Stock Market Shenanigans

[jbird4049]

The only thing that matters is the faith in the US Govt. As long as we are the most sable nation on the planet we can hit Alt+P all day to "prime the pump".

If somehow the BRICS or the EU appear to be a more stable store of wealth (highly unlikely) then its SHTF time.

The end.

I will add though that the Alt+P function is like the infinite lives Cheat Code on Contra. It leads you to doing all sorts of silly shit that is actually counter-productive to winning the game because it doesn't matter as long as you got infinite lives (money). If something happens and the cheat code quits working and you never actually learned how to beat the game without cheating...you are fucked.

True fact, and well said.
But how long can this last? I got kids...

I don't recall being asked my opinion on this financial suicide pact.

You're opinions don't matter, only those of your betters do. Thing is, our betters do not seem to realize just how important faith in our society is. Once people lose it, it's buh-bye government, and hello barbarians! Right now it is a race between resuscitation, and flat-lining, and who knows which will win.

[jbird4049]

That is the worst, anecdotal, hodpodge, politically-leftist, imaginary, fabrication of recent economic history ever to grace these forums.
And we have GCF here (aka - the economic pie is static and successful people are taking my "share"), so that's saying something.

Lovely bit of ad hominem there DB.

I'm always open to being mistaken, or wrong, or even stupid, not that I like the possibilities, oh no. What I hear from you is frake the government, to Heck with society, history is bunk, life sucks, and just give up, we're doooooomed.

If you have some alternative history, to go along with the alternative facts, please have the courage to say them. I probably will not agree, although one never knows, but I will certainly take you more seriously.

[kybkh]

We are in a war of ideas not of nationhood.

Unfortunately, the ideas are so opposed that the only way to progress as a society will be the total capitulation of one side or the other.

The deciding blow which will end this conflict will be when middle class white women can no longer afford to live in non-segregated neighborhoods and buy $400 purses.

They only can now because of 0% interest credit cards. Once easy credit ends, the handouts will cease along with the Democratic Party.

We still think we live in the Land of the Plenty when we actually live in the Land of the Indebted.

Imagine what this country would be like if white women couldn't run up 20-30k in CC debt at 10-15% interest. Imagine if the rates were nearer there long term avg of 20-30%.

It's already starting to hit home. That's the main reason Trump won White women as convincingly as he did.

[TheOneX]

Board Challenge: Try to imagine a way that our financial regulatory system could possibly be worse than it is now. I'll wait.

(inb4 somebody comes running in to scream "COMMUNISM!!!!")

Intrusive regulations that make it increasingly difficult for small to mid-sized businesses to get loans, advances to make payroll, competitive stock valuation, etc - yet do nothing to curb the big players from gambling on the taxpayers dime.

You know.
Kind of like everything leading up to 2008.

But hey, THIS TIME I'm sure they'll do it right.
Because they aren't the same people they were before, and you all aren't the same fools you've been every time they wave the "regulation" word in front of your face.

Nope.
This time it'll be totally different.
It's the 2,748th repetition of "regulation" that's going to be the magic number.
I can feel it!

Screaming for the 2748th time that regulations never work is asinine. It is like saying murder is still around, and police corruption is rampant, so lets allow both. After the Great Crash of 1929, and the fun of the Great Depression, the regulating of Wall Street was successful from about 1935 to about 1995. That is about sixty years. It has been a 40-50 year campaign by the wealthy to destroy this. It only really started to succeed because the parents, and grandparents, of the wealthy are not longer here.

From the 1960s on, when the survivors of the Crash (those of all classes who wanted no return to the Great Depression, part 2 regardless of their political beliefs) started to seriously die off, there was an ever stronger effort, by an ever wealthier class of rentiers to water down the regulations, and it worked, and is still working.

Corruption in our society has been increasing since about 1975 in tandem with the increasing wealth disparity. There has always been corruption but it reached a peak about 1900-1930 before the Progressive Era reformers reduced it. Say what you will about them, the movement was strongly focused and successful on fixing the corruption.

Hopefully we will deal with the corruption, and the economic issues, but that just means 2-3 generations later we will probably be right back where we are now. That's life.

This, it is no coincidence that only a little over a decade after many of the regulations put in place after the Great Depression were repealed that the "Great Recession" happened. If you look at the economic history of the US prior to the Great Depression there was a boom bust cycle. Afterwards we get these regulations, and suddenly we see unprecedented growth for 60 years. Sure some of that had to do with WW2, but it doesn't last as long as it did without those regulations.

There are a select few industries that are too important to allow free reign. If a bank fucks up, it affects everyone even if you are not associated with that bank. On top of that, finance is particularly attractive to people who are willing to screw others over for more money. Much like politicians I would be highly wary of trusting any of them. Making sure they play fair is important to creating and maintaining a strong and stable economy.

[brewster]

Jbird and Dr X, these guys can't see a smoking gun even after it's been jammed in their mouths and the trigger pulled. The "government BAD" ideology prevents it. I can never understand why government is bad when it tries to foil white collar crime or prevent our being poisoned by "Industrialists", but good when it spends insane amounts of money on weapons we'll never use or on locking people up for nonsense like weed.

[doc_loliday]

There has been no steady growth. The economy has alternated between growth and recession since the great depression There has been no smoothing of this trend, and you'd be hard pressed to say that we've done better than laisse faire. I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't attempt to regulate the market at all, but saying there has been a period of sustained growth is simply not true.

[clubgop]

We are in a war of ideas not of nationhood.

Unfortunately, the ideas are so opposed that the only way to progress as a society will be the total capitulation of one side or the other.

The deciding blow which will end this conflict will be when middle class white women can no longer afford to live in non-segregated neighborhoods and buy $400 purses.

They only can now because of 0% interest credit cards. Once easy credit ends, the handouts will cease along with the Democratic Party.

We still think we live in the Land of the Plenty when we actually live in the Land of the Indebted.

Imagine what this country would be like if white women couldn't run up 20-30k in CC debt at 10-15% interest. Imagine if the rates were nearer there long term avg of 20-30%.

It's already starting to hit home. That's the main reason Trump won White women as convincingly as he did.

True fact. I know many women my age. Hipsters, public school teachers, all that other stuff, getting a handle on their ballooning CC debt, Student loan debt, mortgages, day care, and all that stuff. Slowly but surely ingesting that red pill.

[clubgop]

Jbird and Dr X, these guys can't see a smoking gun even after it's been jammed in their mouths and the trigger pulled. The "government BAD" ideology prevents it. I can never understand why government is bad when it tries to foil white collar crime or prevent our being poisoned by "Industrialists", but good when it spends insane amounts of money on weapons we'll never use or on locking people up for nonsense like weed.

"Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views."

[SuburbanFarmer]

Where the hell do you get 10% credit cards?? I'm getting offers at 23-26%. Fucking criminals.

[clubgop]

Where the hell do you get 10% credit cards?? I'm getting offers at 23-26%. Fucking criminals.

Initial introductory rates, does your credit suck?