3 ms·

Gold has some industrial uses. Therefore it has some "intrinsic" value. However, I suspect that the VAST majority of today's price of gold comes from the fact t

Gold has some industrial uses. Therefore it has some "intrinsic" value. However, I suspect that the VAST majority of today's price of gold comes from the fact that it's used in jewelry (not actually "valuable" unless you also allow my bragging about my bitcoin wallet to count as value) and from "gold bugs" (basically the same as bitcoin "hodlers"). That was my point. Any "real" value in most of these things is dwarfed by social delusion value. Same with AAPL stock. Sure, I can pay ~$130 per share to technically own a fraction of Apple. And what good does that do for me? What's the dividends on AAPL? Will my vote EVER actually influence the company? I could spend $130 on canned beans and rice and likely get far more utility than I'd get from the ACTUAL share of AAPL. On the other hand, I'll probably be able to sell my AAPL share to the next sucker for more than $130. THAT'S the real reason 99.99% of us are invested in the stock market. And, like it or not, bitcoin DOES have uses. It's still a little bit cheaper to send money via bitcoin than via Western Union, AFAIK. It's easy to pay for something online without giving your personal info to PayPal or the person who you are paying. Are those minor conveniences worth $40k? Hell no. But that's also my point. It's all crap.

Grustaf 6y ago
You buy a share in a company because that gives you ownership over a corresponding share of their earnings, in perpetuity, whether they pay dividends or not. In Apple’s case, you’d now have to pay 136 dollars in order to be entitled to 3.7 dollars of their annual earnings, corresponding to a current annual return rate of 2.7%. That’s better than any bank accounts, and it will most likely rise faster than inflation. This is how the stock market works and how people value mature companies.

3 ms·

Gold has some industrial uses. Therefore it has some "intrinsic" value. However, I suspect that the VAST majority of today's price of gold comes from the fact t

by ragnese 6y ago

Grustaf 6y ago
You buy a share in a company because that gives you ownership over a corresponding share of their earnings, in perpetuity, whether they pay dividends or not. In Apple’s case, you’d now have to pay 136 dollars in order to be entitled to 3.7 dollars of their annual earnings, corresponding to a current annual return rate of 2.7%. That’s better than any bank accounts, and it will most likely rise faster than inflation. This is how the stock market works and how people value mature companies.