Hyperinflation has begun. Exchange your dollars for gold while you still can- your money will soon be worthless. You think the collapse of the Weimar Republic was bad? At least in 1923, it was worth hauling the money around in wheelbarrows so that you could buy a loaf of bread with it.


(Un-identified German man, carrying three trillion Reichsmarks, enough to purchase a loaf of bread and a cup of sugar in the summer of 1923.)

Case in point:

Since its inception in 2002, Charles Shaw wine has cost $1.99. In fact, at many Trader Joe's locations in California, there is an actual mural painted on the wall, celebrating the fact that Charles Shaw still costs only $1.99 after an entire decade.




This wine is famously referred to as "Two Buck Chuck," and has served as a beacon of stability through the turbulent times of the post-dot-com collapse, the longest foreign war in US History, the boom-and-bust of the housing market, and on and on. There has even been a grassroots movement to elect Charles Shaw for President.




Now, Charles Shaw is not an especially good wine. In fact, It is produced by first making wine from the grapes that weren't quite good enough to go into Night Train or MD 20/20, and then diluting that with antifreeze and Kool-Aid.


(Charles Shaw is not quite as palatable as these fine wines.)

But this does not change the fact that it is, quite simply, the #1 selling wine in the entire world.




So, what clearer omen to portend the forthcoming collapse of civilization as we know it, at the hands of a rapidly crumbling global monetary system?

Well, as I found out this morning on my way into work, Trader Joe's has raised the price of Charles Shaw wine to $2.49.





Get rid of your large stacks of dollars, euros, and other worthless pretend currencies while you still can. Soon, children will be building playhouses out of them.

 

If only we'd returned to the gold standard...

 

Wait wait wait, you're saying this stuff is worse than MD20/20? ******* hell its worse than toilet water mixed with acetone and some artificial flavoring?

 

Joe, I hope your coworkers don't know you're stopping in on the way to work to pick up your morning's supply of booze.

Better get an extra bottle in case you must work through lunch and can't get away to pick up a 6 pack for those afternoon telecons.

 

hmm, i think i pick some of this up and take it to the next old man miata meet. I can never typically afford the bougie wines and cheeses that accompany their chrome and panasports.

 

I Feel there is money to be made by buying $2.49 Chuck in CA and selling it out east where it has been tree fiddy for YEARS.

 

CA taxes wine at $ 0.20 per gallon.
VA taxes wine at $ 0.40 per liter or roughly 8 times as much.


Just one possible factor among many.

 

I'll believe it when Costco charges more than $1.50 for a hot dog.

 

**** the gold standard, America should adopt the CHARLES SHAW STANDARD!

It's a perfect currency. Supply always adjusts to perfectly satisfy the demand for currency, and yet it maintains a perfectly stable value, exhibiting neither inflationary nor deflationary tendencies!



Nah, it's not quite that bad. It's just pretty much what you would expect from a two dollar bottle of wine.



That's what the ten year old single-malt is for.



Wasn't there a movie about this involving a guy in a black Trans-Am?



$0.40 per liter, and they still can't seem to operate without huge influxes of federal money.

How the hell do these east-coast states manage to screw themselves up this badly?

 

They're full of political types. I'd expect them to be much worse.

 

I know the cross-border limits for transporting alcohol into VA. They're kind of a pain.

 

Everything already is a perfect currency for everything else, including Charles Shaw.

 

This thread illustrates the difficulty of measuring price inflation, especially over short periods of time.

mgeoff, after gold was demonetized, it turned into a commodity. As such its price is not a good indicator of inflation. If it were commonly used as currency, the economy would act to stabilize its value over the short term. Even over the last 100 year periods, today, its price in USD has been heavily influenced by influences other than its supply.

 

I can't decide whether to give you a -1 for being so pedantic or a +1 for just being you.

 

Haha. Good to see Jason in true form, taking my delusional, alcohol-fueled ramblings as seriously as always.

Can we please blame the European Central Bank this time? Or maybe the Nippon Ginkō. Masaaki Shirakawa hasn't been in the news much lately.

 

There is a limit? I used to fill the trunk of my miata with booze from down here in SC and then bring it up to NoVA because of the cost differences.

 

I made "Butter Chicken" from TJ last night. They left out the K in fork, so it read: Poke holes in the film with a for to vent steam.

silly.

 

No black Trans-Am, no care.

lol.

 

Prime Minister Abe of Japan has specifically called for an inflation target. He has explicitly said he wants inflation. Man, when those market forces and bond vigilantes get a hold of those Japanese government bonds and that 200% debt-to-GDP ratio, you better believe he'll get some inflation!

It'll be the Ferrari of inflation: more than you can afford, pal!

 

I just got a case of Charles Shaw for my birthday.. lol.

Not my favorite, but it's not bad either..... It's been $2.49 here in KC for at least 2 years, Joe.