The rising cost of toys.

[eugimon]

I love it

TYLER: Do you know what a Yammie is?

JACK: It's a Transforming Valkyire.

TYLER: It's a toy, just a toy. Now why do guys like you and I know what a Yammie is? Is this essential to our survival? In the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then?

JACK: Macross fans.

Hehehe

Here's one for BoB:

Narrator: A new valkyrie built by my company leaves somewhere and gets transformed. The shoulder locks up. The shoulder shatters and breaks with little bits everywhere. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of valkyries in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Business woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of breakages?

Narrator: You wouldn't believe.

Business woman on plane: Which toy company do you work for?

Narrator: A major one.

[Evil Porkchop]

I wont quit buying toys, but I am already getting much more picky on what I will and won't buy... and to be quite honest much of the new stuff coming out is un-impressive IMO. I'm already very close to swearing off 25th G.I. Joes, Yamato's new 1/60 look great, but at nearly the price of a 1/48 it's hard to justify myself buying one.

Also the value of the dollar has not dropped that dramatically... it has only fallen about 10% over the last year, while the price of oil has soared by over 60%. So to blame the cost of gas/oil, on a "weak" dollar is inacurate. The one thing I don't understand is that there is not a shortage of oil or gasoline. When was the last time you could not fill up your car/truck at the local filling station. When was the last time the government was rationing out "gasoline cards". Most of us weren't even born the last time that happened in the 70's. Despite natural disators and civil unrest in oil producing/refining countries, the oil supply has never been in as much danger as many believe. About 25% of the current cost of oil/gas can be attributed to speculators.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I was actually about three or four during the oil embargo and I actually remember sitting in my mom's car waiting in line for gas. The only reason I remember it was that it was maddening for me as a little ball of energy to have to sit in the back vinyl seat on a hot day with the engine off. It was like putting a kid in an oven with the door cracked. The only way my mom could keep a lid on me was to sing songs with me.

Funny the things you remember when you think...

[Beware of Blast]

Here's one for BoB:

Narrator: A new valkyrie built by my company leaves somewhere and gets transformed. The shoulder locks up. The shoulder shatters and breaks with little bits everywhere. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of valkyries in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Business woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of breakages?

Narrator: You wouldn't believe.

Business woman on plane: Which toy company do you work for?

Narrator: A major one.

[Mr March]

Here's one for BoB:

That's gold, baby

You are not your Valkyrie collection...you are not how many repaints you have on your shelves...you are not the boxes you collect...not the contents of your store room. You're not your fracking Yammies.

[David Hingtgen]

The sad thing is, that's also exactly how the FAA operates when it comes to requiring new safety features on planes----and they don't have the "profit-minded evil corporation" excuse to justify it.

[VFTF1]

The one thing I don't understand is that there is not a shortage of oil or gasoline. When was the last time you could not fill up your car/truck at the local filling station. When was the last time the government was rationing out "gasoline cards".

The reason there is no gas shortage is because - thank goodness -the government is NOT rationing out gas cards.

Shortages happen when government starts to ration goods - always. This is because without government rationing, the market will provide the amount that people will buy at the going price. Government rationing pretends that the going price is "arbitrary" and that they know what is really "necessary," and then they proceed to set supply by their calculations of what is "necessary" rather than what is "arbitrarily" in demand. But in the real world, all economic valuations are "arbitrary" - and they are reflected in the fact that prices are constantly changing (even if by very miniscule amounts). Changes in the valuation of goods (for a variety of reaons) are reflected in the price mechanism on the market - and changing prices communicate to consumers and producers (to all market participants) what is happening in reality and people determine how to economize their scarce resources based on this fact. These real market prices do not "go away" when government starts to ration goods (like gas). They remain - but rather than appearing on price tags or billboards they go underground - a "black market" develops. Meanwhile - if the government is mandating rationing - then it does so usually by creating a price cieling - saying that prices cannot go higher than X. But if in reality, the market price is higher then X, then the quantity of the good available for purchase will be lower than the quantity available at the market price. This results in shortages because in order to have the full quantity that the market demands, that quantity can only be provided at the market price (which government makes illegal) - ergo - whamo - you have a shortage.

This is why there are no gas lines in America but there ARE HUGE GAS SHORTAGES in ...IRAQ!

The American-run government has been imposing price controls and rationing gas ever since the invasion - and of course Iraqis, because of this, have to wait in long lines for expensive gas...even though the stuff i pumped in their very backyard

During the 1970s - the Nixon administration began to implement price and wage controls - and that is why you have the gas shortages back then and you don't have them now.

High prices don't cause shortages. Controlled prices imposed by government do.

As for the value of the USD/price of oil conundrum - maybe think of it this way:

The price of oil IN USD goes up 60%

The value of the USD goes DOWN 10% viz other currencies.

This means that the price of oil in other currencies has gone up only 50%.

The real relation of the dollar to other curencies isn't as straight forward - because you have to ask what the value of the US Dollar has gone down by 10% against?

The value of the US Dollar to the Polish currency (which I use on a daily basis) has fallen 50% (!!) - it used to cost 4 point something Polish Zloties to get a dollar - now it costs 2 point something.

Now - if you say that the price of oil in US Dollars has gone up 60% - I say that the value of the US Dollar to the currency I use has gone DOWN 50%.

That means that for ME - the price of oil has gone up by...10%

For people in America the price of oil has gone up by 70% (60% increase in oil price + 10% decrease in USD purchasing power).

This is why it does ultimately come back to the value of the US Dollar and not to gas prices just haphazardly "going up."

VFTF1

VFTF1

[Apollo Leader]

With the way things are going, it is a good idea to:

1) Square away one's debt, in particular your credit cards. In the last month I finished off a 5 year bank loan I had and I finished paying off my credit cards. This is like the first time I've been debt free in 9 years.

2) Start stocking up on food and clothing. I already have enough canned and frozen stuff to meet most of my food needs for a few months.

3) Consolidate one's driving in as few trips as possible. Bike and walk when you can. Since the weather around where I live is finally becoming more spring like I'm going to try biking to work most days that I can.

[eugimon]

That's gold, baby

You are not your Valkyrie collection...you are not how many repaints you have on your shelves...you are not the boxes you collect...not the contents of your store room. You're not your fracking Yammies.

Narrator: I had it all. Even the low viz 1 with the blurry little sticky weathering splotches, proof they were crafted by the honest, simple, hard-working indigenous peoples of... wherever.

[eugimon]

The reason there is no gas shortage is because - thank goodness -the government is NOT rationing out gas cards.

Shortages happen when government starts to ration goods - always. This is because without government rationing, the market will provide the amount that people will buy at the going price. Government rationing pretends that the going price is "arbitrary" and that they know what is really "necessary," and then they proceed to set supply by their calculations of what is "necessary" rather than what is "arbitrarily" in demand. But in the real world, all economic valuations are "arbitrary" - and they are reflected in the fact that prices are constantly changing (even if by very miniscule amounts). Changes in the valuation of goods (for a variety of reaons) are reflected in the price mechanism on the market - and changing prices communicate to consumers and producers (to all market participants) what is happening in reality and people determine how to economize their scarce resources based on this fact. These real market prices do not "go away" when government starts to ration goods (like gas). They remain - but rather than appearing on price tags or billboards they go underground - a "black market" develops. Meanwhile - if the government is mandating rationing - then it does so usually by creating a price cieling - saying that prices cannot go higher than X. But if in reality, the market price is higher then X, then the quantity of the good available for purchase will be lower than the quantity available at the market price. This results in shortages because in order to have the full quantity that the market demands, that quantity can only be provided at the market price (which government makes illegal) - ergo - whamo - you have a shortage.

This is why there are no gas lines in America but there ARE HUGE GAS SHORTAGES in ...IRAQ!

The American-run government has been imposing price controls and rationing gas ever since the invasion - and of course Iraqis, because of this, have to wait in long lines for expensive gas...even though the stuff i pumped in their very backyard

During the 1970s - the Nixon administration began to implement price and wage controls - and that is why you have the gas shortages back then and you don't have them now.

High prices don't cause shortages. Controlled prices imposed by government do.

As for the value of the USD/price of oil conundrum - maybe think of it this way:

The price of oil IN USD goes up 60%

The value of the USD goes DOWN 10% viz other currencies.

This means that the price of oil in other currencies has gone up only 50%.

The real relation of the dollar to other curencies isn't as straight forward - because you have to ask what the value of the US Dollar has gone down by 10% against?

The value of the US Dollar to the Polish currency (which I use on a daily basis) has fallen 50% (!!) - it used to cost 4 point something Polish Zloties to get a dollar - now it costs 2 point something.

Now - if you say that the price of oil in US Dollars has gone up 60% - I say that the value of the US Dollar to the currency I use has gone DOWN 50%.

That means that for ME - the price of oil has gone up by...10%

For people in America the price of oil has gone up by 70% (60% increase in oil price + 10% decrease in USD purchasing power).

This is why it does ultimately come back to the value of the US Dollar and not to gas prices just haphazardly "going up."

VFTF1

VFTF1

you keep ignoring the match. Oil in 2000: 22 USD. Oil in 2008: 120 USD. That's not 60%, that's 600%. The dollar did not fall by 600% in ANY MARKET. Yen in 2000: 105 to 1 dollar, Yen in 2008: 101 to 1 dollar.

[transfan52]

I could go on and on about the root to the rising cost of toys which to put it simply is the effect of of the increasingly scarce raw material that is used for everything from fuel to plastic, cleaning agents, fertilizer etc. Crude oil.

But I will only say this... the moment I cant afford anymore plastic toys or the moment the toy industry cant produce enough toys because of the economy that'l be the least of my worries. Ill be thinking about getting food to eat as by then gas will surely be 10 dollars a gallon or more. Which will put a strain on even the more wealthy among us. The best thing to do for now is not worry about that because by the time you cant afford or obtain toys you wont even be thinking about it lol.

[Roger]

More wrinkles:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7670351.stm

Yesterday I had a conversation with someone who just came back from China and was having problems getting tooling made for his toy. Apparently the aftermath of the safety scandal has caused a ripple effect, affecting not only the factories themselves, but also their suppliers. That coupled with the blackouts/brownouts from the Olympics has made things somewhat messy.