Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

[Uno]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

You missed my point. Much of the conversion on iTulip is actually about speculating in the stock markets and not investing. Guessing marco future events such as who will bomb Iran or what the Fed will do next is not investing, it is speculation.

and Micrsoft? amazing to this day as to why people still spout the corporate media garbage about Microsoft, almost as absurd as the current bank bailout stuff.

I worked at Microsoft. Gates mostly built his company with great product marketing, strategy, and execution - it was never about the technology.

It is like Toyota beating GM is not really about the technology but rather things like understanding the customer, product design, and execution. Consumer software is just that, a consumer product.

and yes Gates built strong barriers around his business (as Buffet would say) - that is all about reducing risk, which was also my point.

Google is also trying to build a monoply and then leverage it (tax the entire Internet, in your terms), great marketing as can be seen by your comments in that you hope Google creates an Internet monoply just as Microsoft did with the OS market?

I guess you believe in "Do no evil" ? It is kind of like Ford and "Quality is Job #1" LOL.

Oh and Google is not focused on an OS, they are trying to run free productivity applications off the Internet and so change the playing field. (A classic Microsoft strategy).

I remember my dad used to where a Ford hat everywhere, must have been some great marketing at some point, kind of like Apple and Google today. And of course you know there used to be hundreds of car companies but a mature market would not supprot them, same with the OS market, there is no need for a new OS unless some invents an "electric car" or something.

If Gates was still there, I would bet on Microsoft crushing Google anyday but Vista was such a screw up that I'm not sure, similar to Apple losing direction when Jobs left.

But the point was, I like reading iTulip but like many sites you confuse speculation with investing all the time.

[c1ue]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

Uno,

I've never said Microsoft has not done anything productive nor inventive.

The problem is - what production or invention Microsoft chooses to output is purely a fiction.

At the end of the day, the goal of Microsoft is not to make a better OS per se. It is to sell software. Increasing size and clumsiness of OS in the lip service of greater functionality serves to churn users out of their old existing OS and into a new one. And as the monopoly owner, this is free money.

If using a computer is vital to modern survival, how then is it not regulated just as much as electricity, water, and waste disposal?

As for Google - I never have ascribed to their 'Do No Evil' crap. I know a number of people who work there - and the MBA-ization is proceeding apace.

Ultimately they are an advertising company. And I am hard pressed to find a sector more the opposite of 'Do No Evil'. Maybe slavery?

Google will use its mindshare in search - which in turn is vital to access the ridiculous amounts of information on the Internet - to squeeze those companies who rely on the personal computer.

Quite frankly while Google is not quite a monopolist - i.e. their monopoly is functional, not structural - on the other hand it isn't hard to see how Google can seriously damage M*.

For example - Google could come up with free software translation programs to allow users of older M* software to communicate with newer M* software. Office 2000 to 2003 to 2007 is an example of how M* forces churn; a mitigation of this churn will have an effect.

Another example would be an automatic driver updating capability. Another way M* forces churn is by simply not supporting various newer hardware in older OS's. Google filling this gap would knock out another leg from the structural monopoly.

There are many many other methods as well. The whole 'cloud computing' is stupid crap which I expect from an MBA - and ultimately all that means is Google trying to take over the M* Office suite part of the monopoly.

In reality there is much less fancy crap needed for Google to truly provide fundamental value and to thus convert from a functional to its own structural monopoly.

Thought to consider: excluding specialty markets like games, just how badly does 90% of the population need a newer computer?

Hint: Netbook

[Sharky]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

Simply sitting on a pile of gold coins does nothing for the economy and the world.

The owners, employees and suppliers of gold mines, coin dealers and bullion brokerages would likely disagree, as would other owners of gold.

Structurally, we need inflation to force people with money to invest. Buy businesses, create businesses, invest in businesses.

In order to buy or create a business, some amount of capital is required. The process by which that capital is collected is called saving. Inflation discourages saving, and therefore discourages real investment. Savings also causes lower real interest rates, which are favorable to businesses.

Also, why would you think that forcing people to do anything is a good idea?

There must be something that erodes the savings of people who are not TAKING RISKS.

Because it is risk taking which naturally moves the world forward. It's taking chances, making mistakes, trying new things.

Some would say that holding gold or maintaining a savings account isn't exactly risk-free. So you must be suggesting a particular kind of risk. Why should I believe that the kind of risk you want to encourage is good for me?

No, what makes the world go forward is individuals making their own investment decisions. Each person putting their capital where they think it will achieve the best return, or saving their capital for some long-term goal (like buying a house or starting a company).

People who consume too much are bad for the world, but so are people who SAVE too much.

What we really want are people who INVEST.

No, that's what you really want. Not me. It's a myth that savers are bad for the world, when in fact the reverse is true. The savings rate in the US has dropped below zero; look where that got us.

What I want is individual choice, free from government intervention. I want to be able to reasonably estimate my long-term economic future, so that I can make good long-term decisions -- something that's impossible with inflation.

[The Outback Oracle]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

Thanks Sharky

Good long-term decisions are impossible with inflation! That's how we got this FIRE economy in the first place. As I pointed out right at the beginning of this thread, and no-one addressed, is that inflation causes a massive misallocation of resources.
(Amongst a whole parcel of social end equity problems)

[kingcopper]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

Thanks Sharky

Good long-term decisions are impossible with inflation! That's how we got this FIRE economy in the first place. As I pointed out right at the beginning of this thread, and no-one addressed, is that inflation causes a massive misallocation of resources.
(Amongst a whole parcel of social end equity problems)

Good long-term decisions are also impossible without proper and legit by the regulators.

[Sharky]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

Good long-term decisions are also impossible without proper and legit by the regulators.

Very true. That was one of the big problems during the Great Depression. Businesses were unable to do any long-term planning because of fears that the government would step in with even more goof-ball legislation.

If there's a good chance that all of your profits could soon be taken from you and distributed to others, or that your cost of doing business could soon escalate and destroy your profit margin, then why bother busting your ass to grow a business?

[LargoWinch]

Re: Dumb money should go to Zero - ie: inflation is necessary.

Sadly, the PC itself is in trouble these days as more PC gamers switch to consoles.

That is correct...for now. We need to remember that we are early (2-3 years) in the cycle for "new" consoles.

I think once the PC really get the physics figured out, PC will have a clear upper hand, like in the last days of the PS2: