The amazing thing about that bonkers Cathie Wood growth prediction is that some singularity enthusiasts are so far out there with their predictions (like global GDP will start doubling every week in the 2040s) that she probably seems restrained and conservative to them.
"Money for nothing and chicks for free" is the animating fantasy of nearly every investor, and every "financial services professional" trying to permanently separate "investors" from their money. If this only involved rich people scamming and stealing from each other, I really wouldn't care. But given the frequency with which the scamming and stealing have knock-on effects that make life pretty unpleasant for the rest of us, I feel obliged to squander at least a few minutes of every day keeping an eye on these feral sociopaths. Not that there's really anything I can do about them. I just hate surprises.
Excellent post. It's always useful to re-read Charles Mackay's 1840 work, 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.' Tulipmania reappears every couple of decades dressed up in different clothes. Fleecing the gullible is something all investors need to be alert to.
Jul 11, 2022·edited Jul 11, 2022Liked by Noah Smith
Re fn 6, Andreesen Horowitz did not invest in Terra, it invested in Dfinity. From linked article: "Dfinity and Terra, have now secured funding from big names such as Andreessen Horowitz and Binance respectively"
Good stuff, as usual! One minor disagreement: People tend to conflate “crypto” and Bitcoin.
Let the record show that people holding their own Bitcoin in self-custody have dodged this bullshit. I personally also remain up over 400% on Bitcoin because of my long term outlook, and I continue to buy at newly low prices.
We can call this a minority report, but I think the people weathering this market the best match my profile.
As a fairly cautious investor, I stick to products or services since it’s what I know best. Learning more about these bs investments confirms that I’m safe for the most part. Thanks for writing this!
One more reason why all schools and colleges need to have Consumer Science programs -- Guess what? They are not just for women! It's all about what to do with your money, how to spend, keep it, and use it to structure your best life.
Hi, I also noticed Raoul Pal and others too "may have deceived" (i dont know exactly) lots of people into investing in crypto as they are buddies with Delphi Ventures who did invest heavily in Terra luna. The raoul pal guy doesn't understand what he is investing in (crypto I mean) and if you go to realvision.com/crypto you will something like this "YOU DON’T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND CRYPTO TO BUY CRYPTO.
(But you really, really should.)" I don't know about you bit even though they are stating in the brackets that you should, it's still inherently has a psychological trick to it by writing it this way. Something you mentioned above!
My take, is as soon as I watched this back in March I thought right away that someone was bullshiting and nobody was doing the work of due diligence!!! I said to myself this thing is going to burn!
Mike Ippolito was the guy really asking the questions...really on point!
You can tell that many folks in that interview were trying to "force" the logic but it just didn't make any sense and how they get away is because of "sophisticated semantics"!
“Easy money-making opportunities are almost never real; professional mercenaries would have found and exploited them first.”
At best, the rest of us are the sheep who get the back-to-earth returns, or at worst, are the ponzi victims.
The amazing thing about that bonkers Cathie Wood growth prediction is that some singularity enthusiasts are so far out there with their predictions (like global GDP will start doubling every week in the 2040s) that she probably seems restrained and conservative to them.
Another banger of a column! Great stuff, Benn and Noah!
"Money for nothing and chicks for free" is the animating fantasy of nearly every investor, and every "financial services professional" trying to permanently separate "investors" from their money. If this only involved rich people scamming and stealing from each other, I really wouldn't care. But given the frequency with which the scamming and stealing have knock-on effects that make life pretty unpleasant for the rest of us, I feel obliged to squander at least a few minutes of every day keeping an eye on these feral sociopaths. Not that there's really anything I can do about them. I just hate surprises.
Excellent post. It's always useful to re-read Charles Mackay's 1840 work, 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.' Tulipmania reappears every couple of decades dressed up in different clothes. Fleecing the gullible is something all investors need to be alert to.
Thanks! Here is a perspective of a small fish retail investor as a side :)
https://eightyfour.substack.com/p/want-to-invest-in-stocks
Re fn 6, Andreesen Horowitz did not invest in Terra, it invested in Dfinity. From linked article: "Dfinity and Terra, have now secured funding from big names such as Andreessen Horowitz and Binance respectively"
Good stuff, as usual! One minor disagreement: People tend to conflate “crypto” and Bitcoin.
Let the record show that people holding their own Bitcoin in self-custody have dodged this bullshit. I personally also remain up over 400% on Bitcoin because of my long term outlook, and I continue to buy at newly low prices.
We can call this a minority report, but I think the people weathering this market the best match my profile.
As a fairly cautious investor, I stick to products or services since it’s what I know best. Learning more about these bs investments confirms that I’m safe for the most part. Thanks for writing this!
Great article.
I really enjoyed this. Thank you.
The Onion predicted cryptocurrency in 2008.
https://www.theonion.com/recession-plagued-nation-demands-new-bubble-to-invest-i-1819569940
One more reason why all schools and colleges need to have Consumer Science programs -- Guess what? They are not just for women! It's all about what to do with your money, how to spend, keep it, and use it to structure your best life.
This might be one of the most important articles written about investing
Good article. Humans are predictable and stupid. It’s in the genes I think. Why else would we continue to make the same mistakes into infinity?
Hi, I also noticed Raoul Pal and others too "may have deceived" (i dont know exactly) lots of people into investing in crypto as they are buddies with Delphi Ventures who did invest heavily in Terra luna. The raoul pal guy doesn't understand what he is investing in (crypto I mean) and if you go to realvision.com/crypto you will something like this "YOU DON’T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND CRYPTO TO BUY CRYPTO.
(But you really, really should.)" I don't know about you bit even though they are stating in the brackets that you should, it's still inherently has a psychological trick to it by writing it this way. Something you mentioned above!
The Anchor protocol guyy from Arca was interviewed once by Blockworks here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bbsu50OIws
What do you think of this interview?
My take, is as soon as I watched this back in March I thought right away that someone was bullshiting and nobody was doing the work of due diligence!!! I said to myself this thing is going to burn!
Mike Ippolito was the guy really asking the questions...really on point!
You can tell that many folks in that interview were trying to "force" the logic but it just didn't make any sense and how they get away is because of "sophisticated semantics"!