OT: Lead as in lead-acid batteries.

So a Prius or other Hybrid may go up in value....

Yes, but because they contain nickel, not lead. All raw materials seem to be going up, because so many new raw materials are needed, like to build the parts for cars in China, so they can be shipped to Mexico, and assembled in Mexico and sold in the US, to get around the NAFTA regulations.

Seriously, the cost of concrete, steel, copper, etc., seems to be going up all the time. I would be surprised to learn that the price of nickel will fall, long term.

Jeff

And food, corn is being used so much for ethanol instead of feed. I'm waiting for the return of the 70's, when inflation got out of hand. So far the gov't says inflation is controlled. Cheap labor over seas and illegals keeping labor costs down, so no inflationary wage/product spiral. Kind of interesting how material things are still cheap considering the cost of the materials needed to make them. The time is coming when the standard of living for Americans is not going to increase, but damn the torpedoes full I-phone ahead.

The copper in any pre-1982 cent is worth about 3 cents and has been for more than a year now. It also, for the first time in history, costs more than 5 cents for the US Mint to make a nickel. The nickel has been exactly the same size and weight since the 1860's. Imagine what a nickel would have bought in 1870 vs now.

Charles of Schaumburg