Gidday Jay, <To evolve from "In Gold We Trust" to "In CDMA We Trust", we must trust our fellow zygotes, >
I only need to trust them in the same way that I trust lambs to eat grass, grow wool, turn into sheep to be fleeced and delivered to the Souvlaki shop.
I trust that they will want to yakkity yak on their CDMA phones and swoop through cyberspace and use It as their primary brain function [for knowledge if not more]. They have an internal drive. I know they have because I feel it myself.
You are perhaps thinking I'm depending on one of said sheep paying an extorquerationate price for my shares. No, I'm depending on them paying loads of loot over decades for my great CDMA phragmented photons. You mentioned coma-bound people with no awareness of dividend payments. If my shares fall to $1 [I prefer them not to of course because I might need the value for some other purpose] it will be okay by me to receive $3 a year in payments on $1 in market capitalisation. I'd even feel quite smug.
I prefer to minimize the amount I need to trust other people. My experience is that many do really crazy, stupid or criminal things. Even those who are really smart, honest, creative and constructive can make blunders. So, trust needs to be minimal. But it's still a very major ingredient.
Good point <Man-made constructs are exactly that, man-made and guaranteed to fail, at some point, most probably when the failure will cause maximum damage.> The reason for the maximum damage failure mode is that things are robust enough to handle the reasonably regular problems. It's when fully-loaded that things go wrong and the full loading causes the failure to be spectacular rather than moderate. I had best keep that in mind. It reminds me of engineering designs - things go well until the ultimate loadings are reached, then it's good to stand well clear.
<You have already decided to stay put, with your pile of printed paper from Q and FED >
Actually, no. I have decided to stay put, with ownership of patents, backed by USS Enterprise [which is very, very tough and somewhat angry these days - not in a mood to take nonsense from anyone], employment of thousands of very capable engineers designing CDMA-based systems and development of cyberspace, sales of ASICs produced by others on behalf of QUALCOMM, and many, many things QUALCOMM is doing and owns. So, it's not really just paper, though my ownership is only backed by the willingness of Uncle Sam to allow aliens to own US companies. So, in that sense it's just paper.
I am well aware that one day, I might wake to find that Uncle Sam, in the interests of the WAT, has decided that all alien USA property should be contributed to the USA government. Saudi Arabia and others nationalised oil fields and equipment. I can imagine a wacko USA deciding they could join the Cargo Cult and get the stuff they have for decades been able to get without too much effort, losing [loosing for Americans] the plot and forgetting what creates value and wealth.
I am only holding US$ because I was two weeks too late in selling Globalstar and Global Crossing and moving the money to Kiwiland. In those two weeks, the US$ dropped 10% and I hoped for a little hiccough back the other way, but it zoomed the other way without a brief move back. Damn. Now it's 25% below its high of a couple of years ago against the Kiwi.
I do NOT want to be holding US$. I am now wondering what the heck to do. I will wait maybe a month - perhaps buying the right to shine some CDMA phragmented photons anywhere in Kiwiland. If that fails, it's back to Plan B, still to be developed. Probably it will involve CDMA or CDNA. I don't wish to invest in NZ sheep.
Meanwhile, the NZ$ I've been sitting on, patiently, for two years now, have gone up 25% from the low. I shall greedily hang in there for 40% - unless something more fun appears. Then, it's back into the cyberspace maelstrom, keeping just a little stash for rainy days [and a house, which is always handy]. Heck, I might even borrow a whole lot of Uncle Al's newly magnetized pixels if there's sufficient desperation by sellers.
Never a dull moment.
I am watching Hu Jintao and shall do for some time yet before concluding anything. But as with Gorby in 1985, when Americans and most people seemed unable to understand that he was vastly qualitatively different from all that had gone before, I think we are seeing a qualitative change with Hu Jintao [which is less of a dramatic change as China has been smoothly, relatively, travelling along that direction since the days of Deng and black or white cats].
On GeorgeW vs Bill Clinton, it's not a matter of skill, though that comes into it too. He did some really good stuff with fixing up Mexico with $50 billion. Maybe WTC wouldn't have happened because Osama was no. 1 for Bill's security people whereas wacky Ashcroft and co downgraded terrorism as a priority and got sidetracked onto trivia. WTC woke them up with a hurry, but they have not given confidence with their responses.
I wonder if Bill's way with women is an indicator of success as a confidence-building alpha male, which gave confidence to everyone else too. They figured that if he could get the girls like that, he must have a lot going for him. I'm not sure that GeorgeW would have the pulling power of Bill.
Where DOES the buck stop these days anyway? At the moment, they've stopped with me. I feel that I'm holding a hot potato[e] - boy, I'm glad Dan Quayle isn't in charge.
Happy dragon-boating,
Mqurice |
