Stock Market Down. How is This a Good Thing?

a reply to: JAGStorm

Sorry I missed this, Jags!

I completely agree. Treat yourself a bit, support the local economy.

New shoes > new phone, any day of the week.

Food for thought.

[...]
The problem with the stock market is not it going up, down, or sideways. It’s what our obsession with it has done to us. It’s that paying attention to capitalism has made us think like capitalists. It exerts a gravitational-like pull on our psyches, nudging us psychologically to the right and shredding our instincts for social solidarity.

First, there’s basic class conflict. Once you own even a modest amount of stock, you’ll likely find yourself ambivalent about companies squeezing as much money as possible out of their employees, even if you’re one of them. Rather than thinking about how to work with everyone else to stop the Fortune 500 from ravaging America, you’re hoping to get your teeny-tiny personal share from the ravages.

“A lot of middle and upper middle-income people identify with the stock market’s fate,” says Henwood. “Instead of seeing it as their class enemy, they see it as their friend.”

But a true friend would not incentivize you to profit from climate collapse. You know you should join a mass movement to stop global warming, but … your Exxon stock is doing great, so you figure that when the Antarctic ice sheet collapses, you can sell it and buy a house in Manitoba.

Next there’s the perspective the stock market encourages everyone to adopt about financial bubbles. Consider what it actually means for anyone panicking about the value of their 401(k). The sad fact is that their 401(k)’s value was never real, just as the cheap homes built in Florida suburbs at the height of the housing bubble were never worth $1.2 million apiece. What everyone has been counting on — hopefully without consciously realizing it — was that stocks would remain overvalued until after they sold them in retirement. That is, they were depending on being able to take advantage of someone else by selling them an overpriced asset, like a Florida house-flipper.

This economic structure inevitably makes us see others not as fellow citizens with whom we’re all in this together, but as potential marks. You can only buy low and sell high if you successfully fool others into selling low and buying high. The economist John Maynard Keynes famously described this type of “investing” long ago: “the actual, private object of the most skilled investment today is … to outwit the crowd, and to pass the bad, or depreciating, half-crown to the other fellow.”

CORONAVIRUS MATTERS, THE STOCK MARKET DOESN’T, AND THINKING IT DOES MAY LITERALLY KILL US

This could be the start for an introspective that has been overdue for decades, if not centuries. Well, Black Monday or not, is it here yet? You decide!

Why does the media care so much about the stock market now when two weeks ago they were saying the stock market did not help the average man and woman... it was only for the greedy fat cats.

a reply to: gpols

I can't find anything on it right now, but I have heard that the biggest reason Africa isn't exporting rare earths is because China has bought up all of the mineral rights. That wouldn't surprise me; thanks to previous administrations/congresses, China has more American money than Carter has Little Liver Pills. DeBoers did the same thing with diamonds, too... If not for their policies of both advertising them as a requirement for a wedding ring (it wasn't that long ago that people had never heard of wearing a rock on their ring) and tightly controlling the supply, a diamond would be no more expensive than any other purty rock.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
I can't find anything on it right now, but I have heard that the biggest reason Africa isn't exporting rare earths is because China has bought up all of the mineral rights.

Not accurate, The United States is currently exploring the development of rare earths with African nations as partners.

DeBoers did the same thing with diamonds, too...

De Beers.

a reply to: TheRedneck

GAKARA PROJECT
The highest grade rare earths mine globally, and the only producing rare earths mine in Africa

rainbowrareearths.com...

Rainbow's focus is the Gakara Project in Burundi, one of the highest-grade (47%-67% Total Rare Earth Oxide) rare earths projects globally. The Company raised US$8 million in January 2017 to fast-track the fully permitted Gakara Project to production ahead of targeted first production and sales of concentrate by the end of 2017, which has now been achieved. Rainbow has a ten-year distribution and offtake agreement with multinational thyssenkrupp Raw Materials secured for the sale of at least 5,000 tpa of concentrate produced. The Gakara basket is weighted heavily towards the magnet rare earths, including neodymium and praseodymium, which are driving demand and account for 70% of annual global REE sales due to their use in vital components in motors, generators, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.

polaris.brighterir.com...

Bing is pretty solid sometimes. You know Bing? Who cares, Bing knows you!

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: gpols

I can't find anything on it right now, but I have heard that the biggest reason Africa isn't exporting rare earths is because China has bought up all of the mineral rights. That wouldn't surprise me; thanks to previous administrations/congresses, China has more American money than Carter has Little Liver Pills. DeBoers did the same thing with diamonds, too... If not for their policies of both advertising them as a requirement for a wedding ring (it wasn't that long ago that people had never heard of wearing a rock on their ring) and tightly controlling the supply, a diamond would be no more expensive than any other purty rock.

TheRedneck

Afghanistan is looking good.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Your link is essentially saying what I said: that China has a footprint in Africa and the US is negotiating. That Chinese footprint is explained in more detail here. China owns a good bit of the mining in Africa, and uses that market control to maintain their position.

That doesn't mean the US is not trying to secure their own sources of minerals, including rare earths.

De Beers.

Yeah, I tend to get those two mixed up.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
Your link is essentially saying what I said...

No, you said China 'bought up all the mineral rights', that is incorrect.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Point is, China has control over much of Africa's mineral resources.

Play semantics with someone else.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

From what I understand they have been mining the minerals themselves complete with security provided by the PLA. So those mines are effectively little Chinese territories.

I remember reading about he conspiracy surrounding diamonds. Another reason they cost so much is the marketing push to put a price on how much you love your SO was successful.

Also, they are growing diamonds in labs now and you can't tell the difference between a natural and lab made diamond.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
Play semantics with someone else.

Nah, I'm gonna do it with you since you said it, 'all' is not 'much'. You've been wrong on rare earths all thread. Whether you're doing it intentionally or are not bothering to look things up is the real question.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Being tied to China is terrible. If and when we get out of this mess we need to sever dependency on China.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

OK, then, you'll be playing by yourself.

TheRedneck

a reply to: gpols

That's pretty much what I have been hearing as well. Africa is a battlefield for minerals (not just rare earths, either) and China has a pretty good head start. They know those minerals, especially the rare earths, are the key to their technological superiority, and they really want to keep that superiority.

One thing China has consistently defeated us in is their drive... the Chinese think in generational terms, that is, they focus not on tomorrow but on 50-100 years in the future. We tend to think in terms of now. That's the primary reason China has been able to tighten their grip on technology. The Chinese culture is very disciplined.

TheRedneck

a reply to: Willtell

For once, I agree with you.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Agreed!



But I'll bet you the politicians any of the parties won't do much about it

originally posted by: Willtell
a reply to: TheRedneck

Being tied to China is terrible. If and when we get out of this mess we need to sever dependency on China.

The problem will be that if we do then our politicians and board of directors will only shift that dependency to another foreign country. Africa has been in the works for over 10 years now , we even rebuilt their electrical grids.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
OK, then, you'll be playing by yourself.

Until you post more erroneous information.

Stocks still up over 5k in the last 5 years.