I dont like soup. More spring rolls for me!

Plus i think that we have come to the conclusion that the guy/source that told you food prices are related to oil prices. You should find them and shoot them.

Guys, c’mon…. if you know something more that the majority, consider it a duty to educate…lets not be a part of a knowledge extension envy!..

@b, I read your article on your blog…alhamour.com, well written for laymen, lets follow that pace;

@Mark, wikipedia has some good stuff on Finance and related derivatives.. its awesome. I’m personally an Information forensics and security Guy….for Banks and investment companies. I took a week off just to understand certain financial instruments. Very Very interesting!!!.. Sometimes you will feel as though if you had known this earlier, you could have questioned a COUNTRY’s policies on financial regulations.

You never know, once the crisis gets untangled, normal people who have no knowledge about finance may raise a few valid issues where some analysts might say>>>”Fcuk!!!! the people know…!!”

@Mark: you should chill bro. nobody is ridiculing you in any way. but as Thomas mentioned, given that you are ‘influential’ and so many many people follow you blog blindly some facts need to be checked before they are posted. Next thing you know ppl will be protesting outside McD’s asking for a cheaper happy meal bcz oil is at $ 50. I mean who was telling you that they raised prices bcz of oil?? maybe you should stop listening to that person. I think I am a great teacher and many ppl will vouch for that. You are upset bcz i came down on you for an assumption you made based on information you got from someone. So technically it was directed at that person. No hard feelings man, ill still break bread with you at marzouq’s :)

My post asked a simple question that was being asked by a regular person who knows very little about finance (me). If the prices of food went up because of oil (thats what they were telling us), shouldn’t they go down now because oil prices are down?

Didn’t you say I should learn and learning is good? How can I learn without asking a question? B would be a terrible teacher for example because if every time a student of his would ask him a question, B would make fun out of the students lack of knowledge.

I’m sure you do some serious research on things that matter to you and whcih may be interesting; like wise, finance is something that used to have a tag line “I have no idea what these boring number crunchers are talking about”….. now, every one is exposed to more.

Take the GBK issue for example, If people knew what a derivative trade was (As simple it may be put), they would realize that there was no point in cashing out on their savings, salary and current accounts…There would have been no confusion at every branch…etc.

Its all good @ the end of the day. Always keep learning..it never ends.

Very soon the emergence of an active information exchange over the internet may be just around the corner, and people will finally realize why they should learn more about that colored paper in their wallets!!!

Where do you get your financial info?? I will be kind and give you a free lesson.

Inflation is the reason prices are up. Oil prices only play a small role in all this. In the US the Fed looks are core inflation, so food and energy dont play a role in the numbers they post. While in the EU headline inflation is what the ECB looks at when determining interest rates.

Food prices have been on the rise as well which is the prices are up. Transportation costs due to oil prices is a factor but it doesnt make up a bulk of costs.

I might accept if you said wealth creation due to higher oil prices creates an inflationary environment but you would have to convince me that the petro dollars are in fact trickling down into the economy.

Please email me if you would like to discuss. Leave the finance for the finance ppl.

“Would you like a large meal?” and if you said no they would then go with medium. They never ask you “What size would you like sir or madam?” It’s all from large to small. Believe it or not this is a marketing strategy. The only reason that people go to Mc Donolds is because of their quick and high qulaity service. From greetings the customer to ending the order and redirecting the customer to wait or to take a seat and they will bring in the food for them. If you go to any other fast food restaurants like Hardees for example or KFC they won’t and won’t do it as good as Mc Donolads.

I wasn’t implying that people boycott any one place or store, what i was simply saying is, if you think the prices are too high, don’t buy the product, if enough people do that, the price will have to go down or else the store is stuck with goods nobody wants to purchase.

Especially, with many of the things we are talking about, these products are not essentials, they are not medication you absolutely need, or food you have to eat, so it would not be a big deal if you were more considered in your decision to purchase them, if you think the price is too high, stop buying, don’t make the purchase then grumble about coffee/fast food being too expensive.

I recently bought an apple tv, but i didn’t buy it from Icity or Digits or whoever else sells that stuff here in kuwait, why? cause it cost something like 180KD for a product i got for 99KD from the states, i’ve read in a few of mark’s posts that he does the same, and we all should, that is the only way to fight this madness with prices.

Go to Toyota’s main showroom in Al-Rai, look at the amount of people there to buy the new land cruisers, you’d think Al-Sayer was giving them away for free. Toyota has always been about providing top quality reliable cars at very affordable prices, now a land cruisers costs 18,000KD and they’re selling every last one of them. (This is an exceptional case since al-sayer refuse to service or guarantee a car not purchased from their dealership, but how the government and toyota japan allow this i’m not sure, but people are forced to buy it from the dealer here or else).