Economy/Finances | Stock Markets | World/International

[Willem]

German and US economies have shrunk by record numbers in the second quarter. Germany by 10 % and the US by 32 %.

 

[Vasr]

German and US economies have shrunk by record numbers in the second quarter. Germany by 10 % and the US by 32 %.

32% is annualized number. It is 9.5%, similar to Germany for the quarter.

 

[North_Sky]

What's up? ...Apple, that's what ...
• https://www.investors.com/news/technology/click/apple-earnings-q3-2020-aapl-stock/

 

[North_Sky]

Some friends and family members have asked me in recent months where to invest money during this pandemic. I don't like to recommend because these are not normal times. And besides, investing in stocks is not for everyone.
My philosophy: Be prepared to lose everything you invest, and blame only yourself if that happens. It's the same with all the gains in life; only you is responsible, and nobody else.

For example, look @ gold, look @ Warren Buffett, and don't look @ the real economy; they are not indicators of our times and of our future. Invest in the land of our children, Earth...a clean and prosperous and healthy Earth.

And if you must, or are ready to lose all the money you don't need, or hit the sky up so high that you fly completely free ...

⚖ https://markets.businessinsider.com...onnected-paul-krugman-op-ed-2020-8-1029526796

That puts a realistic perspective, based on yesterday (real gains), today, and tomorrow's expectations.

Clean air, clean water, clean health, clean earth, clean food, clean audio, clean environment, music is good for the soul (in particular classical and opera), clean life.

The markets have zero to do with the real state of the economy; less than zero.
It's all speculation in a world in expansion or misery.
Invest in equality, in peace. The happiest richest people that's what they invest in.

That's my opinion after extensive concrete experience...very hard work, extreme endurance, going all in, living to the fullest with all the super lows and super highs.

I don't recommend anymore; it's a road that only you is in control, and nobody else.
The rest, the world is ours...what we all make of it, all of us together, and nobody else.

 

[Wes]

I recommend tech stocks - they allow people to work or entertain themselves w/o viral spread, besides their track record for the last few decades as they transform the world

 

[TimF]

Music cd's even if the cd and jewel case are pristine are worth about as much as your deceased pet.

 

[North_Sky]

RIP

 

[Nemo]

I have been personally worried about the high levels of debt in the US economy: private debt (mortgages, student loans, credit cards debts...); corporate debt, and government debt, lets have a quick look:

1. In the United States, total nonfinancial private debt is $27 trillion. More telling, since 1950, U.S. private debt has almost tripled from 55 percent of GDP to 150 percent of GDP, and most other major economies have shown a similar trend.
2. In addition, US corporations are sitting on nearly $10 trillion in debt. That's equivalent to roughly 47% of the overall economy, a record, according to data cited by The Washington Post. Since the financial crisis in 2008, corporations have splurged on debt amid historically cheap borrowing costs.
3. Lastly, the U.S. government's public debt is now more than $22 trillion — the highest it has ever been. The Treasury Department data comes as tax revenue has fallen and federal spending continues to rise. The new debt level reflects a rise of more than $2 trillion from the day President Trump took office in 2017.

These debt levels are simply unsustainable: there is no reasonable economic growth forecast that will allow for repaying this, specially as we face climate change challenges. Here is an interesting Finantial Times article:

The seeds of the next debt crisis

I do not have any predictions on how this is going to be faced, but I have been worrying about debt levels since 2017, and things have only gotten worse before the pandemic, and now have gotten much worse.

Not that I think we should ignore the pandemic at all: I (used to) work in Global Health, and controlling the pandemic is absolutely vital. It s however a shame that we (not just the US) did not prepare for this at the public health and financial/economic level, but my impression is that very few countries and governments are willing to take the long- or even mid-term view on anything.

 

[Thomas savage]

I have been personally worried about the high levels of debt in the US economy: private debt (mortgages, student loans, credit cards debts...); corporate debt, and government debt, lets have a quick look:

1. In the United States, total nonfinancial private debt is $27 trillion. More telling, since 1950, U.S. private debt has almost tripled from 55 percent of GDP to 150 percent of GDP, and most other major economies have shown a similar trend.
2. In addition, US corporations are sitting on nearly $10 trillion in debt. That's equivalent to roughly 47% of the overall economy, a record, according to data cited by The Washington Post. Since the financial crisis in 2008, corporations have splurged on debt amid historically cheap borrowing costs.
3. Lastly, the U.S. government's public debt is now more than $22 trillion — the highest it has ever been. The Treasury Department data comes as tax revenue has fallen and federal spending continues to rise. The new debt level reflects a rise of more than $2 trillion from the day President Trump took office in 2017.

These debt levels are simply unsustainable: there is no reasonable economic growth forecast that will allow for repaying this, specially as we face climate change challenges. Here is an interesting Finantial Times article:

The seeds of the next debt crisis

I do not have any predictions on how this is going to be faced, but I have been worrying about debt levels since 2017, and things have only gotten worse before the pandemic, and now have gotten much worse.

Not that I think we should ignore the pandemic at all: I (used to) work in Global Health, and controlling the pandemic is absolutely vital. It s however a shame that we (not just the US) did not prepare for this at the public health and financial/economic level, but my impression is that very few countries and governments are willing to take the long- or even mid-term view on anything.

It's been a worry and constant mystery to me since 2007.

Iv always been uncomfortable with any financial gains not furnished by my own hand , so iv just kept with that and kept to being solvent.

 

[PierreV]

but my impression is that very few countries and governments are willing to take the long- or even mid-term view on anything.

That's perfectly normal - most have somewhat legit elections now and then. For long term strategies, the best options are dictators for life or divine rights monarchies. The only catch is that those often have deeply flawed long term strategies...

 

[Frank Dernie]

Stock market gambling is just like gambling on a horse racing.
If you have more knowledge your bets are likely to do better but you may be unlucky. If you have no knowledge you will mainly lose.
The difference is that because of inflation it looks like most people are winning whereas in fact they are just not losing as much as straight savers.
Based on engineers salary here money has lost 95% of its value since 1971. Not many gambles have actually kept up with that, unfortunately.
I wish, rather than buying a Mac II, printer and 2 meg of extra RAM for £7500 in 1987, I had bought Apple shares...

 

[Nemo]

That's perfectly normal - most have somewhat legit elections now and then. For long term strategies, the best options are dictators for life or divine rights monarchies. The only catch is that those often have deeply flawed long term strategies...

I would hope that well educated and informed citizens would demand long-term planing for their governments, but looking at the World stage that is rarely the case. My favorite counter example comes from Norway (where I lived in 2017), that discovered oil reserves at the same time as Ecuador. Norway created a national fund to insure the monetary windfall will benefit not only their current population, but also future generations. Ecuador, sadly, did not.

How the Government Pension Fund of Norway Works

The Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which is part of the Norwegian Central Bank, manages the global fund on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. Since 2004, an ethical council has set the parameters for the fund’s investments. The council has the authority to exclude from the fund firms that take part in activities deemed objectionable. Investment manager Folketrygdfondet manages the domestic fund.

The stated goal of the Government Pension Fund is to facilitate government savings to account for the rising costs of the public pension program. It also intends to support long-term considerations related to how the government spends Norway’s significant petroleum revenues.

 

[North_Sky]

In 2001 say you had invested $100,000 in Amazon, guess how much you'd had today?

Hint: Since 2001, AMZN has rocketed above $3,300, turning every $1,000 into just shy of $600,000.

Answer:

Spoiler

60 million US$

Forget it; instead of just $100,000 say you had invested $10 million in Amazon.

Spoiler

6 billion $US dollars = 7,909,290,000.00 Canadian Dollars ($8 billion Cdn)

 

[North_Sky]

Signs that times are aligning soon to buy more?
¤ https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/...-tech-wealth-retreat-as-44-billion-evaporates

 

[North_Sky]

Follow the money makers ... in good times as in bad times it's always good $$$ times ...

⛟⚖ https://www.theguardian.com/busines...aires-rises-by-nearly-a-third-during-pandemic

Follow the path to financial success during a pandemic ... techs and e-commerce ...

⚕⚜ https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/amphtm...while-millions-lost-their-jobs-172740845.html

 

[North_Sky]

Economics for thought; just an article on finances, taxes for retirees...all that blues ...
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffca...-crash-hyperinflation--massive-tax-hikes/amp/

If COVID-19 spares your life it might not spare your bank account ...

This is certainly a real possibility, even more so here in North America than anywhere else.

$$$ Invest in (buy) Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (Google-parent). Protect your assets, prepare for a hike in your taxes, build a financial future that is secure.
And after wealth comes health; or is it the other way around?
It don't matter, as long as the inequality between the rich and the poor keeps dividing further. Good economics are good health preparations, only when shared proportionally all around, so that there are no more divisions, no more protests, no more manifestations, no more wars. Can man do that?

The billionaires off the world have great powers, they are the real Marvel superheroes in real life. The question is: What are they going to do about it? ...Wealth and Health management, just like forest management and climate management.

 

[North_Sky]

The richest man on the planet, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, you would think he can afford to take preventive measures for his employees health.

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/01/amazon-workers-covid-positive/

If you want to invest and make money, buy Amazon shares.
You'd be able to afford a new Tesla electric car, solar panels to your house, and a new fishing boat (electric).

 

[Neutron]

Back on the topic, I have been doing my homework on tech stocks. And I have to echo what Wes said. There are many passionate leaders in tech firms working hard to improve the world. There are a couple of tech firms, such as Tesla (I know you might have an altitude against Elon Musk, but no one can blame him for not trying to change the way big companies do their business, and for not dreaming big. ). Reed Hastings from Netflix said he wanted to make Netflix No.1 in streaming years ago, and investors at the time thought it was fishy. Even Bezos, he owned about 11% of Amazon stock and 1% is like $10 billion USD. (AFAIK, he only sold a small amount, like ~1% each time). He could retire to any beach he wants, but he is still leading Amazon forward. To these guys, their companies are their children, accomplishments, and their fame. Something that they are profound of.

These people do worth attention. If you do look at companies led by this type of passionate leaders, who care about their establishment, you will see that they are doing pretty well during this whole time (from when OP posted it in 2018 to today).

 

[North_Sky]

That was dead on topic.
...The economy in good and bad times.
Don't chase the lows, get on board with the solid tech stocks and e-commerce.
...Amazon, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, Tesla, Walmart, Google, ...
They'll keep making money during this pandemic.
Leave your emotions for music on your iPod, and films on your TV, all that entertainment jazz.

Ethics in business investments? This is a free country, with free money, with free choices, with free people. ...With free decisions, with free for all.
Might as well live wealthy than die unhealthy.

Being rich buys you health, being poor buys you a coffin, without nails.

If you thought I was a little sarcastic you thought correcto.

 

[Neutron]

Ethics in business investments? .

This is about passion rather than ethics. If a burnt-out CEO plans to sell his company in two years without telling his emplyees, you don't even have to question his ethics before you know how it's going to end.