Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Pretending

Thanks for checking by.

Yes, my posting has been all but non-existent.

No, I don't know that I'll have the same urge to post in the future, that I've had in the past.

Yes, I'm planning on taking thirty percent of my net worth and buying gold coins.

No, not everyone should do it. There are those who are like grasshoppers, never thinking about tomorrow, and yet, will show up at your doorstep after winter blows in, hoping for a helping hand, and wishing for a free meal.

Pretending.

Flip through your remote control and count the channels. Shows about sports, fashion, sluts, comedy (not funny, but names are names,) history and news. It's pretend time, where we aren't supposed to know about math, and that we're increasing the amount of money that our governments are committed to spend, without any kind of concomitant in revenue or growth in the gross domestic product.

It is true that taking thirty percent of my net worth and putting it into gold is risky. I'm still betting that the seventy percent of net that I hold, through equity, will be worth more in the long run than it is today. Yet, most of my equity position is in a company where I'm the sole stockholder, so it isn't fair to compare stock in my company with publicly traded stocks. Believe me, I'm going to be the first guy that knows whether or not my stock is going up, or down, in value. But here's the kicker:

If gold drops, my company's equity value is going to go up.

I think that's going to happen ceterus paribus. As an entrepreneur, my job is to surf the profitability of commerce, regardless of the revanchist horrors of central planning extremism. I have enough cash to ride out, at current prices and contracts, all of my obligations for at least one year, without bringing in an additional dollar of revenue. And I think my business model is a sound one. That means paying all my employees, all my bills, repair and maintenance costs, bar bills and golfing bets. For a year. And, a small horde in gold.

There is no "fiscal cliff."

There is mathematical certainty.

Until we find the difference, we're just pretending. Do what you're comfortable with.

Happy New Year.


Monday, December 3, 2012

Insurance VII

Insurance.

The one thing I would proffer is, never regulate insurance companies.

I've heard such solemn men as U.S. Senator Schumer refer to market activities as being "gambles." As if gambling were a bad thing. Gambling is a necessary component of market capitalism.

Price Discovery

What is a thing worth?

 Before I attempt an answer, let me ask you, what do you know about what determines price? I really want to know what you think determines price. A discussion of value without an understanding of the determinants of price is a discussion of art without sight, sound, taste, touch or smell.

Let us have a discussion of what determines the price of a thing.

Unless we have a discussion, we can never understand how far we've lost the concept of price in determining how we behave. When anything is free, there can never be enough of it.