Political Posts

[DooDiligence]

8 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Best of all he did not mention Veterans or Soldiers once.

 

That West Point commencement speech was a real banger.

 

"something something, trophy wives, something something, drag shows..."

 

Dude's a never ending embarrassment.

[Parsad]

23 minutes ago, DooDiligence said:

 

That West Point commencement speech was a real banger.

 

"something something, trophy wives, something something, drag shows..."

 

Dude's a never ending embarrassment.

 

That being said, I think he would have the #1 rated late night talk show if he chose to.  

 

Can you imagine the interviews? 

 

"I used to fire a lot of people, lot of people...and then I became President...the greatest President the world has ever seen.  With mel-ANIA...what a beautiful first lady she was...kind of like a cross between Jackie O and Cruella DeVille...hated dogs, that's why we didn't have any in the White House.  Oh, I was so powerful...and funny...everyone loved me...even the Air-Abs and Putin...yes, Putin even loved me except when he started bombing Ukraine again, and I said he's gone crazy...crazy like a fox!  But he eventually listened to me when I threatened him with sanctions and tariffs...finally gave in when I said I would send Eric over there.  Eric's tall and scary, not as tall as Barron, but tall like a Redwood...oh, we're going to cut a lot of Redwoods...America has so much wood...so much...even the Bunny Ranch in Nevada hasn't seen that much wood!  Oh, sorry, what was your name again...Matt Damon?  Borne Identity...love that movie...you were an assassin, America needs more assassins.  Less liberal media...more tough assassins!"

 

Cheers!

[John Hjorth]

4 minutes ago, Parsad said:

...even the Air-Abs and Putin...

 

HAHA! - ! - Great humor on a Monday ..., ehh Tuesday! ... - Just so awesome! 

[james22]

1 hour ago, Parsad said:

 

Not to doubt you James, but on a forum like this...there's no actual public record proving any of this. 

 

I've 429 posts in the Crypto and 386 in the MSTR threads alone sharing my position sizing and reasoning.

 

If that's not a public record, what is? 

 

On 7/10/2024 at 3:29 PM, james22 said:

50% MSTR

35% BRK

7.5% Money Market Fund

2.5% Info Tech ETF

2.5% Small Value ETF

2.5% Energy ETF

 

On 8/20/2024 at 12:02 PM, james22 said:

Added.

 

On 11/1/2024 at 11:11 AM, james22 said:

Added.

 

 

 

On 11/1/2024 at 6:32 PM, james22 said:

+75% YTD

 

On 11/7/2024 at 12:01 PM, james22 said:

+100% YTD

 

 

On 11/20/2024 at 8:51 AM, james22 said:

+200% YTD

 

On 12/19/2024 at 12:13 PM, james22 said:

Added.

 

On 2/21/2025 at 2:06 PM, james22 said:

Added.

 

MSTR returned 359% in 2024. 

 

You don't believe my portfolio returned 130%?

 

1 hour ago, Parsad said:

The best proven record by far is still Ericopoly's...something like 80%+ annualized over ten years on five huge, massive bets.  

 

I'm not competing, or even arguing I'm right.

 

Just that I've earned the right to have an opinion in a way someone who has no track record hasn't.

[james22]

2 hours ago, Parsad said:

One, is that luck or brilliance?

 

Until time tells, you'll have to judge me by my reasoning.

 

2 hours ago, Parsad said:

Two, to discount Blake today is like discounting James a decade ago.  Cheers!

 

A decade ago I had an elite education, a high-level career, and 20 years investing experience.

[james22]

1 hour ago, Parsad said:

The sizing conviction was the amazing part.  A lot of people had the same investments (either on their own or copied him), but the sizing is what turned $80K into $20M in less than 10 years.

 

That's nice.

 

I turned $7M into $21M in 10 months. In retirement.

 

(I've since given some back, but I expect I'll surpass that by year's end.)

[Parsad]

4 minutes ago, james22 said:

 

I'm not competing, or even arguing I'm right.

 

Just that I've earned the right to have an opinion in a way someone who has no track record hasn't.

 

See that's not correct.  I own the site, have a public record (the good, the bad and the ugly), and have made many posts similar to yours...yet my posts are no more important than Blake's...or yours. 

 

That's what makes us different than other sites, for better or worse, we're a community first.  People make their contributions in various ways...some with brilliant ideas...some with thoughts that may make us think...and others simply with their friendship.  We fight, we bicker, like any community...but at the end of the day, no one's post or opinion is more important than another's.  Cheers!

[Parsad]

Just now, james22 said:

 

That's nice.

 

I turned $7M into $21M in 10 months. In retirement.

 

(I've since given some back, but I expect I'll surpass that by year's end.)

 

That's fantastic!  I'm happy for your success.  I was just pointing out that Eric's results were fact...several of us saw his statements.  Cheers!

[james22]

2 minutes ago, Parsad said:

See that's not correct.  I own the site, have a public record (the good, the bad and the ugly), and have made many posts similar to yours...yet my posts are no more important than Blake's...or yours. 

 

That's what makes us different than other sites, for better or worse, we're a community first.  People make their contributions in various ways...some with brilliant ideas...some with thoughts that may make us think...and others simply with their friendship.  We fight, we bicker, like any community...but at the end of the day, no one's post or opinion is more important than another's.  Cheers!

 

Noise, signal, whatever.

 

But fair enough, your call. 

 

I'll let it go.

[Hektor]

8 hours ago, WFF said:

Almost feel that Blue is the new white, AI can’t fix the electrical circuits or plumb the toilet…

+1 true

[cubsfan]

12 hours ago, james22 said:

 

That's nice.

 

I turned $7M into $21M in 10 months. In retirement.

 

(I've since given some back, but I expect I'll surpass that by year's end.)

 

Whoa. Congratulations James, talk about shooting the lights out!

[Blake Hampton]

It's crazy that we've allowed Bitcoin to be regarded as anything more than speculative nonsense. Even today, Dumb Donald has decided to stake his own claim with his possibly even more worthless self-bailout, masked as a company.

 

"Bitcoin is worthless, artificial gold."
— Charlie Munger

 

Assuming that you're being truthful about your returns, it's indeed impressive @james22 that you've had enough conviction to hold these assets through periods of extreme volatility—even though they have no variables that would lead anyone to believe they're actually worth anything. Then again, I guess the same sort of argument could be made about our current president. It's all built upon nothing besides blind faith.

 

If I were you, I would set aside a good portion of that wealth away from Bitcoin to ensure you keep it when people start to appropriately value money again. I imagine the same conviction that made you rich is likely going to financially kill you.

[LC]

No real comment on the content, but I absolutely love @Blake Hampton calling it how he sees it.

[73 Reds]

9 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

It's crazy that we've allowed Bitcoin to be regarded as anything more than speculative nonsense. Even today, Dumb Donald has decided to stake his own claim with his possibly even more worthless self-bailout, masked as a company.

 

"Bitcoin is worthless, artificial gold."
— Charlie Munger

 

Assuming that you're being truthful about your returns, it's indeed impressive @james22 that you've had enough conviction to hold these assets through periods of extreme volatility—even though they have no variables that would lead anyone to believe they're actually worth anything. Then again, I guess the same sort of argument could be made about our current president. It's all built upon nothing besides blind faith.

 

If I were you, I would set aside a good portion of that wealth away from Bitcoin to ensure you keep it when people start to appropriately value money again. I imagine the same conviction that made you rich is likely going to financially kill you.

+1.  But (there is always a but...) the entire discussion about crypto on this board has opened my eyes as to what folks believe constitutes "value".  Clearly James and others believe that BTC is a value holding.  They can measure value in ways that you (and I) can't, and don't.  They don't worry that overnight the price will go to -0- or that demand will dry up when *reason* takes hold.  It is fascinating to observe.  Though my mind and yours will likely never be persuaded to buy the stuff, I do hope someone pays $1 million for a BTC just to be able to watch from the sidelines and continue to ponder human behavior.  

[Sweet]

49 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

They can measure value in ways that you (and I) can't, and don't.

Can they?

 

Happy to agree it has a use, or nominally a value.

 

Disagree it can be measured.

 

Lots of value is of course subjective but there are objective measures of value too.

[Xerxes]

15 hours ago, james22 said:

 

That's nice.

 

I turned $7M into $21M in 10 months. In retirement.

 

(I've since given some back, but I expect I'll surpass that by year's end.)

Well done James and well earned. 
Time to get that penthouse you wanted. 

[Milu]

1 hour ago, Blake Hampton said:

If I were you, I would set aside a good portion of that wealth away from Bitcoin to ensure you keep it when people start to appropriately value money again. I imagine the same conviction that made you rich is likely going to financially kill you.

I would make the argument that this is precisely the reason why Bitcoin and Gold ARE going up so much. People are realising that IOUs and depreciating pieces of paper are not money and that hard assets are the place to be for at least some part of your portfolio. 

[dwy000]

13 minutes ago, Milu said:

I would make the argument that this is precisely the reason why Bitcoin and Gold ARE going up so much. People are realising that IOUs and depreciating pieces of paper are not money and that hard assets are the place to be for at least some part of your portfolio. 

Bitcoin is the opposite of a hard asset. Its the epitome of a soft asset. 

[flesh]

What were the big 5 investments ericopoly made to make 80% for a decade? I know of bac. 

[Blake Hampton]

First, let's separate the idea of currency and hard assets:

 

Definition of currency: a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange.
Definition of hard assets: tangible assets or resources with fundamental value.

 

In today's state, currency doesn't have any fundamental value outside of the faith people place in it as a unit of exchange. Contrarily, commodities have fundamental value because their consumption is necessary for human survival, thus making them "hard assets." I say in today's state because humanity has had instances of commodity money in the past; of course today we have fiat:

 

Quote

Fiat money is a type of government-issued currency that is not backed by a precious metal, such as gold or silver, nor by any other tangible asset or commodity. Fiat currency is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, and is authorized by government regulation. Since the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1976 by the Jamaica Accords, the major currencies in the world are fiat money.

 

Fiat money generally does not have intrinsic value and does not have use value. It has value only because the individuals who use it as a unit of account – or, in the case of currency, a medium of exchange – agree on its value.[1] They trust that it will be accepted by merchants and other people as a means of payment for liabilities.

 

Fiat money is an alternative to commodity money, which is a currency that has intrinsic value because it contains, for example, a precious metal such as gold or silver which is embedded in the coin. Fiat also differs from representative money, which is money that has intrinsic value because it is backed by and can be converted into a precious metal or another commodity. Fiat money can look similar to representative money (such as paper bills), but the former has no backing, while the latter represents a claim on a commodity (which can be redeemed to a greater or lesser extent).[2][3][a]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money

 

I'll admit that I have no bulletproof argument for completely debunking Bitcoin as a form of future currency. Like I previously stated, the fundamental value of an unbacked currency is the faith placed in it. But I do strongly feel, as it stands now at least, that almost no one actually believes in Bitcoin as a true unit of exchange. It's not how people facilitate transactions; it's not how people are receiving their paychecks; it's not how debts are settled; and even the people who believe in Bitcoin look at its performance relative to USD as some form of proof.

 

I know I use this quote a lot, but I think it perfectly captures what Bitcoin is:

 

"Bitcoin is worthless, artificial gold."
— Charlie Munger

 

From the perspective as a store of value, Bitcoin is trying to fill a void that gold already does. People think of gold, and now maybe Bitcoin, as some form of base money, when in reality they're nothing more than a yellow metal and 1s and 0s. I don't really like gold, but if I were forced to pick between the two, I imagine I'd choose the one that both has a track record spanning thousands of years and is also tangible. But I don't want to own either because neither one of them do anything. The gold just ends up sitting there, and maybe the Bitcoin floats around the metaverse; fuck if I know. Moral of the story is that they're both unproductive.

 

I don't think anyone on this board is stupid; certainly far from it. However, I do believe that some of you have some crazy ideas that have probably been reinforced by market performance over the prior couple decades. The recent low-interest-rate, money-is-free-and-abundant period we lived through is over. It was an anomaly born through responses to near-systemically destructive events that we still haven't paid for yet.

 

The crazy thing to me is that a lot of us are probably in agreement that the United States is grossly mismanaging its currency. The disagreements seemingly come from how we think policy will respond, its future effects, the economic environment we'll ultimately see from those effects, and the best way to protect ourselves from it.

 

Edited May 27, 2025 by Blake Hampton

[Blake Hampton]

I dream of one day becoming a better writer.

[gfp]

5 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

I dream of one day becoming a better writer.

 

Focus on becoming a better investor instead - don't waste your youth

[Blake Hampton]

1 minute ago, gfp said:

Focus on becoming a better investor instead - don't waste your youth

 

I think writing can be a good way of reinforcing ideas that make someone a better investor.

 

Edited May 27, 2025 by Blake Hampton

[Libs]

9 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

I dream of one day becoming a better writer.

 

This is the kind of comment that makes me like Blake. No matter how much I may disagree with him! 

[Milu]

18 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

First, let's separate the idea of currency and hard assets:

 

Definition of currency: a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange.
Definition of hard assets: tangible assets or resources with fundamental value.

 

In today's state, currency doesn't have any fundamental value outside of the faith people place in it as a unit of exchange. Contrarily, commodities have fundamental value because their consumption is necessary for human survival, thus making them "hard assets." I say in today's state because humanity has had instances of commodity money in the past; of course today we have fiat:

 

 

I'll admit that I have no bulletproof argument for completely debunking Bitcoin as a form of future currency. Like I previously stated, the fundamental value of an unbacked currency is the faith placed in it. But I do strongly feel, as it stands now at least, that almost no one actually believes in Bitcoin as a true unit of exchange. It's not how people facilitate transactions; it's not how people are receiving their paychecks; it's not how debts are settled; and even the people who believe in Bitcoin look at its performance relative to USD as some form of proof.

 

I know I use this quote a lot, but I think it perfectly captures what Bitcoin is:

 

"Bitcoin is worthless, artificial gold."
— Charlie Munger

 

From the perspective as a store of value, Bitcoin is trying to fill a void that gold already does. People think of gold, and now maybe Bitcoin, as some form of base money, when in reality they're nothing more than a yellow metal and 1s and 0s. I don't really like gold, but if I were forced to pick between the two, I imagine I'd choose the one that both has a track record spanning thousands of years and is also tangible. But I don't want to own either because neither one of them do anything. The gold just ends up sitting there, and maybe the Bitcoin floats around the metaverse; fuck if I know. Moral of the story is that they're both unproductive.

 

I don't think anyone on this board is stupid; certainly far from it. However, I do believe that some of you have some crazy ideas that have probably been reinforced by market performance over the prior couple decades. The recent low-interest-rate, money-is-free-and-abundant period we lived through is over. It was an anomaly born through responses to near-systemically destructive events that we still haven't paid for yet.

 

The crazy thing to me is that a lot of us are probably in agreement that the United States is grossly mismanaging its currency. The disagreements seemingly come from how we think policy will respond, its future effects, the economic environment we'll ultimately see from those effects, and the best way to protect ourselves from it.

 

I respect your opinion on all this and felt the same for many years. I was somewhat radicalised by all the money printing that came off the back of the 08 global financial crisis so became a bit of a gold bug then. Heard about bitcoin in 2011 but dismissed it for 9 years using same arguments as you put forward. Then in early 2020 when the printer got fired up again during Covid the penny finally dropped regarding bitcoin and I’ve been a convert ever since. It’s not for everybody and I’d say most people who don’t like gold as a store of value will have similar opinion on bitcoin. I don’t use either or see either as ‘investments’ just as an alternative to cash in that it is a place to store a chunk of my money while I await equities to become attractive. 

Edited May 27, 2025 by Milu