FANG, Square, Salesforce, Nvidia, Adobe and Roku are not for the faint-hearted. They are volatile, which means one day they drop, the next day they rise. And you can’t predict diddly. But their business prospects are solid.
The best part of bitcoin is The Story.
It’s the “investment” everyone wants to write and talk about. It’s got everything — from unreal projections to a cast of incredible characters, who talk the most wonderful nonsense, to technology no one can understand…. to real people who love it and real people who warn about its risks.
Bitcoin has gone up — almost as fast as tulip bulbs did back when.
I can’t pick my favorite bitcoin character. Because ten minutes later there’s a new one, even more wonderful than the last one.
I love this fellow:
His name is Chamath Palihapitiya. He bought bitcoin years ago when it was $100. He was on CNBC (also called BubbleVision). He had wonderful comments:
+ Bitcoin is a declaration of the people’s monetary independence. We control the money peer to peer.
+ There are no governments, no banks.
+ Banks are going to be like Blockbuster video pretty soon.
I love this unsolicited email I received yesterday:
Hello Harry,
re: Democratizing real estate investing via the blockchain
How collaborative investing and the blockchain allows anyone to invest in international real estate with minimal funds
Wealth Migrate is set to transform the real estate industry through collaborative investment, the blockchain, and a new digital currency.
Almost half of the world’s wealth is held in real estate, but only 12.9% of the world’s population has the disposable income to access it. That is now set to change.
Wealth Migrate aims to close the wealth gap through collaborative investing on the blockchain with the WealthE Coin — a digital currency created to democratize access to real estate investing opportunities and attendant wealth previously accessible only to institutions and high net worth individuals.
This is no ordinary blockchain and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) startup. Founded in 2010 by global fintech and real estate investors Scott Picken and Hennie Bezuidenhoudt, Wealth Migrate is one of the first global real estate platforms to be integrated on the blockchain. The founders have already executed $1.4 billion in real estate transactions overall, with over 1,500 transactions across 46 countries to a value of $380 million executed on the blockchain.
Through the Wealth Migrate platform and the WEALTHE Coin, people worldwide can transact real estate investments in a secure and compliant manner.
Kind Regards,
Michele McDermott-Fox
michele@transform.pr
BusinessInsider reported yesterday:
Litecoin’s creator issues a stern warning to investors. “Sorry to spoil the party, but I need to reign in the excitement a bit,” Litecoin’s creator, Charlie Lee, tweeted. “Buying LTC is extremely risky. I expect us to have a multi-year bear market like the one we just had where LTC dropped 90% in value ($48 to $4). So if you can’t handle LTC dropping to $20, don’t buy!”
My theory on tax reform
Dropping corporate taxes won’t generate new investment/new businesses. Only opportunities do that. ironically, the biggest spurt in business investment was after WWII — when taxes were very high. (Did I tell you I was once an economist?)
Dropping corporate taxes will lead to higher dividends and more share buybacks. But, to state the obvious, higher dividends happen when the company is doing super well, e.g. Boeing.
Tax law “simplification” is anything but
You’ll pay more in taxes if you pay heavy real estate and local State and City taxes, like I sadly do. New York is an expensive place to live, but has other charms — one of which is that apartment prices are not rising (like they used to). The bloom has gone off the apartment boom. There has been too much construction by overly optimistic developers.
Quick Stuff:
+ Don’t forget to pay ALL your real estate taxes before year end. Do NOT leave any skerricks for next year. Check meaning of skerrick in your handy “Guide to the Correct English (i.e. Australian) Language.” Hint: it means a small fragment.
+ LED bulbs save huge money, but,in the hands of a decorator (also called a drekorator in New York Yiddish), they can be a nightmare. The issue is color. They often just don’t look good.
+ If you buy a new iPhone, make sure they get Wi-Fi Calling installed for you. Otherwise you’ll spend enormous time calling Verizon Repair — 800-837-4966. You must have Wi-Fi Calling turned on, otherwise you’ll have to rely on Verizon’s lousy cell phone service.
+ If you’re old and decripid (like me) you probably need to take your mandatory IRA distribution before the end of 2017.
23 Favorite gears from Men’s Journal.
Among my favorites, this $359 sleeping bag from zpacks.com. I don’t own one, but it sure looks warm. I love the photo:
For the rest of the Men’s Journal favorites, click here.
My own favorites include (but not limited to):
+ Sennheiser wireless headphones to attach to your TV. Best marriage saver ever invented. Click here.
+ Anker PowerCore 10000, One of the Smallest and Lightest 10000mAh External Batteries. Susan uses hers every day. Click here.
As I wrote this, I think of the zillions of technology things I use every day — from the Canon G5X to the Samsung Solid State Drive, shown in the third column on my web site. But they’ve been obsoleted by new technology. the iPhone 7 and 8 have great cameras and laptops come with new tiny solid state drives called M1. The
I’m going to kill Steve — if I ever find out who he is.
Every day he calls, “This is Steve calling you from the Vindows Technical Department.“
He asks me how I’m going? I tell him my left leg was amputated this morning, Tomorrow morning, my right leg and my right arm with be amputated.. Otherwise, I’m having a nice day.
This doesn’t get rid of Steve.
I’ve tried blocking him… There’s only one solution — if I could ever find out in India were he lives.
This is ridiculous
Bed Bath & Beyond doesn’t have a white bathroom trash can to replace this broken one.
But Amazon has millions of them.
My old boss said competition never hurts you, and that you are your own worst enemy. Are you listening Bed, Bat & Beyond? Here’s BBBY’s sterling performance this year:
Norway’s magical highways
The Week Magazine spotlights their dream vacation:
Click here.
What’s next for Roy Moore
GADSDEN, ALABAMA (The Borowitz Report)—Moments after his stunning defeat in Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election, the Republican candidate, Roy Moore, told reporters that he was planning to cheer himself up by “heading to the mall.”
“If people think they’ve seen the last of Roy Moore, they are sorely mistaken,” a visibly devastated Moore said. “I’m going to get back up, dust myself off, and head on over to the good ol’ Gadsden Mall.”
But Moore’s plans for a rejuvenating return to his former stomping grounds hit a snag upon his arrival at the mall, where he found an impromptu victory party for the Democrat, Doug Jones, in full swing.
Adding insult to injury, security guards who recognized Moore from his mall-prowling days nabbed the disgraced Republican and hurled him from the premises.
In Washington, one of Moore’s staunchest supporters, Donald J. Trump, excoriated the voters of Alabama for their decision. “It’s a sad day for America when people believe women,” he said.
Harry Newton, whose latest madness is WATER. Drink lots of it. Everywhere today lacks humidity. Your body needs water. Drink water.
Amazing how the word “stunning” echos through every account of the sad Roy Moore saga. I guess its easier for “reporters” than having to think for themselves.
What I want to know is what makes this stunning or even surprising. The whole story was covered with slime, from Roy Moore himself to the women who waited 40 years and then were silent until he had won the primary. Yes, I am blaming the victims – I know of no other crime where people wait 40 years to make an accusation. They are complicit. But still, who would want to vote for such a person? The only one I can think of is Al Franken, who likely would have walked back his “planned” resignation if Moore had won. But now he is stuck because Piranha Pelosi and Schumer the Shark are willing to throw him under the bus in the vain hope of getting rid of Trump.
What I would REALLY like to know is this: evidently Congress has been paying off women who complain about Congressmen (eg John Conyers) using public funds or campaign funds. How much of this is there? How is it even legal? I realize we will never get names or details but we should get at least a year by year accounting of this. Then at least we will know just how bad this has been. Because the press has been silent on this I am guessing a lot of Democrats are involved.
re: lowering tax on corps. Harry you might be right about what huge corps decide to do with their excess cash.
But consider a really small Corp. Here is the C-Corp tax schedule:
http://www.smbiz.com/sbrl001.html
and here is the CA tax on corps:
http://www.smbiz.com/sbrl001.html
Consider a small c-corp. The “government” is going to take 47.84% – that is, half – of every dollar of net profit over $100,000. That doesn’t even take into account matching FICA, and other government fees the corp has to pay.
The reason lowering the tax rate will help such small corps is this: what is the number one concern of a small corp CEO? It’s “Can I make payroll this month?”. If you fall short in a month, who doesn’t get paid? Right, the CEO. For this reason a corp has to maintain a certain level of cash reserves, for this and ongoing business operations. Lowering the tax rate will let corps keep more cash reserves and thus enable them to hire more people without adding additional insomnia to the CEO.
I’ve been to several crypto currency website exchanges and the vibe I get is “sham.” Have you done this, Harry? I’m not talking Coinbase, which is the simplest. But the others, the crypto hedge funds, are just nonsense. No one could understand that.
The new tax bill is tax change…not tax reform. The abuses and bad practices stay.
Divides us into classes
Ignores $9 trillion tax evasion problem over next ten years
Still taxes production instead of consumption
Deceitful practice of taxing business continues
It feeds the Swamp instead of draining it
Uses government power of “direct taxation”
16th Amendment still in place that enables the 2nd requirement of a communist
state, a graduated income tax per the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
The new tax plan is tax code change of the Swamp, by the Swamp and for the Swamp. The
“Best” plan is the FAIRtax bill HR 25 / S 18 as replacement tax reform of the People, by the People and for the People.
Real leaders address the root causes of bad taxation. They are taxing production instead of
consumption and direct taxation per the 16th Amendment. Learn more and join the FAIRtax cause at bigsolution.org
Want a white trash can? Buy a can of white spray paint.
Want gold picture frames? Buy a can of gold spray paint.
You got the name and quote right on Chamath, but the picture is wrong. Thi is what he looks like: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b010c83bdc4bb319268f93d5e7a5fdea38486b68940c2d670cc03be41f161c85.jpg