Monday, April 12, 2010

Market forces are aligning against me...

I spend a fair chunk of my cash on things made out of copper, lead, nickel, and zinc, and prices on copper, lead, nickel, and zinc are back up and predicted to trend higher.

Or, more accurately, the dollar is getting weaker against things of real value again.

As the guy on the Titanic said: "Look! The sea level is rising!"

16 comments:

Drang said...

"Ammo shortage? What ammo shortage?"

Keads said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Keads said...

My mother, bless her heart has camped out at Wal-Mart and finally scored 500 rounds of Winchester round ball .45ACP. 18 bucks for 50.

I also get some joy in that someone perhaps thinks twice of ripping her off in the parking lot after hearing her ask for ".45 caliber ACP round ball and the same in .380" LOL!

I thought you were going to fire the press back up?

Unknown said...

Reload? Have you seen the price of components? Egad! Bulk bullets cost twice their weight in nickels. But then, that will also soon be true for nickels.

Keads said...

@Hypnagogue,

LOL on the nickels! I did the math and my cost is about 6 bucks and some change for 50 pistol cartridges (used brass), regardless of caliber.

Gewehr98 said...

sounds like another thing to hoard.

BTW, check PMs at TFL. Your other big chunk o' steel and gold is ready to ship...

Keads said...

Oh, I do love it that people shipping bullets are using the USPS flat rate boxes!

Firehand said...

At the big Tulsa gun show this past weekend, there's a big components dealer that's always there. Two weeks ago they were at a show here in OKC, and had lots of empty bins, bullets & cases both, and were seriously worried about what they might get in by Tulsa. Answer turned out to be 'not much'. Still lots of empty bins.

Anonymous said...

Well, supply/demand and all that.

But what's manipulating those "market forces"?

Precious metals always trend higher when there's unrest and instability in the world...$1100 gold and $18 silver is a function of that and that weak dollar you mentioned. And that's certainly understandable; filling the demand for gold and silver coins and bars is what I do every day, and the people doing the buying are not (exclusively) wooks.

But when the term "precious metals" is expanded to include the makin's of the tools of defense and/or anarchy?

That's a whole 'nother kind of market forces; what *that's* a function of is anybody's guess. Or not..."expected to trend higher"? Well, that doesn't take an advanced degree in the economics of commodities, does it?

wv: psycha...heh.

Al Terego

Mike S said...

It's too bad your money isn't made out of copper, nickel, or any other precious metal.

Tam said...

But it's backed by the full faith and credit of a bunch of incompetent boobs I wouldn't trust with a burnt-out match!

Anonymous said...

Crap; my last sentence disappeared:

Well, that doesn't take an advanced degree in the economics of commodities, does it? Economics of communism, maybe...

AT

atlharp said...

This is why you get a scrap bucket filled with split cases and other useless brass ornaments that tend linger. A 5 gallon bucket of scrap brass can fetch around a $100. Not a fortune, but definitely enough to buy some powder and primers.

Joanna said...

Can't afford lead. I'ma focus on stocking up on flour and sugar and baking soda, and we'll see how we feel after that.

Anonymous said...

The trouble with being Ameri-centric is that folks don't pay attention to what's going on in the rest of the world. Emerging markets are growing, and there is a high demand for commodities of all sorts.

Expansion of electric service in China and India means an increased demand for copper. Increased demand drives prices upwards.

Shrug. This has been going on for years. I don't know why anybody is surprised.

Maybe folks should have been buying stocks in the various profitable commodities suppliers, and let the profits offset the increases in ammmo prices...

Art

Mattexian said...

So that bucket o' lead wheel weights I've been picking up in parking lots and from roadsides is actually worth something now?

WV: gliteriz- all that gliteriz is metals!