Currency Speculation - Iraqi Dinars

[Shathus]

Just as an update, I ended up selling my Dinars to another American speculator for about a 5% profit. Then I went and bought myself lunch with the 30 bucks profit and dreamed about one day getting rich and having a yacht.

Don't forget to report those profits to Uncle Same next year, so really you made like $15

[hoho]

The way capitalism has worked for around last couple hundred years is not sustainable long-term as only way of creating money is by banks to lend it out.

I'm not sure where you get that idea from....it's most certainly not the case.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 659265376#
I'd love to hear another explanation of how money is created out of nothing

[Dorvan]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=819094892659265376#
I'd love to hear another explanation of how money is created out of nothing

Do you have a text version? I listened for a few minutes, but I was quickly put off by just how bad that video is....libertarian ideology taken to extreme mixed with over the top rhetoric (e.g. "the federal reserve is not a government entity, it's a cartel". Talk about your false dichotomies). Spot checking other parts of the video, I see several factual inaccuracies, not to mention logical errors.

The vast majority of wealth is created by the private sector as the result of labor and productivity. If I take a slab of wood and some horsehairs and create a violin, I've increased the total amount of wealth by anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

In addition to gross inaccuracies in the statement (the lending itself isn't what creates money, the government simply does so by fiat and chooses to lend it, just as they print currency through the mint), you're also looking at the matter in a roundabout and incorrect way. What drives capitalism isn't the creation of money, but the creation of wealth. The notion that fiat currency is somehow the source of all our economic woes is quite frankly foolishness.

[hoho]

Do you have a text version?

Basically you can't make money out of nothing without having bad consequences. For past hundred-ish years money has been made by banks lending it with interest. They don't actually have that money (no gold standards any more), they just write numbers and ask people/companies to pay it back to them. Boom! New money out of nothing.

I listened for a few minutes, but I was quickly put off by just how bad that video is....libertarian ideology taken to extreme mixed with over the top rhetoric (e.g. "the federal reserve is not a government entity, it's a cartel". Talk about your false dichotomies).

Yea, it wasn't the proper video I was looking for. Though it was right about federal reserve being private company and not a government one. Also, federal reserve is not the only "money-making machine".

The vast majority of wealth is created by the private sector as the result of labor and productivity. If I take a slab of wood and some horsehairs and create a violin, I've increased the total amount of wealth by anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

Yes, that's when you actually have a material thing to back it up. Vast majority of wealth generated in world doesn't have that.

[Dorvan]

Basically you can't make money out of nothing without having bad consequences.

Evidence?

For past hundred-ish years money has been made by banks lending it with interest. They don't actually have that money (no gold standards any more), they just write numbers and ask people/companies to pay it back to them. Boom! New money out of nothing.

No shit, it's called fiat currency. Badly managed fiat currency can cause hell to be sure, but so can lack of liquidity due to a small, fixed currency supply.

Though it was right about federal reserve being private company and not a government one.

False, The Fed is an independent entity within the Federal government. Care to cite a source for your statement? If it's really a private company, who owns it?

Yes, that's when you actually have a material thing to back it up. Vast majority of wealth generated in world doesn't have that.

Well, we increasingly live in a service economy where wealth is not simply a matter of physical goods, but of quality of life. I could just have easily have used the example of going to medical school. By doing that, I also create wealth by improving the lives of others. No physical good is created, yet the service provided has value that people are willing to pay for.

[Fridmarr]

Yes, that's when you actually have a material thing to back it up. Vast majority of wealth generated in world doesn't have that.

Well, we increasingly live in a service economy where wealth is not simply a matter of physical goods, but of quality of life. I could just have easily have used the example of going to medical school. By doing that, I also create wealth by improving the lives of others. No physical good is created, yet the service provided has value that people are willing to pay for.

Pretty much anytime someone logs an hour of labor, they are generating wealth from non wealth, whether or not a tangible good is being generated. That hour was going to pass by whether they were sitting on their thumbs or working.

I didn't read (or listen to ) that link but it almost sounds like the author was suggesting that the economy is a zero sum game?

[Dorvan]

I didn't read (or listen to ) that link but it almost sounds like the author was suggesting that the economy is a zero sum game?

Well, the link is really concerned with money rather than wealth...it's basically one of those videos saying that the Fed and the rest of the government are in a conspiratorial relationship with one another, and that fiat currency is scary and bad.

[Brekkie]

When I am rich, I will buy this yacht.

[hoho]

When I am rich, I will buy this yacht.

I'm no boat specialist but is it better than this? That's the one my boss was drooling about at least.

[Aubade]

Just as an update, I ended up selling my Dinars to another American speculator for about a 5% profit. Then I went and bought myself lunch with the 30 bucks profit and dreamed about one day getting rich and having a yacht.

I don't like this new username Brek.

[Brekkie]

i PM'd sab to get JD's password reset. Think he's waiting to make sure JD doesn't post anything as verification that this actually is me, lol.

OMG WASTED POST COUNT