Vinyl records making a comeback! Can 8-Track Tapes be far behind??

Can 8-Track Tapes be far behind? Some things just need to remain Creatively Destroyed...The first 8-Tracks I bought were Kiss Live and Peter Frampton Live...So long ago...

Vinyl records spin back into vogue

According to recent Nielsen SoundScan numbers, vinyl was the fastest-growing musical format in 2010, with 2.8 million units sold, the format's best year since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.

Vinyl's increase in popularity is providing a beacon of hope for independent record stores — an industry that has suffered with the increase of digital downloads this past decade.

When Cretsinger moved his business from Keiser, Ore., to Cedar City in 2000 there were two other record stores in the college town of about 28,000. Now, the closest independent record store is in Las Vegas, 175 miles away.

"Vinyl seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel for those of us who have hung in there," he says. "It's kind of a surprising light at the end of the tunnel. It's incredibly exciting."

Not only have vinyl album sales picked up, but the interest in record players has increased as well. Cretsinger said he got tired of directing his customers to other businesses where they could purchase turntables, so he began offering a small selection at his store in January.

The United Nations should NOT have voted to impose sanctions on Libya until...

...they vote to kick Libya off the UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FIRST!!  Who thought THIS was a good idea in the first place? So much for trying to create kinder, gentler, dictators by being more inclusive in hopes they will change. Nice job, UN. Please save your outrage and condemnations for a time AFTER you clean up your own house. Thank you in advance for doing so...

Here is list of the other members of the Human Rights Council.  Any of the other names sound familiar and have been in the news lately? Why do you think they WANT to be on the Human Rights Committee?  Foxes guarding the henhouse?

Angola Argentina

Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belgium
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Chile
China
Cuba
Djibouti
Ecuador
France
Gabon
Ghana
Guatemala
Hungary
Japan
Jordan
Kyrgyzstan
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Malaysia
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Poland
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Slovakia
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
Uruguay
Zambia

Warning: Economics Humor involving the Phillips Curve is enclosed---It is funny...it REALLY is!!

The Phillips Curve is a Macroeconomic model that illustrates the trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment that occurs as Aggregate Demand increases or decreases along the Short-Run Aggregate Supply Curve.  In AP Macro, we show the trade-off results in an inverse relationship between the two varibles.  Japan, with its never-ending  bout with deflation, appears to be an exception to the rule.  It is just a coincidence, but the graph matches the shape of the country.  This is funny to economists---it really is!  :)

Japan's Phillips Curve Looks Like Japan

This is what a traditional Phillips Curve looks like...NOW do you get the joke??? :)

Look at US Exports to China! Looks like Pres Obama is going to achieve the goal of doubling US exports. The sooner the better.

And why not? This is good for the US.  A nice trend in US exports to China.  As China develops a middle class they will seek more US goods and services.  Some people see low wage jobs and low-skilled production going to China as a bad thing.  I see low wage jobs for no-wage people as a way to develop and move up the economic ladder so they can buy goods produced by high-skilled, high wage US workers. Seems like a good trade-off to me.  It is not something that happens overnight, but by the trend line you see here, it happens none-the-less. 

Source: Business Insider

The Information Age Revolution in the Middle East could NOT have happened without the Information Age Revolution in the Middle Ages--- GREAT map showing why....

 (HT: Carpe Diem)...As we marvel at how the viral spread of social media, driven by internet technology, has spurred revolution in the Middle East, perhaps we should pay hommage to the original viral information age---the Middle Ages and the invention of the printing press...Graph below shows the "viral spread" of the printing press in a relatively short period of time, 50 years (well, a short time in the 1400's!!)...Amazing...



Source: This STUDY HERE
It is a VERY short analysis that is very informative

The Price of Labor is less than the Price of Capital...Nothing can go wrong in this picture...



Workers checked electric wires above an intercity high-speed railway in China's Jiangxi Province. NYTIMES photo



Prison Economics: Money can be whatever Prisoners say it is---who am I to disagree!

Prison Economics: How Fish and Coffee Become Cash

""Nothing makes you more powerful inside the joint than a strong grounding in currency arbitrage. Inmates in federal penitentiaries aren’t allowed to have actual money; family members can load up prison commissary accounts, which usually max out at about $300 a month, but the money’s not transferable and can be redeemed only at the commissary. And cigarettes, the former gold standard for securing everything from a bodyguard to starched laundry, have all but disappeared since tobacco was banned at federal pens in 2004. So inmates have to rely on other forms of currency. All of which means the prison economy runs much like a commodities market: Money in a commissary account can’t be traded, but goods sold at the commissary can be. And since the amounts in circulation are tightly regulated, their value can far surpass their price in dollars. So if you’re sent away to, say, the US Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for “mistakes” you made in the run-up to the Great Recession, here’s how to get the best return on your next investment.


1. Mackerel
Cost $1.40 per 3.5-ounce pouch
Limit 14 per week
Use Tipping for laundry service, cell cleanup, or a haircut.
Value If you don’t open the pouch, it never spoils … which means the fish retains its close-to-a-dollar value.
2. Instant Coffee
Cost $3.35 per 4-ounce bag
Limit 3 per week
Use Getting buzzed cheaply.
Value Prisons just say no to drugs, so caffeine is the licit stimulant of choice.
 3. Postage Stamps
Cost $8.80 for 20 stamps
Limit 3 books per week
Use Paying off large gambling debts or buying protection quickly.
Value High price-to-size ratio; easy to conceal. Without email access, snail mail is king.
4. Combination Lock
Cost $6.50 and up
Limit 1
Use Keeping stuff secure. Plus, you can put it inside a sock to make a weapon.
Value Let’s just say it’s worth a heck of a lot more than a pack of cigarettes if someone needs one in a pinch.

HT: Carpe Diem