[blam]

Another opinion:

Economy Heading for a Systemic Collapse into Hyperinflationary Great Depression

[edcoil]

Deflation will come. You are sitting a Board, your job it to eat or be eaten. You must put the competition out. You are flush with cash, now you drop your price until the competition is gone - then you have the monopoly and your off and running.

[kittymyrib]

It couldn’t happen to a better group than the gamblers on Wall St. They sucker investors into putting their money into financial instruments that would make the Vegas casinos blush, knowing that they will always get paid their commissions as they trade back and forth amongst themselves, with little gain for the investor.
Putting one’s money into a FDIC-insured CD at 3.5% five years ago would have been a better investment.

[blam]

Robert Shiller: There's Now More Than A 50% Chance Of A Double Dip Recession

[anniegetyourgun]

Coming? We already have deflation. Ask yourself, is your stuff, house, car, etc. worth more or less now than it was 2 years ago?

[nascarnation]

If I had to choose, I’d much rather see a 2 decade Japanese type slog than a hyperinflated blowoff.

[demsux]

Monetizing our debt will NOT bring about deflation. The fed WILL overreact and flood the market with dollars...additionally, the fed must weaken the dollar to pay off our debt with cheaper dollars.

[Signalman]

Deflation from a homeowner’s point of view, whose trying to sell his house:

“Today, my house is worth $250K. Next month, my house will be worth $220K. Buyers know this, and I’m getting no bids. And my house is worth far less than what I owe on my mortgage”.

Deflation, from a consumer’s point of view:

“Today, I can buy a 46 inch LCD Hi-Def TV for 1600 dollars. But next month, I should be able to get one for 1500 dollars. I think I’ll hold off purchasing one right now.”

Deflation from a TV Retail outlet’s point of view:

“I have no customers. They’re waiting for price to drop on my 46 inch LCD Hi-Def TVs to drop. I can’t afford to keep half my employees” I may go out of business”.

Overall, deflation is not a good thing. It’s one of the things that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

[MichaelP]

You can make a good case for deflation or inflation. I wish I had confidence either way. So I will stay diversified, Bonds, equities, both domestic and foreign. The stocks I have are are quality large cap though...

Mike

[wendy1946]

I'd been hearing Larry Kudlow and one or two other supposed gurus on WMAL in DC claiming we were experiencing inflation around 1% while Ellen Brown has claimed we were heading into deflation and the news about the Fed over the last two or three days has basically answered the question as to who was right. Brown mentions "shadow lenders" i.e. Japanese, Chinese and others who were buying the toxic mortgage securities in bulk quantity and have now left the scene, probably permanently, and the fact that the Fed and government cannot take up that much slack, i.e. that about 40% of the wealth in the world as of three years ago has simply disappeared. The recent Fed move was a desperate attempt to put some of that head room back and, as Limbaugh notes on the air today, it didn't work.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

And most Americans are just worried about their new mini van and watching American Idol.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

No need to fear the evil throne that Obama bows to has a solution...

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/lone_republican/index.php/2010/08/12/un-says-eat-bugs/

[PatriotGirl827]

bookmark for later read

[familyop]

Items made in the USA (e.g., houses) will deflate. Items made overseas (e.g., Asia) will inflate, as oil and foreign wages go up. Our country is trading places with third world countries.

We need a good flushing and replacement of leadership anyway, and the defaults to come will accomplish that.

[Beloved Levinite]

The “Hershey Bar Index”
Tracking the prices of “regular” candy bars is a complicated project because over the years the definition of regular (ie, size and weight) has also changed. Contrary to popular opinion, the size of the average chocolate bar is not ever-shrinking. The price? Is a function of global trade.

The Hershey Company was kind enough to supply us with price/weight data for their famous Hershey Bar from 1908-1986:

[1908] 9/16 oz.....2 cents
[1918] 16/16 oz.....3 cents
[1920] 9/16 oz.....3 cents
[1921] 1 oz.....5 cents
[1924] 1 3/8 oz.....5 cents
[1930] 2 oz.....5 cents
[1933] 1 7/8 oz.....5 cents
[1936] 1 1/2 oz.....5 cents
[1937] 1 5/8 oz.....5 cents
[1938] 1 3/8 oz.....5 cents
[1939] 1 5/8 oz.....5 cents
[1941] 1 1/4 oz.....5 cents
[1944] 1 5/8 oz.....5 cents
[1946] 1 1/2 oz.....5 cents
[1947] 1 oz.....5 cents
[1954] 7/8 oz.....5 cents
[1955] 1 oz.....5 cents
[1958] 7/8 oz.....5 cents
[1960] 1 oz.....5 cents
[1963] 7/8 oz......5 cents
[1965] 1 oz.....5 cents
[1966] 7/8 oz.....5 cents
[1968] 3/4 oz.....5 cents
[1969] 1 1/2 oz.....10 cents
[1970] 1 3/8 oz.....10 cents
[1973] 1.26 oz......10 cents
[1974] 1.4 oz.....15 cents
[1976] 1.2 oz.....15 cents
[1977] 1.2 oz......20 cents
[1978] 1.2 oz.....25 cents
[1980] 1.05 oz.....25 cents
[1982] 1.45 oz.....30 cents
[1983] 1.45 oz.....35 cents
[1986] 1.45 oz.....40 cents
[1986] 1.65 oz.....40 cents
[1991] .45
“Last year, candy makers raised the price of candy bars 5 cents, to an average of 45 cents. The previous hike was in 1986.”
-—M&Ms Plans to Nickel and Dime the Competition, New York Newsday, April 8, 1992 (p. 41) [NOTE: product weight not referenced in this article]
[1995] .50
1.55 oz., Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States 1860-2009, Scott Derks [Grey House Publishing:Millerton NY] 2009 (p. 641)
[2003] .80
1.55 oz Hershey Bar purchased at Quik (privately owned convenience store), Randolph NJ...80 cents
[2007] .79
1.45 oz.,Value of a Dollar
[2008] .59
1.55 oz., Super FoodTown (regional grocery chain), East Hanover NJ
[2009] $1.10
1.55 oz., 7-Eleven convenience store, Randolph NJ
[2010] .95
1.55 oz., Acme supermarket, Randolph NJ

[Mamzelle]

People seem to think that it is impossible to have both deflation and inflation, as if it is a algebra problem and one side is positive and the other a negative number.

What if this is not a straight line we're talking about, in two dimensions, but a plane in three dimensions?

I have the dread that we're going to have both.

No jobs, no growth, no increase in asset value--but high cost for necessities like food and fuel.