftys Liquors Lubricants and Tarp and Bank wrote:

Cinco X they were individual rations, but all I really remember, was it was raining so hard the water coming off my poncho was spilling into my mess kit. Good Times.

You and I have different definitions of 'Good Times'.

Doc, I think you're suggesting that someone "do god's work" on Lloyd Blankfein. No?

Cinco-X wrote:

My understanding was that Walmart could change shelf space allocation and stocking in 24 hours in response to a sales trend, and was able to basically maintain a significant portion of its inventory in transit, which is something Sears was never able to do, as least as far as I've heard. I have to agree with No0B-

Not arguing against that, but I know that Sears was working on similar projects twenty years ago. The difference is that those projects cost lots of money which WalMart could borrow more easily than Sears. Also, WalMart offloaded a lot of the costs onto vendors which Sears was not willing to do. WalMart operates on the theory that price matters more than choice. But their main advantage comes from location - securing prime retail locations is a lot easier when you can borrow money easily. Sears had/has so many locations in sites where the retail landscape has changed - when a new retail corridor emerges two miles away from an older retail corridor WalMart is able to get in there while Sears has a lot less flexibility because they have established sites with leases they can't get out of or exist on company-owned property that is now in less demand. WalMart may run into similar problems with locations in new retail developments that get loaded with foreclosures/vacancies. I don't mean to knock WalMart's innovations, but the bulk of their advantage has more to do with their age than anything else.

crazyv wrote:

They figured out what price they wanted to sell a particular commodity at and worked backwards to figure out how to do it.

A lot closer to the truth than IT innovations.