How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Innula Zenovka]

The whole thread to which Charlie Stross links is worth reading

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

Considering you've also be buying gold when it's at its highest price for over 50 years, I think that might be an investment you'd come to regret

Yeah but silver and gold have intrinsic value - meaning they will always be worth something. The same can't necessarily be said of stocks.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Yeah but silver and gold have intrinsic value - meaning they will always be worth something. The same can't necessarily be said of stocks.

Like any other commodity, they're worth whatever someone is prepared to pay for them (or not) at the time you're trying to sell them.

 

[Sid]

Most money is lost at the stock markets by selling low and buying high.
So my tactic at the moment is according the Dutch saying: "You'd better sit still while you're being shaved".
I ain't gonna sell right now, because I need the money later, starting circa 5 years from now, so there is a chance to recoup, even if it is only partial.

 

[Free]

Yeah but silver and gold have intrinsic value - meaning they will always be worth something. The same can't necessarily be said of stocks.

Then buy grain.

 

[danielravennest]

Yeah but silver and gold have intrinsic value - meaning they will always be worth something. The same can't necessarily be said of stocks.

There is no such thing as intrinsic value. Gold has intrinsic properties like density and melting point. Those are determined by nature. But value is entirely a human construct. It is determined by what other things people are willing to trade for your gold. Other people's desires and emotions about gold are variable.

The usefulness of a good or service is called its "utility value". Gold doesn't tarnish easily, so it is used in electronics (in small amounts) for electrical contacts. Silver is more conductive than copper, so it is used (again in small amounts) for the electrical contacts in solar cells. So long as they are useful, people will trade something for them.

Whale oil used to be used in oil lamps and other products. Nowadays we use LED lighting. So the utility value of whale oil has vanished. Utility value is also variable. That's separate from our realization they are intelligent creatures and it is wrong to kill them.

Asteroids have a relatively high content of "Platinum group metals". These are the elements below iron, cobalt, and nickel on the Periodic Table. They mix well with these "base metals" because they have similar electron shells. On Earth, most of these metals sank to the core along with the base metals. That makes them rare, so we also call them "precious metals". Gold is one of them. If we ever get serious about asteroid mining, they won't be as rare any more, and their price will drop.

Stocks represent ownership of a company. So long as companies provide useful products that people are willing to buy, shares of stock will be worth something. Emotion drives the price of stocks up and down by causing a temporary imbalance between buyers and sellers. If that bothers you, buy something more stable.

 

[Free]

Yeah, Speaker of the House. Of Congress. Of the United States of America. Where Trump is president. Where is your plan?

 

[Free]

Anywho, Balko unravels the goods on how Grijalva likely became sick...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Donald Trump claims Anthony Fauci 'wrong' about cause of Covid-19 surge

President again contradicts his own health expert after doctor highlights troubled US response to virus

www.theguardian.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Clearly a functioning brain isn't necessary for survival, because he certainly seems to function, at least on a minimal level, without one.

 

[Free]

Berlin Protest Against Virus Curbs Draws Thousands

Thousands gathered to protest coronavirus restrictions in Berlin this weekend.

www.ibtimes.com

Loudly chanting their opposition to face masks and vaccines, thousands of people gathered in Berlin on Saturday to protest against coronavirus restrictions before being dispersed by police.

Police put turnout at around 20,000 -- well below the 500,000 organisers had announced as they urged a "day of freedom" from months of virus curbs.

Despite Germany's comparatively low toll, authorities are concerned at a rise in infections over recent weeks and politicians took to social media to criticise the rally as irresponsible.

 

[Sid]

There are fools and idiots everywhere. We had such a demonstration yesterday against the corona measures from the government as well in The Hague.
And that while the number of new cases has doubled last week in that region,
Numbers are still reasonable low (4.6 cases per 100.000 people) and no new hospitalizations so far, but still.....

 

[Free]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

My parents listened respectfully to me and to what I had to say about the coronavirus, but they also trusted our elected officials when they said we were on the other side of the pandemic. “The governor said it was safe,” Dad told me as, for the first time in months, he prepared to go out and meet up with his friends at their favorite karaoke bar. “Why would he say that if it wasn’t?”
A few weeks later, as he was fighting to breathe and terrified that he might die, he told me he felt betrayed. It was one of our final conversations. The next day, he was put on a ventilator. He died five days later, without family, as an ICU nurse held his hand. My father didn’t deserve that ending, and neither did the 149,000 people, and counting, that we’ve lost.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

The people missing the joke in the thread are mind-blowing.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Stocks represent ownership of a company. So long as companies provide useful products that people are willing to buy, shares of stock will be worth something. Emotion drives the price of stocks up and down by causing a temporary imbalance between buyers and sellers. If that bothers you, buy something more stable.

The best reason to have an investment manager, rather than making these buy-sell decisions yourself, is that they're trained to suppress panic actions. (Daniel is exempt, because he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who ever panics about anything.) Investment is about long-term strategy that takes bad times into account. Stocks go down, that's just to be expected, and in 2020 they're not going down because the economy is weak -- quite the opposite -- but because of COVID-19. So when we solve the COVID-19 problem, one way or another, stocks will recover. Slowly, yes, but again, investment is for the long-term.

Selling now, when stocks are at their lowest price, and buying gold at its highest price, is the best way you can shatter your long-term investment returns. Other people will make a lot of money from your losses.

The most vulnerable people are ones like me, who are at or near retirement age at the bottom of the trough. But basically I just have to wait it out, which means working for a little longer than I'd planned. But I always knew that would be a possible adjustment to make, especially once Trump was elected.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

My mom does the stock thing. As she once put it, 'I only buy stocks in things I understand' so like toilet paper? [and not just recently, I might add]. The only exception is she bought some stock in one of the Space program companies [think Virgin?] because of my dad, he was really into sci fi.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Politics News | Breaking Political News, Video & Analysis-ABC News

ABC News is your trusted source on political news stories and videos. Get the latest coverage and analysis on everything from the Trump presidency, Senate, House and Supreme Court.

fivethirtyeight.com

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Politics News | Breaking Political News, Video & Analysis-ABC News

ABC News is your trusted source on political news stories and videos. Get the latest coverage and analysis on everything from the Trump presidency, Senate, House and Supreme Court.

fivethirtyeight.com

I have some issues with this. I mean, not specifically with the writer of the piece, but just the idea that fathers can't freaking take care of their kids? Which is a peeve of mine up there with dads 'babysitting' their own kids.