Not that life is entirely carefree. The Capt is keeping a close eye on computer models (better that than models of the pulchritudinous kind), reporting now and then on the antics of Norbert, the latest oncoming hurricane. Ol' Norbert sounds like he was named after a mild-mannered accountant, but we're not taking him lightly. One hundred sixty mph winds! Here's a NOAA map of Norbert looming over Baja. Although most models are predicting he'll hit Topolobampo on the mainland coast, that's close enough to get us some heavy weather here. We have two boats at risk, one on land and the other moored in the anchorage, so the Capt has plenty on his mind.The heavy economic weather NOB (that's gringo talk for North of the Border) hasn't escaped our attention either. I finally looked up this bailout they're talking about and found out what it's designed to do: "the government would pay 'hold to maturity' prices -- meaning a price based on some estimate of what the asset would be worth once the crisis of confidence had passed, not on what the asset holder could get by selling it today." Now how in the world can they predict what something will be worth once the crisis of confidence blows over? Who's to say it will blow over? And besides, the assets they're talking about, thanks to the real estate bubble, are vastly overvalued to begin with. As Doonesbury puts it, this is a game that privatizes profit but socializes risk.
Can I put my IRA in with all those other assets, and get paid what it would be worth if we didn't have a crisis of confidence? Naaah, I didn't think so...
The chart shown here is not a playground slide, but a week's overview of my IRA.
I get a case of tunnel-vision this time of year and though I may hear bits of news they don't seem to sink in while I'm involved in deadline. But I've heard the peso recently drifted into 14-to-one territory against the dollar and though it's back down to 12.06 at the moment, we're used to about a 10-to-one ratio. Prices are already going up to compensate.
I'll have to give all of this more thought. After my nap.