Charlie Munger: Civilized People Don't Buy Gold [View article]
Pile A: a substance that does not rot, rust or tarnish, cannot be copied nor printed. Pile B: equal value (at the beginning) of companies and farmland, which is gradually being eroded as long as its value is measured in printed pieces of paper.
You see, we all know gold isn't wealth, just a preserver of it, and that NO current paper currency has any inherent value. The problem is that as long as tangible assets are valued in dollars and their quantity is not limited, I will prefer to own something that is permanent than something that is printable. Gold is a permanent measure of wealth. Tangible assets are the real wealth. We know that.
Get Ready To Be Disappointed With Apple [View article]
I think you might overestimate the value of Steve Jobs, though genius he was. He essentially functioned as the "hardest-to-please customer" before the products even are made, creating a high level of quality control but one that isn't impossible to retain once he's gone. Apple's competition keeps putting out copycats, but without the same quality. While they may charge a premium for the products, the resale value is higher so you get it back when you sell it. The new foray into textbooks for ipads will only accelerate market growth. I remember in college talking to friends about how the future would be, we'd have tablet computers with textbooks, so we wouldn't need a backpack. Apple is leading the way to the high-tech future we envisioned. Apple perfects, the others just copy.
I have no Apple stock, fearing another market-wide 2009 drop, and only have silver and stable, high-dividend stocks (Verizon, AT&T among them), but I've no doubt that Apple isn't going down any time soon relative to other tech companies. Any materials innovation that pops up and they're all over it, such as the Liquid Metal alloy.
Bottom line is they are what the elite love, and they are creating a futuristic aesthetic that matches what people idealized in their youth. They aren't going down anytime soon, if ever. They adapt, embrace new innovations in science, and maintain high quality control, and are spreading into other highly profitable areas (itunes, now textbooks). I think, if anything, they're in the position Microsoft was in the early 90s, when it kept going up and up, and people who didn't understand the revolution taking place were cautious to buy it for the long run.
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
I actually believe a monarchy IS superior to what we have now. At least, the kind where you could move to another one nearby, like how a theme park operates (Walt Disney as "king"). Today we could have Steve Jobs as king, or Mark Cuban, or Jeff Bezos... each with their own way of doing things, setting the rules, and the citizens would either like it or leave. Right now we have elected officials with no liability if they misspend tax money they steal from us (we can't move to get away from spending higher taxes on $Trillion wars). At most they lose the next election. A kingdom who had competition like businesses would be superior.
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
Rich, kids skew pop culture because they're essentially welfare recipients who have no incentive to spend their money wisely. It's worth noting that the rise of low-brow culture as the dominant culture (rap/hip-hop domination) only began in the last 30 years. Beethoven was popular in his time, when only the wealthy could afford music. This proves that when the rich control culture (by having the most money), quality is maximized because it takes good taste and intelligence to become wealthy.
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
Capitalism - private property - is a revolt by the masses against claims of ownership over them made by socialist (government, monarchy etc.) entities! Capitalism was the only revolution that had no losers.
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
Workers looked at the industrial jobs in the city as an easy choice over the farmlands they came from. Child labor was always around in the farming days, and the ease of city living drew them away from farming. Don't pretend the Industrial revolution's workers were forced to do that. The efficiency gains and increase in standard of living made up for the monotony of the new jobs.
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
Then privatize schools and set up charities to grant scholarships to highly performing poor kids (which would incentivize their parents to help them at home) to take the strain off poor parents. School currently costs over $10k per student-year to taxpayers, up to $30k in Los Angeles, $20k in Washington DC and $15k in Detroit. Taxpayers are getting ripped off, clearly. With the internet, education should not be costing even 1/10 of that today. Add some competition (privatize schools) and we'd see that price radically lower as the highest performing low-cost schools would draw more and more students. Money would flow towards the highest education at the lowest price. No more $30k a year in Los Angeles ($750,000 per class of 25!!)
Whole Foods is always a lot more crowded in my suburban area dense with multiple grocery stores. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are about equal in shopper density.
You're forgetting the time saved by eating at some restaurant or Whole Foods is worth the $5 or $10 premium for many young people who earn a lot and don't have much free time after work. It makes sense to go there a few times a week to eat a meal, THEN shop at the same place and buy food for the next few days. Time savings! Convenience.
We all still go to the grocery store. Whole Foods lets us eat a meal AND get groceries in one stop. If they expand on that concept, they can indeed become a strong presence in areas where time saved is an important consideration.
It's not yuppie though. It's a grocery store who has quality food. As someone who respects quality, and for only a slight premium, it's an easy pick for me and a lot of other people who aren't willing to skimp on our long-term health costs by eating at restaurants all the time. I agree Starbucks is ridiculous, I never go there. Rap music is crap. Crocs are goofy, Uggs are ugly. Whole Foods will always draw quality money. Quality draws money. There is always a demand for it.
Agreed. Increasingly questionable restaurant food leaves us to want quality, and direct-from-the-grocer shopping will only increase, especially at a place who maintains high standards for food. It's cheaper than restaurants and is health oriented, a definite benefit in a system where government regulations are increasingly untrustworthy. If it's at Whole Foods, it's not crap, basically. I also notice I don't see "people of Wal Mart" clogging aisles. Quality draws quality.
Yeah, research the Chile privatization of retirement accounts. At the very least you have to agree that letting YOU in control of your own money is better than being forced to put your money into the hands of a government retirement fund that relies on fractional-reserve style ponzi scheming using the production of future generations as the reserve, an ever declining reserve.
I've never heard SS called insurance, though you're right that it operates like that; a forced insurance system that leaves workers unable to provide more to their family if they die, and unable to opt out. If it were simply a privatized account that was yours, but unable to draw from until retirement, that'd be tolerable. As it is, it's a tyrannical system deserving of being destroyed by any means necessary.
What's worse, and objectively rotten and indefensible, is the fact that all of the money put into SS by a worker is retained by the government, not the family, if the worker dies after retiring. If SS didn't exist, and employees were allowed to keep the extra money they'd be paid that goes towards covering SS cost, they could save it up and the family would receive it. Instead, as the exact opposite, everyone else BUT the family can receive the SS money (since it goes to government, to hand out to whoever else is to receive SS payments).
SS transforms a family unit into individuals and renders the family as the sole group unable to receive the proceeds of their relatives life work.
4-Must Own Dividend Stocks And 3 To Avoid For 2012 [View article]
It seems you are saying T is a sell, not a buy... at least in the short term. You're basically saying you'd only buy T if it goes down 25% (from current $30 to $22.50). I mean, it's possible, but won't happen if it does, for at least several months if not years. There's too many people that think 5.9% dividend is attractive. Although you say T is a buy, you don't have faith in it at the current price, which to me is not the same as suggesting "buy".
Charlie Munger: Civilized People Don't Buy Gold [View article]
Pile B: equal value (at the beginning) of companies and farmland, which is gradually being eroded as long as its value is measured in printed pieces of paper.
You see, we all know gold isn't wealth, just a preserver of it, and that NO current paper currency has any inherent value. The problem is that as long as tangible assets are valued in dollars and their quantity is not limited, I will prefer to own something that is permanent than something that is printable. Gold is a permanent measure of wealth. Tangible assets are the real wealth. We know that.
Get Ready To Be Disappointed With Apple [View article]
I have no Apple stock, fearing another market-wide 2009 drop, and only have silver and stable, high-dividend stocks (Verizon, AT&T among them), but I've no doubt that Apple isn't going down any time soon relative to other tech companies. Any materials innovation that pops up and they're all over it, such as the Liquid Metal alloy.
Bottom line is they are what the elite love, and they are creating a futuristic aesthetic that matches what people idealized in their youth. They aren't going down anytime soon, if ever. They adapt, embrace new innovations in science, and maintain high quality control, and are spreading into other highly profitable areas (itunes, now textbooks). I think, if anything, they're in the position Microsoft was in the early 90s, when it kept going up and up, and people who didn't understand the revolution taking place were cautious to buy it for the long run.
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
"High taxes help the richest, too" asserts Cornell economics professor Robert Frank, as the increased public spending would "produce clear gains in satisfaction for the wealthy," such as better-maintained roads. And besides, what difference does it make it if you have a home that's 15,000 square feet or one that's 10,000? [View news story]
Is Whole Foods The Next Starbucks? [View article]
Is Whole Foods The Next Starbucks? [View article]
We all still go to the grocery store. Whole Foods lets us eat a meal AND get groceries in one stop. If they expand on that concept, they can indeed become a strong presence in areas where time saved is an important consideration.
Is Whole Foods The Next Starbucks? [View article]
Is Whole Foods The Next Starbucks? [View article]
Krugman, Keynes, And The Economy [View article]
Krugman, Keynes, And The Economy [View article]
Krugman, Keynes, And The Economy [View article]
SS transforms a family unit into individuals and renders the family as the sole group unable to receive the proceeds of their relatives life work.
4-Must Own Dividend Stocks And 3 To Avoid For 2012 [View article]