27 February 2007

In Economic News Today...

Yeah, yeah, the Dow, the S&P, and Nasdaq all tumbled 3-4 percent today on the heels of a Chinese market sell-fest and Greenspan (Really, how does this man still wield so much power? Gotta love the smoke and mirrors that comprise the power of the Fed. Give Ben some time and he'll catch up to heavy-hitters Volcker and Greenspan in this regard.) opened his mouth for the first time in ages to say a recession is coming, but the really big news...$2.35mil for "the Holy Grail of baseball cards!"
Holy bejesus, who'da thunk a little picture of a Pittsburgh Pirate could ever be worth so much. That's right, the Honus Wagner tobacco card...the only one still in pristine condition, though others still exist...sold today to an anonymous collector for 2,350,000 simoleons. Let's think about this for just a minute. For that amount you could put a roof over your head, a nice car in the driveway, plenty of food on the table, buy a college education, and still have a bit left over, yet someone (well, ok a lot of someones) has enough cash lying around to spend it on a piece of cardboard with a photo on it that came out of a cigarrette box. Now, don't get me wrong, I collected (ok, so I still have them) baseball cards and used to beg and plead with my parents for a few bucks to buy a pack or two. And I used to gawk at pictures of the Honus card and many others in the Beckett magazine, but it still makes me question our economic system when a baseball card sells for this kind of moolah. Supply and demand...supply and demand, yoy.

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