Showing posts with label zimbabwe ben. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zimbabwe ben. Show all posts
4.08.2013
3.26.2013
From beggar-thy-neighbor to bugger-thy-saver
Bill McBride at Calculated Risk agrees with Zimbabwe Ben when he says that today's money-printing orgy isn't a case of "beggar-thy-neighbor."
Zimbabwe Ben:
We have been using the phrase "global competitive devaluation" here for years, but McBride and Zimbabwe Ben have a point. There's nothing "competitive" in this clubby cabal of money-printing central bankers. They are all printing and devaluing their currencies relative to real assets, but currencies are being devalued at generally similar rates so no one central bank is trying to get way ahead of the others and "beggar-thy-neighbor." It's global co-ordinated devaluation, and the victim is not a trading partner nation but anyone anywhere who has saved money and is now earning 0% while the value of his currency falls.
Welcome to "bugger-thy-saver."
Zimbabwe Ben:
Indeed, the decline in the value of the pound after 1931 was associated with a relatively early recovery from the Depression by the United Kingdom, in part because of some rebound in exports. However, according to this view, the gains to the depreciating country were equaled or exceeded by the losses to its trading partners, which became less internationally competitive--hence, "beggar thy neighbor."The idea behind beggar-thy-neighbor is that by devaluing your currency, you make exports cheap and imports expensive, and steal manufacturing jobs from your trading partners.
We have been using the phrase "global competitive devaluation" here for years, but McBride and Zimbabwe Ben have a point. There's nothing "competitive" in this clubby cabal of money-printing central bankers. They are all printing and devaluing their currencies relative to real assets, but currencies are being devalued at generally similar rates so no one central bank is trying to get way ahead of the others and "beggar-thy-neighbor." It's global co-ordinated devaluation, and the victim is not a trading partner nation but anyone anywhere who has saved money and is now earning 0% while the value of his currency falls.
Welcome to "bugger-thy-saver."
2.10.2013
Zimbabwe Ben comes for your liquor
We've pointed out the package shrinkery trick that food sellers have used to hide price inflation, but this is ridiculous.
Maker's Mark watering down its bourbon by 6.7%.
That's amazing for a premium brand like Maker's Mark to feel the need to reduce quality. They must believe consumers have hit their limit on what they can pay for a bottle of bourbon, so price increases are out of the question. Meanwhile, grain, energy, and labor inputs aren't getting any cheaper.
May Zimbabwe Ben be forever remembered as the face of New Maker's Mark just as Bill Cosby was the face of New Coke.
UPDATE: Maker's Mark backtracks faster than New Coke.
Maker's Mark watering down its bourbon by 6.7%.
That's amazing for a premium brand like Maker's Mark to feel the need to reduce quality. They must believe consumers have hit their limit on what they can pay for a bottle of bourbon, so price increases are out of the question. Meanwhile, grain, energy, and labor inputs aren't getting any cheaper.
May Zimbabwe Ben be forever remembered as the face of New Maker's Mark just as Bill Cosby was the face of New Coke.
UPDATE: Maker's Mark backtracks faster than New Coke.
11.23.2012
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