The Economy

[superman-prime]

Out here in az we are not as bad off as other areas exept housing,
our housing market is 2nd worse in the states (veges is worse)
prices are off 30% in a lot of areas and in some cases you can buy a new house for 80 k (whick is super cheep in the phx area) that same house would have been 200 k 3 years ago
gas is steady at 3 bones
milk and food is skyrocketing milk close to 4 and all the rest is up big chunks
the prime rate is down but, morgages went up ??? inflation is a killer

[mavros]

People are cashing out on their collection to pay the mortgage bill on a depreciating house, cover ever rising expenses from the rise in oil, etc. The rise in supply is leading to lower prices.

Where is the rise in supply? eBay's current crop of comics are about the same as they usually have. Averages for the category are running at standard for the last several years.

I'm not so sure that it's a rise in supply, then, but quite the opposite: a drop in buyers.

Then that's even scarier since there is a discount for non-US buyers, considering the current rate of exchange.

[superman-prime]

Ya the doller has taken a hit this year and late last, canadians down here in az love it

[RegalSin]

Well we all know what forced the economy to be like this. 1945 and the UN letting Zionist get there own State of the Jews. It could have been Tim buk tu or some other nation that would have been the "State OF The Jews".

Surrounding countries like Egypt ( who got part of there land taken over in the trasition ) did not like the fact America did not side with anybody so they jacked up the oil prices. Imagine at that moment a woman in a sunday dress ratling a machine gun away who was haorded into Israel after the WWII war was over in Europe.

The Oil prices caused the great depression that is blamed on credit. This in which the Raoring 20's ( 1930's or whatever ) and resulted with.

WWII bieng called a blessing. ( I know nothing about the 50's so can somebody please fill the gap ) Gangsters / beer Ban

The Space Age
The Anti Heritage Age Part I / Crack down on drugs
Looking to the past
It looks good.
It is good ( perfect )
Internet with the above
The Anti Heritage Age Part II ( which is where we are now )

The Anti American age is where there was much assinations and anti society themes. This ended with the idea of looking to the past which resulted in the current rap Generation that recently is taken hold.

Yes our world reached a level where a black man walking back and forth saying the N-word is cool and thus force guys to wear crummy clothing ( of course this is how I feel now and not before in the 90's or 80's where this was harmless ( again what I just said makes no sense ) )

Aside from this idea of harmless activities the world itself could not cared less and stayed the same. Into the late 20 century uptill now. The world was normal.

Now everybody is being like the English which is a sad thing ( take India being a pro 70's nation ( just look at the styles ) ) and even Japan having a growing amount of christians and non looking Japanese people. Even China wearing the crap they sew, Africa has cities no friggin way like ours and should not be.

The problem is the children is the only good thing about this age since they know nothing about the past in heart and more improtantly we can take advantage of them.........however some people do not understand that chidlren understand too well and will revolt in the simpliest of manor.

Violence and low level disobeidance. Right now the world is anybodys game and all it takes is a couple of dollars. Lastly the idea the world is econmic unhealthy ideals is a lie. The world is in fact healthy.

The real fault of this economic disaster streches not in our time but the time of our grand parents or even parents. WWII where Hitler was trying to revive Germany. If all the millionares ( or whatever at the time ) had given some of there dollars to help Germany everything would have been balanced but the world was so confused and could not care for Germany so Germany turned to ways that was unatural or Stone Agish ( Unlike the East the west feeds off technology ) and thuis caused WWII ( which is basically germany crying for help ).

So the question is how can we go back to lower prices and change our world back that will lead us into.

Looking to the past part II or the age that was anti everything will continue uptill somebody throws a pie in Bloombergs face. ( Note Bloomberg said
Kill it when he impregnated a employee ). This is the knd of moronic world we live in now. We can all thank

Zionists..............Nooooooo!!!!

The Black Hand. Who planned the assination of the Duke who was not a duke and caused the formation of Axis and Alies ( which is a completely dumb system to begin with the more you think about it. ).

Why does this not affect me???? Cause I don't keep my money in a bank.
I have no children. I save and don't spend period. No investment no nothing no how.

The Solution...... A couple of us is going to die out and free up the economy. WWIII ( this Middle Garbage ) . A couple of us is not going to get jobs. We are going to build a giant wall around the country and prevent people from leaving USA or any other coutnry like NK ( the Land of music ).

No really the cause of this is the selfishness of our parents who blindlessly spend and never want to invest. The world is so corrupted so much that
nobody cares.

I am just going to say it now......JEWS period caused this problem and if it is not them then it is cultures they belong to ( including Arab, and other middle Eastern based places. ) The problem has allways been them.

WHAT IS THE BIGGER PROBLEM. Not ever Jew is the fault of it. Like thje people we work with, get married to, have children with, and do business with.

The bigger problem is THERE IS FRIGGIN FUNDS THAT GOES TO OTHER COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE PLACE. I MEAN WTF MY MONEY GOING TO Palestiene TO FUND THERE CHILDREN TO GO TO COLLEGE FREE.

NO WAIT IT GETS BETTER... There is coutries that lives in tornado alley and everytime it gets destroyed they build back the place again. They get there money threw charities.

In fact on one of my job in the past a customer ( a well dress customer ) came up and said " do you even make any money hear we do charities "
NO REALLY IN THE RULE BOOKS YOU ONLY HAVE TO GIVE 10% and use the rest for yourself ( or is that the other way around ) . What the heck feed the poor, save the whatsa Who???? I mean it is all crap to be honest.

Stop funding charities unless you see the results. These so called needy people need to get on there feet and start living on there own. They do not need us to give anything to them.

It is the truth people. Wake up. Wake up and stop rolling around in your mounds of fat and look alive. There world is at world with a unseen foe and
nobody has a solution.

My solution is to buy a big island and import a bunch of girls and we restart humanity..


.................There so my views on this so called fake econmy break down.

STOP DRINKING BEER PEOPLE IT GOES DOWN THE TOILET AND IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU NO WAY NO HOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grow your own foods, wash clothing with your hand, pitch tent, catch water, hunt squerrels.

When I build my house it will be a fenced off piece of land, a tent, and a small living area with a toilet and big basement.

[TKWill]

[Smashey]

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

If you side against Israel, you will lose.

There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Those who side against Israel....ever since Israel first came to be...have lost.

Sorry, Muslims who hate Israel.

<shrug>

[ncameron]

Well then.

I'm more intrigued by the buyout of Bear Sterns, and what kind of financial quagmire whoever takes the Presidency walks into.

Oh and I am just waiting for BP and Marathon to state again how they achieved massive profits over the last few quarters.

-Neil

[RegalSin]

Not even against Israel but the idea that people support the place when there is nothing there but a rock from which a being that never had a body to begin with asended from.

What else is there fighting over?

Miles and miles of ammunition and lives is wasted. Miles and miles of youth is constantly wasted. Youth as in our brothers and sisters who we spoke to over the net, who we went to school with, who we might have made some contact with.

Before neo-Israel ( which is it's true name ) they lived in harmony. Nobody barely cared aside for the British planting it's flag all over the place turning the Egyptian royal family into English like.

Aside from that the point of the economy is the

The Anti Heritage Age Part II

Look where is our technologically balanced world. Where is our flying cars, robotic women, and all in one pill. I mean we had a balanced world and the world ( stinking humans ) just could not let go.

I mean WTF I gotta hear about crime families in the 21 century and rafici violence when there should be none. Is this the world that we want to leave
to our childrens childrens.

----kinda dozed off here.


The point is our world needs our help and no Arnold mystories ( maybe ) or Gia is going to save the day somehting something physical versus electronic stored data

[JustCallMeAric]

I think its a good time invest in foreign currency because ours keeps getting worse and worse. Whenever oil gets backed with the Euro we are done.

[Chiclo]

Before neo-Israel ( which is it's true name ) they lived in harmony.

I call bull *SQUEE*.

The point is our world needs our help and no Arnold mystories ( maybe ) or Gia is going to save the day somehting something physical versus electronic stored data

It's really hard to take you seriously when you say things like this. What does this mean? What are Arnold mystories?

[superman-prime]

Add bear sturns to the jp chase bank empire that will make chase the largest company in the world

[RegalSin]

I think its a good time invest in foreign currency because ours keeps getting worse and worse. Whenever oil gets backed with the Euro we are done.

shhh don't say that. If you IT know the Harcons will attack and the mathimatical empire of the machines will be over thrown

[IMJ]

Back on topic a bit, I agree that people tend to turn towards tangible things when an economy goes bad. However, comics have no inherent value beyond the niche market, and when they do expand beyond the niche, it’s limited expansion because comics have no other use than entertainment. Gold is different because it’s a metal – a resource. Comics are made from a renewable resource that we can grow in our backyard (not to mention the fact that you can’t convert comics into other commodities unless you sell them for paper money or for gold).

The fact is that while comics have some value, they’ll only have high value as a luxury item and only when there are people in the economy who still have the money to buy comics while the rest of the market is laying off luxuries, or when the entire economy as a whole is thriving and demand for luxury collectibles is up. To parallel, it’s not the concept of jewelry that makes gold valuable, it’s a combined effect that gold is a metal and can be used for other things as well as being a “scarce” material. I’m curious as to how things like silver and platinum fare in these situations too (not that I have any, but it just popped in there).

[BettyBoop2]

The point is our world needs our help and no Arnold mystories ( maybe ) or Gia is going to save the day somehting something physical versus electronic stored data

This person is the Grant Morrison of posts.

-the boop

[RegalSin]

comics have no inherent value beyond the niche market, and when they do expand beyond the niche, it’s limited expansion because comics have no other use than entertainment. Gold is different because it’s a metal – a resource. Comics are made from a renewable resource that we can grow in our backyard

Comics is the artwork of times and can be apreciated by old and new people. It is insane to say they have no value.

In the future years paper will be ........ and well you know what pluto Nash said.................


About those Hills

Comics can be used a explantion devices and learning materials where the reader can communicate not only threw letterings but images. It is a type of communications.

While yes most dumbfounded people will read comics ( like throphy wives, special ED people, and kids of the scum who gives them a book with pretty pictures to manipulate them ) other and regular along with all people will see a comic that eqauls them ( or feel that way ).

Like in my case I want to create videogames and animate film and I am currently going to college for Arts and Advertisment along with that I plan to move into other areas of study that has nothing to do with me and maybe try to fight the good fight. The point is that my work I do along with the information that is collected allways point to comic books( which I am not going to point out.

The point is somehow I start moving from videogames into comic books and somehow I start purchasing or giving a damn about book production if not the bussiness of paper back images.

Comic books is valuable to people who give a darg about comic books. Liek that guy who want Spider-man no 001 or anybody else here who wants anything. The value of comics shift from time to time and thus this so called direct marketed industry is founded.

However in conjuntion to my studies of the imaginary and that which is real
Comic books along with any other "house of lies" Material will allways have a place in society no matter where it may be.

No matter how computers advance the value of physical will never diminish.

people in the economy who still have the money to buy comics while the rest of the market is laying off luxuries

Comic books is in the class of Stamps. It is a form of currency. Even people without money purchase videogames. For comic books you just need a hand full of buyers who buys the lot of them for cheap prices.

being a “scarce” material

Matter cannot be created nore can it be destroyed. Two things is occuring in this case. People are hoarding the things ( like people here completing there collection in whatever series ) and people is burning these so called items ( meaning that the matter that once had any value may it be diamond is being burnt over a fire place, swallowed by accident, or is even
burried in a grave. People is destroying the items kinda like that guy who burnt a bunch of books for pabilicity to his store ).

[IMJ]

a whole bunch of stuff in reply to my initial post

Hey man that's a great response, but it seems more like opinion laced with quotes from Einstein than fact....

The fact is that comics are collectibles and not commodities or building materials of some kind. They have implied value, not inherent value. There's nothing insane about it... except for maybe the obsessive completists theory that most of us collectors seem to subscribe. That is pretty insane...

[Dr. Solar]

Well, print comics with gold covers, and they will have intrinsic AND implied value!

[mavros]

I think its a good time invest in foreign currency because ours keeps getting worse and worse. Whenever oil gets backed with the Euro we are done.

It was a good time to buy foreign currencies back when the dollar was high. If you can see the dollar eventually going back up, then you want to hold on to it. (I don't see how much further it could drop, but that's just me... chances of an Iran invasion would drop it but that seems unlikely... a pull out in Iraq would send it up).

Now's (or maybe six months ago) is the time to take a working holiday in the UK or EU and start shipping money back home.

Buy low, sell high.

[IMJ]

Well, print comics with gold covers, and they will have intrinsic AND implied value!

I'm sure someone tried that in the 90s...

[X-O HoboJoe]

Comics can be used a explantion devices and learning materials where the reader can communicate not only threw letterings but images. It is a type of communications.

In that thar case be there a comic I can pusschase that will explain what you am trying to talk in you post?

I pornise to have it slabbed without be reading it.

[X-O HoboJoe]

Well, print comics with gold covers, and they will have intrinsic AND implied value!

I'm sure someone tried that in the 90s...

There was an Onslaught of those books.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

The point is our world needs our help and no Arnold mystories ( maybe ) or Gia is going to save the day somehting something physical versus electronic stored data

This person is the Grant Morrison of posts.

-the boop

I was thinking Peter Milligan.....

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

Back on topic a bit, I agree that people tend to turn towards tangible things when an economy goes bad. However, comics have no inherent value beyond the niche market, and when they do expand beyond the niche, it’s limited expansion because comics have no other use than entertainment. Gold is different because it’s a metal – a resource. Comics are made from a renewable resource that we can grow in our backyard (not to mention the fact that you can’t convert comics into other commodities unless you sell them for paper money or for gold).

You're forgetting some very basic facts about "collectibles."

I understand what you're trying to say, but the sentence "comics have no inherent value beyond the niche market" doesn't make a lot of sense.
Comics have no inherent value PERIOD. They are 32 page leaflets, with (usually) two metal staples. When you talk about "inherent" (or INTRINSIC) value in reference to comics, you're talking about the value of the materials - 32 pages of paper and two metal staples.

As well, I have to take issue with the use of the phrase "niche market." I have a small issue with the use of the word "niche market" to describe universally acknowledged collectibles. Your grandmother may not want to BUY an Action Comics #1....but she certainly KNOWS who Superman is.

"Beanie babies" would be a "niche market."

"Cornflakes shaped like states" would be a "niche market."

But comic books? "Niche market" only in the broadest sense of the phrase. People may not know that comic books are still being published (and they'd have to be reallllly insulated to think that), but they know that they exist, and that's almost universal in the West.

With the advent of "slabbed" comics, that "niche market" has become far more stable than it ever was in the past, and naturally far more accessible beyond that "niche market" (if such a thing exists.)

The more stable a commodity, the more liquid it is, the more appealing it becomes, and the more money is likely to flow into it.

The fact is that while comics have some value, they’ll only have high value as a luxury item and only when there are people in the economy who still have the money to buy comics while the rest of the market is laying off luxuries, or when the entire economy as a whole is thriving and demand for luxury collectibles is up.

There is no such thing as a "luxury collectible." The two words are not compatible in a phrase.

If an item is used to DISPLAY one's wealth, it is a luxury good. If an item is used to CONTAIN and hopefully INCREASE one's wealth, it is an investment. Can both things be done at once? Yes. Are they generally? No.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's, the last time inflation went nuts, the economy was in the tank, and interest rates soared....guess what also soared in price?

Comic books.

They were recognized at that point as the commodities that they are, and money flowed into them at a rate unmatched before or since. In 1970, the value of Action #1 was $300. In 1982, it was $11,500.

And all of this during the biggest financial crises the country had seen since the 30's.

How is this possible, when you state that comics are "luxury items" and do not retain their value if the rest of the market is "laying off" luxury items?

Answer: Comic books ARE NOT "luxury items." Comic books, like most stable collectibles, are INVESTMENTS and INFLATION HEDGES. "Luxury items" are NOT bought because they are perceived to be INVESTMENTS. On the contrary, luxury goods (cars, furs, certain homes, perfumes, jewelry, watches, boats) are meant to be USED, not INVESTED in (though this can and sometimes does happen.)

Comic books, when bought as INVESTMENTS (as ANY comic book purchased for more than cover price automatically IS) are NOT meant to be used, but rather, like all investments, to be stored away until such a time as they have appreciated to the satisfaction of the owner.

When the economy is bad, people do not buy luxury items, that is true...because luxury items generally make poor investments. When the economy is bad, people turn to investments, ESPECIALLY alternative investments like comics, coins, art, etc etc etc.

To parallel, it’s not the concept of jewelry that makes gold valuable, it’s a combined effect that gold is a metal and can be used for other things as well as being a “scarce” material. I’m curious as to how things like silver and platinum fare in these situations too (not that I have any, but it just popped in there).

Gold is valuable because of its properties:

Gold is the most malleable metal. A single ounce of gold can be beaten into a sheet 300 sq. feet.

Gold is the most ductile metal. A single ounce of gold can be rolled into a wire 31 miles long that will not break.

Gold is the most resistant of all metals to corrosive agents. It does not rust, or tarnish.

Gold readily forms strong alloys with other metals, which are then protected against reaction by the gold itself (copper, silver, etc.)

Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity.

It is BECAUSE of these properties, discovered eons ago, that gold is so valuable. These properties are why gold is used in jewelry, WAS used in coinage, and many, many other applications.

Gold is not the most valuable metal, by quite a few. But it IS the most well known and widely used precious metal on earth.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

a whole bunch of stuff in reply to my initial post

Hey man that's a great response, but it seems more like opinion laced with quotes from Einstein than fact....

The fact is that comics are collectibles and not commodities or building materials of some kind.

That's not true. You're not understanding what a commodity is:

com·mod·i·ty:
–noun, plural -ties.
1. an article of trade or commerce, esp. a product as distinguished from a service.
2. something of use, advantage, or value.

Comics have value. They are a product. That makes them commodities.

That also makes milk, cheese, spoons, silver, and chlorine commodities as well.

You use "collectible" and "commodity" as mutually exclusive, antonymic terms. That's simply not the case.

They have implied value,

You mean "acquired value", not "implied value."

not inherent value. There's nothing insane about it... except for maybe the obsessive completists theory that most of us collectors seem to subscribe. That is pretty insane...

Uh.



Again, I understand what you're TRYING to say, but the WAY you're saying it is head scratching....