Posted on 10/17/2010 10:50:32 AM PDT by george76
Cotton prices touched their highest level since Reconstruction on Friday, as a string of bad harvests and demand from China spark worries of a global shortfall.
The sudden surge in pricescotton has risen as much as 56% in three monthshas alarmed manufacturers and retailers, who worry they may be forced to pass on higher costs to recession-weary consumers.
The December cotton contract hit $1.1980 a pound minutes after the opening of trading on the IntercontinentalExchange on Friday. It is officially the highest price since records began back in 1870 with the creation of the New York Cotton Exchange.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Railroads had expanded too rapidly after the Civil War -- due in part to government practices making risky ventures seem like a good idea. Vast amounts of capital became tied up in vehicles which were not likely to show a profit for a long time. Parallels to our housing crisis should be obvious.
In addition, coinage legislation related to gold and silver damaged the money supply and ushered in an era of deflation. Agriculture and mining interests took a hit.
Jay Cooke's bank went under and started a chain reaction of failed banks. In Britain the panic began a period called the "Long Depression" which lasted 20 years and basically ended Britain's global dominance (WWI eventually put the final nail in British dominance).
Much of what we see today is a repetition of what has come before. Japan is often held up as a recent example of a long depression and a fall from economic power. It's a good example, but not the only one.
Well said.
The federal money printing will have several negative impact for decades to come.
The government says there’s no inflation, but prices are going up every day. Now the price of jeans and t-shirts may go up. Big deal. What bothers me is all the city boys crying about the poor, stupid, undeserving cotton farmers finally making a profit. Boo-hoo.
The government lies
Do we really understand what we're dealing with? Are we experiencing Deflation? Are we experiencing Inflation? I don't think the experts can make up their minds -- which is a scary thing all by itself.
“Can’t we print some more Kennedy Dollars (US notes), in this case , I wouldn’t mind the consequences.)”
US Notes have nothing to do with Kennedy. US Notes are/were the fiat Greenback Issue of the Lincoln administration issued to finance the Civil War (They generated pure inflation and resulted in the suspension of the gold standard for many years).
US Notes continued to be issued as a distinct currency series until the rival Silver Certificate was abolished in 1964. After that US Notes were absorbed into the Federal Reserve Note issue, there being no difference in the two.
You actually are getting your wish for “printing more US Notes”. That is exactly what the Fed has been doing with Quantitative Easing, flooding the money supply with excess reserves. The consequences are the inflation you are seeing in food, energy, and commodities. If large dollar holders lose faith in the future value of their dollar holdings we may be subjected to something much worse than what we are now experiencing. The gold price is telling us how people are betting on the future of the dollar.
” Are we experiencing Deflation? Are we experiencing Inflation?”
Eric Janszen of iTulip says we are experiencing both. That the larger economy should be seen as two economies, something along the lines of the productive economy and the finance economy. The productive economy of fuel and goods is experiencing inflation, the finance economy of mortgages and investment is experiencing deflation. Over the last three or four decades the finance economy had come to dominate the larger economy bringing along a series of asset bubbles. That is coming to an end and we are going through a painful restructuring of the larger economy that is going to bring about a lower standard of living in America.
How 'bout we make the silver Kennedy Half Dollars coins?
They'd be like a $10 dollar bill now, eh?
I miss the "ping" sound our coinage made when you flicked it in the air (when it was silver).
Right down the road from me less than half a mile away there sits about forty or so of these cotton modules. Each one weighs about 10 metric tons, which is equal to 22,000 pounds. 22,000 times $1.198= $26,000+ each!!!!!
That's a LOT of high cotton!
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Ping me if the North crosses an inch of the Mason-Dixon.
Thanx!
“Ping me if the North crosses an inch of the Mason-Dixon.”
ROFLMAO! :)
Price one of those machines and $26,000 won’t seem like so much.
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