For most gardeners and homesteaders, weeds are the bane of our existence. Not for me. I absolutely LOVE weeds.
I will admit, I used to HATE them. Then I decided that $3.50 per day for a bale of hay for billies separated from the herd (to prevent unwanted and untimely breeding) for 90 days or so could be improved upon. I had to cut the weeds anyway. Now I do it for about 10 minutes per day, load them all into a large trash can and dump the proceeds in the goat stall on top of the hay feeder. Now, MAYBE I go through 1 bale of hay per week... maybe even 10 days... and the goats are the equivalent of "grass fed" for those not going back to the herd (if you catch my drift).
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My bet is that trade will collapse between the U.S. and China and that that will be the vehicle that brings international monetary imbalances BACK into balance.
More soon...
13 comments:
A side effect of higher oil prices is that it encourages sale of US securities to raise dollars to buy oil. This tends to push interest rates up. Too much to fast could cause real price inflation and lower the value of the dollar.
Here is a question. When you look up external debt, every country has some. I've got to assume that it is gross debt, and not net. Is that true? The US is supposed to have an external debt of about $13B. Is that net? If not, what is the net debt? Also, the external debt of most of the EU countries is much higher than the US's on both a per capita and percentage of GDP basis.
Regards,
Coal Guy
.... Well, all I can contribute is Japan has about 90% of their government debt funded internally thru Japanese savings. However, with the Japanese citizenry rapidly aging, and the 25-35 year olds getting paid nowhere near what the old folks got paid, Japan is going to have to find money to borrow overseas pretty soon, and that means their <1% interest rates can't last. They will be looking for more money to borrow externally at the same time the U.S. will be doing the same thing. Ick!
This is for bur. After I read his comment, I came across this.
Greg,
I am sure you do this,but, keep an eye one the weeds some can be deadly to livestock.
Related to the last post; lawyers were in the top three professions to take the biggest hit in this downturn,followed by CPAs and landscapers here in Raleigh.
Bob
peace
Weeds; One exception is purslane (weed)the most nutrional plant on Earth. Full of a lot of vits. and omega 3s,and used the world over EXCEPT here. Go figure,AND it grows wildly ( popular ) in your garden.
Bob
Jeff,
Good link, I like charles hugh smith. He always has a good post.
Yep, one of three dozen websites I check almost every day. But the facts on Japan were known years before that post. But it was great timing. ;)
I note from your link that China dumped $30 billion of US Treasuries in one month alone! Presumably a chunk of that went into Euros and Pounds. No wonder the dollar is down.
This is the latest in a long series of statements and opinions from China; the good side is it means China revaluing its currency compared to the RotW, the bad news is the US $ is f*cked!
CoalMan; oil is only really going up for you guys because the dollar is falling. Imagine the dollar price for oil if Asian currencies are setting the price and market!
As the Mad Scientist and Mish have pointed out in the past...
Chinese, Japanese... Martian.... buying of Treasuries is merely the other side of the trade - literally.
If the U.S. runs a trade deficit someone else MUST RUN an equal and opposite trade surplus and MUST hold dollars OR Treasuries. If China dumps Treasuries in exchange for Martian Albuniniumiver then the Martians will beholding the Treasuries... no net effect to the U.S.
WHat WILL stop China from buying our bonds is when the Chinese decide to stop selling us stuff on credit.... which is why I believe that this issue will be settled by collapse in trade.
Now... if I only knew when...
Of course, there is more to this... will that event be inflationary, deflationary.... It is MY sense (and only my sense) that this would happen contemporaneously with the decline in U.S. Oil imports... and THAT depends on Iraq and S.A.
Coal Guy:
I will have to research the definitions.... and for each siting those definitions can change.
Hey Greg
Off topic for this post but related to the post you did a while back. Did you look at the results for the Missouri Prop C vote today?
Basically every county in Mo. except the two large urban ones (KC and STL) voted against Obama-Care. Even ultra progressive Springfield area and Boone (UMC county) were against it, well against the mandate and small penalty part.
Prime example of the Sectionalism discussed a month or so ago here.
Greg, you're right of course, someone has to buy those Treasuries. But now they have to buy the Treasuries issued by the US gov't AND the $30bn sold by the Chinese.
i was trying to remember where I read an article (months ago) which suggested that if the dollar wasn't the reserve currency, it would be 40% lower value than it is now. Perhaps that is the path you're on.
A preliminary report shows that China has surpassed the US in energy consumption.
http://www.green-energy-planet.com/has-china-surpassed-the-us-in-energy-consumption
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