Krispy Original,
you posted ‘First of all, I started this thread to draw attention to the thread in GD where I was engaging nicely in a debate only to be repeatedly personally insulted by DavidB.
Yes, I wanted others to see the undeserved insults that the moderator of GD was throwing at me for the crime of disagreeing with him…’
Then moriah posted to you
‘2. My opinion is that you’re a whining jerk.
3. If you want a second opinion: you’re a unrepentant troller.’
You replied ‘Oh yeah, so’s your mamma!’
As I said, this is tedious. (Also you can claim that you post nicely, and don’t deserve insults, but other posters don’t seem to agree.)
Much more worthwhile:
You posted ‘Wow! Where did you come up with the numbers? Please fill in the blanks: Number of people that use psychics = ________.
Number of people that invest in the stock market = __________. Are the numbers really that much different?
I think that you are guessing to your advantage.’
Well, I admit I have no statistical information. My ball-park numbers were based on the fact that all pension funds invest in the stock market, so almost everyone is an investor (whether they realise it or not). So I should have said ‘the number of people directly OR INDIRECTLY involved in the Stock Market…’
But you’re right to challenge me for facts! I can quote from today’s Guardian:
‘Stock market trading by small investors has trebled in the past 4 weeks…Hundreds of thousands of get-rich-quick investors - average age 37, average trade £3,000 - are scrambling into little-known, often loss-making Internet stocks that have surged in value.’
‘More than 2 billion shares are regularly passing thru the (London) stock market daily.’
‘The new Net traders, who number at least 70,000 and who are growing by hundreds every day…’.
You said ‘Then you go on to mix apples and oranges so to speak when you involve the dollars and deaths. Deaths happen to people…dollars don’t die. Incorrect logic on your part when you speak of the expected ratio.’
Yes, I should have expressed myself better. I meant that the potential financial losses on the stock market were vastly greater than from paying psychics. Therefore it is more likely, from the amounts involved, that someone will get desperate with debts through share dealings.
(Of course it is possible for psychics to upset people in other ways apart from repeatedly demanding money.)
You said 'buying predictions from psychics is a known risk. Simple advice:
- don’t invest more than you can afford to lose. You can never tell what rubbish a stock market analyst will tell you.’
Unfortunately I don’t agree. Suppose you go to a psychic and they tell you your partner is going to die. How can you be prepared for that?
I said ‘…the stock market analysts have a decent track record.’
You said ‘Really now! Define decent. Then tell us what percentage of them actually have a “decent” track record…especially after a unforeseen market drop. I bet the “track record” of those dudes in the 1920’s and 1930’s musta sucked.’
Decent track record = Making money at a higher rate of interest than a savings account.
Of course there are sudden drops in the market. But long-term (which is the safer investment I use) the trend is relentlessly upward. (Same thing with house prices.)
You said ‘As far as the commodities market goes, everytime someone wins, someone else losses. That’s just a plain and simple fact of how the commodities market works.’
Yes, I enjoyed ‘Trading Places’ too. However, let’s take chocolate (my favourite!)A company wants to cover itself against the coffee bean harvest being affected by weather. It commits to buying futures at a reasonably acceptable price. Investors can take the position that the harvest will be good, and make a profit if it does. The company doesn’t ‘lose’ - it’s effectively taking out insurance.
If you really want a ‘loser’, it’s people who put money under the bed, where it loses value thru inflation.
In the bathtub of history, the truth is harder to hold than the soap… (Pratchett)
