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Wal-Mart US CEO To America: "Prepare For Serious Inflation"
To those who think that buying food in the corner deli is becoming a luxury, we have five words: you ain't seen nuthin' yet. U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for
clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S.
operations warned Wednesday talking to USA Today. And if Wal-Mart which is at the very bottom of commoditized consumer retail, and at the very peak of avoiding reexporting of US inflation by way of China is concerned, it may be time to panic, or at least cancel those plane tickets to Zimbabwe, which is soon coming to us.
The world's largest retailer is working with suppliers to minimize the effect of cost increases and believes its low-cost business model will position it better than its competitors.
Still, inflation is "going to be serious," Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said during a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board. "We're seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate."
Along with steep increases in raw material costs, John Long, a retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, says labor costs in China and fuel costs for transportation are weighing heavily on retailers. He predicts prices will start increasing at all retailers in June.
"Every single retailer has and is paying more for the items they sell, and retailers will be passing some of these costs along," Long says. "Except for fuel costs, U.S. consumers haven't seen much in the way of inflation for almost a decade, so a broad-based increase in prices will be unprecedented in recent memory."
Consumer prices — or the consumer price index — rose 0.5% in February, the most since mid-2009, largely because of surging food and gasoline prices. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose a more modest 0.2%, though that still exceeded estimates.
Add to this the shock that was today's grains report, and the summer is about to seem like straight out of Harare.
Farmers will struggle to replenish rapidly shrinking U.S. grain stocks this year, despite plans to sow the most land to corn since World War Two and near-record acreage to soybeans, two U.S. government reports showed on Thursday.
Chicago corn prices surged their daily limit, while soybeans and wheat jumped more than 3 percent as traders looked past higher-than-expected figures in the Department of Agriculture's annual planting survey to focus on inventories, which fell much more than forecast.
The report underscored the fact that U.S. farmers are now reaching the limits of arable land in the world's biggest crop exporter, with increased corn sowing coming at the expense of soybeans and cotton. The spring wheat crop, while among the biggest in decades, could yet shrink.
Here is why some grain traders made millions today:
This year's spring planting season in the world's biggest crop exporter is being watched more closely than ever by countries fearful that further increases in already record-high food prices could stoke unrest.
An analysis of the data based on the acreage estimates and historical yields suggested that the corn harvest could be the largest ever and soybeans the third-largest.
But that would still leave corn inventories at the end of the 2011/12 season at the equivalent of just three-weeks' supply, and soybeans would dwindle to scarcely 10 days' cover. Analysts say prices must rise high enough to reduce demand.
"This turns us back to having to ration the corn," said Charlie Sernatinger, analyst at ABN Amro.
May corn jumped 30 cents to $6.93-1/4 a bushel, hitting the daily exchange limit; options trading suggested further gains to more than $7.15, near the post-2008 peak of $7.35 hit on March 4. Soybeans jumped to over $14.18 and wheat recouped part of its 20 percent slump since mid-February.
As we expected over the weekend, the commodity correction is over, and absent another nuclear explosion (which still will be priced in within minutes) commodities have only one way to from here.
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Thanks Dagny,
Great site. I know when my Husband and I were first married we did not have a lot of money and someone gave us World War II canned rations. They actually were great. We really appreciated the free food and everything was really good to the taste, to my suprise.
My Daughter would throw anything away with a best used date out but I eat them all the time. Of course unless when opened it bubbles or the can is distended. I hate to say it but I am still eating my supply from Y2K.
My Son on the other hand is discouraging me from going ga ga over buying tons of canned food now. He still makes fun of me for stocking up for Y2K. Yet, every time I read one of these articles I want to go out and buy everything on the Grocery store shelves.
I like to stock up on the potato buds, rice, dried beans, canned milk. Also, Dinty Moore Stew, Spam, small canned hams, canned tuna, canned chicken, canned beef from Argentina (love that stuff), canned vegetables, soups.
Oh, please do not get me started on that mass food buying again.
DT: Thanks for the link! Very interesting info.
So...
.... you're saying I should buy canned ham?
And let me guess... I should bury it in the back yard?
The head cheerleader denies denies denies denies... until she can't. Now get back in formation like a good little bitch.
No, you don't buy anything. That's a GOOD sheep. Don't worry about inflation. There is no inflation. Your master told you so.
If a business can steadily increase their gross profit margins (gross, not net!) while simultaneously blaming price increases on cost increases, does that seem fishy to you?
http://ycharts.com/companies/WMT/gross_profit_margin#zoom=1
lol, you think WalMart is just going to change their extremely successful business model after 40 years of unbridled success for no reason?
And I hate to tell you, the markets don't lie. Commodity prices are more expensive, as is the energy used to make them into finished products.
But hey, I actually don't want to convince you. I want your smug ass to get what you deserve. So feel free to only keep a couple of days worth of food and no water at home. Don't own a gun, don't own any metal, don't have a physical cash reserve. Keep all your money in the stock market.
I am to the point where I hope million of them follow your advice. It will lessen the need to manage them later. Darwin bitchez..
I'd rather just buy a few more rounds.
you think WalMart is just going to change their extremely successful business model after 40 years of unbridled success for no reason?
Huh? I never said anything close to that.
All I'm trying to tell you is that gross profits at Wal Mart are increasing faster than wholesale costs, and this calls into question the credibility of a CEO who tells you that prices are rising only because costs are rising. No doubt about it, costs are increasing. But Wal Mart is riding the coattails of inflation fears and jacking you for more profits in the process. In crude terms, he's pissing on your leg and telling you it's raining.
Perhaps he is.. This negates Tmos's advice how?
Maybe you should familiarize yourself with WalMart's business model and then get back to me.
Here's a hint: they have the lowest margins in the business--if they arbitrarily raise prices, then they won't any more, and the shoppers leave and they lose everything.
But hey, profit is evil, so fuck everyone and everything, right?
"Here's a hint: they have the lowest margins in the business--if they arbitrarily raise prices, then they won't any more, and the shoppers leave and they lose everything."
Who is their competition? How competitive is Wal-Mart's space?
The various dollar stores on the lower margin side (though they do not have consistent inventory), and stores like Kmart and Target on the higher margin side (they have equally consistent inventory, but better service). Grocery competition is extremely fragmented, as different grocery chains exist in different regions, and I can only speak for my local area, where the only grocery stores are all higher margin than WalMart, although some cheaper produce is available at farmers markets.
WalMart is somewhat different from other corporations, in that their corporate culture is geared toward saving their customers money. Their "target" customer is one paycheck away from poverty, a demographic that has done nothing but grow over the last several years. The problem, of course, comes from the fact that people are slipping more and more into straight poverty, and as such are patronizing the dollar stores more. They are at a sweet spot now, and may be for some time in the future, but their prices will HAVE to rise in order to maintain their margins, even if they remain the lowest margin consistent inventory store out there.
A better issue to look at is who is China's competition for all that they provide WalMart? No one as they've BK'ed the western world. Now, when one becomes sole provider of anything, think military suppliers, they can do whatever they want with pricing. Think $450 hammer to the Pentagon. Now, the Chinese people want to live like middle class Americans and are demanding, and getting higher wages. Still, relatively a pittance compared to the western standards, but the western standards are plummeting. Eventually China will have the largest middle class, then source out the low cost mfg. to the now dirt-poor 'mericans, and the cycle can begin again. All the while, benefiting the sponsors of the whole system. Think Rothschild, Kissinger, Soros, etc.
Here is why you are wrong: People on ZH get it, but that is about it. You and the rest of the sheep don't seem to have a clue about it, so who is he addressing with these "inflation fears?" Outside of the population of ZH like-minded thinkers, nobody is listening.
If more people than I realize understand how quickly inflation is sneaking up, then those aren't just fears, those are realities.
Either way, go fuck yourself. Ron Paul 2012
I haven't stopped campaigning for him since 2008.
I go to local shows in Chicago and afterwards hand out C4L flyers, bumper stickers, documentaries, Creature from Jekyll Island,... Really would love Banzai or someone to make some post-card sized ZH promo flyers with political/FED humor themed.
Last show I did pretty well. I handed out documentaries of "Fall of the REpublic" (good intro to the FED and Max Keiser is great!), on the DVD sleeves I wrote zerohedge[dot]com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwVap8x64As
Lots of energy. Let's get them mobilized!
I was thinking of a picture of Bernake inside driving a Semi with the speedometer reading like 100 mph and you can see a 20mph turn immediately ahead and Bernake is saying "I can slow this thing down in 15 mins".
That would be classic!
I think SPAM would be more appropriate for someone of your affluence!
SPAM is actually all ham. For him, he will need SPUM processed meat product. Made out of 100% pure mammalian genitalia.
If you don't want to disturb you pretty Chemgreen lawn, you can bury it in my back yard.
our back yard is the ocean, so fish/shrimp/oysters/crab will help us with that
Also, just bought a tractor to work the 100 acres we have not terribly far away.
Things are gonna get interesting.
And how far are you from the closest nuke plant?
Not very far. We're on the coast of SC
Sound advice. People may also consider developing a taste for dog and cat meat. When true famine visits the USA, there should still be an overabundance of house pets.
Yeah, their wet pet food has doubled in two years. So now some CEO asswipe is telling us to watch out, there is a deer in the headlights.
what if you don't eat meat???
Drive outside whatever city you live in find a farm and buy 1,000 lb's of soybeans/tofu.
yeah I have dry beans and rice...I was just poking him a lil bit. I actually live in a rural area and have chickens for meat and eggs. Producing more then we can eat so I trade wiht the neighbors.
Teaching my ten year old bookeeping and proper capitalism by selling free range eggs to his commie teachers for double the price.. Uh, oh don't tell Mcgladrick..
duplicate
Then you'd best get yourself a milk cow/goat, or else be prepared to starve to death.
Getting enough calories in a day is actually pretty tough without easy access to processed foods. If you only eat vegetables, you are going to find that life is pretty tough without access to tofu and other refined vege products.
Chicken and eggs will keep you alive with a smattering of veggies you will be in good shape, cholesteral a little high but who cares.
That too, if you can keep the varmints out.
Yeah I had a coyote hanging around..... he is gone now RIP
and by varmints you mean all the people who have not prepared themselves properly, right? This is my greatest concern.
That is harder to do. I suggest a dog run around the chicken coop. The dogs should alert you if someone approaches.
It would also help to have people in your house with different schedules. Thus, when the dogs start barking in the middle of the night, you don't have to get up to make sure of whether it is just a stray passing by, or some asshole trying to get at your animals.
Good points. I am considering a dog, but not yet. Don't need the added expense of feeding the pooch, until it becomes a working dog. I am sure when the SHTF people will be happy to unload a newly unwanted pet. The ties that bind and all that...
I may have to reevaluate this idea more over the coming months. Considering the time it may take to instilled loyalty.
Never have a single outside dog. Always at least two, three is better. They don't even need to be large, just loud.
Man's best friend.
You must be speaking of a Fila.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fila_Brasileiro
pods
2 cups whole grains, 1 cup dried beans, 1/2 cup dried vegetables. Cook and eat twice a day.
You can easily survive on that, and it's dirt cheap.
Yeesh. You might be able to live on that, but you'll probably want to blow your brains out. Happy "Preparedness Geeks" know the importance of salt, grease and spices in making even the most humble of foods palatably pleasing. Don't forget lots of water, and a fuel source for cooking. Stockpiling vitamin packs is good. So are "feminine hygiene products" since improvised substitutes just don't work for that.
Every time I look at pigeons now I think: "You're going to make a mighty fine bistiyya one day."
If you have to ask, you are probably behind the growing season curve.
Textured Vegetable Protein.
research wild edibles. Dandellions are incredibly nutritious as are many other plants. Plants can provide plenty of protein and everything else. The only element that's hard to get on a veg diet is b-12. Most primitive cultures accomplish that by incorporating animal waste into their compost. You can buy specialty multi vitamins that last a decade plus.
Or you can do like other primates, and get your vitamin B12 from eating your own feces!
http://freetheanimal.com/2010/11/go-vegan-the-new-vegan-diet-raw-and-all...
I prefer to fling it at the fan. You know, getting the show on the road. Priming the fan as it were.
It will be interesting when people stop killing the "weeds", and start eating their lawns. I have scoped out at least 5 of our local parks and have found more edible plants then ever.
Which reminds me I need to go get some more coconuts!
I got one of those a long time ago. 40 years later and still good eating.
Sold by the case. Actually a good quality product.
http://www.keystonemeats.com/home/cannedmeats.php
Seriously, why is The Bernank still alive? Seems like the whole world has gone after Gadaffi, who as far as i can tell has done nothing different recently to what he has been doing for the past 30 years...
... and yet The Bernank is causing worldwide genocide and yet he lives?
Me no understand.
+ + +
Benocide, bitchez
Actually, Zimbabwe dollars are probably the most undervalued asset on the planet.
Yeah I agree,
Tyler reported a few weeks ago inflation is 2-3% presently in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe dollars are no longer currency. Those inflation rates are in terms of Western currency that is now circulating there.
thanks for the correction, tmosley. :)
must have missed that small detail
(I often cannot resist skiping the story to go directly to the comments- but do usually read them after)
If it comes down to brass tacks I can always stop paying the mortgage. That will give me another two years of extra money on hand before the bank even considers calling my bluff. By then who knows how far down the rabbit hole we will be. I'm tired of playing by the rules when the banks don't.
If, as indicated by one of yesterdays posts, people not paying their mortgage is in fact good for GDP...then just imagine how much better we can help the GDP appear if we were all to max out all our credit cards on mad shopping sprees and then simply never pay the credit cards and we can use the cash that we do not spend on payment to stock up on NFLX and AAPL stock since they will surely benefit from this increased consumer "spending".
So how about it? Who's with me? Let's start a campaign called "Charge it. Don't Pay for It"...We can say we did it to save the US economy:-)
LOL
I think reverse psychology only works when we're all deaf, dumb and blind. But I'm game to give it a try just for the fun of it. :>)
No honor in this suggestion...
"Honor" and artificially implanted guilt are all part of the control mechanism.
I understand what you're saying. I'm not saying we should embrace chaos. But the control system implantes memes and programs that tilt the playing field towards the main beneficiaries and away from us using quaint ides such it's a matter of honor that you pay your mortgage when the big guys decide if it's to their benefit to pay the mortgage.
CD...chaos is our friend. Embrace it. Kiss it. Hug it with all your might. Chaos is no longer the problem...it's the solution.
I no longer believe we need "total" chaos to stop the insanity. The system is so unstable that some "marginal" chaos on the fringes is all that's needed. But you go ahead and blaze a trail. I like fireworks in the spring. Who wants to wait until 07-04-2010?
One of my all time favorite quotes:
"The only thing worth globalizing is dissent."
Arundhati Roy
We would have to be time travelers to do that!
What? Is it 2011 already? Time flies when your anal orifice is being probed.
and it hurts too!
.
CogDis, paz,
Our very own chumbawamba has shown us the way. Perhaps he was a little early... Timing counts!
Chaos is not a solution, it is the beginning of the solution if we man up and confront those who are also waiting for Chaos to implement their solution.
But... it's not like the System all of a sudden got fucked up. The seeds were there from the start.
I'd stated it previously, and I'll state it again, I WOULDN'T DO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE WHO ADVOCATES LYING, CHEATING AND OR STEALING. Doing these things to others because you feel that they are doing it makes you no different.
Those who see the wrongs should look to live the RIGHTS. I would hope that people who attempt to withhold from their obligations invest their savings into things that would be of use in making a new, better world. If you think you are holier, then seek to live that way...
CD you're full of shit. You're rationalizing stealing "because someone else does it". Your intention is to renege on your word and save and use 2 years worth of someone elses property for your own personal enrichment.
Well why not add rape & armed robbery to your repertoire as well, after all others do that and get away with it?
good call zeek, some of us still know the meaning of the word honor
Now if you're down on your luck and one step from living under a bridge that's a different kettle of fish. But if you have internet and post on ZH STFU about stealing taxpayer dollars for a "worthy & noble reason".
who need honor when you can have a 62 inch plasma in every room, a drawer full of Rolex watches and a FABULOUS wardrobe?
it's funny how the illusion of "honor" is most often sold to the plebs by the banks to get the plebs to do what benefits the banks.
you have a choice in this "payment" situation: Follow the Banks orders or follow their example.
there is no honor in slavery.
It's even better than that. GDP includes government spending, so all we have to do to increase GDP is to get the government to spend more. That should be pretty easy, yeah?
FIREs did the same, no?
it IS charged on govmnt scale.
now charge it on consumers' level.
and the banks implode.
the beauty of symmetry. LOL
and just think of all the free goodies you get to keep:-) LOL!!!!!
This is the only viable, rational way to deal with this situation. Pay only the property taxes and spend the rest to put food on the table.
No violence necessary.
I'm sure that is exactly what they'd like...
They'll get bailed out AND own title, so the coming 'enhanced' government low-income program can pay them rent to place someone more deserving in 'your' home...
I tend to agree. The herd rarely runs in unintended directions when the cowboys are in the saddle. However, I gotta have my ice cream.
There's only 1 way this ends: the world's biggest real estate swap meet. Former "owners" become renters and former renters become owners.
No, they play by the rules. Unfortunately, the rules are different for them than they are for you.
2 mos. ago going forward I play by my own rules - situational ethics.
It is immoral to deal with an immoral person/entity in a moral way.
who makes the rules for dividing moral from immoral?
It is immoral to deal with an immoral person/entity in a moral way.
BULLSHIT. You didn't think that through because you don't/ want/ to/. You want to exist in a state of anomie- NO RULES so you can fuck anything or anyone you choose when it benefits you.
It's people like you that run the big banks you fucking halfwit.
Situational ethics my ass. If it changes daily it's not an ethos, it's a womans mind. In other words, you a bitch.
RENT is subject to inflation. Fixed rate mortgages .... nope. Also this inflation will become an accellerating issue (as soon as it gets away from Ben .... and it is).
The day will come with a few pieces of silver will pay off your fixed rate mortgage.
That day will not come as the PTB will index the currency to your debts..
Good thing there's no inflation then, huh?
Didn't happen in Germany, not going to happen here. That's one thing people will NOT stand for.
Well, I hope your right. The people I meet on a daily basis would not know if Bernankster popped out of the wife's cereal bowl at the breakfast table squeezed her boobs and stole their wallet.. Yes, they are that blind, willfully, happily, gladly ignorant and striving to avoid anything that will remedy that situation.
Serious Inflation = Wealth Effect = Bullish.
rally on...
Mission Accomplished!
Way to go team! I hope it forever seals the absolute horseshit fraud perpetrated on the American people and, especially, the future generations.
I knew this scum sucking shitheads could get 'er done!
And why is that evil Genocidal ChiefSatan still in his job after what he has done?
He messed up big time about sub-prime and gets a second chance to create an even more horrendous mess
mail this to the all intelligent PragCap moron who sees no serious inflation
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The only deflation will be in the net worth of the deflationists as they scramble to find dirt to eat.
With one likely exception: your largest physical asset (your home) will depreciate at double digits. Meanwhile, everything else you need to survive will inflate at double digits. Max pain, middle-class style.
Yep. Gotta have a spread on: Long stuff you need to survive, short stuff you don't. Waiting for such an ETF to come around! LOL!
Deflation in the things you own, especially when leverage is involved, inflation in the things you use/consume.
It's the natural consequence of a deflating credit bubble, it's "remedy (QE, etc)," and the liquidity flowing to commodities.
Also the long-term macro/demographic trends definitely point to higher food prices.
And one more turn turn in houses to shake out the last of you holding on so dearly.
Once the fed owns the majority of the houses, and they have disposed of Freddie and Fannie, the cycle starts over.
Or maybe Freddie and Fannie, will pay the fed full price for their bag of bs MBS and then Freddie and Fannie will shut down, of course only after handing off the losoes to the tax papyer.
Again, where is Prechter?
This play isn't over. I'm not saying that it will happen, but it is at least possible that gold could go down to $600 an ounce if enough debt gets destroyed.
You have to admit, there are a lot of candidates: munis, treasuries, PIIGS bonds, entitlement promises .... and if those amount to a few trillion in haircuts/defaults, the remaining printed dollars in circulation could indeed rise in value compared to gold.
I should add, that even in this scenario, you are still a winner buying gold now at $1400+, because it's relative value should still increase -- just not as much as the increase in value of the dollar.
Sorry, you don't buy gold with debt. You can only buy with cash (save for a tiny portion of retailers that take credit cards).
You are nuts if you think the dollar will go up more than gold. That's like betting that the Titanic will rise ten kilometers above the ocean surface even as it slips beneath the waves for the last time.
Not a bad idea to have, say, 6 months worth of physical FRNs stocked up (along with your gold & guns).
The future is uncertain. Diversification is important.
This is correct. I have a nominal amount of dollars in my safe for any "transition periods" we might run across. I hold only bill money in the bank.
The issue in your argument is an assumption that there is some inherent value in the USD. All it technically is is an unpayable debt obligation to be paid for by an increasingly irrelevant population who's standard of living is plummeting and who's usefulness in a global arena is near zero. Unless of course there is someway to monetize the value of watching Dances with Stars.
What I have heard over and over again from the D camp is that all of this debt was supposed to have imploded by now, 2011 and the value of the USD was to have skyrocketed. It hasn't happened because it won't happen. Its the nature of fiat.
+2011 (excellent first paragraph)
Another Dec. 2010 prediction of mine confirmed!
http://rense.com/general92/stdr.htm (see #3)
If inflation is coming - strike that - here, should we not leverage up to buy commodities and other "things?"
So the fascist CEO of Walmart was allowed to speak...and is he telling us the truth? I think the message is to prepare for higher prices yet I strongly believe we are expecting a strong (rather brief) deflationary event horizon in the very near future. The only reason these idiot CEOs come out and talk is NOT to warn you, but to set you up with regards to sentiment. Now like a parrot, go parrot what he said to five friends so they will tell five friends...and so on and so on. The table is being set for the next contrarian play.
We should prepare for a decline in real income. Whether it comes via inflation or deflation is immaterial. Cut discretionary spending and hoard necessities, imho.
Warning, you mangy dog. Wal-Mart CEO is not talking to you, but to the uncounted millions of lower and middle class humans that shop and work there. He has made his money and is not concerned with your theories of deflationary events that will not impact his regular customer base. They will continue to shop there for the necessities of life. He is being so polite as to tell us to buy extra Vaseline and K-Y on our next shopping visit, not because he wants to do us, but because we are already f•••ed and the bankers want more action.
the bernank just told me he has the tiger blood so he can stop inflation at anytime, then he walked away laughing maniacally... screaming "im winning!!!!"
I am 'sheening' right now!
Does the Bernake
carry a wallet and if so, what is in it?
A single FRN: his picture on a $1 trillion...
Hmm....so all the regular peeps are being put on notice of impending inflation. Time to lean the other way???
Commodities will correct on this news, right?
Was there any doubt that Wal-Mart was going to be the first to throw reality in the face of those who try to keep the 'secret' from the complacent?
Here's the one business that is visited numerous times in a week by the majority of household purchasers, and given a whole new meaning to logistics and just in time inventory techniques.
No room for margin compression here folks...
a guy has simply expressed firm public belief that the recent trend of rising asset and commodity prices (they stubbornly confuse it with inflation) is going to continue indefinitely. But the history shows that such a comments from CEOs, academic and prominent analyst usually arrive right near the terminal stage of the trend they are boldly linearly extrapolating.
+1,000
yeah.... linear extrapolation, bitchez [works every time, don't it?]
So, even IF CEOs and academics tell you that gravity can kill you you're going to pretend that it can't, that jumping off the cliff is OK? Gravity conspiracy...
That's why these folks turn away from the lot of us and look to just run the machinery until it all blows- we're too fucking stupid to realize physical realities. It's a fucking finite planet and our numbers are increasing while our resources decrease and our nest (environment) is getting harder and harder to clean out!
History also tells us that civilizations collapse due to a loss of sufficient resources. I wonder whether the leaders of these civilizations found it impossible to turn their ships...
Save money, live better
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?page_id=9798&paged=4
"Well after the recession started to... or, er, after the recovery started... our business recovered more slowly... than some others..."
The banksters and gov't centrally plan our reality while they rob the f**k out of us.
Inflation? I think the proper term is "stagflation".
Surely this will be super bullish for casual dining stocks...right? After all, there is nothing better than paying $12 for a crappy cheeseburger at Chillis...except maybe paying $18 for it. And clearly, there is no company with more PRICING POWER than Chipotle. After all, burritos are extremely hard to find...at any price...right?
Crazy pills anyone?
WTF is a "food desert"?
In the poorer sections of large cities, there is no incentive for grocers; Safeway, Kroger,
Albertson's, etc., to have stores.
Within these areas then, there are no fresh vegetables, no food selections beyond that
ofered by a mini-mart, or a gas station store. Some areas do not even have milk available.
Hence, 'food desert'.
it doesn't help that the dominant demographic that lives there tends to steal like crazy.
In fact, in ward 3 in DC, the Ward 3 councilwoman is opposing a walmart because the mere presence of stealable stuff is going to provoke a massive outbreak of "gibs me dat" and it will end up in a lot of her constituency going to jail. Yes, she's actually opposing it because she believes that merchandise is too much of an attractive nuisance.
Would you fuck off with that shit?
http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF145-Nunez.jpg
Here's a question if a market no longer considers any underlying fundamentals does it cease to be a market?
Yes, at least for for reliance purposes, according to defense-side securities lawyers. See 216 FRD 577, 582. Lol.
or when a market which can't guarantee delivery, still operate as a price discovery mechanism?
great point.
Well, yes, but it is also the inevitable end result of creating a system were real assets are given paper titles which are then traded by speculators. The trading cabal will print more and more paper titles for trading purposes until somewhere down the road the bagholders wake up and realize they hold nothing of value.
So we have 67 different varieties of futures, mutual funds, ETFs, MBS, CDS, and an alphabet soup of millions of other issues, all created out of thin air by ballsy crooks with a word processor and laser printer. You know you are in the end game when trillions are invested in securities that few, if any, really understand.
You know the deals are really worthless when everybody "hedges" with some form of insurance against default or loss of value.
All that is being "traded" is a chance to outguess the counter-party on a short-term price trend.
That's a casino rather than a market.
The thought also occurs to me that foreigners do not vote. If TPTB in the USA want to raise money without pissing off voters or losing campaign funds, perhaps the wisest course of action is to foment unrest in the world, have rich foreigners do the knee-jerk "flight to safety" with their money, right into a tech bubble, mortgage bubble, or equities bubble. USA insiders sell at the peak. Foreigners and somnabulent domestics hold the emply bag. The ponzi lives on for awhile.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
The scheme works better if nobody can figure out the intrinsic worth of what they are trading, so it is important to destroy any mechanism that assists in price discovery. Destroy existing methods of determining title to property (e.g. - Cede & Co, MERS); champion systems where sellers do not have to deliver the underlying securities, so that total supply remains perpetually unknown. Allow outlandish trading on margin. It is much easier to steal something when nobody knows who owns it, and especially if you can prime the fraud pump with borrowed money. Fraud becomes as simple as picking up a trillion dollar bill blowing in the wind down Wall St.
Nice post.
And the scary part is derivative holders have legal claim over stock and bond holders, as what happened with Lehman brothers. So I imagine going forward, when this devaritive bubble busts, the men who caused it, will walk of with alll the corporations and resources, because they were holding the derivative. That makes me sick.
"a system were real assets are given paper titles which are then traded by speculators."
Can people tell me how Wall Street is anything other than a mechanism for speculating? Isn't that what it's all about, speculating what people need/want? (yeah, Madison Avenue programs people as to what they need/want, but that's another issue)
I get it that some people/entities over-leverage, but that's their business (which, as we here all know, they should pay the price for guessing wrongly). And anyone selling that which they don't have rights to, well... society should hang them (under due process of law; sigh, but laws are unequal, favoring the fascists).
What is/has been happening is that the system has become SO big that it cannot handle the sloshing that's occurring as consolidation continues. But, this is no more than an amplification to the SAME system that's always been there, the same one that's predicated on speculation...
Could "serious inflation" at Walmart be the tipping point when the dumbed down sheeple finally realize something is terribly wrong with this country: nothing like a starving, addicted consumer to stir things up!
Depends on how long the human body can cycle stored fat into caloric energy. If it can hang for awhile, about 50% of americans will last a helluva lot longer than skinny fucks.
Either way, McDonalds will find a way to make cats taste like chicken and then start a $.50 menu and make trillions.
Doggie McNuggets
Deepm Fried Mud Nuggets
Flashback to an all knowing, all powerful The Bernank, making predictions in 2005:
Bernanke in 2005 says "no housing bubble and banks are strong"
Angry, disgruntled (and broke) deflationists who also suffer from contrarian psychosis will probably tell us that commodities and oil are long overdue for a 20%+ correction.
After all, it perfectly makes sense that Federal Reserve Bank Notes (i.e. liabilities of the Federal Reserve Bank System) are the ultimate storage of value, in a time where billions of them are created out of thin air everyday, doesn'it?
Huh? I'm a "deflationist" and I freely acknowledge that commodities prices can rise during deflation. There are plenty of profit opportunities for realistic deflationists.
There is a reason in America we feed our population so much corn.
When the food runs out, the fat, corn-fed people will taste good. This source of protein should get us through the rough patch of depopulation.
Humans; the long pig. http://www.warriors.egympie.com.au/cannibalism.html
That's pretty damn funny... as long as you're joking...
It's only a joke as long as we're not starving.
Eat the rich. (first)
Then, eat the vegans. (next as they are grass fed and all natural)