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by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 10:05 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Trump's Effect on the PP
Replies: 88
Views: 65464

Re: Trump's Effect on the PP

For the past year or so I have been saying here that Tight Money is impossible to imagine now. Therefore throwing the 25% cash into question. I don't agree that it is the same as the Liquidity Crisis. That was deflation. IMO. But they're both the same thing. Cash becomes more valuable relative to a...
by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 9:53 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Trump's Effect on the PP
Replies: 88
Views: 65464

Re: Trump's Effect on the PP

Yes - I'm referring to Congress not raising the debt ceiling. I suspect the Tea Partiers will continue to try to prevent this, not to get concessions from the "normal" Republicans but because they're zealots who believe increasing the federal debt is inherently evil. The question is whether the rat...
by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 7:24 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Trump's Effect on the PP
Replies: 88
Views: 65464

Re: Trump's Effect on the PP

On the other hand, I'm skeptical of the PP's ability to withstand an idiot congress led by an ignoramus who together seem like the perfect storm that may end up with the US defaulting on Treasuries and/or the US dollar losing its worldwide reserve currency status. Are you referring to Congress not ...
by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:17 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Trump's Effect on the PP
Replies: 88
Views: 65464

Re: Trump's Effect on the PP

I had a spark of inspiration this morning and am mulling over a fix for the PP's Achilles' Heel. What most of us didn't realize until just this very atomic moment is that "Tight Money" is the same thing as "Liquidity Crisis" aka 2008. The PP got destroyed in 2008 before just barely recovering on a c...
by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:56 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Trump's Effect on the PP
Replies: 88
Views: 65464

Re: Trump's Effect on the PP

Use trend following on T-Bonds and stop worrying about it.
by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:47 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Government [Non]Accountability Scream Room
Replies: 6
Views: 5558

Re: Government [Non]Accountability Scream Room

Here's a U.S. Pension Tracker showing market/acturial pension debt/household, capita, etc.

http://us.pensiontracker.org/
by MachineGhost
Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:14 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Government [Non]Accountability Scream Room
Replies: 6
Views: 5558

Re: Government [Non]Accountability Scream Room

Get ready for more emigration! Only the poor and super-rich politicians will be left behind. The series of tax and fee hikes pushed by Emanuel and approved by aldermen adds up to about $1,692 a year once they take full effect. Here's a breakdown: *About $994 in property tax hikes for City Hall and C...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 5:49 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: P2P Lending
Replies: 74
Views: 52584

Re: P2P Lending

U.S. Consumers Are Increasingly Defaulting on Loans Made Online

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ne-lenders
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 5:17 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Big, Open, Green, Wasted, Space!
Replies: 22
Views: 14329

Re: Big, Open, Green, Wasted, Space!

Good riddance to those malls! Online shopping is not just the future, it's the present. Introverts like me are never going to go hang out in a mall with sleazy sales people when we can just add it to the cart. It seems like the blacks with their pants backwards, down to their knees and/or chains da...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 5:03 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: ACA (Obamacare) v2.0
Replies: 23
Views: 13434

Re: ACA (Obamacare) v2.0

What's the point you're trying to make with this graph? It apparently shows the average cost of employer sponsored policies, not policies from the exchanges. The rate of growth is (approximately) 100% from 2000 to 2008, and more like 50% from 2008 to 2015. Is your point that ACA is a good thing sin...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 3:07 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: ACA (Obamacare) v2.0
Replies: 23
Views: 13434

Re: ACA (Obamacare) v2.0

Image

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by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 12:52 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Big, Open, Green, Wasted, Space!
Replies: 22
Views: 14329

Re: Big, Open, Green, Wasted, Space!

Dead malls are popping up all over the states, particularly in the Midwest, where economic decline has sped up the “going out of business” process. This map, put together by a Dead Malls Enthusiasts Facebook group, shows that well. As Americans are faced with multiple shopping options and more stor...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 11:05 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Government [Non]Accountability Scream Room
Replies: 6
Views: 5558

Re: Government [Non]Accountability Scream Room

President Obama has spent the last eight years governing by executive order and administrative rule. President Trump—aided by a Republican Congress—will have the capacity to dismantle some of the worst of these actions. One Department of Labor ruling especially ripe for scrutiny exempts states from...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:34 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: I wrote to Jeff Bezos
Replies: 19
Views: 10458

Re: I wrote to Jeff Bezos

White power fucknuts are like Democrats -- they use any and every angle to boster their cause, no matter how tenuously related. If this election has taught us anything, people are generally fucking stupid and are highly motivated and influenced by puppets. It was a mistake to ascribe any hint of rat...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:28 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Electoral College
Replies: 11
Views: 10661

Re: The Electoral College

1. Forget why it was implemented this way. The result of getting rid of it will be to give huge population centers e.g. California, new York, etc etc more influence and other states less. Is that what you want or think is appropriate? Nope, but I stand on principle not ideology. I don't change as t...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:19 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: International diversification
Replies: 11
Views: 8695

Re: International diversification

Granted, all fiat money is just paper, but not everywhere is Zimbabwe. In 50 years the US dollar has gone from 4.38 swiss francs to parity, and the pound from 8.58 to 1.68 Singapore dollars. That's structural, rather than market fluctuation. And the USA was also responsible for several orders of a ...
by MachineGhost
Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:07 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: I wrote to Jeff Bezos
Replies: 19
Views: 10458

Re: I wrote to Jeff Bezos

Yes, sometimes it involves petty theft, but more often than not it's been about violence. A few weeks ago, they assaulted a mounted police officer and punched the horse in the face. Twice. I think what defines a flash mob is the apparent spontaneity of it, hence flash , but quiet planning involving...
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:26 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: I wrote to Jeff Bezos
Replies: 19
Views: 10458

Re: I wrote to Jeff Bezos

As for UPS and FedEx, used to write to Amazon to request them, but they told me essentially that logistics dictate who does the delivery, and that sometimes it's going to be the USPS. Maybe one of these days I'll see more of those Amazon trucks I saw in Maryland. I meant using it with non-Amazon pu...
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:16 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: I wrote to Jeff Bezos
Replies: 19
Views: 10458

Re: I wrote to Jeff Bezos

dualstow wrote:They wouldn't. Just the opposite. That's why I called it a caveat.
They do have lockers to pick up your stuff. Never tried it.

You can also have it sent to HOLD FOR PICKUP at FedEx and UPS.
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:29 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: I wrote to Jeff Bezos
Replies: 19
Views: 10458

Re: I wrote to Jeff Bezos

dualstow wrote:
MachineGhost wrote:Besides being oh-yet-another-negative of living in an urban jungle, what are stoop thefts exactly?
People taking boxes off the front step that the USPS lazily left there, without even ringing the bell, sometimes even when I'm home.
And how would Amazon resolve that problem?
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:20 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Authoritarians
Replies: 56
Views: 25860

Re: The Authoritarians

The law is supposed to provide an enduring framework for applying a set of rules consistently and evenhandedly. We're just now seeing what happens to a society when its members lose faith that this basic framework is there to protect them. I'd suggest that it is this realization--coupled with the s...
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:15 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: I wrote to Jeff Bezos
Replies: 19
Views: 10458

Re: I wrote to Jeff Bezos

Besides being oh-yet-another-negative of living in an urban jungle, what are stoop thefts exactly?
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:11 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Post election MERKX vs SHY performance
Replies: 1
Views: 6137

Re: Post election MERKX vs SHY performance

USD and yields are moving higher on expectations of economic growth under Trump. This is bad for gold and foreign currencies/debt. I agree with you that I never expected an "alt right" demagogue to be elected, but on the other hand its not like Slick Hilly herself wasn't engaging in it. She just dem...
by MachineGhost
Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:34 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Stocks for sell time horizon in May? (High school Economics project)
Replies: 8
Views: 5041

Re: Stocks for sell time horizon in May? (High school Economics project)

I vote for the monkey throwing darts. That's the kind of visceral things kids like and makes it a lot more fun and interesting than a bunch of boring numbers in a newspaper or web site.

There's also this app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stock-p ... d495510614