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79 sats \ 19 replies \ @kepford 19 Feb \ parent \ on: MicroStrategy has cut 20% of its workforce as its bitcoin buying multiplies Stacker_Stocks
There is a market good or utility to holding / trading companies but I don't know the econ theories well enough to explain it. I think the simple way to explain it is that they create a signal to the rest of the market about a good by taking the risk early on and reaping either the penalty or reward depending on how their bet pans out.
I mean... its basically what we plebs are doing but on a larger scale. Because they have bigger bags and better credit they can play with more risk and more money. The deeper reason why they are able to do what they are doing is simply the fiat system. If I were Saylor I'd be doing it too.
I disagree. Us plebs have to work sustain life. This company doesn’t have that. I thought the whole idea of going into business was to pool capital and share risk of trying to bring a good or service to the market that people will consume. Once you stop doing that what other purpose does a company serve? If he has ambitions of being a bank then he should get a banking charter and operate as one.
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From the Austrian perspective, capital (and speculating on how to allocate it) provides as much value to society as innovation.
Speculating on the appreciation of assets involves risk. Before you put your capital on the line you have to do a lot of research, and others get a cheaper signal from you than their own research would cost them. You remove an efficiency from the market and that's where your profits come from.
It's an important part of the economy, because the economy needs price signals.
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George Gilder makes a similar argument
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Yeah but a central bank in bed with the government creates bailouts. Which makes it almost impossible to know is Buffett a good allocator of capital or is just another beneficiary of the money printer. Go back to 2008 if USA didn’t bail out the economy ultra rich guys would have gotten destroyed.
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So the problem is the money printer, not the capitalists.
Now that we have Bitcoin and the money printer is losing its power we can keep capitalism and don't have to be as apologetic about it.
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They are both at fault. Capitalists lost the plot of developing humans and communities and left it to the government while the top of the heap justify compensation beyond their own personal productivity.
If we didn’t have this welfare government state then companies will have more of an incentive to care for their labor and take more risks instead of geographically arbitraging labor to zero (looking at you apple) in pursuit in becoming a trillion dollar company. And leaving it to the government to clean up the mess while skirting taxes.
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Like I said, an economist could explain the utility of companies that speculate and hold or trade assets. I get the instinct you have and I share it but also what I have read about this topic is compelling as well.
The problem with what you are saying is that one can take that logic to basically say we shouldn't have stock markets at all because they are all just grifters. And then you end up in a socialist econ where there isn't a system to determine the market prices and risk ratios of companies.
I don't like the financial world... but as long as they aren't stealing my money like the state does and they are just gambling with their money I'm OK with it. Hard for me to get worked up about it really. People gonna gamble.
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Nah I think the stock market is great. But that doesn’t mean I can’t criticize unfeathered greed. Like a wise man once said to me in a podcast (Professor Penn) a man can only eat one steak a day, only drive one car day, having an excess of a billion dollars or more just seems to be accepted. Soon as someone says hey maybe this person should distribute his wealth more, maybe into his employees or whatever the jump is made to socialism/Communism.
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What is greed? Serious question
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I think when you have excess of stuff and refuse to share.
Why I’m one of the top zapper of sats on SN I can’t criticize buffet and not break bread with the stackers!!
I still remember my dad telling me (born in a literal log cabin, dirt poor) some of the most greedy people I have ever met were poor. Greed isn't about how much money you have.
Always stuck with me. Some of the generous people I have ever met were very wealthy too. I know plenty of generous people that are not wealthy. People often surprise you. What you expect is often wrong if you are willing to accept it.
Uh.... I could be crazy but if you by stock in the company then bam. You eliminate you issues you mentioned? Being a BTC bank doesnt exist yet. BTC has a price and the amount the company hold has a value. It is the same as a precious metal company be it gold or silver they have the minerals its just the cost of processing and selling them.
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If I were Saylor I'd be doing it too.
He would be an idiot to not take advantage of the system the way he is. I agree.
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The easy way is to look at it from the perspective of gold. There is only X amount. Gold goes into all sorts of computer chips decreasing the supply and increasing the price. That is before countries and companies hold it to help their balance sheet. In a way BTC plays the same thing
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