How much money did you lose on Black Monday?

Yipsy · 2024-08-05T17:12:05+00:00

It isn't over but I will start off by singing a lyric from a classic song by The Cars. My best friend's girlfriend used to be mine.

johnnydoom

Par4QC I don't know what will happen at that time, but I do believe the food supply chain will break for a large population of the planet as very few industries are self contained anymore but rely heavily on suppliers from all parts of the globe. Do I sit around and worry about it? No. But I do believe that there is an attitude among most of the people that will be "I'm going to get what I can now" vs. lets all work together through this. Maybe not, but I don't think there is leadership or cohesion that can or will engender that spirit.

ode

johnnydoom often wonder about the preppers and how they'll be able to fight off either the government or the armed hoards that come after their thoughtfully stashed stuff.

That's why those apocalyptic movies are so good🤔🙃

Ack8236

Already stocking up my bunker.

rsvman2

What good would gold do? I have to laugh at the people who think somehow gold is 'safer.'

You can't eat it. Well, not very much of it, anyway, and certainly couldn't rely on it for full nutrition. Who is going to buy it from you when the market is gone? Who's going to trade you food for it, when everybody is hungry?

funniest part of all those radio ads is that they are telling you how much better gold is than money. But THEY have the gold, and I have the money, and they are trying to make the trade! If gold is better than money, why are you trying to trade it for money? 🤣

Walterjn

rsvman2 I believe that the guys selling the gold see it more as an investment when the dollar collapses. Not the apocalypse. Gold will never lose its value, compared to the US dollar, which is no longer based on the gold standard. Although, even after the apocalypse, there will still be wanting to trade for gold, no matter what they part with.

bigshank

Walterjn I just checked $2438 an ounce. Damn. In a Mad Max world scenario it might buy you some water or a death though.

Weirfan

Walterjn

Thats one reason for sure.
Mainly however it's considered a hedge against inflation and also provides some protection in terms of deflation. Moreover, gold is really just another asset class that provides some diversity in your portfolio. Gold has historically displayed an inverse relationship to equities so again offers portfolio diversification and protection.

Some physical gold makes sense to have in a diversified portfolio. You don't want all stocks, all bonds , all cash and you don't even have to take possession of physical gold so pretty easy. There are even physically backed gold ETf's

I've generally held from 5-10% of my investment portfolio in physical gold. Have just lightened up by selling some as it breached my sell target. But Will add back when it drops to the $2000 price again.

I've also held some gold stocks as we have many up here , typically using an ETF as a basket of stocks mitigates risk. Don't own any currently as I'm mostly in cash at the moment as I do most summers

Sneakylong

There's an old saying in investing. "Don't fight the Fed” (Federal Reserve). What that means is interest rates and the stock market work inverse of each other. General rule of thumb. Low interest rates stocks go up. High interest rates stocks go down.

Also, it's important to remember that we still have historically low interest rates. I remember interest rates reaching as high as 18% back in the early 80's.

We've also averaged historically low inflation when averaged over time. The inflation rate in the U.S. averaged 3.30% from 1914 until 2024, but it has fluctuated over time as well.

It's difficult for anyone to time the stock market. Historically over it's history the stock market has been on a steady climb. But there have been periods of great volatility and periods where it went sideways (1966-1982).

Also, historically it's been a bad bet to bet against the United States. There's much wrong with our economic system (i.e. too much wealth disparity), but it's still the envy of the rest of the world.

I'm not arming myself to the teeth and storing canned goods away waiting for financial Armageddon.

Sneakylong

Yipsy

The way to reduce the debt is to grow your way out of it over a period of time. Draconian cuts are not the way. Plus the majority of the budget is the military, social security and medicare.

The one thing you do not want to do is give tax cuts to the rich with no way of paying for them and adding $8 trillion plus in deficit spending to the debt. 😉 That just adds to the problem.

Sneakylong

Yipsy

There are things we can do. I’m in favor of progressive tax policy. I’m in favor of raising the tax cap on social security etc.. But again, you can’t cut your way to reduce the debt. Again, they don’t want to cut the Military, Social Security and Medicare. That’s where the majority of the money goes. Anyway, I wouldn’t lose sleep over this.

“In 2015, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman wrote that “because [public] debt is money we owe to ourselves, it does not directly make the economy poorer (and paying it off doesn’t make us richer).” Stephanie Kelton, a prominent advocate of modern monetary theory, says that “we should think of the government’s spending as self-financing since it pays its bills by sending new money into the economy.” In 2011, Warren Buffett said, “The United States is not going to have a debt crisis as long as we keep issuing our debts in our own currency.”

Sneakylong

Yipsy US should be run like a family on a tight budget but it isn't

https://www.onlinemba.com/blog/government-should-not-run-like-business/

You probably wrongly believe that the government should be run like a business as well. I agree with the 3 reasons below.

“The difference between running a business and running a city boils down to this: Try closing a local, little used fire station to save a few bucks. Outraged neighbors of all political stripes would storm the city council in protest.

Now compare that to the silence that typically follows a corporate decision to close an underperforming branch bank or a surplus warehouse.”

“1. Profit vs. People: A corporation's mission is to make profits. This isn't just good business sense - it's also a legally binding component of incorporating. Government's mission is to to provide for all citizens through the "common good" - things like roads, schools, and police protection. In fact, if a government is profiting, then they are probably hoarding tax dollars for no good reason. Microsoft may be smart for keeping $36.1 billion in cash and liquid short-term investments, but the government would be letting people down if they sat on that much money and weren't using it to keep the country running.

Shareholders vs. Citizens: There are 535 people in Congress, the President, and nine judges. All of these politicians and judges answer to over 300 million Americans. That's a lot of decision makers, but it's this system of checks and balances that works to ensure each person's voice is heard. It isn't perfect (lobbyists/special interests/and corruption still exist), but consider the alternative. As a minor shareholder in a major company you wouldn't even have the opportunity to vote on major business decisions—like whether or not to remove a failing CEO.
Customers vs. Constituents: Companies have the luxury of dumping a line of business because it isn't profitable or choose to streamline their offerings to serve just one sector of the population. Government agencies do not have this option. This is a good thing. Imagine if Apple ran the government. Fire and Police departments would only answer calls to the homes of twenty-something hipsters, we'd have to use iTunes to file our taxes, and all legal disputes would be resolved at the Genius Bar. It would be horrible.”

Sneakylong

Yipsy

My reply was to your concern about debt. And again, the government should never be run like a business or a family on a tight budget.

Maybe you missed this part below.

Government's job is to provide for all the citizens through the common good (roads, schools, police and fire protection etc.). They should not be interested in making a profit or hoarding cash for no good reason.

Bottom line is this. Government should never be run like a business and a business should never be run like the government. They have different agendas.

Profit is the goal of a business, while providing useful services is the goal of government. A government is not a household and shouldn't be run like one. The government should be run like a household is a fallacy.

“The Constitution’s preamble states that the purpose of the federal government is “…to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."

Uninterrupted funding of programs and services is critical to residents’ health, welfare, and security.

Sneakylong

Yipsy For you to call the government being run like a household a fallacy yet promote MMT?

You were wrong regarding your chicken little propaganda on the Covid vaccines and you’re wrong about this.

Sneakylong

Yipsy What did I post about vaccines?

A lot of nonsense. lol

azgreg

Yipsy how is COVID doing in the US? Is it gone?

Nope, it's still a thing.

Yipsy How are those vaccines working?

Great. If you're vaccinated you are far less likely to get very sick or die.

Weirfan

rsvman2

Yipsy The hell are you talking about? Lordy, you are stupid. There are piles of data taller than you that show it saved lives.

Weirfan

rsvman2

Giphy - Animation Domination Fox GIF by AniDom

DC300

I bought more and am up 25% on that already, you buy low, sell high, not the other way around.

rsvman2

Yipsy 🤣🤣🤣
No offense, and i don't want to delve into yet another conversation about this, but you are just wrong and that's it. Period. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

I'll leave it at that.

Weirfan

rsvman2 Giphy - Dougie Payne Doctor GIF by Travis

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