gas prices
i don't drive much. so i don't fill my tank very often. though i'm going to have to soon. unfortunately, gas is $4.33 at the local station. that sure seems high. and it is. relative to my paycheck. but it's pretty normal relative to gold. which makes sense. i explain. the fundamental unit of currency is a day's worth of labor. everything else is valued in its terms. gold used to be the currency of choice. partly because it's rare. which is good cause governments can't just magic the stuff out of thin air like they can with other currencies. the relative prices of oil, labor, and gold have been remarkably stable for a very long time. when something significant happens, like say someone adds $2t to a $14t economy... the exchange rate between dollars and everything else has to be adjusted. oil and gold move pretty quickly as the new dollars pour in. but labor lags behind. how often do you get a raise? when was the last time you got a 14% raise? i have never. except when i changed jobs. which is kinda disruptive to business. so the effects of the obama (and bush to a lesser extent) stimulus is showing up at the gas pump. give it a few more years and it'll show up in your paycheck. in the mean time, the gold owners are pocketing the difference. so yeah, stimulus is a means of transferring wealth from the have-lesses to the have-mores.