Casino Royal

[Skybird]

Just read that JP Morgan has annihilated 2 billion in less than 6 weeks, in dubious and risky investements.

Over the past weeks, from several countries I read that banks, heavyweights, have fallen back into old patterns. In Germany, consumers complain about being advised even worse and being offered even more intransparent "finance products" (=debts of others) than until 4 years ago - despite a law that demands banks to improve in these regards and tells them that they must fix in writing what they advised their clients. It seems it just has improved their creatitivty to bypass the law and cheat their clients even more underhanded.

It seems the business has not learned anything from the past 4 years of crisis - and the way the casino mentality has done the better part to inflame it. ritics of tighter bank regulations once again have been proven wrong.

Meanwhile, the City of London is brimming with hope for big profits from betting on the Euro to crash. They too have not learned anything.

And just weeks ago the EU central committee wanted to increase it'S budget by 5% and demanded more money from the provinces, because crisis yes or no and austerity plans yes or no - itself it wanted to spend more and increase both its apparatus and fonds. These polit bureaucrats too have not learned anything.

As long as the world does not end completely and the sky falls right onto people's heads: do they ever learn anything at all...? I pull my hairs out when reading reports like this.

[the_tyrant]

You know, James Bond is smarter than any of these bankers.

When he gambles, he does it with taxpayer money, and when he loses all the money British taxpayers have, he goes to Felix and starts to lose American taxpayer money.

He is also a member of the 0.0001 percent, as we can see from License to Kill. 5 million dollars is nothing to him, he is willing to use a case of five million to smack a bad guy in the face! And that was the 80s, before inflation made money worth less!


James Bond reminds me of these bankers. He gambles with other people's money, just even less responsible.

[Rockstar]

HEY! Quit knockin' Bond James Bond.


http://gregcarbone.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/bond-girls.jpg

[Skybird]

My goodness - is that sweat...? :D

Maybe two hotties is one two much.

[Skybird]

Eight years...! Does this set a new record?

[Jimbuna]

Just a SPAMMER from the Ukraine popping in to say hello.

[Platapus]

That's .. uh.. quite the shirt Craig is wearing.
Definitely a shirt that makes a statement.

[Kapitan]

Skybird i think a film called the big short might interest you, i have seen it a couple of times myself its quite good.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596363/

With reference to the markets (i do use them) there is so many financial creations are we even sure what we are buying? the capitalist system thrives on debt, in fact it wasn't until the Nixon era that America's economy de coupled from a gold standard (the UK abolished this in 1931)

So what is it today? well today we don't have money (the term is misappropriated) in the traditional sense, money is an item which can be traded for something else, we use currency.

Our currency is not backed by any tangible asset such as gold or silver, it is merely a medium of exchange, its a piece of paper / metal / plastic bearing a promise to service a debt so basically were walking around with a bunch of government issued IOU's. (top of any UK bank note it says " I promise to pay the barer the sum of")

Banks make their funds by investing the IOU's into projects and markets for a return of even more IOU's but here's the catch, when we go into a Bank and buy a house we put down a deposit of IOU's and the bank lends us more IOU's to buy an tangible asset, we just have to pay each month.
The bank then packages these mortgages up throws them into a clearing house and credit agency re packages them and sells them as securities.

The bank then hedges and buys a credit default swap against the mortgage them sells it in other swaps.
So you see the entire system is some what convoluted but that is just one aspect of the market.

I have slowed down trading over the last few years now its more just playing with loose change so its not a massive thing for me any more, I have been using the stock markets since I was 14, yes ive made money yes i have also lost money.

Personally I prefer trading commodities (specifically Gas, Oil, Gasoline, Corn and Their options) and using stocks as a long term backing to build equity in the platform.
I trade using a CFD (contract for difference) it isn't the best but as a retail non professional trader unfortunately its one of the few places out there that the ordinary man can trade without the Hassel of going through a broker and have tens of thousands invested.

Can I see where JP Morgan went wrong to loose $2bn yes absolutely, the markets have been volatile recently and the worst bit is there's no let up, on the flip side though the nice jump in oil the other day netted me a nice profit :D time to flip it.

[Skybird]

Skybird i think a film called the big short might interest you, i have seen it a couple of times myself its quite good.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596363/

I keep my eyes open for it, thanks for the headsup.



With reference to the markets (i do use them) there is so many financial creations are we even sure what we are buying? the capitalist system thrives on debt, in fact it wasn't until the Nixon era that America's economy de coupled from a gold standard (the UK abolished this in 1931)

So what is it today? well today we don't have money (the term is misappropriated) in the traditional sense, money is an item which can be traded for something else, we use currency.

Our currency is not backed by any tangible asset such as gold or silver, it is merely a medium of exchange, its a piece of paper / metal / plastic bearing a promise to service a debt so basically were walking around with a bunch of government issued IOU's. (top of any UK bank note it says " I promise to pay the barer the sum of")Its not wrong to have a currency like this that is used for trading interactions, or bartering if you want, it makes it easier and frees us from the need to have items and goods and tiny silver bars carried around with us so that we can pay with them. As you point out, the problem starts when the currency units in ciruclation are not covered/secured with material backup values equalling them.

If that is the case, then the value of the currency unit drops. And asset prices goes up. Things go Boom! and everyvbody goes Ohh! Until somebody realises that there is more numbered chips in circulation than there are coats hanging at the reception. Then everybody starts running. Thats the Bust!

So many people stare at stockmarket prices or asset value prices , property prices, and they rise steeply and people think the economy does fine and wealth is generated. What is generated is the devaluation of money instead, and that is why the prices rise. Liquidity is claimed to become sparse, more forged moeny without value (silver dollars without any silver in the coin) gets printed, and more oil gets spille dinto the fire, claiming it extinguishes the flames.

Until that one certain day in the forseeable future that I really really fear.


Wealthy in this only those get who use to trade currency into real material property while there still is time and have a close connceiton to the lading elite so that the latter doe snot plunder that wekath from them by enforced mortgages and taxes. After WWII, in Germany for example even fully paif proerty and houses was taxed with a morgtage of aorund 50%. Owners hwo had no debts were told by the state that now they have debts, and need to npay them. Gold prohibitions serve the same criminal intent. Stock papers also can be abused this way, since thy are just ink and paper and claim, not the owned value itself. Thjats why it is important to a.) buy material stuff anonymous, why states b.) want to prevent buying anonymously by killing cash money, , and to own c.) enough liquidity so that oen can sit out times of prohibitioon and state plundering. The latter is almost impossible to achieve. The mobster cartel that the state is, always is in the more powerful position.


For all these reaosns I say that polticians never shoudl be allowed minting rights, never should be allowed to control money system, and all central bank regimes must be destroyed, and for every note in ciruclation, an adequate ammount of material wealth must be stored away. Infinitely cretaing currency out of the lbue is the suicide of every eocnimic system. Inflation is not needed, that claim is a brutal lie. Inflation is a destroyer.

[Kapitan]

Some interesting points made there Skybird and I have to say I agree with most of them.

[Catfish]

It is not all wrong, however i beg to differ that a currency 'guarantee' only exists if people agree on its value.
Gold is certainly a standard, but more is being found every day, also after WW2 you could not even buy a loaf of bread with a bar of gold, seems the farmers did not agree to the value when bread was scarce, and needed to survive.

If enough people agree on a currency, and be it toilet paper, it is worth what people give for it. And that depends on time and general cirumstances of trade.

[Skybird]

It is not all wrong, however i beg to differ that a currency 'guarantee' only exists if people agree on its value.
No, the value of currency is not needed to be separately agreed on in value, since a currency is just a formal token, a palceholder. What coutns is the vlaue of the good or commodity that each currency unit stands for. And that value, the worth of that material backup, is object of market mechanisms. Supply and demand. In cas eof preicous metal sbeign used to mint coins this means a banknote is just a token for a certain ammount of silver or gold that is stored away somewhere, lets say one ounce. The note then reads "one ounce" (currency titles like Dollar and Taler originally were quantity measurements, like karat, wihich is the weight of a diamond. There shall be no notes for which their is no appropriate ammount of preicosu metal ins torage ADDITIONALLY tot he metals beign sued to make coins of it. Only then the banknbote doe snto ifnlate the currency unit colume, which is of utmost importance. So even when banknotes of paper are beign handed aorund, the real money is not the banknote, but the preciosu metla it stands for. The note is just a placeholder a chip for a coat at the reception.

The ammount of total precious metal available in the world, does not matter, the numerical fixing of price indices simply adapt. Thats all. Ammount of gold int he world doubles? The oucne is worth half only, so prices for other goods double. TGhe ammount of gold int he world halves? The value of the ounce doubles, the price indices halve. Simplified, but in principle its like this.

This sets limits for what potlicans can spend out. And thatswhat they never liked. So the kind reserved the royal privilge for minitn cpoins,a dnpotlicians of modenr times invented central banks and Fiat money. Both serve the same purpsoe: forging money to increase "liquidity", and hiding in that that somebody wants to spend more money than there is.

The minting privilege of states must be destroyed, if needed by force. Central banks must be destroyed as well, if needed by force. This is of utmost importance. What is needed is a value-based real currency, not a Fiat counterfeit money. It does not matter who mints a gold coin - the ammopunt fo gold in it is what counts. The look is absolutely irrelevant,m the cretaor is irrelevant. Before the civl war, in the US there were half a dozen of different dollars in ciorucklation, most or even all of them from private mints. One dollar of silver (dollar is a quantity measurement, coming from the word Taler!!) is one dollar of silver. Full stop. If you sell a gold ring or a necklace, they only check the wieght of the in cluded gold. Who created the ring, the origin of the necklace, the hair colour of the goldsmith, are not relevant. 30 grams of gold are 30 grams of gold. It does not need a state's approval!


Gold is certainly a standard, but more is being found every day, also after WW2 you could not even buy a loaf of bread with a bar of gold, seems the farmers did not agree to the value when bread was scarce, and needed to survive.The total amount of gold that has been mine din the history of all mankind, is surprisingly small small, its estimated to be around 187 - 197 thousand tons - in all millenia that man has mined it. That equals a cube with an edge length of around 21 - 21,7 meters. Only very little new gold gets added every year to the already existing gold, less than 1% of the traded gold per year on the markets actually is newly mined gold. Gold mining takes place since around 6000 years. The other 99+ % gold avialaboe for trade, actually is old gold that just gets sold by its previous owner to a new one, bartering it for somethign else.

If a simple gold coin of lets say 1 ounce is too big and unpractical, that divide it into pieces. The charm of gold cpoins is that what matter sis not the shape of the coin, but the ammount of gold. You goive the gold a finer denomination (Stückleung, make of one cpoins twenyt coins, et voila. Or small tiny flakes of 1 gram, whcih in Germny would give oyu a value of currently around 50-60 Euros. Or trade your gold for something else allowing even finer denominations of value - traditionally this has been silver.

You must not have millions of tons of gold to have a gold currency. The ratio, the relation of prices to each othe ris what coujtns, and when gold is just a trading commodity like any other trading commodity, it doe snot matter how big or small a coin is or who printed it - gold is gold, and only the total ammount is what matters.


If enough people agree on a currency, and be it toilet paper, it is worth what people give for it. And that depends on time and general cirumstances of trade.Absolutely correct. Historically, gold and silver and jewelry have shown to be much more preferred as a universal trding item, for many advantages. Especially precious metals do not rot, and their total av ialability is limited.
Central banks HATE both facts.

And if gold would really be so bad and worthless, then somebody must explain to me why central banks have bought it in huge quantities over the past 15 years, stored and lock it away, and threaten to prohibit private possession of gold?

Central Banks know damn well that the only real money is not Paper-Euros and Paper-Dollars, but Gold and Silver and the likes.

Toilet paper, anyone? :D In Corona times, it worth pure gold! ;)

When i was still into investing, I had, amongst others, these two rules, which I copied I think from Warren Buffet. Do not sell what the other wants from you urgently. Do not buy what the other wants to sell you at all cost. Well, central banks want my gold. And they want to give me paper leaflets or bits and bytes on a server. Hear my mind clicking. :ping: