 |
Today I have two pieces of advice for you that will hopefully make the next 5
years of your life suck just a slight bit less than usual.
1. Buy honey. Go out to BJs and buy about $40 in jars/plastic jugs of honey.
2. Buy stock in beer companies that have extended contracts with hops dealers, like BUD.
Why?
Apparently, there is somewhat of a honeybee epidemic going on. Honeybees
have been infected and are producing about 1/2 as much honey as they would
normally. In addition, there are half as many of them as there were 50 years
ago. Scientists say that they get to the flower, do their thing and instead of flying
back to the hive, get disoriented and just keep flying. Sounds like my grandma
after a trip to Grand Union. Anyway, the end result is the honeybees wind up in
places other than the hive and thus don’t make honey. Since honey is used as
an ingredient in so many products (from food to luxury bath items), cutting the
regular supply in half is going to be huge. Expect the price of honey to
skyrocket and just about quadruple in the next few years. However, the great
thing about honey is that it is the *only* food on the planet that never goes bad.
You could find a jar of honey covered in dust an inch thick from 1946 and it
would be just fine and safe to consume. Cool, right? So, save yourself the
money now and buy more than you need so you’re not shelling out insane dough
at the grocery store in 2010. Who wants to spend $20 on something you could
have bought for $5? More info on the bee story here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/243481/bee_shortage_why_are_the_bees_dying.html
Why buy stock in beer?
Hops production is wayyyy down and therefore the price of hops is on the rise.
Huge corporations like BUD have contracts with the guys who harvest hops, so
they’re set, but all of the cool mom and pop microbrews are *screwed* unless
they’ve got contracts with the hops distributers that were made before the
shortage. Expect imports to go up and local breweries to shut down or become
super expensive. And don’t bitch at your bartender, cause it’s not their fault!!!
Expect this to hit and start affecting you in the next 2 to 3 months. Go out and
enjoy your $4 corona now, because that same corona is probably going to cost
you $6 or $7 this summer. More info here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16245024
So, do yourself a favor and buy a few shares in BUD (that’s the stock symbol
for Anhauser Busch). It’s at 48.36 a share now. Not bad. And from what I’ve
seen in the past year, it’s stayed pretty steady and retained its value. Because,
come this summer, BUD products will be making money. They’re all set with
their hops and are guaranteed them at a lower price. They’ll be one of the only
companies that can afford to sell their beer at the price is is currently this
summer. However, since the other corporations will be forced to raise their
prices, BUD will probably do the same. The difference is that they will be
making a more than substantial profit from it, while the other companies will be
barely making ends meet, and BUD will still come out as the “cheaper” beer.
Mix that in with the state of our economy and… well, you get the picture.
People who are struggling to pay their rent and car payments are going to forget
the heinekin they usually get (cuz now it’s $7) and they’re going to buy the Bud
Light for $5, thinking it’s a bargain.
<3 GC
|
