Monday... (*SIGH*)

Quoting Warren Buffett...

Inflation has the potential to be worse than the 1970s.

That's what I've been saying... (*SIGH*) Only... strike the word "potential." Inflation's coming, folks. Actually, stagflation's coming. (*SHRUG*) By mid-2010 (perhaps earlier) new generations are going to become familiar with that relic of the Carter years, the Misery Index.

One of my regular readers, Rodak, doesn't view inflation as a big deal; his idea is that he made it through the '70's so what's the big deal. (*SHRUG*)

Well... (*SIGH*)... here's the big deal: For the average working or retired American who has in the past and continues to now live within his or her means... you're gonna get screwed. (I'm gonna get screwed!)

The poor? To an extent their "losses" will be subsidized by the government.

The rich? Well... they're rich. (*SHRUG*) They'll be able to absorb the inflation.

Those of us in the middle though... we're gonna see major impacts upon our lifestyles - and I don't mean just "frivolous" expenditures - I mean basics such as rising food and energy bills playing havoc with our basic lifestyles.

Speaking of inflation...

OPEC’s record production cuts are draining the glut in world oil markets, leading traders to bet that $50 crude is two months away.

Personally... I don't have a problem with $50/bl. crude. I'd prefer $45/bl. or less over the course of the next couple years just to act as a break on inflation; by the same token I wouldn't lose my mind if oil were to fluctuate between $45-$60/bl. for the next four or five years - at LEAST the next four or five years! I'm looking for reasonable price stability at a level high enough not to dampen research and development efforts that hopefully we all recognize as vital to our communal future as energy consumers.

Putting what I would like to see aside though... my fear is that oil prices won't stop rising at $50/bl., that they won't stop rising at $60/bl. either. My fear is that we're just one foreign policy crisis away... one natural disaster away... one human or technological catastrophic failure away from reigniting the fiery spiral back up to triple digit - $100/bl.-plus - oil prices.

Oh, well... enough gloom for now...

(*RUEFUL SIGH*)