Biden's America

[Guy Chamberlin]

On 3/16/2024 at 2:52 PM, Archy1221 said:

I don’t think anyone was advocating for lowering their rates further.  
 

People keep forgetting what prompted my entire reason for taking about any of this.  One poster said the entire spending/revenue gap was because we weren’t collecting enough in taxes and the rich needed to pay more, not the US spend less.  
 

On you last paragraph, I’ve asked this to someone else before and really got no answer.  Considering the wealth gap increase has been a function of stock market equity increase, how would you propose closing the wealth gap?  You could certainly tax 100% of income after a certain point ($100 million for example) and all you would do to close that gap is being one side down, not the other side up.   I wouldn’t think that is what people are looking for when talking about closing the wealth gap.   

 

It's always been a mistake to consider the stock market the primary indicator of economic health. 

[DevoHusker]

5 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

It's always been a mistake to consider the stock market the primary indicator of economic health. 

Exactly. Because the market looks great today, and actually the economic health isn't great.

[Archy1221]

1 hour ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

It's always been a mistake to consider the stock market the primary indicator of economic health. 

I’m guessing you maybe meant to reply to someone else?   My post wasn’t about the stock market as a whole or it being an indicator.  
It was in regards to individual market wealth being the biggest driver in the increasing wealth gap 

[Guy Chamberlin]

51 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

Exactly. Because the market looks great today, and actually the economic health isn't great.

 

Also, the stock market might consider layoffs, consolidations and off-shoring as positive moves that will create more profits for stockholders, but perhaps not so great for employees and tax bases. 

 

The old investor class had the money and patience to play the more conservative long-term stock game. We've moved to more of a casino model. I think a lot of the standard metrics for measuring corporate health have been abandoned in order to gamble on unicorns. It can work as long as everyone agrees to share the faith, like chain letters and paper money. 

[Archy1221]

33 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Also, the stock market might consider layoffs, consolidations and off-shoring as positive moves that will create more profits for stockholders, but perhaps not so great for employees and tax bases

This definitely can be true in certain instances.  And the unfortunate byproduct of chasing the profit margin and having to report quarterly results instead of semi or yearly.  
 

35 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

The old investor class had the money and patience to play the more conservative long-term stock game. We've moved to more of a casino model. I think a lot of the standard metrics for measuring corporate health have been abandoned in order to gamble on unicorns. It can work as long as everyone agrees to share the faith, like chain letters and paper money. 

I think it’s been shown to be pretty clear the old investor class was you speak of was too conservative in their valuation thinking.  A new PE norm has been developing with different sliding scales depending on the industry.  
 

I would also push back on the casino narrative.   Casinos almost always win over the long haul.   In the market, the conservative index fund investor always wins over the long haul.   Individual stock investors, options traders, day traders have a tougher time, but still better odds than a casino.  

[DevoHusker]

 

 

 

[funhusker]

22 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

 

 

Pretty much every president’s America…

 

https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-case-filings-alpha

 

Let me know when you get through the “a’s”!

[teachercd]

This is really a case of Apple making a much better product.  Blackberry simply refused to adapt.  There was even a big "Yeah, I am not getting an iPhone, I use a Blackberry because I am a professional, not a child" sentiment.  

[DevoHusker]

30 minutes ago, funhusker said:

Pretty much every president’s America…

 

https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-case-filings-alpha

 

Let me know when you get through the “a’s”!

Oh definitely. But Biden is currently in office, so it went here.

[Archy1221]

27 minutes ago, teachercd said:

This is really a case of Apple making a much better product.  Blackberry simply refused to adapt.  There was even a big "Yeah, I am not getting an iPhone, I use a Blackberry because I am a professional, not a child" sentiment.  

I think someone at DOJ wanted to buy Apple stock and needed a reason to depress the stock before buying in.  

[funhusker]

19 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

Oh definitely. But Biden is currently in office, so it went here.

Fair enough.  It just seems like you are really stretching to hate on the Biden admin this morning.  It’s fair to not not like the guy, but the posts today just seem pretty petty.

[DevoHusker]

whoops

 

 

 

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Given that Stellantis has about 282,000 employees, a 400 person layoff shouldn't move the needle much. Are we really fishing for bad news here? 

[DevoHusker]

16 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

Given that Stellantis has about 282,000 employees, a 400 person layoff shouldn't move the needle much. Are we really fishing for bad news here? 

No, but thought this was unusual given the previous discussion on the EV roll out that didn't include Tesla.

 

Also, they have laid off several thousand, or offered early buyouts over the past year.

https://www.motor1.com/news/708736/stellantis-employees-profit-share/

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

My conservative friends are suddenly posting a bunch of anti-EV stuff on Facebook. Must be a thing. It slightly pre-dates the EPA announcement. 

 

Government is doing the push, but the market will have the last word. One of my clients is heavy in the EV ecosystem, and there's been a major flip to plug-in hybrids (PHEV).  EVs and their range anxiety may have hit the wall with consumers, and everyone is more comfortable if PHEVs take the burden off pure battery EVs. The mandates seem to acknowledge this.