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The Cost of 12 Days of Christmas
CtrlPhreak writes "PNC bank once again has come out with the Christmas price index, the cost of the 12 days of christmas. The result, swans cost 66.7 percent up from last year. The total cost rose 18.8 percent from the last year to a grand total of... $65,264.28, the largest percentage increase since 1987."
As a Canadian, one US dollar was worth $1.61 CDN in the beginning of this year. Now one US dollar is worth $1.31 CDN. Which means the US dollar this year has dropped about... 18.63%, which is eerily similar to the rise in price for the 12 days of Christmas!
Take this into account, and 2 of the 3 major US stock indices are actually DOWN for the year.
Dow Diamonds (DIA) was ~$87 USD in January and is now ~$101 USD.
But the US dollar then was worth 1.61x the Canadian dollar and is now worth only 1.31x. So from where I stand, the DIA was ~$140 CDN in January and is now $133 CDN.
S&P 500 (SPY) was ~$92 USD in January and is now ~$108 USD.
That makes it $148.12 CDN in January and $141.48 now CDN.
On the other hand, tech stocks are indeed up for the year:
Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was ~$26 USD in January and is now ~$36 USD.
So that makes it $41.86 CDN in January and $57.96 CDN in December.
Pipers? Does this count?
The Army reading list
Actually this is probably a better gauge on inflation than the fictitious numbers they're feeding us from the goverment statistics.
If you want a real-world measurement, The Economist uses a Big Mac index, tracking the price of Big Mac's not just in the US but around the world, as a means of measuring inflationary trends and foreign currency movements...
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If you actually look at the prices they aren't consistantly up. Most are unchanged. The ones that changed drastically are the price of birds and pear trees must have had a good season since the price is way down. Swans are far more expensive, calling birds are more expensive. And drummers and pipers which are probably getting rarer by the year.
It has little to no relation to the dollar. Unless we're getting those birds, pipers and drummers from Canada. More likely is that those items were a hot item last time the price list came out so they raised the prices this year.
The gold rings are less expensive most likely from the fluctuation of the price of gold.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Gee, do ya think maybe the American dollar is down due to George W's ridiculous economic policies?
Yes, actually. A lower dollar allows for cheaper exports and more expensive imports. What does that mean? It means encouragement for the domestic job market and industry. It's generally the correct thing to do when a recession is forced upon you by an event such as 9/11. That being said, the war actually improved the economy and the market, so don't try to blame the situation on that either.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Ixnay my friend. If you do the math, you'll find that the repetitions mean that on each day the true love of the singer gave a partridge in a pear tree, and added the extra on top of it. That means a total of 12 partridges in pear trees. That is the repetition. No profit margin there. There's fourty golden rings sold at a loss.
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
If you listen to the Flash feature on the page (yeah, politically incorrect here) you will learn that they are assuming that the gifts repeat on successive days. Hence the huge cumulative price.
Yes, I can see how having a song using all the numbers from one to twelve would help me remember the tenets (hey, at least you spelled it right) of my faith. "Jimmy, how many commandments are there?" "Hmmm... commandments... lords a-leaping... 10, ma'am!"
But amazingly, Snopes disagrees.
one hundred twenty
is just enough characters
to write a haiku
Only one hand may wield the ruling ring.
And there are 10 Lords-a-Leaping.
Here is where you can buy one lord-a-leaping.
While googling for the lyrics I came across this christian explanation of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
(How novel, a christian explaination of a christmas song.)
Also note, while it seems the song has different origins, the term The Twelve Days of Christmas refers to the 12 days occuring between the Catholic Christmas (December 25) and the Orthodox Christmas (January 6) (I think).
I also came across a site of satires of the twelve days.
Also, maybe I should RTFA, but does the cost of the twelve days of christmas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.... 12 of each thing respectively, or is it:
OK, I RTFA and it only considered the catalog of the song on the last sing through, which is considerably less that what accounts on singing the enitre song. (Each time you go through the list they add up.)
And does this mean the Answer is really 42 Geese-a-Laying?
Nobody died when Nixon lied.
I'm meeting you half way you stupid hippies!
If you watch the flash presentation (or read the article closely), they mention this:
;)
"The price tag for the 364 items this holiday season is $65,264, up from 2002's true cost of $54,951."
Their total number of items is higher than yours, but I'm too lazy to see if you're wrong or they are.
"When we Christians hold on to legends like this.." - how about holding onto that silly god-myth?