Boat Value

[Ex-Calif]

In regards to used foreign built boats.

If the dollar continues to slide, new foreign boats will cost more. A person looking at a particular model may find a used boat more financially attractive. Attractive used boats should go up in dollar terms even though no currency exchange is going on.

Expensive foreign products is a medicine we need to take. Actually we need to stop buying so many foreign products.

A company that is fast on it's feet would get ready to build a good line of boats in the US. Expensive foreign products will help make US labor competitive for domestic consumption and perhaps for foreign consumption.

This just absolutely has to happen and in my humble opinion Americans should supoprt it it fully. If that means you can't get a 50 foot boat and have to "settle" for a 40 foot boat then great. It would be even better if you bought a US made boat.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by swabbmob

TaoJones,
I may be off base, but your response may only be valid when considereing exchanging currencies to purchase an item. You comment, though sounded more like the impact of inflation, which we have not experienced in the US.

HaHaHaHa . . . good one, swabmob . . . HaHaHaHaHa . . . Please!! Stop!! You're killing me!! . . . HaHaHaHaHaHa . . .

TaoJones

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Got any good stock tips?

Just one. Don't ever listen when someone gives you a stock tip.

TaoJones

[swabbmob]

Tao - guess I missed the joke.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Just one. Don't ever listen when someone gives you a stock tip.

TaoJones

Gotcha!!!!

But the best one I have ever gotten is. Buy low, Sell high.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Therapy

And I know no one I can trust. <edit> and here I am on the internet!!!

This calls to mind the funniest line I've read on Cruisers Forum. It's from David Old Jersey:

"If you can't trust a complete stranger on the internet, who can you trust."

Still brings a smile to my face.

TaoJones

[Therapy]

We are all honest.
At least I am.

[delmarrey]

quote: "We are all honest.
At least I am."

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by swabbmob

TaoJones,
I may be off base, but your response may only be valid when considereing exchanging currencies to purchase an item. You comment, though sounded more like the impact of inflation, which we have not experienced in the US.

Unfortunately I believe the joke is really on all of us. Our USA government officials tell us that inflation is under 3%. The reality is that they stopped counting any item which is above their target inflation number. Energy, housing, food are not in the official inflation 'numbers' hence they can manufacture 3% annual inflation numbers. The real inflation number is considerably higher.

I believe most folks are aware of this since we all have to shop for groceries, buy gasoline...etc. Like I said, the jokes on all of us.

Incidently, I could sell my European Cat today for more than I paid for her. The problem is that there simply isn't an American equivalent.

I'll keep my boat

[seafox]

Even at 3% inflation an asset halves in value every 24 years.

So buy a 50 footer and you will still have a 25 footer in 2031

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by rickm505

Unfortunately I believe the joke is really on all of us. Our USA government officials tell us that inflation is under 3%. The reality is that they stopped counting any item which is above their target inflation number. Energy, housing, food are not in the official inflation 'numbers' hence they can manufacture 3% annual inflation numbers. The real inflation number is considerably higher...

The so-called "core" rate of inflation excludes volatile components like: fruit, vegetables, gasoline, natural gas, fuel oil, tobacco, inter-city transportation, and mortgage interest costs.

Originally Posted by seafox

Even at 3% inflation an asset halves in value every 24 years.
So buy a 50 footer and you will still have a 25 footer in 2031

The Inflation Calculator uses monthly consumer price index (CPI) data from 1914 to the present to show changes in the cost of a fixed "basket" of consumer purchases. These include food, shelter, furniture, clothing, transportation, and recreation.
The calculator's results are based on the most recent month for which the Canadian CPI data are available. This will normally be about two months prior to the current month.

Goto: Inflation Calculator- Other- Rates and Statistics- Bank of Canada

Rick’s “Official” inflation (Core) in Blue, vs his “Real” inflation number (CPI in Red.

[Tropic Cat]

Graphs illustrate the inflation rate pretty accurately. I believe the real measure is the pain we all feel when shopping. As a young man in the late '60's I could support a young family on $200 a week. Would anyone venture a guess on what that figure would be today? Compare that to the official core CPI charts and like me, you'll be scratching your head as reality doesn't match the offical numbers.

The disconnect happened during the Clinton administration. In 1996 in response to controlling Cost of Living Adjustments to Social Security (COLA), a new way of measuring inflation was concocted. Here is a graph which illustrates the disconnect.



I pulled the graph from this article.

The core rate:

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by rickm505

... As a young man in the late '60's I could support a young family on $200 a week. Would anyone venture a guess on what that figure would be today? ...

Rick: You would have been truly affluent, earning $200/Week in the late 60's.
As an apprentice electrician, I cleared $52/week in 1968 (about $70 gross).

A US Senator earned $30,000/annum or $577/week in ‘68 (vs $162,500 in ‘06)
1968 New York Yankees Salaries
Mickey Mantle $100,000.00
John Wyatt $38,000.00
Steve Barber $37,500.00
Lindy McDaniel $35,000.00
Ruben Amaro $25,000.00
Dooley Womack $22,500.00
Steve Whitaker $15,000.00
Gene Michael $13,000.00
Andy Kosco $12,000.00
Bobby Cox $10,000.00*
* The Major League minimum salary was increased from $6,000 to $10,000 for 1968 and 1969.

[Tropic Cat]

Quite possibly . But that's another story.

Yet inflation "is what it is" and your numbers don't illustrate the point as sports figures have little to do with the working man. Try it again with real occupations and you'll see what I mean. I used

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

and their salary numbers for "Professional specialty and technical occupations" for all of the USA increased annually 3.5% from 1997 to 2005. This increase is 1/2 what the inflation rate was.

So, using the BLS numbers... that is the US governments very own numbers, we come up way short of the actual increase in every day living expenses.

What does this have to do with boat prices?

[TaoJones]

In Economics, "inflation" means one thing only - it is the increase in the supply of money and credit. The Federal Reserve Board in the US knows exactly what the rate of inflation is, because the Fed controls the supply of money and credit.

What the common man calls "inflation" is an increase in the prices of goods and services. This is not inflation, as defined in Economics; it is merely a symptom of an increase in the supply of money and credit by the Federal Reserve Board of Inflation beyond what is necessary to meet the requirements of an expanding economy.

The entire sleight-of-hand of the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculations of "inflation" are designed to cover the Fed's tracks. People can't be fooled for long when prices are rising on everything, constantly. But the blow can be dampened somewhat if an "official rate of inflation" is disseminated by the mainstream media.

In the most recent quarter, it was reported that the GDP increased by 3.9%. Leaving aside that that is an annualized rate (so, should be divided by four), here's how that number came to be:

The government takes the reported nominal GDP increase (4.7% for Q3'07), then subtracts a number it claims was the rate of inflation for the quarter. The deflator used to arrive at 3rd quarter growth was .8% (8/10ths of 1%). This astonishing number would be the lowest rate of inflation since the Eisenhower administration!

And coming in a quarter when the free-world's credit markets seized up, and the Fed pumped money and credit into the system at Weimar Republic rates, the .8% is truly laughable. It served the government's purpose, however.

The un-questioning media dutifully reported the "good news" that the GDP grew by 3.9%, fully .5% over-and-above the consensus estimates before the "official" number's release.

Oh, sure, there will be an official revision in a few months, but no one will notice. Americans, and the American media, live in the moment.

For an informative article on this, go to:

They Have Got To Be Kidding

TaoJones