Comments on: Back to Normal?

By: Timbo

Timbo — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:07:48 +0000

Pierre,

The DOW-Gold ratio uses the level of the Dow Jones Index, about 8100. This takes account of stock splits, and other factors such as takeovers and companies leaving the index.

By: JMR ManDribble

JMR ManDribble — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:02:48 +0000

I recently sold a vehicle to a Chinese fellow who was buying it for his kid. The father was prudent, stoic and therein wise. I assume he had saved cash for times as these… to grab things for a little cheaper, to optimize his return, perhaps to assist his children in their endeavors.

The kid was quite the opposite. Good thing he brought pops… he was like any other spoiled consumer brat. I may have been able to RAISE the price on him!

Be careful when comparing China to centuries-past western worlds. While China mustn’t be underestimated, the lure of mass consumer-debt spending could very well paint the wisdom of it’s saver-culture as “The Old Way” far more rapidly than we realize.

As for the forum: While it was a great mix of Doomin Gloomin recently most posts didn’t seem economocentric. I think the old posters must’ve been irked by this new format which is not suitable for chat (and it’s auto-censored). I kind of miss the freak-show though. I didn’t play video-games for months when I began posting there!!!

By: Keith Cowan

Keith Cowan — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:13:42 +0000

Where has everyone from the forum gone?

By: pierre

pierre — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:36:28 +0000

I calculated how much it would take to buy one share of the the dow 30 and i got about $1031. Gold is at $900. SO how do you get a 9 to 1 ratio? Below are the dow 30 and the closing price on 5-1-2009

3m Co 57.88
Alcoa Inc 9.69
American Express Company 24.29
AT&T Inc. 26.01
Bank of America Corporation 8.7
Boeing Co. 41.21
Caterpillar Inc. 37.26
Chevron Corp 66.87
Citigroup, Inc. 2.97
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company 27.87
Exxon Mobil Corp 68.01
General Electric Company 12.69
General Motors Corporation 1.81
Hewlett-Packard Co. 36.52
Intel Corporation 15.81
International Business Machines 104.61
Johnson & Johnson 52.59
JP Morgan & Chase & Co 32.49
Kraft Foods Inc. 23.49
McDonald’s Corporation 52.4
Merck & Co., Inc. 24.3
Microsoft Corporation 20.24
Pfizer Inc 13.58
The Coca-Cola Company 42.47
The Home Depot, Inc. 25.77
The Procter & Gamble Company 49.5
United Technologies Corporation 49.52
Verizon Communications 30.55
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 50.05
Walt Disney Company (The) (Holding Company) 21.94

By: Anon12

Anon12 — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:00:10 +0000

Pay in cash and take a number was EXACTLY how it was in the old E Europe days. Wait times ranged from 1 year for the humble Trabant to 10 years for top-of-the-line Fiat copy (aka Lada), mid-market Moskvitch was 5 years. Many of those are still on the road b/c their owners babied them and maintenance on them is easy.

But this is where we are headed when the president “does not stand” for the legitimate capital providers.