Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
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LewisBraham
Hi Hank,
Your satire came across very well. Don't worry about the user name.
Best,
Lewis
@Old_Joe Yeah, the parallels with religion are all-too-real: https://washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/10/11/trump-inspires-adulation-his-followers-that-should-concern-us/
When I first heard that 80% of evangelicals support him despite his frequently …
My impression of Trumpsters is they believe him no matter what he says and the more evidence shown to them of his lies, the more they dig in their heels. It's no suprise that some of the most religious members of our populace are his most ardent sup…
@BrianW More than a quarter of a million people may die from this thing because this incompetent administration denied it was a threat, didn't provide testing early enough, disbanded a pandemic committee and continues to spread disinformation about …
I'm not sure if it is or isn't a bottom or I would be a very wealthy man, but I do know that bottoms are generally only recognized in hindsight after everyone has capitulated and sold. It is extraordinarily difficult to time a bottom and most who cl…
@Mark @davfor Agreed, but the federal and state governments have-- and should have --a lot more flexibility as a borrower than the average individual or company. If the government chose to tax the net worth of the wealthiest to pay down the debt, it…
@davfor Also true, but commercial real estate is separate from household net worth. The question is, why is there not enough discussion regarding the "horrors" of America's federal deficit about taxing the wealth, not the income, but the wealth of …
@Mark Yes, a home is an illiquid asset that is hard to value or to liquidate to pay debts. Yet looking at just that is thinking like the average person whose home is his/her largest asset. According to Brookings, "Almost three-quarters of aggregate …
If you were to evaluate a man's finances to see whether he was credit worthy or not, would you only look at his annual income or his assets as well--how much cash he had in the bank, the value of his home, the value of his brokerage account? Especia…
Oh, that's nothing compared to what these rightwing nuts are capable of:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/white-supremacists-encouraging-members-spread-coronavirus-cops-jews/story?id=69737522
https://usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/03/20/yang-anti-defama…
@Roy The bigger risk is to NAV impairment than market price action in the long-term. Those discounts usually subside over time as the NAV either declines to meet the market price or the market price rises to meet the NAV. Yet NAV impairment, especia…
Some of that leverage is not easy to unwind in closed-end funds as it is issued preferred stock. If anything, the leverage ratios increase as the value of portfolios decline and that's where it gets really dangerous as CEFs have to have a certain co…
I would advise people to stay away from the levered closed-end funds and buy the unleveraged ones instead. You can screen for those at:https://cefconnect.com/closed-end-funds-screener
Remember those "death panels" we would get if we had national "socialized" government-run medicine? America's privately-run healthcare system is getting there all by itself.
Yes, but my impression is that coronavirus can't survive on inorganic matter for very long--24 to 72 hours. By the time you receive your items it would probably be dead. Then again, maybe this is a case for not subscribing for Amazon Prime and just …
@tarwheel True about rural, but GOP voters are generally older and more at risk of dying from coronavirus and more vulnerable perhaps if they show up at work or the polls.
@sma3
I think it is a big stretch to link Vienna to Fox.
https://mises.org/wire/government-no-match-coronavirus
I don't. Now you could say that these Austrian economics organizations are intentionally abusing the original philosophy of the Australi…
Interestingly, the Nation article addresses some of the libertarian arguments discussed on this board regarding the government "going too far" to stop the pandemic at the expense of the economy. It calls such arguments "therapeutic nihilism":
The pr…
I wonder what the Russian assets who run Zerohedge think of the current crisis? I wonder what Putin thinks of the Russian assets he invested in at Zerohedge?
@parsig9 It's really not very reasonable that one should have to get permission from the state to create a business at all.
Oh horses--t. Seriously. If you want to start a business selling products people consume that could theoretically kill them …
@parsig9 Your definition of "freedom" is entirely subjective and it is arrogant to think you're the only one who believes in "freedom and consequences." There is a difference between freedom from want and freedom to want. Some prefer the former over…
Investors who do not invest in the primary market via venture capital or initial public offerings for stocks or bonds add almost no value to society. They are merely trading paper between each other in the secondary market for capital companies alre…
@parsig9 Google the term "rentier." You don't have to go to the government to be a "rent seeker." In fact, more often than not the rent seekers have nothing to do with the government, earning profits off other people's backs while doing no labor at …
The "Austrians" seem to hate government intervention except when it's to bail them out when their free market grab-everything-that's-not-nailed-down machinations blow up in their faces and they claim to be too big to fail. Capitalism on the way up, …
@wxman123 Boeing will definitely 100% survive. This is an icon of American industry... People said the same thing about Lehman. There is no definitely 100% in finance.
To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if there are lawsuits over this one because as I've said before pricing of the underlying debt can be so difficult. How was it possible that on March 16th, a day when stocks lost 12% and closed-end funds for the…
@rono Come on people, you know that 90% of all politicians are corrupt before they are elected and 90% that aren't become so in their first term.
That's too reductive and really what certain members of one party seeking to subvert our democratic re…
The government should let them go through a structured bankruptcy, then nationalize them while providing laid off workers extra unemployment insurance and rehiring as many as possible after nationalization. Those airlines that survive on their own c…
Because when in doubt, stick your head in the sand! How can any state get the appropriate economic aid for its citizens without those numbers, and how can citizens and local charities, food banks, etc. prepare without them? This guy just can't stand…
@davidrmoran It's funny, but as I was writing that I thought in reality Brady Sluder more resembled a different Simpsons' character, but I couldn't remember Jimbo's name! I guess he could also resemble the school bus driver, too.
@Shostakovich Actually, I think he's Generation Z: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z
Many Millennials are in their 30s now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials
Also, I find it dubious to attack Millennials especially as entitled as th…
Airlines that can't manage their own finances should go through a structured bankruptcy and be nationalized. But the way it works here is capitalism on the way up--they gouge customers, cut services and keep all the profits--and socialism on the way…
