Masters of the Universe category archive
All the News that Fits . . . 0
. . . and none that doesn’t.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
Maya Cohen explains how only a few are permitted to wield the free hand of the market.
The Stock Market Is Not the Economy, Crooked Wheel Dept. 0
Drew Magary took a flyer on the Robinhood app and ended up with very little john, which led him to form a theory about how the stock market works is worked. (Warning: Language.)
Individual stocks may go way up or way down, but the market itself only knows one trajectory. They’ll never let the whole market sink even if certain stocks eat curb. When the pandemic hit, what was the first thing legislators worried about? It wasn’t you. It wasn’t your favorite mom-and-pop pad Thai joint. It was the market. Who’d the legislators bail out in 2008 when the banks collapsed? Not you. The banks. Why? To keep the market up. They’ll never let it fail. All of their interests, regardless of party, coalesce within it. Hence, the average American’s best way to survive the vagaries of the market is to invest in ALL the corruption, not in bits and pieces of it.
That means index funds.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
The Bangor Daily News reports on a Maine Redditor who invested in Game Stop:
Via Atrios, David Dayen has more.
Aside:
Frankly, a strong case can be made that short-selling, basically betting against a company’s success, should be banned.
DIY 0
And now for a bit of good news . . . .
Trickle-Down Jurisimprudence 0
No one can say that this was unpresidented (details at the link).
The surprising result? A 13-month sentence of home detention for Andrey Kim, who pleaded guilty in a massive mortgage fraud case that began in 2006 and is estimated to have cost banks more than $16 million.
How Far Did Wells-Fargo? 0
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Lee Schafer, pretty damn far.
Putting the Public Good Up for Sale 0
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a controversy in a school district that led to an ouster of a majority of the school board.
Follow the link for details.
Foreclosing on America’s Future 0
Thom reads from Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream.
No Place To Hide 0
Listen to Harry Shearer’s interview with Shoshana Kuboff, author of the Age of Surveillance Capitalism.
Methinks ’twill cause you disquiet.
It May Be Artificial, but It’s Not Intelligent 0
Listen to Harry Shearer interview Gary Marcus on why AI is not a thing on the September 22, 2019, edition of Le Show.
In related news, Bobby Azarian points out that one of the things that machine learning enables said machines to learn is bigotry and prejudice. A snippet:
Fast /= intelligent.
Fly the Fiendly Skies 0
It’s so easy, even a child can do it.
How Far Will Wells Fargo? 0
One more time, pretty damn far.
Aside:
There is no truth to the rumor that Wells-Fargo is led by a “Godfather of the Board.”
Misdirection Plays, Taxonomy Dept. 0
In the context of the Jeffrey Epstein case, Spocko describes the four types of “fixers” and discusses how their work manifests itself. Per Spocko, these are the four types:
- Thug fixers.
- Legal fixers.
- PR Fixers.
- Media fixers.
Follow the link for a detailed description of how each type manifests itself.
