Speaking of brownies... I always loved the Ghiradelli brownie mix (never made them but had them at a neighbor's house and asked her for recipe since they were so good and she told me they were this mix). Anyway, it turns out that I always liked boxed brownies better than my own because they were chewier and I love a chewy brownie. Then one day I came across this (link below). Cooks Illustrated set out to figure out why boxed brownies were better than home made and this recipe is what came out of that. If you like chewy brownies, these are really, really good. I was so excited to find this because first I don't use boxed stuff for baking. Always make from scratch. And, second the Ghiradelli mix has articifial ingredients so even if I was going to buy one, it couldn't be that one. Sorry for the hijcak, but you got me thinking about brownies. Here is a link that might be useful: Chewy Brownies

Information regarding the Grreat Choice® Recall With the recent FDA announcement of a salmonella investigation involving peanut butter products distributed through the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), we began working closely with all of our vendors to verify whether there are any implications for our customers and their pets through the products sold in our stores. Although we are not aware of any reported cases of injury or illness related to peanut butter products in our stores, we are conducting a voluntary recall as a precautionary measure and have removed these products from our shelves and website. Background Effective January 20, 2009, PetSmart® is conducting a voluntary recall of seven of our Grreat Choice dog biscuits (peanut butter and assorted flavors). We initiated the recall after determining these products sold between August 21, 2008 and January 19, 2009 contain peanut butter product linked to the salmonella recall announced by the FDA. While some of these products have been tested and no traces of salmonella were found, we have recalled these products as a precautionary measure. Because of the potential risk, we're immediately removing these products from our shelves and website. What Has Been Recalled? Here's the complete list of products included in the recall with their UPC code, also known as a bar code. Check the description and UPC of any food you may have against this list. The UPC can be found on the product label under a series of bars. If you need help, ask any PetSmart store associate. Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits UPC Description Sample of a UPC Code 73725702900 Small Assorted 32 oz. 73725700601 Small/Medium Assorted 4 lb.. 73725700605 Small/Medium Assorted 8 lb.. 73725702755 Small/Medium Assorted 10 lb.. 73725700638 Large Assorted 8 lb.. 73725700779 Extra Large Assorted 8 lb.. 73725700766 Peanut Butter 4 lb.. At this time, only these UPCs are affected. Here is a link that might be useful: Petsmart Product Code Recall Details

Jim, the money supply can go up but if velocity is down, it doesn't drive inflation. I've linked below to an article on this. And how much is the money supply going up, really? The Fed is trying to drive up money supply, but the private sector is pulling it down. You can find charts of money supply, here is one: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/money-supply-charts Money supply has declined quite significantly in the past couple years. dcarch, no question the rapid growth of China and India is adding to demand. However, that growth is coming from a very low level. The consumption of goods and services by the average person in China or India is far, far less than the consumption of the average person in the US, Europe and Japan. Use GDP per capita as a rough proxy for consumption. India is about $3,500, China about $7,000 vs US about $46,000, Western Europe and Japan about $35,000. China's population is 1.3bn, India's 1.2bn, US 311mm, Western Europe 500mm (use the EU), Japan 127mm. So we can get the GDP of each region. Suppose China and India's GDP grows 60% in the next 5 years, which is 10% per year (about the current rate) while the US, Western Europe and Japan's GDP only grows 10% over the period or 2% per year (unfortunately, also about the current rate if not better). The result would be the combined GDP grows 24% over the period or 4% per year. (approximate, I don't have a spreadsheet here, just an iPhone and a pencil). (We could use other proxies for consumption, like energy consumption per capita. Which is why I did the above as a per capita calculation, instead of simply starting with country GDP.) Can the world supply 4% more ''stuff'' per year without driving inflation to very high levels? Overall, sure. There is plenty of production capacity in electronics and plastic molding and LCD screens to supply (far more than) 4% growth in iPhones and similar. There is plenty of assembly and component manufacturing capacity to supply (more than) 4% growth in automobiles. Similar for concrete to make housing, fiberboard to make furniture, etc. 4% will not stress global capacity, especially after a deep recession as we've just had. We'll see periods of volatility in some prices, as supply and demand adjust. Pork, rice, cotton, etc. This volatility will be upwards and downwards, but the price rises will get more media attention. Remember a couple of years ago, when rice was skyrocketing in price, countries were hoarding, everyone was talking about rice shortages? Rice soared to $22. Then it fell to $12, that didn't get much news. Rose to $16. Fell to $10. Rose to $14. Yet during the period 2008 to present, as rice price were cut in half, China and India have continued to grow and consume more of everything - and they eat a lot of rice. The commodities that are soaring today will collapse the same way. Commodities are more volatile today, their prices moving more than fundamental demand-supply would suggest, because more investors are playing those markets, and financial money flows are huge compared to the relatively small commodities markets. In the end, fundamentals still control. Here is a link that might be useful: Article

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