Part Deux: Trying not to join in the “dismal” part of keeping track of the world economies/gov’ts but it sure seems like we need to pay attention, if, for no other reason, to try to defend ones self and family from the consequences of these trends.
Your comparison of the paths of the industrial economies is reminding me of Mark Steyn writing some time ago: His contention is that the US standard of living hasn’t really changed much since the 1960 time frame. Yeah, we got more weirdass stuff, more chemistry, more bad habits, etc. but in terms of the basics he’s quite right. Everybody that wanted one has a flush terlet. A shower. A washer/dryer. a phone. plenty of electricity. a reliable vehicle. an all-weather dwelling. a reefer-—and health care.
One of my lifetime yardsticks is the price of ammo. In the 1950’s I had to work half a day to buy a box of 30-06. The price held the same for the next half century but I gradually worked a lot less to buy it. Got to about 10 minutes in the 1980’s. That’s starting to change and it spooks me a bit. There are way too many elements of guvmint stoopidity throwing the whole structure out of balance and many of the thing’s Steyn noted are getting harder for folks to get.
Well, the days of a box of Remington Core-Loct on sale at Wally World for $10.99 at the start of hunting season are long gone.
I know nothing about economics, but, based on just one series of observations, I really feel like something is happening. Because of various Q hints about the world economy and banks, I began, several months ago, tracking the rate of exchange between the British pound (gbp) and the dollar (usd).
I check this daily, and, for months and months, the gbp fluctuated slightly, as one would expect. This is just casual observing on my part, and I have certainly not kept any records, but it seems as though over about the last 3 weeks that the gbp is falling by one cent every few days. No variations, just a linear progression.
At the beginning of this month, the rate was 1 gbp = 1.28 usd. Today, it is 1 gbp = 1.22 usd
As a math moron, I do not have a mathematical way of explaining this, but it seems to me very unlikely that that the gbp fall would not have any upticks and that the increments would be equal.
Perhaps I am all wet. Don’t know.....