They CAN just raise the target. There has been some talk about doing this, from I believe, Yellen.

Yeah. Just change the dial on the altimeter. That'll work...

I was in a conversation with someone in a insurance company yesterday who's "in the know"...Told me Sandy is going to cost them 50M in boat losses alone...

Me thinks ALL insurance is going up...insurance losses are HUGE.

A LARGE percentage of the boat losses are self-inflicted and border on intentional. This is true in all the storms around here, and I bet it is there too.

The insurance companies should NOT pay on these, but they always do.

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Oh oh.... there goes Bernanke's justification for "more and more easing!"

Bull****. They have the dual mandate which allows the Fed to flip a coin as they see fit, saying that risks to full employment outweighed the inflation risks.

The Fed will continue accommodation the president's budget by keeping rates low and stealth taxing you.

The Fed's only tool now for jawboning the market is to keep extending the time that they expect low rates to prevail, which is what they have done the last few times action was taken. Inflation could be at 4% and he would still use the full employment side of the mandate.

Except it doesn't work Bert; employment is not improving, common weal is not improving, dependency is increasing and the fiscal implications are getting worse.

Exponents are a bitch.

Exponents are racist.

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A LARGE percentage of the boat losses are self-inflicted and border on intentional.

Not to digress, but I'm curious what you mean here? In terms of simply taking boats out of the water, or not being in port? Some boats can't be trucked inland. :-/

I understand that larger boats can't be trucked inland. I used to own one that massed 50,000lbs and was 45' in length -- that wasn't exactly "trailerable"

But:

1. Nearly all can be hauled and blocked WELL above the surge potential of the storm that is expected to arrive (note that the VESSEL must not only be above surge level, the GROUND on which you're hauled to must be, or the stands and blocks will be undermined by the surge and you're ****ed.)

2. Nearly all can be provided safe, or at least safer, floating shelter from a storm, either moored or tied up. If the owner cares to and plans ahead.

What often happens when these storms approach is that the owner simply gets in his truck and leaves. He doesn't double up lines, he doesn't take down canvas and other windage-increasing elements, he doesn't provide reasonable chafe protection for his lines. If he's in a dock with low pilings in a narrow slip he doesn't have a plan to get the **** out of there (such a slip is a death-trap for the boat in a storm due to the fact that you cannot plan for the tidal shift without the boat getting tossed up on top of a piling and holed) or if he's in a slip with a lot of fetch that can get to him and/or with WEAK pilings he choose to stay even though the dockage is of questionable integrity.

There are always some unavoidable losses in storms, but the majority of losses to recreational vessels are ENTIRELY avoidable. Some insurers require WRITTEN hurricane plans to be submitted to them and approved now, but I have no idea if they actually enforce them if you don't perform according to what they approve (and deny your claim.) They should, but I bet they don't.

Most of the outcome when it comes to storm survival for recreational vessels is not luck, it's planning and execution. Many storm losses are very close to a fire loss in a home that happens because the owner takes a gallon can of gasoline, spreads it all over the floor, and then leaves for a few hours and when the expected motor starts or water heater fires up it goes "kaboom."

That may be happenstance in technical terms, but in real terms it's damn close to an intentional loss.

I've seen this repeatedly in this area and it*****es me off greatly, as it hits everyone's premiums since the insurance companies have no idea if you'll do the right thing or the wrong thing when the next storm comes in, since they'll pay in either case.

Remember, hurricanes in today's age don't just show up. They come with multiple DAYS of warning.

Never mind that Karl, when math does not work to give the desired results, use economic theory in place of. If the ledger does not work with real values, use fake ones. Economist are like doctors, they hide behind a veil of specialized language and trump logic with economic gibberish.

Here, let me swirl these walnut shells around on the table in front of us. Ok, now pick the walnut shell that has "inflation target" underneath. Whoops wrong walnut! That was the employment target walnut shell. The Fed can play this game for some time, choosing whatever they want under the shell to suit their needs. If you try to trap the Fed by locking one door and standing guard by it, they will open the other door and slip out.

Karl, a great number of boaters are completely clueless. You meet them when you take your boat out on the weekend.

A storm can also be an opportunity to scuttle a vessel in an attempt to get out of a bad investment in a soft resale market by cutting a hose or opening a valve.

You would be surprised the number of boats that sink because someone removed the exhaust line to work on the engine and a little rain comes along and suddenly there is a 4" opening to the sea...

Oh no I wouldn't. A remarkable number of boats sink at the dock because the owner hooks up to the dockside water and leaves the boat with the water turned on.

Connecting an infinite source of water (the city connection) to the INSIDE of your boat is rather stupid, and if a hose or pipe fails and your pumps either do not work properly or can't keep up......

When I owned a 41' sailboat, I had insurance...and a hurricane plan that I had to put into effect several times, in Florida. The day before the hurricane, at slack high water, I ran the boat up the canal into the marsh as far as I could and double anchored it. That protected me two ways - there was no storm surge, just some increased tidal levels, AND I wasn't near all the dumb****s, deliberate or otherwise, who just left their boats tied up at the dock that would become missiles to destroy other boats.

Any of those other boats could have adopted my same strategy; the fact that few did shows that 1-they didn't care or 2-the wanted to lose their boat. When the yacht club marina was destroyed during Charlie, the club double assessed those boat owners who did not properly secure their boats and thus caused loads of damage to the docks and other boats.

With "hedonics" inflation can be manipulated any way you want without need of fudging numbers.

Case in point.... if a new laptop doubles its speed and reduces its screen size by 50% should it be considered twice as expensive as the older model (only half the screen) or 50% less expensive than the older model (twice the speed)? Well if you want low inflation, you will emphases the later.

What about the 4000 lbs cars of the 50s and 60s are they twice as good as the 2000 lbs cars of today?

Quads4444

The natural state is deflation on most items. The human goal is better faster cheaper. Manufacturing will always seek out to cut labor cost through technological advancement, robotics and process equipment or a cheaper labor pool to achieve that goal.

We then incorrectly use the CPI as a judge as to whether or not our money lost value when the items in the basket will have deflation built into them as a natural course!

If I have something made in China and import it at a lesser cost, the government will use that price to plug into the CPI. This however understates the loss of the value of your currency if you are using the CPI as a judge.

Karl, here is the best boat sinker. Most marine stores sell a siphon bilge pump for about five bucks. You connect a water hose to it and the water jet creates a venturi action that sucks the water out of the boat. So people hook it up, throw one hose down in the bilge, and the siphon in the water, with another hose connected to the dock to power the siphon. But turn that sucker off and the water will now back flow and siphon back into the boat and sink it!

Amazing what you learn here at the Market Ticker. Now I know the best way to scuttle aboat.