With the government tinkering with all the numbers, and the nightly news assaulting you with economic hardship typified by gas prices, foreclosures, and the decline of the US dollar, us fly fishermen are left in a quandary, is now the right time to buy a rod?
Us brown water specialists have lots of time to ponder on the really weighty issues, it’s the price of solitude – as the rest of you elitist sumbitches conspicuous consumers insists we fish downwind of everyone else.
The short answer is “NO”, now is not the time to be spending precious dollars on a luxury item, as according to the Brownline Economic Financial Indicator (BeFi, or “Beefy”) we’re in for an extended period of financial hardship.
Candy maker Hershey Co said on Friday it was raising U.S. prices by roughly 10 percent and warned that the higher cost of ingredients such as cocoa, corn sweetener, sugar and peanuts would weigh on profits.
The price of a Hershey’s with Almonds has predicted the ups and downs of the stock market with uncanny accuracy, and while the well coifed “suits” foaming from the safety of your television insist the Market is near a bottom, don’t believe it.
A 10% increase in the “Beefy”, means we’re at least 20 months from stability, and you’ll need that cash to pay for important staples like Whiting Saddles and fly floatant.
HERSHEY BARS (w/ almonds) being an integral part of any fisherman’s lunch, you may have hit upon the perfect market index here. For your information, the price of a Hershey in 1933 was a nickel, the bars came wrapped in crisp translucent paper with an entrancingly embossed spiderweb design, (not cheap aluminum like today), and I think prime rods were greenheart back then. How does this compute ?
A canny investor can see the “peaks and valleys” of market activity – when factored by price and weight.
The current price of the bar is $0.79 and will rise to $0.86, this is no time to be buying fly rods, houses, getting married, or doing anything but “Gutting it out.”
The “Beefy” Index is also an accurate measure of world sentiment towards the US, as these little morsels have been handed out by GI’s for the better part of a century.
Handing out the better part of a dollar bill ain’t likely to happen, hence – everyone hates us.
Year…..Size…..Retail price
1908…..9/16 oz…..2 cents
1918…..16/16 oz…..3 cents
1920…..9/16 oz…..3 cents
1921…..1 oz…..5 cents
1924…..1 3/8 oz…..5 cents
1930…..2 oz…..5 cents
1933…..1 7/8 oz…..5 cents
1936…..1 1/2 oz…..5 cents
1937…..1 5/8 oz…..5 cents
1938…..1 3/8 oz…..5 cents
1939…..1 5/8 oz…..5 cents
1941…..1 1/4 oz…..5 cents
1944…..1 5/8 oz…..5 cents
1946…..1 1/2 oz…..5 cents
1947…..1 oz…..5 cents
1954…..7/8 oz…..5 cents
1955…..1 oz…..5 cents
1958…..7/8 oz…..5 cents
1950…..1 oz…..5 cents
1963…..7/8 oz……5 cents
1965…..1 oz…..5 cents
1966…..7/8 oz…..5 cents
1968…..3/4 oz…..5 cents
1969…..1 1/2 oz…..10 cents
1970…..1 3/8 oz…..10 cents
1973…..1.26 oz……10 cents
1974…..1.4 oz…..15 cents
1976…..1.2 oz…..15 cents
1977…..1.2 oz……20 cents
1978…..1.2 oz…..25 cents
1980…..1.05 oz…..25 cents
1982…..1.45 oz…..30 cents
1983…..1.45 oz…..35 cents
1986…..1.45 oz…..40 cents
1986…..1.65 oz…..40 cents
[1991] .45
“Last year, candy makers raised the price of candy bars 5 cents, to an average of 45 cents. The previous hike was in 1986.”
—M&Ms Plans to Nickel and Dime the Competition, New York Newsday, April 8, 1992 (p. 41)
[NOTE: product weight not referenced in this article]
[2003]
1.55 oz Hershey Bar purchased at Quik (privately owned convenience store), Randolph NJ…80 cents
[2008]
1.55 oz Hershey Bar purchased at Super FoodTown (regional grocery chain), East Hanover NJ…59 cents
hmmmm… I always thought that the brownliner’s candy bar was a Baby Ruth or one of those tasteless bastard-child peanut nut rolls. Ha, every time I think of the Baby Ruth, Caddyshack comes to mind….
I’m more of a 100 Grand kind of guy anyway, and from the looks of the BeFi index, I’ll be holding back on them for a while.
A Baby Ruth is a great candy bar, but it’s also what them Blueline types think the Brown water is full of …
They’ll understand the difference at some point.