patrick.net

10oz is now 8oz:

No longer big:

Lint rollers as well:

Haagen Daz reduced the quantity by sneakily moving up the bottom of the container.

rocketjoe79 says

Haagen Daz reduced the quantity by sneakily moving up the bottom of the container.

Lots of stuff like that going on lately.

Trader Joe's had a very good Ethiopian whole bean Arabica coffee, but lowered the quality in the last year to the point where it's painful to drink. Same packaging. Pretty sure it's now Robusta, which tastes like rope.

https://www.lavazzausa.com/en/recipes-and-coffee-hacks/difference-type-arabica-robusta-coffee

Grok gives me $29.71 for the current melt value of 5 silver quarters.

Silver was highest in the 1980s on January 18, 1980, when it reached a record high of \(\$49.45\) per troy ounce

If you're into arbitrarily picking dates, try the current value based on that start date.

Ooooooooooops, you've lost buying power because of the 3.09% inflation rate. Not a little loss, but generations of wealth if you had bought enough

Silver would have to be trading at $194 per ounce just to break even on an inflation adjusted basis. .

"Trade silver by weight among ourselves as currency". What a bunch of crap. We'd be looking at our currency being devalued against foreign currency for over 45 years. US citizens would naturally be drawn to foreign currencies.

Misc says

Silver would have to be trading at $194 per ounce just to break even on an inflation adjusted basis.

True if you did not dollar cost average and bought silver each year over the last 40 years. Instead, you would buy all of your silver in 1980 at its last all time high price.

Same circumstance if you bought all your shares in QQQ or some technology fund in late 1999 and had to wait at least 16 years to break even.

What is your forecast for silver and gold ? Will they drop in price next year as the fiscal condition improves of the US federal government ?

When investment advisors say things like long term investor or use it for diversification. They are peddling inflated crap.

If we change monetary system to silver, then yep what would happen is a massive buy at an inflated price that would take a couple of centuries to unwind.

As for gold/silver we are in a speculative bubble right now. The last time for gold prices this high was 45 years ago inflation adjusted. Silver we got a ways to go there. Just because prices are high doesn't mean that they can't go higher.

The way our current monetary system is structured there must be an ever increasing amount of dollars or credit. Otherwise the system cannibalizes itself because of people "saving" and because of interest. If the federal government cuts back on increasing debt issuance, then the private sector must make up for it. Generally this is done by increased mortgage debt. If the Fed doesn't get interest rates down to where they should be for the private sector to increase debt, then Trump has pretty much stated that he will use the Tariff surplus to send rebate checks out to Americans, thus increasing the Federal debt.. Thus, this would keep the system from eating itself. s

The speculative fervor can be ended whenever the banks want to by them simply asking the commodity exchanges to increase the margin rates for the metals. Most metals traders are heavily leveraged and billions upon billions of forced sells drives down the price of the metals instantly. I habe no idea how streched the banks will let "investors" get. Yes, it's all rigged.

Misc says

We'd be looking at our currency being devalued against foreign currency for over 45 years.

Silver will never go to zero, but the dollar will.

Patrick says

Silver will never go to zero, but the dollar will.

People's debts are not denominated in sliver, but in dollars. There is a single very small silver mining company that keep a portion of its profits in silver. All the other thousands of mining companies sell 100% of what they mine for fiat. Don't take it from me which is superior take it from the people who do it for a living.

Misc says

If the Fed doesn't get interest rates down to where they should be for the private sector to increase debt, then Trump has pretty much stated that he will use the Tariff surplus to send rebate checks out to Americans, thus increasing the Federal debt.. Thus, this would keep the system from eating itself.

Yeah, just the prime rate is usually 3% higher than the Federal Funds rate (FFR) which FFR is around 4.5% now whereas it was 5.5% back in 2024.

But guvmint reported inflation is around 2.7% so the FFR should be around 3.5%.

Misc says

People's debts are not denominated in sliver, but in dollars.

We need to change that.

Patrick says

We need to change that

That monetary system breaks down even faster than fiat. Try compounding interest on a fixed asset base...doesn't work. You have to go Muslim and not charge interest on loans. I like fiat where you can charge differing interest rates. It lends itself to capitalism better.

Patrick says

Silver will never go to zero, but the dollar will.

In Florida, gold and silver have been recognized as legal tender starting July 1, 2026. This law allows Floridians to use these precious metals in certain transactions and exempts them from sales tax. The law also requires that coins used as legal tender be clearly stamped with their weight, purity, and mint of origin. Financial institutions are not mandated to provide coin-related services, but businesses accepting these metals must be licensed.

AD says

Patrick says

Silver will never go to zero, but the dollar will.

In Florida, gold and silver have been recognized as legal tender starting July 1, 2026. This law allows Floridians to use these precious metals in certain transactions and exempts them from sales tax. The law also requires that coins used as legal tender be clearly stamped with their weight, purity, and mint of origin. Financial institutions are not mandated to provide coin-related services, but businesses accepting these metals must be licensed.

It's kinda the same thing here in Arizona. I double I' dog dare you to pay your property taxes with them.

Top economist on the economy’s dirty truth: The only people who feel good are ‘making over $200,000’ and ‘have large stock portfolios’

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/top-economist-on-the-economy-s-dirty-truth-the-only-people-who-feel-good-are-making-over-200-000-and-have-large-stock-portfolios/ar-AA1P89Oo

three consumer areas of housing, healthcare and college education have well outpaced inflation for at least the last 30 years

examine how healthcare has become a larger percentage of the US economy

https://moneywise.com/insurance/health/your-health-insurance-could-cost-65-more-in-2026-as-costs-rise-and-employers-raise-deductibles
Your health insurance will cost your employer even more next year — here’s what’s behind the projected 15-year high
...costs would climb closer to 9%

After the scamdamic and the invention of "mental health" the costs are going up.

AD says

examine how healthcare has become a larger percentage of the US economy

The population is older. Old people require more health care.

The_Deplorable says

"250G"?

Literally cutting corners to shrink the product:

Less cheese:

Hotel mini soap now has holes in it: