Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hmmm. You buy gasoline but don't have any stock in the oil company. Thank you for renting the use of my refineries and pipelines and retail distribution. You use telecom services but don't own any communications companies. Thank you for renting my cell towers and fiber optic cables and wire and networks. You wear clothes and buy groceries but don't own any retailers or producers. Thank you for renting my stores and distribution centers and manufacturers and suppliers.
Most of all, thank you for preserving your principal so that you can spend it with the many fine companies I own. You enable them to pay me dividends in excess of the cash income I could make on CD's or Treasury bonds or money funds or even corporate bonds issued by the same companies.
I bet you own your home instead of renting it, which is curious to me in light of the above. But thanks for selling out of stocks--you've helped me establish some wonderful positions.
No problem. I have made money in the markets in the past (as well as this run up), but sell off when I am starting to feel good about my positions. That, this time, was at 10,500. Was I dumb? Gee........... I guess so. However, I am at a point in my life in which preservation of captial is more important than appreciation, therefore I don't need to take risks.
I do own my own house. In fact, I own three others as well as a farm. Do I have other investments? Yes- mostly in ag here as well as Brazil.
I have periodically invested in the market, but have nothing in the market now, with the exception of retirement funds through 401Ks (which are always invested). This is a small componant of my net worth.
You don't of course, "own" the companies. What you do own is a piece of paper which does not allow you to redeem it for hard assets in the company. Therefore what you own is a financial instrument relating to that company. Now if you own controlling interest, or are a MAJOR shareholder, you have some influence over the company. If not, you have no influence over the company at all (even if you fill out those proxy statments).
I just don't have much faith in stocks to buy and hold.
at least gold will always be worth something, not so for the dollar. no world reserve currency has lasted forever.
One of the biggest scams and myths ever perpetrated, "gold will never be worth zero".
The same thing can be said of any tangible property. The saying about gold was created to get people to invest in gold and somehow think they had something no other investment could offer. So the typical comparison is to the dollar. Of course they compare it to the dollar since the dollar is only a currency representing a value and that value is at the whim of those controlling it.
Now, explain to me how any tangible property can be worth zero. It is impossible. It might not be worth much but never zero. In fact, there are some things that can be worth far more than gold, and easily so.
Let there be a true meltdown of social, government and economic systems and see how fast gold is not worth zero but close to it. The people who make money selling gold have been very successful getting others to believe that if things get so bad that the US dollar is worthless, that people will actually be concerned about the value of gold or see gold as anything more than some yellow colored metal.
When people have nothing to eat, a pound of gold will buy a loaf of bread but not much more. That is the fallacy of the myth. Throughout history, the same history the gold sellers so often use in their advertisements, there have been examples of gold being worth less than water, food or even something intangible such as freedom or something as simple as right of passage.
So back to this dollar vs gold thing. Has any government ever made the private ownership of precious materials illegal? The answer is yes. Has the US government ever restricted the private ownership of certain items? yes.
What would happen to gold if the US government decided to make private ownership of it illegal? Oh that can't happen right? Keep believing that.
Take this one last example then, when you are hungry and I have food which you do not, what will be worth more, my food or your gold? If you think it is your gold, welcome to the world of the manipulated. You will use your gold to pay others to grow food for you? Suddenly your gold is worth less than labor, less than seed, less than almost anything.
If you were referring to Mack Knifes' post, I think that was his point.
There's really nothing special about gold. It's just a commodity like any other - something I've been trying to tell the gold bugs for several years now. Like other commodity bubbles in the past, gold had it's run and it seems that now it's done.
I said for the last year gold was in a bubble. Its now starting to be shorted. That is a clear sign its popping. No it wont ever be worth 0 but it will be worth less than 2k. I feel gold is worth about 5 to 7 and silver 10 to 15. I does not pay a dividend and does not earn a dime. If you think its money go to the supermarket and buy a loaf of bread with it.
different assets react at different times to world events. many would say treasuries are "done" but sure as night follows day an unexpected flight to safety will send them soaring again even at these levels. a 1% drop in long term rates can see a 30% rise .
when you buy assets you need to buy time and that is true of every single asset class. there is no good or bad time to buy or own anything there is only different length waiting periods for different events to happen until you profit .
Last edited by mathjak107; 04-15-2013 at 04:21 PM..
EVERYONE is laughing at Peter Schiff right now - except the people who own gold of course.
Seriously though, he's running around like a chicken with its' head cut off - trying to calm his panicking clients.
One more day like this and i am buying... Some of you make gold too personal, if it drops again, everyone will be like schiff...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
