<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content='"MSHTML 5.00.0910.1309"' name=GENERATOR>
<META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=474405705-29121998>Well now Bob... that's
the proverbial Horse of a Different Color! I must confess to having used the
same kind of generalization about my "stuff"... sort of paralleling
the anti-McDonalds ad from somebody else's chicken, referring to "parts is
parts" by referring to my basement as "Stuff is
stuff". </SPAN> <SPAN class=474405705-29121998>But, mostly,
there's "stuff" and then there's "STUFF". In
the nature of things, I've always thought of Collins as
"STUFF"... you know, like there's regular junk, and then there's good
junk.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=474405705-29121998><FONT color=#0000ff>I don't know if all this
to-do about prices and value matters much, but I believe that, as a general
rule, prices over the long haul, trend upwards on everything. Stuff's (there's
THAT word again) prices tend to rise and fall based mostly on an item's its
popularity vs its scarcity. In the case, specifically of boat anchors, that is
heavily influenced by a couple of additional factors: popularity is often
determined by urban legends (e.g. the SX-88 as an outstanding example; and the
phrase: "the Gold Dust Twins" for another); also, scarcity can REALLY
get rolling between ordinary attrition due to the occasional large/noisy/messy
component failure-which, when caused by, or combined with a healthy dose of
ignorance or stupidity, reduces the number of units existing by 1-and export...
a term often vilefied in most corners since things rarely cross the ocean in but
one direction. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=474405705-29121998><FONT
color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=474405705-29121998><FONT color=#0000ff>Right now, if this were
Wall St., we would probably have to say the market is undergoing a "slight
adjustment"... the translation of which is: the tighter money in Asia is
probably going to see fewer units shipping in that direction. Mind you, I have
mixed emotions about all of this. It is very easy to argue against a thing,
when, in truth, there isn't much you can do about it, and you don't have any
suggestions of what to do-even if you could. I personally prefer the common
"let the market find it's own level." I was actually pleasantly
surprised to see the quickness that the 75S-3(c) responded to the decreased
pressure from overseas buyers. OK... it was mostly a sort of academic
"isn't that interesting" pleasure-but it is nice to see some of the
basic economic theory I was so sure (when I was taking it so many years ago) was
pure BS-or just an observation of cause and effect... but this 75S-3(c) thing
all by itself illustrates some pretty fundamental economic concepts of demand vs
scarcity and their effects on price.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=474405705-29121998><FONT color=#0000ff>I think the truth is:
you are also correct about lightening up. The bottom line with boat anchors is
that if you are happy with what you got, for what you paid, you win. And by the
way, it seems to me that the often used phrase about "He who dies with the
most toys wins" ignores an important point: when you're dead, you don't
CARE if you had the most toys when you went, 'cause you couldn't take 'em with
you. Odds are you don't actually CARE about anything-except maybe they way the
guy at those Pearly Gates keeps nodding his head, as he looks at your entries,
continually muttering "Uh oh!" So, we had better be having a good time
now, with all this junk er stuff er whatever-you all know what I mean.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>