Economics & Finance
Comment Thread for Private Stock Exchanges
Background is at Facebook, Twitter and peers for sale – privately.
My initial impression is that this could be an ingenious adaptation to an obnoxiously overregulated environment. Or it could be crushed by regulators and their enablers; given that a Republican Congress and President were willing to saddle us with Sarbanes-Oxley seven years ago, it is not easy to imagine our current complement of parasites reacting dispassionately to private stock exchanges.
Note that I do not meet the minimum qualifications (net worth $1M, annual income $200k for past 2 years); this is just to elicit discussion by knowledgeable people (the minimum qualifications for which I also do not meet).
Have a Nice Day
The underlying fundamentals are toxic: US gross debt as a percentage of GDP (currently at 375%) is still climbing, housing prices are still falling (wealth destruction as far as the eye can see), un/underemployment is still rising (an inability to service debt), the financial industry is back to its old tricks (bonuses are shooting through the roof again, etc.), China is still manipulating its currency (dashing prospects of future jobs), commodities (higher costs for daily life) are shooting up again, etc. Worse, what action has been taken is largely short term masking of symptoms and not a cure. Our government “brain-trust” is using all of its financial powder on deprecated 20th Century economic measures to prop up the industries that got us into this crisis: like the greasing of palms in the bloated construction industry (what relation that industry has to our future prosperity is a big mystery) and the flooding of a failing oligopoly (the financial industry) with free money.
So where is it heading?
“… a post-Westphalian century replete with neo-feudalism and global guerrillas is on an inexorable march.”
Power Down
Glenn links to an article at Extreme Tech by author Loyd Case, where the author discusses the results from a home solar power system that was installed a year ago. He is generally pleased with it, since now he only pays for about 1/3 of the electricity that he used to.
Fine and dandy and good for him, but I was taken aback when I got to the part where he reveals just what his yearly cost happens to be. Now that he has the solar power system installed, it is down to $1,460.73. And he thinks that is great news!
“That’s my power bill for twelve months.”
So what was it before the fancy new sun-stealing gear was installed?
“…our annual power cost for twelve months prior to installing solar power was $4,430.”
You know, I pay less than $1,400 a year for both gas and electric combined. And I don’t have a solar power system installed.
The Illusion of Government Competence
Here’s three posts from Instapundit this morning:
ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTION becomes environmental problem. D’oh! — Chemicals used to replace CFCs due to CFCs’ theoretical degradation of the ozone layer now seen as a significant greenhouse gas.
IF THIS HAPPENED IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR, WE’D BE HEARING ABOUT “GREED:” DC subway crash: Regulators had warned to replace aging fleet. — The DC Metro system fails to take unsafe cars out of service.
SACRAMENTO BEE: Dan Walters: Pension hike of a decade ago backfires. — Government-managed pension investment implodes.
What do these stories all have in common? They all demonstrate that government organizations do not systematically make better decisions in the same circumstance than do private organizations.