I saw this Dilbert cartoon and thought, hey, that’s the economist I‘ve been listening to:
In our family’s fantasy stock-picking game, I cynically chose an “Armageddon-is-coming” mix of stocks: guns, ammo, aerospace defense, gold, Russian gas and oil, and a nice chunk of cash to grab for when the banks completely collapse.
To my surprise, I’m actually winning the game at this point: all my choices are doing great, at least in comparison to Neil’s technology-oriented stocks, Peter’s follow-the-financial-rumors picks, or just keeping it in cash. I’m not sure whether to be happy about it, though!
In a vaguely-related topic, yesterday I went to OSH to buy a few things for my garden. It was an ideal time to go, because they were doing their occassional “we pay your sales tax” sale. Normally, things are a little busier than usual during this special event, but this Saturday, it was massive. There wasn’t a shopping cart to be had, and many shelves were cleared out. I considered myself lucky to be able to find most of what I wanted. Meanwhile, other people had their carts loaded, and were going back for more. Clearly, it’s a sign consumers aren’t thrilled with the recent sales tax increase to 9.25%.