22 Comments

A dose of reality in an insane world!

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May 15, 2022Liked by Joel Bowman

For a topic this week. Freezing Russian reserves and other assets. Can they be liquidated and used for reparations?

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author

Excellent. Will work it in. Cheers!

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May 15, 2022Liked by Joel Bowman

The art world, one of the last bastions of legal money laundering

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Now see, that's exactly where I went but not quite. Laundering depends on the give back doesn't it? For instance, D Trump builds a condo in Miami for ,let's say, 10 mil and sells it to the Russian whatever for, let's say, 90 mil, he then pays capital gains on 80 mil, keeps 4 mil for profit and returns 60 mil to the Russian, that's some slick money laundering and we can do that with all kinds of high end real estate, then there's the casinos, holy Toledo, and now you say the art world. Maybe, but how do you return loot to the gangster? Is it a laundry or a repository? Ask PG V, haha

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Another great essay, Joel. Like my old mammy used to say, “it’s worth what somebody will give you for it”. Makes a lot of sense now.

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Did anyone notice on Monday that I coined a definition of NFTs as "New Fangled Tulips?" Perhaps someone can come up with an even better one...

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I get the metaphors and similies on value's arbitrary ness. And art has a dark reputation for being the acceptable choice for money laundering. But you lost me with this essay.

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My fav Sunday Sesh so far❤️

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G’day Joel,

A question(or maybe a few) for Dan. There are reports of a cliff coming for global supply’s of (virtually) everything due to the China shutdown. Or at least enough stuff to affect almost every industry and disrupt the world economy. What’s your take on those reports that say mid-June to July will see the effects start to manifest? Will it happen at all? What preparations should readers take? And what are the implications for all equity investments, whether mainstream, Bills and your TOD, and Toms special situation stocks? Could oil stocks or say gold mining stocks be affected in short order from supply constraints of critical mining or drilling equipment? Cheers, Luke

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I agree with most of what you said here. Ayn Rand defined it best: "Value is that which one acts to gain and keep". The most concise definition of value that I have come across and in keeping with Mises (although independently derived).

One point however: in the world of "cryptos" there is Bitcoin and there is everything else. It's akin to Madrid vs Barcelona, Palestine vs Israel, Yankees vs Red Sox. There is a reason why we Bitcoiners refer to anything that isn't bitcoin a "sh*tcoin".

Anyone who invests in Bitcoin has the conviction that it is a storage of value, the only digital asset that won't go to zero.

Everything else is speculation or outright gambling. 97% of these "sh*tcoins" are outright scams. Though 3% might actually be legitimate projects endeavoring to change the financial world for the better, the technological premise upon which they are built is flawed.

One can make a sincere honest attempt to build a rocket to the moon, but if your premise is 2+2=5 it will eventually implode. Such is the case with all "cryptos" based on Proof-of-Stake, Proof-of-history, or Proof-of-anything that isn't PoW

(BTW, PoW was created along with bitcoin, not after, it is the foundation behind bitcoin and the reason why it isn't fiat).

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Thank you Joel. It is all so subjective! Have a great week.

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Joel, I find value to be the few great friends i have. Is basic value water,food,and shelter so a human being survives another day.If thats so i'm over-valued,but undervalued to bid on NFT"S.

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yep "value" a totally subjective subject with ever greater diminishing agreement soon nothing and everything will be value-less .. unless of course survival determines your needs ..

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please could you send me a link to an article that I think was part of your feed of a few weeks ago about the financial and environmental expense of alternative energy. I have searched for it everywhere because I tell people about it and no-one believes me. I really need it.

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Are you referencing the podcast with Byron King? Or is it an article?

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An enjoyable read! There are some similarities between this missive on the value of all things and Safedean Ammous' book "The Bitcoin Standard," which thoroughly explores the history and definition of "money" as a store of value.

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“ And who would have thought ten, five, even two years ago that the raciest, edgiest parodies of modern life would emanate from the conservative Christian right?”. You want to, maybe, give a couple examples?

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This was the reference: https://babylonbee.com/

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I would not refer to “The Babylon Bee” as a Christian organization.

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deletedMay 15, 2022Liked by Joel Bowman
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