Thursday, Oct 16, 2008
Thunderbirds are Go..
BBC: How Brains might have foretold the big crash
Posted by george monsoon @ 02:47 PM (850 views) Add Comment
21 Comments
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1. Panda said...
Those who worship them become like them!
2. Phdinbubbles said...
Fascinating insight into the mind of a sheep, but speak for yourself mate.
3. phdinbubbles said...
"Holding the consensus view becomes a litmus test of being taken seriously."
True, if the approval of other ignorant fools is that important to you.
4. george monsoon said...
Thats true enough, but people are inherently stupid when acting as a group. We all, sometimes subconciously follow the herd. It is "learned behaviour" that we inherit from our parents, the media and our peers.
So I would not bee too quick to judge the massess for doing what they do, but if I were an opportunist, I would capitalise on this knowledge in the future..
Buy physical GOLD thats what I say.. Everyone will be doing it very soon.
5. malct said...
yet more distracting drivel from the news company we are legally obliged to pay for
"This is no defence of bankers. But it can be argued that the easy explanation is inadequate and, left unchallenged, will hasten the next crash. Unfortunately, a better explanation incriminates us all.
This argument - of a link between the suits who blew it and the rest of us - is made by way of babies, Christmas toys and ants. "
and "Say what you like about the new pariahs, bankers' reputations are shredded anyway. "
new pariahs? new? NEW - someone hasn't been reading.
"Herd mentality " oh so it's all OUR fault then
6. cornishman said...
Bargain?
7. paranoia blue said...
Re: Au. I'm in, fair big, today with PHGP [EFT] - any ideas as to why this [temporary] drop?
8. phdinbubbles said...
Yes, it's true that we're all capable of irrational sheep like behaviour, but it seems like i've personally ranted to every member of the masses for the last 7 years. What irritates me about the tone of the article is the way that it denies the voices of those that were prepared to say something different. There were plenty of voices speaking out that were constantly ignored and now apparently we're just sheep in saying it was obvious.
Anyway, what is this gold you talk of. Should I sell all my assets and put my entire life savings into it?
9. Landedgentry said...
I lost TB 4 in a pond when I was 6.
10. planning4acrash said...
George. You are right. But, its more of a shift than that. We all need cash to buy things and we get paid in it, but the money is fiat and manipulated. It is not our system. So, you keep enough to stay liquid, but, like the rulers themselves, avoid
11. mountain goat said...
Gold drop today
FT Alphaville
"
Gold fell a massive $50 within the space of three minutes today.
There are whispers (unsubstantiated) of central bank interference or possibly a liquidation trade by a rather large player.
A hedge fund dumping gold would make sense in this environment as they struggle to meet liquidity and redemption pressures in the pursuit of cold, hard cash.
What confuses us though is why the trade was done in a massive clump as opposed to a series of smaller trades — which may well have fetched better prices.
So we leave you with this mystifying comment from Peter Grandwich at Agoracam, aptly titled “Gold-What the *&^%&” :
Earlier this morning, I commented to Marketwatch that gold was being sold off in the worldwide drive for any liquidity. And of course, when Crimnex opened for trading, it fell $50 in about 3 minutes. In 25 years watching gold trade, I don’t recall ever seeing such a drop in such a short time. It’s as if all traders move aside and a seller sold into thin air.
"
12. icarus said...
Herd mentality? Stupidity? No, the bankers knew what they were doing. They played the 'stupid' game for as long as could because they made more money by playing than they would have made by not playing. 'Let's get rich and get out before the sh1t hits' was the call. Don't confuse bankers with banks. It's the banks that are in a hole, not the bankers who've gone AWOL with cash to blow.
13. str 2007 said...
I've has a cautious eye on Gold for a few weeks, not because I don't think it's in a bubble of it's own but because of a lack of faith in GBP with interest rates dropping.
If my savings are to cover my rent for another year or 2 they're going to have to start working a bit harder with interest rates on the slide.
Usually if the markets are down Gold is up by a similar percentage (casual observation).
Today the market hits a record recent low and Gold collapses 5% when you'd have expected 5% up.
This makes me very concerned about buying any. No-ne seems to no what anythings doing at the moment.
Is anyone familiar with effectively day trading at Bullion Vault. Is it eeasy enough to jump in and out or are there penalties expenses in doing so ?
14. george monsoon said...
Maybe the clever money is trying to drive down the price of gold by scaring everyone else into selling? They buy up all the surplus, then we go into the bubble......up and up and up...
15. beartil2010 said...
Gold is exposed to large scale dumping by big investors covering losses in other areas. It's going to keep being volatile, and being forced down in jumps; but the medium term should be up as currencies devalue and everyone wants something solid to invest in. It might go down as low as 700 or even 600, but I don't see anyting better to hold your money in over the next 1-3 years.
16. charlie brooker said...
I was wondering if a hack at the beeb had been reading our threads on Grant Bovey and Anthea Turner and noticed the "Tracy Island" quip, thus prompting them to write the above article.
17. 51ck-6-51x said...
My 2c on the gold debate...
If one is worrying about a complete financial collapse, then one wants to stockpile something that will have value when local currency becomes (almost) worthless.
Gold will of course be of value in this scenario, but it may not be the best thing to hold - maybe a loft full of preserved food [dried, tinned, etc] would be more of a liquid asset - or pehaps mostly gold for holding through the bad times which one can add to in the meantime by trading up from the dried food.
18. charlie brooker said...
Have just see the references to Charles McKay's "The Madness of Crowds", Paul Krugman and The South Sea Bubble all of which are mentioned in Francis Wheen's "How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World, which I quoted extracts from twice yesterday.
Own up, who's the Beeb journo among us?
19. 51ck-6-51x said...
... and regarding why it would have done what it did:
[url]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=a4qwpcuHqkQo&refer=commodities[\url]
20. 51ck-6-51x said...
(*hmm, why didn't that post work, maybe it will appear later??*)
... and why gold did what it did: [url]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=a4qwpcuHqkQo&refer=commodities[/url]
21. Fjcruiser said...
When panic sets in, all assets are affected and prices decline no matter what. It is pointless to try to spot value in any asset class at this moment in time.Keep your cash under the mattress.