On 26 Apr 2007 18:08:12 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

Means that folks of ordinary or upper middle class
means aren't buying boats, and that volume is pretty crucial to
pricing of a lot of goods and services that even those of us who
aren't going to be trading boats any time soon consume on a regular
basis.

I've been saying that for over a year now just based on observation
and intuition.

I'm not exactly destitute, but it cost me $204 today to fill the truck
with diesel (30 gallons - $83) and fill the boat (42 gallons - $121)
after burning off the old fuel this afternoon.

Do that every weekend, plus all the other expenses of going to work
(which I don't do), increasing food and home energy costs, something
has to give and that's going to be the boat.

While the economy is stable, this notion of the FED that only core CPI
is a valid indicator of inflation and living costs is ridiculous. The
real rate of inflation is around 13% from the first of the year and
the FED is pretending it's only around 2.3% because they discount
energy and food. Last year, real inflation was something like 9%.

Add increasing income taxes, increasing fees (my registrations went up
this year by $5 across the board), insurance, etc., boating is the
first to go.