Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (75332)	6/17/2011 5:03:33 AM
From: Maurice Winn	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217661

The story looks correct. When considering property buying [accommodation] 7 years ago, California was too expensive, but I was very taken by a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment in a very good part of town in Beijing a nice walk from the main station, for only NZ$170,000 [maybe it was $160,000 - I forget] which seemed a bargain - that was for the shell, fit-out still needed on top. A similar property in Tokyo would have been about NZ$4 million and it was not clear to me that the Beijing property should be worth less than the Tokyo one = after a few years of economic adjustments. It was twice the price of other apartments but one pays for quality and location. I even paid good money to have the contract translated, but I was out of time and unfamiliar with the laws which perhaps said "any foreigners buying an apartment have to pay the same amount each year to the bloke who has the job in the local poliburo of collecting loot from such interlopers". As the Chinese guy who bought in California found, you can't just object to property taxes, pick up your house and section and leave for more favourable climes. The local yokels own it, whatever it says on the title. In 1997 in Bangalore, I was similarly taken by an absurdly cheap apartment downtown in the CDMA capital of the world [well, that's an exaggeration because it was very early days but the trends were clear]. But one thing and another and CDMA came into its own in a much bigger way than did property in Bangalore. It is not at all clear that the "bargains" in the USA are actual bargains. Not while the bills are mounting at $1 trillion per year with no end in sight, let alone a means of repayment. When the USA starts discussing Virtuous Victorian Values, it might be time to reconsider. People from China are shocked to find that the USA demise is only partly underway and that the bargains are not yet bargains, much as buying cheap farms in Zimbabwe 30 years ago would turn out not to be such a bargain. Such farms are at a lower price now. So is productivity. People have lost sight of what made the USA great. It wasn't free-loading legions of government spivs, nor hordes of handout Americans, nor swarms of low value immigrants. If working for low pay would make the USA great, China would already be amazing. <“Most investors in China are still stuck in the speculative mentality. > That's the case in general. In the dog eat dog, and human eat dog way of life in China, with totalitarian bosses, zero sum game speculation with fraud and kleptocracy looks normal. Mqurice

To: TobagoJack who wrote (75332)	6/18/2011 2:09:28 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 217661

heh heh heh... busy with weekend stuff but this caught my eye.. China and America heading in different directions ? From: ggersh 6/18/2011 2:05:40 PM of 26050 Welcome to Wally World! Like WTF! Trading Of Over The Counter Gold And Silver To Be Illegal Beginning July 15 Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/18/2011 13:23 -0400 One small step toward Executive Order 6102 part 2, and one giant leap for corruptcongressmankind. "We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011. In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET. We encourage you to wind down your trading activity in these products over the next month in anticipation of the new rule, as any open XAU or XAG positions that remain open prior to July 15, 2011 at approximately 5:00 pm ET will be automatically liquidated." Message 27442524