What has happened to OSB?

[Swingman]

LOL ... You're welcome, Greg. I am glad you could use them.

[Charlie Self]

Some of the following may be my reading habits, which tend strongly away from economics and finance. Until a week or so ago, I'd never seen a mention about the pace of inflation in earlier eras...then someone, somewhere popped a short article on inflation being almost unknown before 1940 or so.

Amazing, these modern inventions.

Charlie Self

"In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains." Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Charlie Self]

Renata notes:

Unemployment, though, didn't drop in the new applications for unemployment. Not only didn't the expected drop show up, but the rise was considerable.

I love unemployment stats: depending on the state, coverage stops at 26 or 39 or some similar number of weeks, at which point the person unemployed is no longer counted as unemployed.

Charlie Self

"In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains." Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Michael Daly]

Said article must have been written by someone with absolutely no knowledge of economic history.

Mike

[Murray Peterson]

[e-mail] (Charlie Self) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Not all that modern -- Europe suffered from serious inflation in the 17th century:

[Charlie Self]

What the hell. We're always asking for recycling. It would be nice if today's inflation slowed down for a similar period of time.

Charlie Self

"In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains." Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Eric Tonks]

What most Americans have not noticed unless they are involved in import/export or currencies, is that the US Dollar has lost a lot of its value - over 20% compared to the Canadian Dollar and more against the Euro.

While much of the merchandise in the stores is imported or based on an International price (such as OSB) your purchasing power has dropped. Everything is going to cost more.

Yes, the law of supply and demand comes into play, but it is the International Law of Supply and Demand. The massive costs of Iraq have drained the US economy and lowered the purchasing power of the US Dollar.

[Murray Peterson]

[e-mail] (Charlie Self) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Europe (or the world) hasn't been inflation free for all that time. Inflation is just the result of too much money chasing after too few goods/services, and one historical cause of too much money is a war. During a war, a government spends far more money than the economy can support, with the resulting inflation in prices.

In terms of an individual commodity, there can be many reasons why its prices have skyrocketed. In the case of OSB, perhaps the US tariff on imported Canadian softwood is partly responsible?

[Doug Winterburn]

And yet, the number of people employed as reported by the BLS has risen by over a million in the last two months. Maybe the labor pool is expanding and the number of new employees relative to the number of new jobless claims means the percentage of unemployeed has dropped.

-Doug

[Charlie Self]

Maybe some of those who were dropped from the unemployed lists are getting jobs, now. Maybe. I'll believe it when I see it.

My point is that the figures are manipulated continuously. This is not a critique aimed at the Republicans because it is bipartisan, with the figures getting twisted the same way in each administration.

Until the people attending the figures stop doing things like dropping people from two lists when they are only finished with one, I'll have a hard time believing the figures.

Besides, I was raised when 4% unemployment--essentially using the same methods--was considered full employment. IIRC, today's figures are barely under

6%, yet all the hot shots are ecstatic about "full" employment. We almost might want to take a look at the WalMartization of the employee. This converts the low end of the pay scale from the 8 or so bucks an hour a Kroger grocery worker might make, with benefits, to the $5.30 an hour, without benefits, the employee gets at Walmart when Walmart runs Kroger out of town.

Charlie Self

"In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains." Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Ron Magen]

Who was it that said, "There are lies, Damn lies, and statistics."

Regards, Ron Magen Backyard Boatshop {who found OSB prices going up BEFORE the Iraq 'situation'. }

SNIP

[Ron Magen]

'Listen' to the *fine print*. Somewhere after the opening lines they usually state in what specific areas/job groups the increases occurred. Usually it is in the 'Service Industries'. Can you say, "Would you like fries with that?"

Regards and Good Luck, R>

unemployment. Not

[Doug Winterburn]

4% unemployment may have been considered full employment, but it sure wasn't the norm during your or my working lifetime:

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat1.txt

-Doug

[Charlie Self]

Doug Winterburn responds:

It did get there, though, and no modern years go there. I started working in

1950, delivering telephone books (otherwise known as my father drove me around with the backseat of the car full of phone books and a hand cart, which I got, IIRC, 3 cents each for delivering...got an extra penny if I picked up the old books, too). The next 3 years were well below 4%, then it bumped above. The point being, it was up and down until some time in the late '50s, then dropped back down in the mid-60s and hung in there for a few years.

It was, I think, an ideal that was aimed at, while today we aimed at 5.9%, which is going to look pretty damned rosy to us in another 10-15 years.

It hasn't been that long since I heard a lot of yuppies in computers and similar arenas sneering at kids who took jobs figuratively or literally "flipping burgers." Shortly, if not already, a bunch of them would be happy to get on at the local Burger King.

Charlie Self

"In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains." Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Mark]

Sam Clemens/ Mark Twain.

And I believe he stole it.

[Mark]

But does ant of this really matter as Haliburton is doing well.

[Doug Winterburn]

From what I have been reading and seeing on the news, the current administration isn't at all satisfied with 5.9% unemployment and is attempting to reduce the unemployment rate. The facts are that the average US unemployment rate in the last half of the 20th century was 5.7%

computers and

The demographics don't bear that out. Minimum and below wage earners are primarily young, unmarried and uneducated, and other than anecdotal information, I wouldn't expect that to change:

course, there are always those who would like to blame someone else for their situation rather than trying to improve that situation. It ain't always easy, but it is always doable (this through experience which I know you have an abundance).

-Doug

[Slowhand]

I ran into a similiar problem on a remodel. The client wanted osb behind the sheetrock so he would have meat to screw displays to. Thinking osb would be a good buy, I (without checking prices) quoted him a price based on $7/sheet. Imagine my horror when I actually went to pick the osb up at the lumber yard - $26/sheet. CDX was $28/sheet! I quickly decided another approach would be taken. I calmly asked the attendant how much their cheapest 1/2" plywood was. They told me that shop grade was running a cool $13/sheet. I needed only 5 sheets so I bit the bullet. When I went back to load it up, the first 20 something sheets were an AC reject for shop price. I loaded it all plus the 5 sheets of actuall shop grade and kindly payed the attendent. So it's somewhat of a gloat I guess. Sorry for the long story. SH

[Rob Stokes]

Hmmm, steak is cheap up here (Canada)

Ranchers are selling it to "hunters" for $0.25/lb on the hoof.....

Rob

[Silvan]

What the hell, make'em into Soylent Green.