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Old 12-19-2013, 08:24 PM
 
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Sometimes I think people are jumbling up terminology and weaving with facts and figures that makes it seem impossible for a person to understand. Is the economy really that complicated or is it being made more complicated than it really is.
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Old 12-19-2013, 08:35 PM
 
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Well, Bernanke yesterday talked about a few of things even he or he says economist thru out history have never understood in economies. they like a doctor treat the symtoms of this recession knwig what they do has future consequences but not sure exactly what they will be as we have never been here before.
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Old 12-19-2013, 08:42 PM
 
Location: North of Canada, but not the Arctic
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Complex, but not complicated.
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Old 12-20-2013, 08:04 AM
 
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If the economy is so simple to understand, then why isn't everyone rich from investing based on their economic knowledge?


Did anyone here manage to predict the 2001 dot com crash in 1999?

Did anyone predict the 2009 financial crisis in 2006?

Did anyone predict the stock market roar of 2013 in 2011?
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Old 12-20-2013, 08:18 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retroit View Post
Complex, but not complicated.

^^

The complications are what we add.

We don't learn from our mistakes. We wait a few decades and do them over again, thinking the outcome will be different.
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Old 12-20-2013, 08:21 AM
 
Location: Old Bellevue, WA
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I always remember this quote from George Stigler, who was not only a great economist but a great writer. In the intro of The Theory of Price, he likens the economy to a 3D jigsaw puzzle with 100 million parts, then himself declares that comparison as too simplistic. Then writes that economists

Quote:
Originally Posted by George Stigler
have a second level of difficulty not shared by the physical sciences. Our main elements of analysis are people, and people who are influenced by the practices and policies we analyze. Imagine the problems of a chemist if he had to deal with molecules of oxygen, each of which was somewhat interested in whether it was joined in chemical bond to hydrogen. Some would hurry him along; others would cry shrilly for a federal program to drill wells for water instead; and several would blandly assure him that they were molecules of argon.
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Old 12-20-2013, 09:11 AM
 
18,802 posts, read 8,469,715 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by techcrium View Post
If the economy is so simple to understand, then why isn't everyone rich from investing based on their economic knowledge?


Did anyone here manage to predict the 2001 dot com crash in 1999?

Did anyone predict the 2009 financial crisis in 2006?

Did anyone predict the stock market roar of 2013 in 2011?
Yes. Was at least 3/4 out of tech, and essentially bought my Vette with tech gains.

Yes. 2005/6 I developed the most defensive investment posture of my life. (since the late '70's)

Yes. The best buy low opportunity in my investing life time.

But I missed the '87 crash, and over reacted to the drop in 1991. And there were probably others I missed...
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Old 12-20-2013, 09:46 AM
 
Location: The Triad
34,090 posts, read 82,964,986 times
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ing
Quote:
Originally Posted by nickerman View Post
Sometimes I think people are jumbling up terminology and weaving with facts and figures
that makes it seem impossible for a person to understand.
Much (most in many instances) of that jumbling and weaving is intentional.
The pattern isn't exclusive to economics though... f'rinstance, what do you do for a living?

I'm sure you use trade jargon too but still it's more about the insider vs outsider thing...
and to a large degree not revealing "the man behind the curtain"


Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. - YouTube
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Old 12-20-2013, 11:11 AM
 
9,639 posts, read 6,017,180 times
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Originally Posted by Hoonose View Post
Yes. Was at least 3/4 out of tech, and essentially bought my Vette with tech gains.

Yes. 2005/6 I developed the most defensive investment posture of my life. (since the late '70's)

Yes. The best buy low opportunity in my investing life time.

But I missed the '87 crash, and over reacted to the drop in 1991. And there were probably others I missed...
Once you live through one or two, and pay attention, it really gives you an advantage the next time one happens.
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Old 12-20-2013, 11:28 AM
 
18,802 posts, read 8,469,715 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LordSquidworth View Post
Once you live through one or two, and pay attention, it really gives you an advantage the next time one happens.
It certainly does.
Plus I have a 'doctor's index'. About 10 docs in my medical group. When they are all in, like right now, I look to exit. Which I have been recently doing. But certainly not all out, like in 2006. Then I was convinced of the real possibility of doom and the abyss. And not only because of my index, but because the excesses in real estate.
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