Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
There’s nothing like a nice cup of reality first thing on Monday morning.
If you’ve been a reader for any length of time, you know one of the things I periodically do is scan headlines for phrases like “record high” or “all time high”.
The results can often given an interesting big picture perspective of what’s happening in the world.
1) President Obama’s disapproval rating hits a record HIGH of 59 per cent
No surprise here, especially given the latest crash of the Obamacare website this weekend, just before the signup deadline.
2) “Frozen” enters the record books as highest-grossing animated film of all time
This weekend, Toy Story 3 was eclipsed by Frozen as the top grossing animated movie of all time.
2010′s Toy Story 3 had $1.063 billion in total revenue. Frozen just hit $1.072 billion.
Curiously, the average movie ticket price in the Land of the Free was $7.89 in 2010 according to NATO (no, not that NATO. This is the ‘National Association of Theater Owners.)
Today it’s $8.38. This obviously has had an impact. And it doesn’t even account for the rapid inflation in movie ticket prices outside of the United States, which is even more critical given that nearly 2/3 of movie revenue comes from outside the US.
3) Property Tax Revenue Reaches a Record High
Great news– in the Land of the Free, state and local governments are taking more of your money than ever before. This is, of course, in addition to tax increases at the federal level.
4) Corporate Profits Hit A New Record High Last Year
Wages are stagnating. Median household income levels are well below where they were in 1996 when adjusted for inflation. But corporate profits are at a record high.
If you’ve ever wondered where all that money goes that is printed by the central bank, now you have at least a partial answer.
5) S&P 500 falters after nearing record high
The US stock market ended February at a record high and has continually flirted with new record territory throughout the month of March. Now you have another part of the answer to the question above– ‘where does all that printed money go?’
6) French Unemployment At Record High
As it turns out, raising taxes, overregulation of everything, and chasing away your most productive citizens is NOT the path to prosperity. What a shocker.
7) Pricier beef ‘here to stay’ as food costs seen higher: USDA
Beef prices are at/near their all-time high. Not that there’s any inflation. Blame the weather.
8) RMB enjoys record-high activity on global markets in February
The use of the renminbi in worldwide financial transactions as tracked by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) has increased to a record amount. And it’s growing.
The renminbi has already overtaken the Hong Kong dollar, Singapore dollar, and Swiss Franc in terms of its percentage of worldwide financial activity.
And while it’s still embryonic, compared to the dollar, the rise of the renminbi as a potential reserve currency is a trend that cannot be ignored.
Beef isn’t costlier, but the number of culls has dropped dramatically leaving the market bereft of “cheap” beef. High quality grass fed beef has always been about 50% higher than supermarket quality because it takes a minimum of two years to raise an animal to slaughter weight. The boxes of burgers you can buy at BJ’s aren’t beef animals, they’re old, worn out dairy animals, or used up breeding stock or otherwise inferior animals that are of lower quality to begin with, referred to as cutters or canners. The droughts out west last year, followed by an especially harsh winter, coupled with rising grain prices mean that even stockyard beeves (grain finished animals that are generally used for commercial sales like restaurants or for steaks) have been thinned heavily. There was a glut on the market as these were all sold off to thin herds, followed by a subsequent shortage of breeders. There’s going to be a two year lag on production no matter what happens and even then the lowest end animals are going to be fetching higher prices so that top end beef is going to wind up about another 50% higher than it currently is today. Until enough higher quality breeders make it to maturity you can expect beef price hikes in the future.
can summon splain to me the difference tween yuan and renminbi?
RMB is the name of the currency – The People’s Money.
Yuan is the unit – the shirt costs 250 yuan.
It’s just bullshit.
Dutchman, thanks. So referring to renminbi is equivalent to the term federal reserve note…
juan is a Mexican here who posts as El Bugger Eater, El Burrito, El Coyote, El Grande Weener. renminbi is the cheap whore who services him from time to time.
Secons what hardscrabble said. Grain fed beef = fast to market. Takes a lot of grain per pound of beef, and if grain goes up (grain prices driven by demand world-wide, which is u up up as population rises), then prices go up.
I have previously said, beef prices will skyrocket. The opportunity cost is too high – beef is much less calorie efficient than grain, and demand for calories will rise, increasing price per calorie, increasing beef prices. Substantially.
Mr Scrabble Farmer….isn’t the use of corn to make ethanol part of the equation ( soaring grain prices ) ?
Thanks for the term Cutters and Canners….I’ll use it to refer to those in Congress…yah’ know…old worn out stock !
But dairy cows eat grass, not corn. i bought it because it was cheaper than yard-bird.
Grain eating feathered lizards at that.
#9) Government & politician hypocrisy
The renminbi is the official currency of the People’s Republic of China.
The name (simplified Chinese: 人民币; traditional Chinese: 人民幣; pinyin: rénmínbì) literally means “people’s currency”.
The yuan (元/圆) (sign: ¥) is the basic unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts. (The distinction between the terms “renminbi” and “yuan” is similar to that between sterling and pound, which respectively refer to the British currency and its primary unit.[3]).
One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiǎo (角), and a jiǎo in turn is subdivided into 10 fēn (分).