1.) Because my wife won't get within three feet of me.
2.) Because my pending stack at work keeps growing...
3.) Because the acid has killed most of my taste buds.
4.) Because I have an Intellectual History paper due tomorrow that I'm having a hard time writing.
5.) Because my joints hurt.
6.) Because I'm in the mood for pizza.
7.) Because I want to exercise.
8.) Because John McCain gave it to me, and only Barack Obama can guarantee that I'll never get it again (and he'll pay for my gas and mortgage).
9.) Because I don't like getting the chills.
10.) Dead Space.
OK, that last one was an inside joke. Anyway, I don't like this flu.
Consider the Pixies' Doolittle. I've been listening to this album compulsively since high school, and I don't see myself stopping anytime in the near future. If you need proof of Pixies' musical and lyrical worth, check out the attached vids with songs from Doolittle (btw, I'm not making any such positive assertions regarding the worth of their music videos - just listen to the music):
Monkey Gone to Heaven
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Here Comes Your Man
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Wave of Mutilation (the UK Surf version - the studio version is much faster and less surfy)
If this wasn't too irritating, I may just start throwing in more musical asides. Trust me, I have a lot of music to share.
I like the Pixies alright. Wave of Mutilation is a lot of fun on Rock Band! I wish you'd been in town at some point while I was there. I'll see you soon hopefully! I love you and Holly.
Some of you may be tempted to take your money out of the bank and convert it into gold in the face of the uncertainty which currently defines our economic condition. However, there are reasons why this is a fool's errand and a detriment to your condition:
1.) Banks need capital to operate. This does not just include the capital generated from personal and commercial accounts - this also includes the financial leverage that banks have through borrowing. I know that "leverage" is now a four-letter word, and that Ben Franklin seems to be cackling in his grave over the mortgage mess, but leverage still stands as an essential and currently utilized means of growing wealth. Part of what got us into this mess was the irresponsible use of leverage - borrowing $30 or more for every $1 in available assets. While such over-extension is dead (for now), the responsible use of leverage is not. So, when you withdraw $1,000 from the bank, you are depriving the bank of more than just $1,000. You could be depriving them of as much as $10,000 or $15,000 of potential leverage - leverage that is essential for growing wealth, which translates into jobs and commodities added to the market.
2.) There are no "runs on the bank" in the current recession. From the news that I have gathered, most people understand that the recession is a part of the business cycle that will eventually pass - unlike in 1929, when few understood the up-and-down cycling of the markets. While most people are apprehensive about the state of their wealth, they are not panicked - unlike what some Drudge headlines would make you believe. Thus, there is no general need to remove essential capital from the banking system, which would just make your situation worse (as per #1).
3.) If the economy completely collapses, your paper money won't be worth anything anyway. SO DON'T BECOME PARTY TO AN ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BY MAKING A RUN ON THE BANK
This leads us to #4...
4.) As for converting your wealth into gold: Gold protects your wealth from decline. Thus, you buy gold when times are good so that a portion of your assets are protected from economic downswings. Buying gold during a recession makes no sense, because the amount of protection that you have bought is minimal. Also, gold is similarly slow to react to upswings in the market - meaning that a gold investment made during a recession will not grow when the recession ends and the economy begins to ascend again.
5.) Due to the minimal benefit of converting wealth into gold during a recession (see #4), it is irresponsible to lock up your assets in a non-essential commodity. This is because each household's capacity for acquiring resources diminishes during a recession, making it necessary to use discretion in expending one's assets. In simpler terms, you should focus more on buying milk and bread than on buying gold.
I'm sure I'll get a lot of arguments against these reasons, but I remain confident in the temporary quality of economic recession, just as I am confident that this quality exists in material wealth.
That sounds pretty good to me! You should have heard Kathryn, Holly, and I discussing this last night. We tried our best to figure out what was going on, but in the end decided not to worry about it and let you men continue telling us what to do. Us discussing economics was like turtles discussing metaphysics.
Here's another interesting fact about gold: it has recently been losing value because investors have been forced to sell their gold to meet margin calls. Not even gold is immune to recession.
Well, actually the one point I would majorly disagree with on you, is the current state of the gold market. The reason that gold's price isn't being inflated is that other countries are actually selling off their gold standard in order to buy US dollars. The reasons for these purchases are complex, but in simple terms, though the dollar was weaker than other world currencies, that is no longer the case. Therefore, other countries are now seeking to get ahold of the dollar to buoy their own failing economies (cf. Iceland, Ireland, and Japan). This creates a false floor on the gold market currently, since there is a mass of gold entering the market, and yet it is still rising slightly--meaning that more gold is being bought STILL than being sold.
So, following this reasoning, gold remains to be a strong investment in ANY time because though it make not be an agressive investment, it always hold intrinsic value against all other world economies and has never lost its power. It also is a longer-lasting alternative than other "essential commodities" such as milk and bread.
Although it's obvious that there shouldn't be a run on banks currently, the pending question of Comercial Paper is what really concerns me. It seems that it may have far-reaching and devastating consequences if it's not sorted out properly. In which case, it doesn't matter if we keep our cash in banks or not, because unemployment will skyrocket and the recesion will then become a massive affair.
Since the recession started, gold hasn't been rising. The only point to buying gold right now is to protect oneself against a complete collapse. Even at that, you would have to find people post-collapse who would be willing to trade consumable commodities for gold, which would be unlikely for some time in such a state of turmoil. Also, gold has no "intrinsic value" - nothing does, and I don't just mean that philosophically. Economically, any good or service only has as much value as sellers and buyers are willing to agree upon. In a world without a standardized financial instrument, consumable commodities have a more readily definable "value" than precious standards such as gold BECAUSE YOU CAN'T EAT GOLD, although gold would be the first step in restablishing a monetary standard. This step, however, wouldn't come for years in a post-financial society that is, for the most part, bereft of gold. In other words, time would be needed for gold to circulate in the market before enough of civilization would begin using it as a monetary instrument.
Also, the point of investing in gold is to avoid the long-term effects of market change (namely inflation). While gold could potentially be useful (in the long-term) in the event of a collapse, it would not offer any significant protection for the short-term (which gives me my reasoning for the comment I made previously). The question then becomes, "Is this recession going to be long-term (i.e., a collapse) or short-term?" Let's remember a couple of things: (a) the economy hasn't even been dropping long enough for our current condition to be officially labeled a "recession" - it is only the suddenness of the drop that has cause such concern - and (b) even a single recession would be short enough that it is not to one's advantage to go off in a panic investing himself in the gold market. The only circumstance that would warrant acquiring gold would be imminent and complete collapse, and even then, that would only play to your advantage after a decade or so had passed. Considering that the economy has survived similar shocks in the past and that the majority of world governments are dependent upon the current financial system (and thus devoted to preserving it at any cost), I see little reason to convert any portion of my wealth into gold. Also, none of us plebes are capable of acquiring gold in the capacities needed to create any sort of long-term financial security (as Jonathan pointed out). Having said all of this, I would wait for the peak of a bull market to make any sort of gold investment.
Holly brought up a point that I hadn't thought of (I'm so proud that my wife is taking a business class!): with the current state of the market, buying a house would be a much wiser use of assets than buying gold. The "value" of housing has declined so much during this crisis that you can get a house for pennies on the dollar. If the market picks back up, then that house can be sold for a tidy profit; if it doesn't, then at least you have a place to live. Of course, this is all only if you can afford to pay for a house in full; none of us would be able to get a loan on a house right now.
Here are some interesting facts about me that you may not have known before:
1.) Until I was almost in middle school, we used an outhouse at the congregation where I attended (we kept the TP in a Ziploc container to keep the bugs and mice out).
2.) I frequently daydream about massive fantasy battles between an alliance of human nations and the nightmare artifact hordes of a quasi-deific gnomish emperor... and I include my own sound effects.
3.) I consistently forget my own birthday (except when she's there to remind me).
5.) Despite being completely out of shape, I can still put one foot behind my head (I think...)
6.) I have an eternal grudge against 100.7 KGMO for cutting off the end of "Stairway to Heaven" one day.
7.) I used to make a habit of walking in the out door and out the in door at Wal-Mart.
8.) My Magic: The Gathering collection comprises several thousand cards.
9.) My coming to FC was a fluke. My college plans changed drastically during my senior year of high school. At first, I wanted to attend the University of Illinois for a BS in Computer Science. Then, I decided that I was tired of school and turned down my acceptance to the U of I and a ton of grant and scholarship money. At first, I was just going to take a year off. Then, I decided that I wanted to join the USMC; this was the first time I ever saw my dad cry, and he convinced me not to join. Then, over the course of the summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college, Dr. and Mrs. Bingham made several visits in the Southern Illinois area (Mrs. Bingham is from Benton). Every time I saw them, they would repeatedly make strong hints that they wanted me to come to FC. I had heard a little about it from friends at Young Men's Leadership Camp, so I decided (two weeks before the start of the fall semester) that I would give it a try before moving on to the U of I. The rest, as they say, is history.
10.) My wife and I are pregnant with our first child.
I can't think of enough words to express my outrage at the terrible things that are being said publicly of Sarah Palin. First, there was the "lipstick on a pig" incident, which I can understand may have been a simple gaff on Obama's part. However, it's stuff like this that really sets me off:
How does someone justify producing and disseminating undignified trash like this?
Sarah Palin is scrupulous, which has so offended the unscrupulous that they cannot contain the dishonorable filth that they store up inside themselves. When the left can't find any dirt on Palin, they coin the term "Troopergate" to assign significance to an accusation which has none. When Palin announces that her unwed daughter is pregnant, they are visibly overjoyed to find sin among a family who stands against it.
I'm almost too outraged to piece this entry together.
the sad truth is that these are the same people who wouldn't have said a word about the evils of hilary clinton. this is also why i ignore the media a good portion of the time.
Oh. My. That...some of my favorite conservative commentators have been using phrase "Palin Derangement Syndrome;" I think it's an appropriate description. The virulent hatred the left has for the this women is beyond all reason.
