MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : Thoughts on the vulnerability of disgraced former US President Richard Nixon's petrodollar system (and the resulting USD dominance in reserves and trade) in the light of the expansion of the BRICS bloc to include more major oil exporters? Comment below!
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Also, despite the continuous buying of gold by central banks as a whole since 2010, the price of gold hasn't really gone anywhere since it hit about $2k at the end of that year. From then to now it's traded between $2.4k and $1.4k. The biggest move was actually leading up to it from under $500 in the decade before (CPI inflation-adjusted price in USD per ounce: https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-prices-100-year-chart.)
Gold is a tricky investment that some ("gold bugs") swear by while others just don't "get it." It's been a global store of value and a "safe haven asset" (and inflation hedge) for literally thousands of years, and remains popular for luxury jewellery yet provides no income to justify valuations. This then gives it value for diversification purposes.
Leaving aside future BRICS+ actions, the relationship between gold and the US Dollar has historically been inversely correlated, meaning that when the value of the USD rises, the price of gold - which is priced in USD - tends to fall (and vice versa) because a stronger US dollar makes gold more expensive for investors using other currencies, reducing demand for gold and lowering its price.
#petrodollar #gold #usdollar #centralbanks #reserves #brics #bricssummit2023

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : From TIME Magazine: The [Taylor Swift Eras] tour has become the perfect outing for concert-goers itching for a post-pandemic live music immersive experience. “We are in an experience economy where people crave going out and participating in social events... It's no surprise that people are flocking to this #erastour experience in what is increasingly an otherwise digital environment we live in.” ... The Eras Tour is projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone. “If Taylor Swift were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries.”
An #experiences economy. (But don't forget the #merchandising!)
(At least that last part spared us the usual journalistic nonsense comparing the stock of one thing, like the market capitalisation of a company, with the flow of another, like the GDP of a country!)
https://time.com/6307420/taylor-swift-eras-tour-money-economy/

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : The comparisons between Nvidia now and Cisco 1995-2000 are quite good, especially for those taking a contrarian or value position against the chip-.
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” Winston Churchill said (paraphrasing George Santayana from Harvard 40 years earlier.) And Mark Twain adds “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
Lined up on the other side are the famous economist and brilliant investor John Maynard Keynes, who said “The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent” and Bart Simpson, who said "Eat my shorts" (paraphrasing John Bender from The Breakfast Club 4 years earlier.)
Pick your quote!

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : Arm was originally an acronym for Acorn RISC Machine ("reduced instruction set computing"), named after parent Acorn Computers, a British computer company in the 1980s that some say was more technologically advanced than its American rival (guess who) but less successful, and which had disappeared by the turn of the century. It was renamed Advanced RISC Machines when formed as a JV with VLSI and Apple (yes, it was them), who didn't want the name of their then-rival in it.

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : The US healthcare system is known for being one of the most expensive in the world. There are several reasons for this, including a complex system with multiple payers, rising drug costs, high salaries for medical professionals, and profit-driven healthcare centres. Additionally, the US healthcare system is based on a for-profit insurance system, which is one of the only ones in the world. Administrative expenses, corporate greed and price gouging, and higher utilization of costly medical technology are also driving forces behind high healthcare costs. Get to work, Jeff Bezos, rich pickings for Amazon!

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : The name “Tencent” is nothing to do with dollars and cents, but is based on its Chinese name Tengxun (腾讯), which incorporates part of founder Pony Ma’s Chinese name (马化腾) and literally means "galloping fast information". Just a little Value Added Service (VAS) of my own for you!
Tencent NetEase Tencent Games

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : Defaults on wealth management trust products in China could have significant repercussions for the broader economy due to the potential impact on individual investors' consumption. The hope is that potential contagion just manifests as softer consumer and business confidence, keeping growth subdued, rather than some kind of systemic problem, but when contagion starts in the shadow banking system, it's hard to tell what the end result might be (viz subprime lending and the 2008 GFC!)
Bear Stearns Companies Lehman Brothers (in Administration) Washington Mutual Bank Merrill Lynch RBS Northern Rock #china #chinaeconomy  #chinabusiness #nonbank #nonbanklender

MoneyFitt Ka-ming OP : Half of the young population unemployed means only half of young people in the economy working to support a rapidly ageing (and overall shrinking) population!