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Money and Wealth:
Because of the lame brained thinking which has become fashionable
in all of our governments and most of our institutions, I feel
the need to discuss money and wealth. There is a basic difference
between the two. Most of us don't realize or think about that
difference. In fact, most of us carelessly mistake money for the
wealth it represents. We fetch up short when inflation slaps us
upside the head and shows us the difference.
What is the difference? Here are some obvious facts. Wealth is things, items of real property. Money is the beads or symbols which are used to represent the real property. Money is printed in Washington. Wealth is created on farms and in factories by changing things into more valuable things with imagination and sweat.
Inflation occurs when money is printed faster than the wealth it represents is created. In Washington, this occurs on a daily basis. Then the value of money declines with respect to the goods it can purchase. That is how the idyllic golden years of older people, on fixed incomes, are turned to feces! Yes, the government is responsible. This is at the federal level.
At the state and local level, we have other examples of lame brained thinking by government. In general, these take the form of easy solutions to serious financial problems. Casinos are just one type of easy solution which have become fashionable of late. The argument is that a casino will create jobs and wealth. That's bull crap!
A casino does not create wealth. It redirects cash flow, nothing more. A steel mill creates wealth by changing raw material into useable steel. A box factory creates wealth by changing paper and cardboard into boxes. These things are products; real property. No real property comes out of a casino. Cash goes into these institutions and cash goes out. There is no product unless we count human grief as a product.
There are two honest ways of redirecting cash flow. One is to create real property and the other is to provide a real service. Casinos do neither of these. They are inherently evil. They prey disgracefully upon human pathology and encourage it. They encourage irrational behavior. Casinos also provide entertainment to attract customers to their real business. Entertainment can be viewed as a service, but when combined with an activity which panders to human pathology, it cannot be so viewed.
Recently, we have been confronted with another insane notion about wealth. This concerns the stock market and the day traders. These fools have turned the stock market into a huge casino. This did not happen by accident. Ultimately, the only one who profits in a casino is the house. In this case, the house is the brokerage firms. The more trading that occurs, the more pot rakeoff they will get. I do not believe this is an innocent phenomena. I believe it is a vicious bunco scheme.
Let's remember that a business has a certain value based on it's productive potential and the value of it's plant and equipment. The trading price of the stock should realistically reflect this combined value. For most of the stock market, and especially the NASDAC stocks, this is no longer the case. The brokerage firms have encouraged these silly amateurs to play the market as though it were a roulette table. In the end, they will all lose.
Anyone with any sense at all is going to get their money out
of the market and leave that business to these amateur gamblers.
They are losers looking for easy street. What they will find is
disaster. The smart investors will put their money into private
firms and new ventures with a reserve in bonds and real estate.
The rule from now on is, as soon as a firm goes public, ride to
the peak and get your money out. The peak will usually occur within
the first day.
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