http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=6218
Bruce probably shouldn't read this, however...
oly
Yeah, Pat Heller is just a ray of sunshine isn't he? As if we don't
have enough things to be worried about.... :)
KP has been moving in the direction of politics and religion way too much
over the past few months. They need to refocus on numismatics, seeing as
how that is part of the title of their flagship coin publication.
James
Nothing sells quite like pessimism.
James
Aw, Oly. You know I can't handle that much small print. And from my work
experience, I've learned never to rely on one pundit's opinion. You can
continue to feed an uncer and wring your hands raw if you like. I prefer to
stay positive. It's worked for me for almost 70 years so far through many
similar doom predictions.
It's off to sell some beer cans this weekend for me. I'll soon see what the
economy has done to THAT hobby.
The ones I collect are down to 37 cents per pound, about 50% below
last summer's high...
oly
Yeah, they cram so much other junk into the page that they have to set
the text in agate to keep the scrolling to a minimum. If you have IE
and a wheel mouse, try doing CONTROL-wheel movement. Up increases the
size of web pages on the screen, down decreases it. You may have to
recenter the page horizontally, but it's a godsend when viewing fine
print.
> And from my work experience, I've learned never to rely on one
> pundit's opinion. You can continue to feed an uncer and wring your
> hands raw if you like. I prefer to stay positive. It's worked for
> me for almost 70 years so far through many similar doom predictions.
Me too, but that's in the long run. The long run is punctuated by
occasional downward spikes of varying duration and magnitude. The
question for investment money right now is how high will PMs go for
how long in the current turmoil. PMs undoubtedly will continue to
rise (with their own ups and downs) until their bubble becomes
unsustainable and investors start looking for the next big thing.
> It's off to sell some beer cans this weekend for me. I'll soon see
> what the economy has done to THAT hobby.
Does anyone grade and slab alcohol containers?
There is an established grading scale for beer cans but there have been no
slabs yet, thank goodness. Back from the show today, the 1000 collectors we
had last Feb were down to about 800 this year. Likely an economy effect
since collectors come from all over the US and Canada. But on the other
hand, the money was flowing like always. Like coins, collectors are
becoming more picky about what they buy, but they still seem to have no
qualms about plucking down a couple grand on a rare can or piece of
breweriana.
Could it be that we don't have people coming form other countries like
last year trying to buy up all the gold?
...
>>> It's off to sell some beer cans this weekend for me. I'll soon
>>> see what the economy has done to THAT hobby.
>>
>> Does anyone grade and slab alcohol containers?
>
> There is an established grading scale for beer cans but there have
> been no slabs yet, thank goodness. Back from the show today, the
> 1000 collectors we had last Feb were down to about 800 this year.
> Likely an economy effect since collectors come from all over the US
> and Canada. But on the other hand, the money was flowing like
> always. Like coins, collectors are becoming more picky about what
> they buy, but they still seem to have no qualms about plucking down
> a couple grand on a rare can or piece of breweriana.
We have a big gun show running this weekend. My brother shared a
table, said the attendees were lined up a dozen deep to get in. A
sign of the times?
There was a guy from Dalton, Georgia set up not far from here at a
Eastman Gun show selling coins. It didn't look like he was doing to
bad. He had about 10 or so people standing round the table right as I
was leaving.
> We have a big gun show running this weekend. My brother shared a
> table, said the attendees were lined up a dozen deep to get in. A
> sign of the times?
At the local flea market out at the State Fairgrounds, crowds were
pretty good. Coins and knives were selling very briskly today
(2/15/2009).
It takes no prompting by me to get people started talking about the
TARP and the "Stimulus" bill. People are hot and getting hotter. The
responsible people know that they are not going to get any help, and
the irresponsible people know that they are not going to get any help
either.
Many people would like to see Mr. Obama make some headway, but they
are not optimistic.
Lots of people also talk about the two big time tax evaders, Mr.
Geithner and Mr. Daschle. They get people absolutely furious. People
feel that both should be indicted for tax evasion. The feelings are
that any common citizen who did what they did, in such an obvious and
intentional manner, would be in prison for some time.
Americans' complacency has been remarkable to this date, but it seems
to be changing. I am known as a coin collectors to many of the flea
market regulars and today I had half a dozen people tell me
(unsolicited) that we will be using 90% silver coins and silver eagles
for barter/ spending money very soon.
oly
Why? Why not use up those pesky FRNs first?
People of all stripes take advantage of such events to vent their
frustrations. There was a constant angry din at the STL show as well. Such
people can always be counted upon to be problem finders, but very few can be
counted upon to be problem solvers. It becomes a can-you-top-this contest
of gloom and doom scenario. Such activity is actually a relatively healthy
way to deal with life's problems, and it occurs even in good times.
You see only two "tax evaders"? They are like cockroaches, in that for
every one we see by daylight, there are 100 lurking in the dark. We seem to
be treated to almost daily revelations of politicians' "weaknesses",
whatever they might be. We haven't seen anything yet - wait until
Blagojevich starts feeling the screws tightening on him. There's no
question in my mind that he knows a lot of "interesting" stuff about an
awful lot of people, and will use it to soften the pavement on his own path.
I hope he brings down a bunch of them, and I don't particularly care what
party any of them belong to. This might actually be the fulfillment of his
erstwhile campaign promise to clean up Illinois government. The sad thing
is that it will only affect 2% of the States.
James
Because the trust in the system is getting very frayed.
On the other hand, much like in the theatre play "Peter Pan", you
gotta believe in old Tinkerbell when she's dying (or else the show
doesn't go on).
Yes, we will use those FRNs for a bit longer, no doubt.
oly
I heard somebody else put it succinctly "What are the chances that
Obama had the bad luck to choose the only two tax evaders in the
entire Congress/ Banking/ Lobbyist clusterf++k??? Not likely.
oly
I really hate to have to agree so wholeheartedly, but, damn my eyes, I have
to agree wholeheartedly.
James
Huh?
I know there were more than a hand full of articles posted here at rcc
last year talking about Russians, Asians, and a few other
nationalities coming to the states to attend coin shows to buy gold,
silver, and platinum.