meiroy

The unemployment numbers from Spain are completely unsustainable... Hunger is growing in Greece as well. People are hungry and we know what that means. Either it explodes or austerity is stopped. Imagine how the markets will react if tomorrow it is officially announced austerity failed and they are changing a direction...

Any day now... The algorithm just became much simpler: 0) buy/sell call/puts in advance 1) hack some known twitter account/news site 2) publish news to the upside/downside 3) profit 4) repeat We should see much more of this in the future.

"Paulson & Co. set up the gold share class at an average cost of $950 in April 2009," I never owned anything related to gold and not too clear about it, what's for sure though that the fat lady hasn't sang yet and bruce berkowitz got similar headlines not too long ago.

Yes, quite interesting, thanks for posting it. Before I got to the end I somehow got the feeling he was very tactfully calling on all the non German states to 'revolt' against Germany and save themselves. Of course what he says in a sense does not only apply to the non-German European countries but also to the USA who got hurt in in a similar way from all the surplus countries (Germany, Japan, China). Another important point, I guess, is that as can be seen from various analysis the wealth gap in Germany is huge, the largest in the European union, so this suggested adjustment by Soros throughout the union is also an adjustment in Germany itself and the big long term beneficiaries of that will be the majority of household. People over there should wake up and smell the coffee. And the second point, that this is a by product which connects to why Germany is the problem here, this huge wealth gap adds to the low consumption rate, higher trade surplus which then leads to the deficits in other countries. Germany basically forces Spain to be in a deficit.(disclaimer: I only rumble on Macro for fun, it's not an investment discussion of any sort and none of these ideas are mine obviously)

Right. Did this change yesterday? No. Will it change in the near future? Very unlikely. Where will all those people who sold gold going to put the money? Yan? Yuan? Euro? Bitcoin? Commodities? Everyone starting to realize the real China story and its implications. US stocks are IT. There is not going to be a real crash just yet, maybe a quick dip. I'm still holding on.

Yes, quite interesting, thanks for posting it. Before I got to the end I somehow got the feeling he was very tactfully calling on all the non German states to 'revolt' against Germany and save themselves. Of course what he says in a sense does not only apply to the non-German European countries but also to the USA who got hurt in in a similar way from all the surplus countries (Germany, Japan, China).

Valueinv makes a great point about the purpose of this vehicle, which is simply to encourage the people to save for their old age. That's about it. It's like how for most people it's better to buy an apartment than invest because they would probably just waste their money on something instead of saving it. And the highlight here is on common people because those that know all the tricks can do it in some other way. It could also be just a neat political weapon, because if the reps oppose it the dems will fire back with some ad showing 100m in the account of that guy, the one that lost. Maybe the dems figured out they have to start being proactive about finding ways to prevent the reps from blocking everything for political reasons and the hell with the american people.

It seems to cover trillions of dollars; what if the USA gov than "reclaims" a couple of trillions or so, after all they are the largest dog around. 0.0001 cents.

Can be done easily with IB.

So you're saying that every time there was a war the stock market drop? Just off the top of my head that's not correct.

Commodities will crush/go down considerably which would have a deflationary pressure against all that possibly-coming inflation. Bank reserve ratios will increase, etc. Plenty of the "unknown dynamic future" will happen. I wouldn't worry about it too much, just buy [objectively] cheap stuff.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-initiated-buy-goldman-102905448.html "Goldman Sachs initiated with a Buy at Goldman Target $175" If anyone needed another reason to buy GS here it is. I'm just saying...

Thanks!

A stock market crash could have a negative impact on the economy, right? Add a possible high inflation as the money finally flows into the open via salaries. Then the employment situation could worsen again, or perhaps it would not show in the numbers employment numbers yet purchasing power would decrease, and then... or just ignore my post.

I think it would be silly to not be happy the economy is improving. I was being sarcastic. Either way, I'm not too sure if that even means the economy is really improving.

If the employment situation improves, should we be happy that the economy is improving or should we be sad as it means interest rates will rise and the fed will stop doing its thing. (whatever that is.)

Finally got the chance to watch Les and even managed to stay all the way through. Someone should remake it where the actors actually sing. A bonus would be if they add some rhyming. Also got to see Argo. It's fantastic! Great acting and directing, haven't enjoyed a movie so much in a long time. P.S. the only "musical" I ever enjoyed was that Buffy episode Once More With a feeling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_More,_with_Feeling_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)

You can try Google Currents.

Greenblatt managed to do 40% for 20 years by returning capital. The 40% or 50% can be maintained as long as the amounts are small which is the basic assumption for this entire thread. To get to such returns over long periods of time one has to aim for it and invest with the matching potential upside. Greenblatt did. Did Buffett aim for 50% return in his partnership days?

Greenblatt has done 40% over 20 years. I'm sure Buffett can do his 50%.

I once read a research stating that most parents who lose a child will never be able to cope with it and in fact it gets worse over time, siblings will do better. After some years they might want to read How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie. It includes some good mental models and if I'm not mistaken at least one example of a parent who lost his children. It's worth a read anyhow.

Note to self: do not buy expensive junk. Problem solved. Next!

"Iceland president: Let banks go bankrupt"

What if they kick it farther a 100 years down the road and in the meatime society changes enough to accept immigration? The fact there's so much wrong with this country also means it's easier (in theory) to fix. Let hoards of willing, hard working immigrants in, let them raise productivity and carry the burden of the pensions. (this seems to be Plan F in Japan, current Plan A is Robot Overlords, at least according to various anime movies.) I also think there's a bit of a difference between this and 2007, in what led to 2007 many of those in power did not realize what's actually going on, while in Japan these days they are consciously kicking the can.

Sunrider, Instead of having a real margin call, IB seems to have an automated liquidation system; they will sell your equity for pennies on the dollar. In this sense, is it really worth it to have a margin account with them? Other brokers might have less flexibility and higher costs yet they might actually give a margin call with enough time to handle the situation. Would appreciate to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks.