pascoe-meter update, page-18

Herr Skol,

I work in IT and don't pretend to be a technical chartist or a Buffet-like operator scouring detailed company reports/charts, etc. I just use my "real-world eyes and ears" analysis methods such as:

1. Taxi drivers
2. Friends/strangers/family at barbeques and pubs
3. Work colleagues
4. So-called gold bars at shopping centres
5. Neo-Keynsianist pro-status quo economists who write opinion pieces in tabloid papers (ie. the vast majority of economists)

Typical responses I get are:

1. Taxi drivers: Indians/Chinese/Koreans all pro gold and silver. Caucasians - have no freakin' idea and laugh at thoughts of accumulation.
2. Barbies and pubs: mostly looks of incredulity mingled with mirth and sneering. Like I'm a freak or something. LOL
3. Work colleagues (with exception of Indians/Afghanis/Chinese, etc) - reactions as above
4. Gold bars at shopping centres - every time I pass one, they are mostly empty. No long lines of sellers
5. Tabloid economists - the Gittinses, Olivers, "Kochies" of the mainstream commentariat: they mostly carry on about bubbles in gold and silver and precious metals. Good for me as a contrarian - they laugh, I buy.

So, summing up from the above personal gut-feel barometer, I genuinely do not see any signs of bubbles, except for perhaps Australian real estate, and artificially inflated stock prices due to insatiable US monopoly-money printing.