Ross812

"Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" Luke 18:25. Jesus says - "You got a snowball's chance in hell" and you take that to mean: "so there's a chance!" Rather than argue this point, which is inconvenient for us living in a capitalist society, teachers (preachers) search for a way to soften the blow. Demonstrated by your response - "its more about what one is focused on." The same can be said for your repeated questions about slavery. You interpret slavery as being wrong due to conflicting with your interpretation of the golden rule. The bible is chock full of references to slavery and has the old testament Hebrew laws regarding slavery as highlighted by @ValueArb. The Bible has been used to both support and condemn slavery according to the morality of the day. Why did Jesus not denounce the practice if it is indeed amoral in God's eyes? I am sure the other religions look at the practice of eating the body and drinking the blood of the Christian Christ to be pretty crazy too. As for Mohammed and Aisha - yeah I have read the debate. The rules were the same in Mohammed's day as in Ezekiel's and Jesus's - a woman (girl by today's standards) is old enough to marry once she is through puberty. There is also some discrepancy about how old she actually was - hadiths (similar to the Jewish Talmud) says she was somewhere between 9 and 19 when married. Regardless, there were what we would consider child marriages going on left and right in both Jesus's and Mohamed's time. I too studied all the religions and came to the opposite conclusion as you. They are either all right - religion is the map, not the territory (God) or they are all wrong - God is a construct to advance social harmony.

This started on the Disney thread and protecting children from the liberal agenda of the day. You are arguing on a forum full of rich people trying to get richer. There is that whole parable about a rich man trying to get into heaven is like a camel fitting through the eye of a needle, so you are clearly following the parts of the message you like and skimming over the other less convenient lessons. On second thought, Mary was 12-16 when she had Jesus and I recited the verse from the Bible about when a girl is ready for marriage (12-14); so your definition of a child is influenced by society - not God. You keep bringing up a circular argument about slavery - and how can we believe it is immoral if not for God, but Jesus had nothing to say on the matter and the old testament is full of slavery. If slavery was wrong according to Christianity, it should say something pretty explicitly in the 775k word text. So your feelings on who is considered a child, the morality of slavery, and pursuit of wealth are all influenced by the society you live in. Which God or interpretation of God does morality come from? You say you studied all the religions and Christianity made the most sense to you. The devout Muslim doesn't drink or loan money with interest as they are sins in their religion and there are good reasons these are viewed as sins. Consider for a moment, there are Jew, Hindus, and Muslims who are far more intelligent and rational than yourself who have reasoned their way into their beliefs. Who is right? If only one is the way to eternal life - I hope Christianity is the way for your sake - though most (all) Christians follow the lite version today - so who knows. Maybe they are all right - but that would mean religious morality is influenced by culture because surely God didn't make different rules for different groups if there is a moral north star. Maybe they are all wrong...

I'll quote my response when this started in the Disney thread 10 weeks ago: Every morality related post on COBF ends up as a circular argument between @stahleyp and whoever chooses to engage at the time. @stahleyp what is your goal of engaging?

Bough a little more Nintendo this morning brining it to a 5% position. Added a little bit to DFIN yesterday and sold a few $40 puts on CASH.

Added to USB and CASH.

Sold half of my Meta shares today and added quite a bit to Fairfax and Deutsche Telekom.

Our 401ks have brokerage windows. One only allows ETFs, the other is a full Schwab account. I invest in individual equities in my taxable and Roth accounts. I like the ETF/BRK portfolio above because its lower volatility while matching or beating the S&P.

The portfolio I shared was my Roth IRA which I trade in. The majority of my money is invested in indexes: 25% Utilities 20% Healthcare 20% Consumer staples (small cap) 10% Nasdaq 10% Berkshire 10% Gold 5% Small cap value

Treasuries - 16% Googl - 12% Meta - 12% Dfin - 7% Bti - 6% Brk.b - 6% Ffh.to - 6% Mkl - 6% Jpm - 4% Luv -4% Ntdoy - 4% Iac - 4% Ostk - 3% Usb - 3% Deutch Telekom- 3% Clpr - 3%

Brk.B and Deutsche Telekom

Oh! Equating the Jerusalem to naked with a girl fresh out of puberty who god "mounted and entered a covenant with" was the best way to get the point across. Got it. I'd probably choose a more appropriate analogy, but you do you man.

If only there were some way the government could reduce income progressively impacting the higher earners more than the lower earners...

Sold TMUS - bought USB

@Gregmal what is the correct course of action? We have had a decade of ZIRP which resulted in hard equities and RE to inflate while goods, services, and average wages stayed put. Continuing ZIRP into the future isn't healthy and doesn't allow for loose monetary policy when things crash. Part of the reason we got the helicopter money in 2020/21 was because we started with low rates. If we had entered 2020 at 5-6% I would imagine we would have seen a far different outcome. The current hiking cycle should have stared in 2016 and certainly shouldn't have been abandoned in 2018/19. We have had - 13 years of ZIRP Interest rates hiked then cut again in 18/19 A huge tax cut effectively stimulating the economy Further rate cuts to 0 and helicopter money A forced year of saving Tax increases and rate increases are the way out, but the former is unpalatable so we are left with rate increases and tightening the money supply. What else can be done?

Ezekiel 16:7-8: 7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Summarized: If there is grass on the field, play ball. This is pedophilia by today's mores... You are picking and choosing which parts you like and asserting it is the moral north star.

Anyone seeing First Republic Bank (FRC) down 65% premarket?

Good and bad is a social construct. Murder is largely universally wrong - unless, we are fighting a war... Individuals have refused to fight on religious beliefs and have suffered the consequences for going against the prevailing mor of society that "this bad group" is ok to kill.

It is absolutely rational to override the social construct when it is to your best interest or outweighs the risk. That is how new mores are developed - say marriage equality, abolition of slavery etc. You better be ready for the consequences when you go against the social construction! If you can't build a consensus for your new mor, you are going to get steam rolled.

The prevailing view of the time had a problem with the morals of Nazis, slavery, the Taliban etc. The victors found the morals of the former groups so abhorrent wars were fought. Sic semper tyrannis. The culture wars of today are the result of a group seeking to change an existing social norm. Some are taking their mores based on a 2000 year old text, others from a purely conservative point of view not wanting change, some want change for gain more personal freedom, and some thoughtfully consider the change and form an opinion one way or the other. The 2000 year old text eventually seems to support the mores of the day. I seem to remember some passages about giving up possessions and something about a rich man getting into heaven is like a camel passing through the eye of a needle, but we tend to adhere to what is convenient. The good book supports slavery, until it doesn't.

I think you get it now. Morality is a social construct. There is some biological hardwiring passed down through evolution like empathy that are advantageous to a group as a whole helping the group work together more efficiently. The concept of god and religion is a social construct to enforce the morality of a group and enhance cooperation.

I always pay special attention to @wabuffo, @Parsad, and @ERICOPOLY. Eric hasn't posted seriously in a while, but go back in the archives and read his option/warrant plays on BAC and I owe a good chunk of my NW to him. For ideas I drill through ownership filings on TIKR. I make a game out of looking at high conviction positions for minor funds and reverse engineering their position. Going through their previous wins and losses gives me a pretty good idea of their game plan. I also hold a lot of the popular stocks mentioned on COBF because you all make it so damn easy to keep up with stuff. Shout out to @Gregmal for some great RE ideas (APTS), though I'm still not convinced about JOE.

I guess I goofed and didn't account for the extra 13 days so its 5.02%

0.25 Mar15'24 - 91282CBR1 - $100k @ an average price of $95.053 - YTW - 5.198%

I bought some LUV and 1-yr T-Bills yielding 5.2%. The minimum at FIDO is $1K and no transaction fee. At IB there is a $5 TF and $1K minimum.

In Georgia the average crew member at MCD makes $12.09 in New Jersey its $13.29. I'd say it not government programs. In NJ median income is 39k versus 30k in GA; it might just be typical economics. MCD charges what the market will bear.