On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 14:06:26 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed
Huntress" quickly quoth:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .

I picked up a 20' stick of 3/4" x 3/4" angle iron a few days ago and
it cost a bleeding $14.90! He told me it had gone up 30% two weeks
ago and was going up another 10% today. Steel plate is being rationed!

Hayseuss Crisco, it's getting expensive out there...

China is sucking up a lot of steel. As much as they make, they've been in
deficit for a few years. Hold onto those used nails, we may need them.

I asked the steelmonger about that. He said that they were buying
mostly scrap, but some fresh arn, too.


That is, if there's anything left to eat. They're sucking up a lot of grain,
too. They've developed a taste for finished beef, and beer. If they increase
production by three beers per year per Chinese adult, they will consume more
grain that all that grown in Norway. And we're using a lot of ours to make
ethanol, which consumes almost a gallon of oil to make a gallon equivalent
of ethanol.

Ethanol is a losing proposition. I hope we don't waste any more money
on it. I get 10-15% lower mileage with our newly mandated oxygenated
fuels now. That's 10% ethanol here.


And once those Chinese get loaded on their three beers per year, they'll
need something to drive. d8-)

1000:1 that ain't gonna be DEEtroit stock, either.

--
The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life,
acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can
do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
-- Euripides