Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
At some point a crash will occur. It is inevitable, part of Minsky's cycle reflecting the swings in human nature from despair to exuberance. When will it happen? At the point confidence runs dry and Central Banks lack the fire power and credibility to goose the markets and convince a credulous public. It is easy to make predictions, especially about the past! In the meantime what do you do with your capital? Leave it in a bank eroding at plus 5% pa or risk it? There's the rub. Nobody knows except the people with the power and influence to move markets and they will be out of the door before anyone shouts fire and back in when the prices are nailed to the floor. Twas ever thus.
I think you'll find that the use of that word was'transitory'.
True Plato, we have become a nation of complacent, lazy b@stards. Since Tony Blair opened the doors our working class has been largely imported. The plumbers and electricians you speak of are often Polish or Ukrainian. The NHS is full of agency staff and half of the full-timers are foreign. Meanwhile, we can't pick fruit or vegetables because it is beneath our dignity. All the while we were lulled into a false sense of comfort by cheaper goods flooding into the country from China and house price rises creating the illusion of wealth. What next? Less foreign labour, higher import costs, inflation, supply chain problems, material shortages. Perhaps we shall learn the value of labour once more and eschew the white collar professions such as estate agency and financial services? One can but hope.
Why don't we reduce the number of them and return local issues to local people. 660 clowns in the commons, over 1000 Lords, MEPs previously, Scottish, Welsh and NI parliamentarians, P&C Commissioners, local mayors, county councillors. The whole bloody thing is designed to promote conflict and confusion while strangling genuine attempts to introduce legislation. That is before we even consider special advisors, Qangos, the civil service, local authorities or lobbying bodies. Too much dead weight and too little freedom. The public sector is a necessary but self-promoting evil. Good government is small government.
Chris, the only freedoms we ever enjoy are illusory. We are permitted to frolic in the sun and play with one another until our masters decide it is time to be returned to our kennels. Off we go with our tails between our legs. Plus ca change. We are back in 1914 territory.
Who makes the laws and why do we trust them? We went to Iraq based on legal advice from Goldsmith that was erroneous and extracted under duress. Can we really trust the Cabinet and its band of Civil Servants and advisers?
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
? H.L. Mencken, In Defense Of Women
If we look at the rights that have been reduced, restricted and proscribed by legislation such as the Homeland Securities Act, TARP and our own Covid and anti-terror legislation, how could any reasonable person conclude other than laws are enacted as an instrument of control? In whom do we place trust and on what basis? Those who are willing to accept less freedom in return for more security end up with neither.
SJ not so crowded in reality. Most of Wales, Scotland and Northern England sparsely populated. Residential property covers roughly the same amount of land as golf courses. Numbers concentrated densely in cities. Train from Edinburgh to London mainly green and pleasant land. Small island narrative pushed by BSers often. No offence intended . GLA
Agreed that punters are real mugs. I own numerous properties and try to buy freeholds without any restrictive covenants and reversionary interests where possible. On one occasion a leaseholder with a 60 year unexpired term asked for an extension. When I said, ' sure what are you proposing to pay', she was bemused. I had to explain that I had acquired the ground floor flat and leasehold because I knew that in 60 years time the entire building would return to the freeholder. She was genuinely confused. People make the biggest investment of their lives without doing basic due diligence.
We are obsessed with getting a foot on the first rung of the ladder but where does it lead? Perhaps to the scaffold. Property has become a commodity, a financialized asset to be gamed and manipulated like all other markets; a convenient safety deposit for corrupt caitiffs the world over.
Spindler, I agree that Joe 6-pack has a difficulty appreciating the true value and utility of gold relative to Fiat. However, the man on the street comprehends the comparative value of property, iPhones, Rolex watches, Nikes and Tech stocks, demonstrating a preference for things other than government sanctioned currency as a store of value. Gold has been misrepresented as a 'pet rock' by those with interests in alternative assets eg Warren Buffett. The trade in paper gold i.e. fictional bullion, also serves to drive down prices. When the damn fails the physical and paper markets will bifurcate. Genuine price discovery will be plain to see. It is impossible to get house insurance when the roof is on fire. GLA.
Don, I saw your comments re alternative uses for 'money'. There were signs asking punters not to use Zimbi dollars as toilet paper because they clogged soil pipes recently during Zimbabwe's hyper inflationary period under Mugabe. The new plastic notes don't burn well and probably give off noxious fumes. Oh how I miss simpler times when paper money was made of paper and plastic referred to credit cards.
Inflation rates are notoriously difficult to predict and control. Furthermore, many of the predictions are made by organisations with skin in the game peddling the 'transitory' inflation narrative. When wage rises reflect projected price increases and nobody baulks at an extra 10p on a litre of petrol or a 2 litre carton of milk, the process is morphing into endemic rather than external. They will fudge the metrics but we are in for a sustained bout of above target inflation, or as Friedman called it 'taxation without legislation'.
Don't worry Knivey, our friend will emerge triumphant saying 'told you so' in due course. At this rate God alone knows where we shall be on Friday. I imagine there will be much premature speculation about when the 60p level is reached! Fingers crossed. GLA
Quite right. It just scans better with USSR vs USA. Apologies to Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Checknya, and all the Stans. However, the way Mr Putin operates one could argue that we are returning to a quasi USSR state of affairs e.g. annexation of Crimea.
Minecheck, spot on. The bias leads to a mispricing of risk and a consequently high comparative yield. Jim Rogers has been investing in Russia for ages and sees many of the advantages you identify. There are also advantages derived by Russia establishing itself as self-sufficient following US sanctions. Excluded from the US controlled international bank clearing system, Russia is the first of many countries to establish mechanisms to circumvent Uncle Sam. The US has had it's bluff called and has undermined its own existence in the process.
Russia has vast amounts of land to exploit, huge mineral wealth, a well educated populous, a highly efficient and cost effective military, sound currency, good relationship with China, access to the north pole, huge swathes of land becoming productive due to global warming and a strong authoritarian government.
On the downside you have corruption, potential terrorism and an authoritarian government. On balance I see USSR as a better bet than USA. The truth will out eventually. GLA. In Gold We Trust.
Cookoo, I too am a landlord contemplating departure. Tenants, like landlords, can be good, bad and indifferent but the rules of the game have shifted massively to place burdens on private landlords viz, gas, electrics, insulation, boiler maintenance, environment, immigration status, deposits, evictions, council tax, GDPR etc.
16% of residential accommodation is owned by private landlords who are a damn site more responsive and understanding than Housing Associations and Local Authorities, yet we are constantly abused by all and sundry as beneficiaries of house price increases. What about the government who pump up the bubble and benefit via stamp duty and CGT with ill conceived vote winning policies such as Help to Buy? We are simply a convenient whipping boy and criticism is more fairly attributable to government policies and large house builders who land bank to create false scarcity.
I have had a couple of shocking tenants including a 'vulnerable' single mum who was introduced by the Local Authority. She stayed a year, paid 1 months rent and trashed the place. As soon as she left the council were on my back for council tax within a week although the place was uninhabitable thanks to their tenant.
On another occasion I had a angry neighbour complaining that a brick had been thrown through their window because of my tenant. I asked them to explain but they told me to search my tenant's profile online. The guy was a convicted paedophile and was known in the area. The letting agents passed him as a good tenant despite the fact the flat was close to a kids' park. Apparently a disgruntled resident had targeted my tenant for some homespun retribution and got the wrong property! I know I shouldn't laugh but it did amuse me. The neighbour expected me to pay for the damage but there was no evidence of who had done the deed, simply supposition.
The costs and hassle these days outweigh the income. Hence my interest in stocks in preference to property. Many people I know are doing the same calculation. GLA. If we maintain 50p by next weekend I shall be satisfied.
Lurker, Gold soverigns are specie and are not therfore subject to CGT I believe. when you sell but IHT will be due on the proceeds if passed on, no pun intended. I believe that is the position but can see the merit in you thinking.
I noticed that the share price had hit the 50p Friday mark and eagerly tuned in to the chat forum to read the abuse and triumphalism but was somewhat surprised that the conversation was very respectful. What has happened to the customary batonnage between Falky and his detractors? Will we see the price north of 50p at the close though? I doubt it, with people closing out positions for the weekend.
Nevertheless, it was good to breathe the rarefied air, if only for a moment. GLA Happy weekend
Miss Dollar, I am in the same boat. Bought in at 15.20, went down so I doubled up at 13.30, went down to 12.30 and punched in the details to buy more. Got a little greedy and did not execute, waiting for closer to £12. The rest is history. Do you your research, stake your bet, sit back and relax. Like Socrates said, we are sand before the wind. This stock has legs. GLA.
Gazz, what a loss to the UK economy; another bunch of shyster bankers working for an organisation on the cusp of bankruptcy return to Italy. How the proprietors of city boozers and lap dancing bars will lament their departure. Hopefully they will take their non-performing loans and unpayable debts with them. GDP generated by financial speculation is sclerotic or, as Prof Richard Werner puts it, "the wrong type of GDP." More mechanical engineering and less financial engineering.