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Post by kenmb on Apr 4, 2022 9:03:56 GMT -6
Keep in mind the hooker is actually providing a service. Creating something that didn't exist before. That is ultimately what wealth creation is - create something that didn't exist before and have someone purchase it.
So somebody writing a book is creating wealth. So is the farmer growing a crop. Or the guy making a wood table from lumber purchased at a lumber yard.
What is not wealth creation, and to Kevlars point, is when the government taxes the sale of the lumber to the yard, and the sale of the lumber to the furniture maker. Same commodity is taxed multiple times. Yes there are tax exemptions somewhere, but the point is government can tax the same basic thing multiple times.
The recent tax on used cars is a fine example. It was taxed when new, and is taxed again.
And of course how land keeps being resold and taxes collected each time. Same piece of land, multiple tax transactions over the years.
Our system is really, really, really bad. We just don't pay attention to how bad it is because we simply say it is the way it is. What's important to remember is it is that way because it has been designed that way. And not in a manner to help the peasants or provide the best system possible.
More talk of Russia linking the ruble to gold. And since Russia is selling gas only for rubles, thats means Russia commodity known as gas is linked to gold. And so cutting out the $us. And essentially making commodity transactions in gold for other international players.
It seems the only intelligent things going on in the world these days is news what Russia is doing. Russia closed its stock market a while back and reopened it by banning short selling of some things. I haven't followed it any further but interesting to note the most capitalist country these days is Russia. Imagine not being able to bet on a company to fail, or destroy a company you don't like buy engaging in short selling mechanisms.
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Bitcoins
Apr 4, 2022 16:36:10 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by cptusa on Apr 4, 2022 16:36:10 GMT -6
"The hooker is providing a service". I like that.
One of our local useless, who is known as Scrouge, told me once to go buy hookers intead of getting married. His reasoning was you could either pay by the hour or pay by th lifetime.
Valid point.
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Bitcoins
Apr 5, 2022 6:59:23 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by shmiffy on Apr 5, 2022 6:59:23 GMT -6
Keep in mind the hooker is actually providing a service. Creating something that didn't exist before. That is ultimately what wealth creation is - create something that didn't exist before and have someone purchase it. So somebody writing a book is creating wealth. So is the farmer growing a crop. Or the guy making a wood table from lumber purchased at a lumber yard. What is not wealth creation, and to Kevlars point, is when the government taxes the sale of the lumber to the yard, and the sale of the lumber to the furniture maker. Same commodity is taxed multiple times. Yes there are tax exemptions somewhere, but the point is government can tax the same basic thing multiple times. The recent tax on used cars is a fine example. It was taxed when new, and is taxed again. And of course how land keeps being resold and taxes collected each time. Same piece of land, multiple tax transactions over the years. Our system is really, really, really bad. We just don't pay attention to how bad it is because we simply say it is the way it is. What's important to remember is it is that way because it has been designed that way. And not in a manner to help the peasants or provide the best system possible. More talk of Russia linking the ruble to gold. And since Russia is selling gas only for rubles, thats means Russia commodity known as gas is linked to gold. And so cutting out the $us. And essentially making commodity transactions in gold for other international players. It seems the only intelligent things going on in the world these days is news what Russia is doing. Russia closed its stock market a while back and reopened it by banning short selling of some things. I haven't followed it any further but interesting to note the most capitalist country these days is Russia. Imagine not being able to bet on a company to fail, or destroy a company you don't like buy engaging in short selling mechanisms. Short selling is something that took me a long to get it figured out. Just couldn’t see how it could possibly be done.
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Post by kenmb on Apr 5, 2022 10:33:42 GMT -6
I don't fully understand short selling, even now I need to read up on it again. But the gist is you bet on a company to fail. And if you are a "hedge fund" with a few $Billion to throw around you can actually drive a stock lower and thus create the narrative the company is on shakey ground and therefore not able to get financing, which of course sets the company up to fail. Gamestop was the news to show the people how it works. A corrupt system of brokerage house working with hedge funds to create massive short positions to destroy a company, the only thing to stop it is massive buying. Now, in a truly free world one could argue such a scheme may actually work (putting aside short selling is nothing about capitalism) but in a world where those closest to the banking cartel get all the info, inside information, bailouts, etc then it is not a level playing field to begin with.
A capitalist system works on investing in a company you think will succeed and you do this buy owning a part of a company. Done via buying shares. And if you don't think the company will succeed then you either don't buy shares, or sell what you have. There is nothing in a capitalist ideology that says you should be able to place a wager about a company failing. That is not capitalism - that is a casino. And if the house rigs the casino, then we keep moving further from a free market system. Yes, I read enough articles about how shorting is good and helps clean up markets and such. The reality is that in not how free market economies would work.
You don't even need to buy a company stock to short it, you can simply borrow it for a while. Yes, it is quite the "capitalist" system we all have here. So much nicer than those poor Russians.
It's good that we censor our media and public discussion in the west also. Another thing we benefit from.
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Post by OptimallyDismal on Apr 5, 2022 13:46:56 GMT -6
My thinking when I started trading stocks online was the best you can hope for when shorting is 100% if they go broke, but a good stock can go up many multiples of value, and so ended my interest in shorting. Also margin calls can be stressful. At least when my stocks go broke I am limited to only losing what I had invested so it ends there!
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Post by bobofthenorth on Apr 5, 2022 20:08:35 GMT -6
I don't fully understand short selling, even now I need to read up on it again. But the gist is you bet on a company to fail. That's the extreme case. The reality is that shorting is just the inverse of buying. If you buy a stock as a trader you expect it to appreciate. If you short a stock you expect it to depreciate.
In today's market there's stocks that have never made 5 cents of profit trading at multiples of revenue, whatever the hell that means. There's stocks that are trading at 30, 40, 50 and more times their forward earnings. Its pretty easy to think that situation isn't sustainable, particularly so as interest rates rise. If you're of that mindset then buying those stocks is stupid. There's other sectors with more realistic multiples but there's good logic to betting against stocks that are arguably overpriced.
Right now the NASDAQ stocks are on a runaway. Personally I think its a dead cat bounce. 3 months ago there was a lot of money to be made on the short side of the NASDAQ. Some of us are naturally pessimists.
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Post by OptimallyDismal on Apr 5, 2022 20:15:48 GMT -6
I never could understand covered calls either, Andy Sirski always had them mentioned in his Grain News column. Right now I am curious if there is a down side to the dividend split stocks, they don't change value much, but they have a terrific yield.
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tommo780
Junior Member
Posts: 61 Likes: 61
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Post by tommo780 on Apr 5, 2022 21:54:44 GMT -6
In today's market there's stocks that have never made 5 cents of profit trading at multiples of revenue, whatever the hell that means. There's stocks that are trading at 30, 40, 50 and more times their forward earnings. Its pretty easy to think that situation isn't sustainable, particularly so as interest rates rise. If you're of that mindset then buying those stocks is stupid. There's other sectors with more realistic multiples but there's good logic to betting against stocks that are arguably overpriced.
The last I checked, I think around 20% of the S&P are zombie companies including some of the "most valuable" like Tesla. Constant quarterly losses in the hundreds of millions, but hey it makes for a good bit of virtue signaling on Tik Tok to claim that you support the "green revolution" so the herd follows and the valuation goes to the moon!
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Post by kenmb on Apr 6, 2022 22:48:52 GMT -6
You can shut down the economy, force millions into unemployment, stop work, have government pick up the slack by giving welfare, all in the name of covid - and stocks go up.
That about sums up our free market, capitalist system. In short - it doesn't exist. Hasn't existed ever since we began a centrally planned economy with a private group setting interest rates. And that there is your answer to many things.
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Post by Oatking on Apr 7, 2022 9:02:12 GMT -6
Agree ken, apparently trudeau says the economy is booming now ,In response to this boom cycle, billions of aid is awarded thru our liberal budget to help the sheep learn how to live off this centrally planned economy. How can inflation be cured if more and more money is introduced into thin air? God help us all if bitcoins are worth more to us than the gold standard. I am very worried when trudeau will come after us farmers for more funds. In the meantime the liberals and NDP will deplete the banking sector profits so they can gain control of them. The liberal playbook of the great reset is in plain view for everybody to see! I guess if they slowly implement this reset no one will rise up or notice it!
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Post by Oatking on Jun 14, 2022 14:58:37 GMT -6
What will be the fate of bitcoin after the recent huge slide in value. Is this a great buying opportunity or is this a result of inflation. Inflation does not seem to impact gold or silver right now nor do those metal see the mammoth drop in value like crpto. Looks like many folks are jumping ship which has suspended trading of a few crypto currencies.
Is crypto suffering the same loss as the tulip bulb plunge in the 1600s. Least tulips bulbs were a hard asset. Amazing how humans can isolate a particular commodity and make a market out of it until someone says enough is enough!.
Can russia use the bitcoin now to hide its ruble value now. Would you put more stock in a ruble or a bitcoin now. What has more upside side.
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tommo780
Junior Member
Posts: 61 Likes: 61
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Post by tommo780 on Jun 14, 2022 22:33:25 GMT -6
What will be the fate of bitcoin after the recent huge slide in value. Is this a great buying opportunity or is this a result of inflation. Inflation does not seem to impact gold or silver right now nor do those metal see the mammoth drop in value like crpto. Looks like many folks are jumping ship which has suspended trading of a few crypto currencies. Is crypto suffering the same loss as the tulip bulb plunge in the 1600s. Least tulips bulbs were a hard asset. Amazing how humans can isolate a particular commodity and make a market out of it until someone says enough is enough!. Can russia use the bitcoin now to hide its ruble value now. Would you put more stock in a ruble or a bitcoin now. What has more upside side. I would be wary of going anywhere near it Oatking. Dip your toe with 20 bucks maybe but I wouldn't be going any more than that. The recent crypto implosion is mostly to do with the fact that there is nothing backing them, same as fiat and the current ongoing destruction in the bond market. If I could get my hands on them I would be buying Rubles by the truck load. Go and do a quick search for RUB/USD over the last year, it will show the massive spike when the sanctions went on and supposedly Biden commented that the Ruble was going to rubble. Then Putin turned round and pegged it to energy by forcing anyone wanting to buy energy having to pay in Rubles, then it came right back down and is now doing better than it was at any time in the last few years. Also if you want to dig a bit deeper into the crypto ponzi I would certainly recommend this recent podcast. www.grant-williams.com/podcast/this-week-in-doom-whats-it-all-about/
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Post by kenmb on Jun 16, 2022 7:56:22 GMT -6
If the world ever had freedom and people doing what is the right thing for those in their care, then Russia is the closest thing resembling that kind of world. Defending its currency, linking it to energy, not accepting the $us or euro in payment. These things are what a real world would look like. Now, in our world it is hard to say if Russia is actually doing these things for their own good or just another piece in the game puzzle.
As for bitcoin, it still remains a farce as always. It is not ordinary people giving it value. It is controlled and manipulated just like everything else in our world.
Look at the reality. Your government and all other pontificating knowledge sources say bitcoin is bad and is a danger to the economy and threat to things like the $us. And then a business can advertise on a website saying it accepts bitcoin as payment. And none of the people running the show can figure out how to stop bitcoin use? Really? I mean really? They can find the guy who posted he wants to see Trudeau hung from a tree, and prosecute him, but no one in charge of protecting the country can figure out how to stop bitcoin from being used in transactions on a website.
And the most obvious one of the all - bitcoin futures trading.
Good lord. How stupid does the average person need to be to ignore this little detail. Yes, bitcoin apparently endangers the financial world and is a threat to everything - yet the government watchdogs and agencies then set up a futures trading arrangement, ETFs, and other such mechanisms so that everyone can be involved.
I talk of some far out conspiracies, but when the average peasant actually beleives bitcoin is disliked by those in control, but can't figure out how to stop it - then the average peasant will beleive anything. And the most absurd things can be done to the peasants and they will accept it. Like covid lockdowns, there is no inflation, your government is here to help, cheap debt is good, the government is there to help the poor, etc, etc.
Yes, the general population is really that dumb.
So the people in control can basically do anything they want.
If the government and financial institutions want to see bitcoin removed as a threat, then removing futures trading is probably a starting point that a class of grade 3 students might come up with as a top response. But no one else can figure that one out. And when we have the best and brightest in charge of running your life, that should make you really question what is conspiracy talk and what is reality.
As always, bitcoin and crypto will go wherever those in control decide. It is not a free market. If it was, btc futures trading would not exist. Play the game accordingly.
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Post by kenmb on Jun 17, 2022 7:47:28 GMT -6
Janet Yellen went from head of Fed to head of US Treasury. Reflect on that coincidence first of all.
As head of Treasury she is basically responsible for protecting the value of the nations currency. It is basically the number one function of that role.
Yellen has made comments about the dangers bitcoin presents to the $us as well as expressed her concerns about people investing in crypto and bitcoin and its volatility and that those people are in danger of being ripped off.
Guess what her answer was when the media asked why she does not have the government put an end to bitcoin futures trading?
Hah - trick question. No one in the media has ever asked this question of her or anyone else in government whose job it is to make sure the citizens currency is properly protected.
And that, in a nutshell, is your world.
If I said you were watching actors whenever the government and media are at work would you beleive it? Or do you actually beleive people in the government and media are really that bad at their jobs?
And who is the guilty party in this scenario. The government giving the rediculous statements, the media for never asking the real questions, or the peasants watching it on tv and believing this is all how things really work and everyone is really doing the best job they can and keeping the citizens informed with the best possible information.
Answer that question honestly for yourself.
There is no inflation. Inflation is transitory. You can inflate your way out of debt. Interest rates must be kept low to stimulate the economy. Etc, etc. Who is the guilty of the bigger offense to basic human decency/conduct - the people who say those things or the people who beleive it. Because as a consumer of information you have a very important role to play. Sadly majority of people simply say it is on tv and therefore it must be true. Then wash their hands of any responsibility in assessing what is being fed to them.
Yes, only in the last 12 months has inflation been an issue. The tv says so. The media says so. The government experts say so. The economists say so. The question is, why do the majority of people beleive so.
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Post by kenmb on Jul 6, 2022 12:18:48 GMT -6
Haven't been looking at precious metals prices for months but the idea of $19 silver and $840 platinum got me curious to see what a few coins would cost. Looked at silvergoldbull and see 1 Oz silver coin for $34can and 1 Oz plt for $1310 on special. This is a long long way from a good deal. And it is not the $can being down, they are gouging the hell out of the market with these premiums. The $can is actually up a fair bit from a couple years ago when I could buy 1oz plt for $1350 when spot was around $us1000.
What a crock. Goes to show that never assume anything. Never assume you can always buy when you want or that you will always be able to buy for a fixed price over spot. I don't see any buying opportunities right now. No doubt some other metal dealers will have some slightly better prices but I was used to buying 1 Oz silver for spot x currency conversion + $2 to $4 premium. Now it is +$8 premium. Platinum never really paid attention to a premium as it was rather small once currency conversion was done, now its about $200/oz.
Of course the other possibility is premiums go higher and higher as the economy goes down and down and this now looks like blow out pricing. Especially when the next possible news to be created is refineries and mints shutting down because of poor economy and yadda yadda.
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