Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 254 posts

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#111

Post by paxys »

spicyusername wrote: post #62
wat10000 wrote: post #29

It certainly is interesting living in a declining empire.

This is a common refrain you hear a lot. I get why people say it, because it feels good to say when you feel bad. But the decline of the Roman empire took nearly 500 years. Even the bronze age collapse, which you might say happened fast, took more than 100. A thought I have every time someone parrots this is, "what is reasonable to expect?". Would you have heard people saying the same thing during the civil war? Duri…

We live in the Information Age. Things happen quicker now.

The Roman Empire took 500 years to decline.

The Soviet Union took 2 years.

The US broke centuries old alliances and upended the global order in a matter of months.

If there is a collapse of the American empire it won’t happen over centuries but in the span of a few tweets.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#113

Post by bilekas »

ericmay wrote: post #75
WillAdams wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it was a big con to get folks to think that what seemed to them a huge amount of money meant that they were participating in a meaningful fashion. I've never gotten anyone who is educated in economy/finance to provide a reasonable answer to the questions: "Is the world economy large enough to support a meaningful number of people regularly investing in it, arriving at an amount able to support a comfortable ret…

Well, in part you are asking about the world economy . Most of the world doesn’t have 401k retirement vehicles, good access to financial markets, or the spare funds to save at all, whether it’s in stocks, bonds, or other investment vehicles. So the reason you haven’t gotten an answer is because your question doesn’t make much sense.

A 401K is just an investment in indexes linked to your pension, there's nothing stopping everyone putting their own money into an index themselves. The question makes sense, how many people could the market support if everyone was investing and not spending.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#114

Post by GJim »

buellerbueller wrote: post #101
GJim wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm guessing that one reason we got Trump is that the Democrats presented two poor alternatives in a row. Oh please. Are you seriously comparing the disaster that is Mango Mussolini to the likes of (practically any) alternative candidate? The sad reality is that the American people wanted Trump and _voted_ for him. TWICE! The rest of the world has come to terms with this and knows there is no going back to the old…

[flagged]

> The people hunger for democracy,

They surely reform of the two party system (and one where you realistically need to be wealthy to stand a chance of election) is the only solution?

Give people a choice!

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#115

Post by _menelaus »

iso1631 wrote: post #78
CoastalCoder wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing that one reason we got Trump is that the Democrats presented two poor alternatives in a row. It was clear that Biden was mentally slipping. Even if you were a fan of his general politics, 4 additional years of mental decline while in office was a scary prospect. And then Kamala Harris was given very little time to sell herself to the voters. I'm wondering if Trump would have won had the Democrats present…

If you voted for Trump over an inanimate carbon rod then you'd need your head examining. But America still likes him. The only thing that's tarnished him is that it costs a little more to drive a gas guzzler

His approval rating is at a historical low for any president at this point in their term, I think. People don't like ICE, pedophiles, or wars in the Middle East.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#116

Post by SlinkyOnStairs »

cj wrote: post #85
SlinkyOnStairs wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's nothing magical about a "quarter". There isn't. But everyone knows the US stock market is about run off a cliff. Or rather, it already has. Everyone is looking at the quarters because they're waiting for Wile E. Coyote to look down.

What's that old saying? Be greedy when others are fearful, or something like that?

Do bear in mind the context of that Buffett quote is to not blindly chase market sentiment and the numbers, neither directly nor inversely; Berkshire Hathaway's got quite the pile of cash right now.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#117

Post by cestith »

mikewarot wrote: post #13

In less than a decade, the Dow will likely go over 1,000,000. (Because the Dollar is about to tank) I used to believe the unwinding of the Petrodollar would take a generation, it's now likely to happen this year . Trump's wild late night rants threatening civilian infrastructure gave all the cover Iran needed to take out the infrastructure of any of our allies that have US connections or bases. The effects of those a…

> I used to believe the unwinding of the Petrodollar would take a generation, it's now likely to happen this year.

Why do you think the specific regime change targets of Venezuela then Iran, and the oil blockade of Cuba? Look at the volume of oil and natural gas from Venezuela and Iran. Look at how much is imported to Cuba. Now, look at what currencies they were using or trying to use instead of the US dollar.

Now, also, look at the extraction and refining capacity in the Middle East that has been destroyed or badly damaged in the past month. Different oil fields produce different types and grades of crude. The US mostly produces sweet light and sweet intermediate crude on land. The US gulf coast has a big refining capacity for sour heavy crude, which is the main exported kind from both Venezuela and Iran. The US right now after all the attacks on Iran and by Iran on US-friendly countries (along with Ukraine damaging capacity in Russia as part of their war) has a huge advantage in LNG production and in refining the very type of oil from Iran and Venezuela.

Put that all together and it looks like rather than only distracting from pedophilia (which is one motive for all sorts of things the administration does) and trying to culturally and ethnically purge the United States that there just might be another reason for all of these things happening within about a quarter. It could be assumed that the guy who said we were going to have a US as the energy leader of the world and who brags about all the access US companies can now have to Venezuelan oil might be trying to prop up the petrodollar through expeditionary warfare.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#118

Post by jrs235 »

boringg wrote: post #30
joe_mamba wrote: post #6

Crazy how for a guy so obsessed with self image and legacy, Trump is leaving behind a world where he'll be known for making everything shit that it was before him. Amazing. How does this happen?

This is what happens when sales is the leader of your organization.

And compensation is based on revenue not profit. A top sales person brings in $5 million of revenue, but it's going to cost the company $7 million to deliver the goods/services. Sales person hit their top goal and will earn his bonuses while making the company worse off.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#119

Post by callmeal »

joe_mamba wrote: post #6

Crazy how for a guy so obsessed with self image and legacy, Trump is leaving behind a world where he'll be known for making everything shit that it was before him. Amazing. How does this happen?

>How does this happen?

Well, you see a black man became president. And what's worse, he was a really good one, articulate, kind, humble, and emodied all the values we cherish. And that broke people so much they would rather burn everything down than build on what he did.

Don't forgot how long Trump and other republicans went on about "birth certificates" during Obama's first term.

Re: U.S. stocks are set to deliver their worst quarter in nearly four years

#120

Post by lotsofpulp »

JTbane wrote: post #87
grafmax wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how 401ks can make members of the American public think the stock market is really about them. In capitalism, assets follow a Pareto distribution. A small minority hold the majority of assets.

Agreed, pensions are obviously better but the private sector collectively decided not to have them much anymore.

Defined benefit pensions are obviously worse. They introduce agency risk where there does not need to be any. I prefer having control of my assets over some fund manager controlling them, it's all going to the same place anyway. Plus you have to pay extra for the fund manager.

Taxpayer funded DB pensions are a little bit better, since they offer outsized benefits due to being able to hose future taxpayers.

Post reply on HN