[oilluber]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilluber', 'T')he average american lives like a dog compared to
the avg citizen in an industrialized world like Western
Europe.

[AirlinePilot]

Hey, your entitled to your opinion...rock on.

[Revi]

Oilluber, you have convinced me. I am moving back to Sweden to rediscover my roots! Do you think they want all of us back there?

I agree, there is poverty in America. Big time. It's getting worse. There is no guarantee of anything here. No national healthcare, no safety net, nothing. We are on our own. It is not that great sometimes. We all get a bit defensive when you knock our country. You would too. We can pick on it, it's our place. Bad form to pick on somebody else's country. Look at how you guys took Rummy's reference to "Old Europe".

Back to Jim Rodger's Commodity boom, have you seen the price of base metals? Click on every 5 year average on Kitco and you'll see that they are all doing the hockey stick curve, especially in the past couple of years. Zinc is up to almost $2 a pound!

http://www.kitcometals.com/

[DantesPeak]

Helped by zinc and nickel, US penny and nickel coins have a higher metal value than their face value:

http://www.coinflation.com/

[shortonoil]

oilluber said:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ace it, the wealth gap is getting worse, the middle class is
getting poorer, US is loosing the manufacturing base.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'h')igher metal value than their face value:

[oilluber]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'O')illuber, you have convinced me. I am moving back to Sweden to rediscover my roots! Do you think they want all of us back there?

I agree, there is poverty in America. Big time. It's getting worse. There is no guarantee of anything here. No national healthcare, no safety net, nothing. We are on our own. It is not that great sometimes. We all get a bit defensive when you knock our country. You would too. We can pick on it, it's our place. Bad form to pick on somebody else's country. Look at how you guys took Rummy's reference to "Old Europe".

Back to Jim Rodger's Commodity boom, have you seen the price of base metals? Click on every 5 year average on Kitco and you'll see that they are all doing the hockey stick curve, especially in the past couple of years. Zinc is up to almost $2 a pound!

http://www.kitcometals.com/

[Denny]

I think if hard times are coming, it is a good time for everybody to unite and share the sacrificing.

Right now, I see both sides of the argumenhts expressed above. Yes, America on average is a great place to live, if you pick the right places. But, an average is in many respects a fictional representation if you have disparity of incomes. And, that disparity is not only a fact, but a growing fact. I have seen it going that way ever since Ronald Reagan walkied into the White house. The coup de grace was when the Bush administration selecteivley chopeed taxes so the rich benefitted by a huge fadctor over the working poor. (Like $111,000 cut for Dick Cheney; $300 for the Wal-Mart guy.)

Remembering back to F.D Roosevelt, didn't he prove that spreading the wealth is the only way to maintain a decent standard of lviing for all? And, that even the wealthy benefit form a healthy and growing economy, even if their taxes go up?

A lot of the claims for beneficial effects of the income spread are really bogus. I don't think General Motors is getting any better leadership today, with the CEO making 100 times the line workers wage than it did back in the 50's when the job made 30 times as much. Are we getting better attention from doctors making 7X the average industiral wage, then we did when they made 3X the average industrial wage?

It seems all the supposed benefits fomr globalization are going to one group and all the detriments of it are going to another, but larger group.

I think Europe still clings to a shared welfare principle. Personally, I don't like the crowding in Europe, but I do like much else.

[woodman]

Anyone in my area making $15 an hour is extremely fortunate. I live in a rural area of northern Michigan. Sure the cost of living is higher in the bigger cities but the wages are not commensurate. The average wage here is close to minimum ($6 per hour). I think overall the oilglubber is correct. We are miserable slaves and are treated worse than slaves because most slave owners are interested in the health of their workers. We are nowhere near as bad as Mexico and other latin American countries though; as witnessed by their drive to cross the border.

As to commodities......I wish I new what to do with the pitifull amount I have saved. Should I buy gold and silver to try to avoid inflation or should I bury my greenbacks somewhere safe? I'm starting to think that soil is really the only wealth that will keep it's value. Gotta eat.

[oilluber]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('woodman', 'A')nyone in my area making $15 an hour is extremely fortunate. I live in a rural area of northern Michigan. Sure the cost of living is higher in the bigger cities but the wages are not commensurate. The average wage here is close to minimum ($6 per hour). I think overall the oilglubber is correct. We are miserable slaves and are treated worse than slaves because most slave owners are interested in the health of their workers. We are nowhere near as bad as Mexico and other latin American countries though; as witnessed by their drive to cross the border.

As to commodities......I wish I new what to do with the pitifull amount I have saved. Should I buy gold and silver to try to avoid inflation or should I bury my greenbacks somewhere safe? I'm starting to think that soil is really the only wealth that will keep it's value. Gotta eat.

[grink1tt3n]

Here is some after-market news for you:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ap04BtSQ_ivQ&refer=home

H&R Block Cuts 2007 Forecast, May Sell Mortgage Unit

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')&R Block Inc. may sell its mortgage unit and will close more than a third of its branches amid a slump in U.S. home sales. The company slashed the top end of its earnings forecast for the current fiscal year by 22 percent.

Profit will be $1.20 to $1.45 during the year that ends April 30, lower than a previous forecast of $1.60 to $1.85, Kansas City, Missouri-based H&R Block said. All of the cut was attributed to the Option One mortgage unit, which will close 12 of 33 branch offices over the next four months. An unspecified number of jobs will be eliminated, said spokesman Ron Iori.

[Revi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('woodman', '
')As to commodities......I wish I new what to do with the pitifull amount I have saved. Should I buy gold and silver to try to avoid inflation or should I bury my greenbacks somewhere safe? I'm starting to think that soil is really the only wealth that will keep it's value. Gotta eat.

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '`')`If I told you how bullish I am about agriculture, you'd ask me to leave the room. Prices of agricultural commodities are going to explode. Inventories of food are the lowest they've been in over 40 years. The number of hectares devoted to wheat farming has been declining for over 30 years.''

``All of you should get all the sugar you can. The price of sugar is going to explode.''

[billg]

It definitely rubs me the wrong way when I hear about how people want to cash in on what is going to cause of lot of distress for a lot of people.

[Kristen]

What is convincing isn't necessarily true; merely convincing.

[Gandalf_the_White]

Lets see how many links of hydrocarbon bubble yum are in the food chain.

Base supply going up because of flat supply growth and increasing demand - check

Refinery Costs going up because of poorer grades of oil - check

Cost to manufacture fertilizer increasing - check

Cost of diesel fuel for tractors increasing - check

Cost of everything everywhere increasing -check

Risk premium going through the roof - check

Opportunistic options trading at all time high - check

Dilbert cartoons grossly misunderstood by big fat middle of American corporate life - check

Elite planning massive crack-down as economy drifts quietly through the waste water treatment plant - check

Roger Clemens to be found responsible for all the ills of America - check

Every important element has been accounted for. You are ready for your first major economic wake up call in over thirty years. Here's to Texas! Where 'stagflation' is a steak so thick you need a chainsaw and an open ended commitment to an oil war just to tackle the grisle.

Heaven taunts you now, and hell awaits. Eat drink and be merry!

[Nano]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'I')t definitely rubs me the wrong way when I hear about how people want to cash in on what is going to cause of lot of distress for a lot of people.

[Heineken]

Anyone priced a 1 x 8 x 8 oak board at Home Depot lately?

You'd think you were buying a slab of silver.

INCREDIBLE.

Glad I got wood.

[billg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Nano', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'I')t definitely rubs me the wrong way when I hear about how people want to cash in on what is going to cause of lot of distress for a lot of people.

[Fishman]

Billg
You must live off the public trough. The only way to generate the money and yes capital to feed those folks and yes you (unless you are self sufficient and completely sustainable) is the mentioned manner. Please show me another system that has been shown to work. No Cuba does not count, gets lots from others. You must be advocating for mass extermination, only other way to supply the food to those out there.