Comments by "seneca983" (@seneca983) on "Wall Street Millennial" channel.

  1.  @kazedcat  "If I buy call option from a broker it does not mean I owe them money" But in this case call options weren't used. What were used were total return swaps. This "total return" includes the potentially negative return if the stock falls enough. "The potential losses of them owning the stock is their risk on doing business." Not quite. Hwang is supposed to pay them if the stock falls. So they don't have a long position in the sense that they shouldn't suffer a loss even if the stock falls in value as long as Hwang stays solvent and can pay whatever he owes (but in this case Hwang became insolvent and couldn't pay). "The difference is that debt the value flows towards you first then in the future cash flow out from you." I'm not going to argue the precise definition of "debt" but functionally there's no difference. The result from a total return swap is basically the same as if Hwang had just directly bought the stock with some of his own cash + a loan from the broker. (There are differences like that a total return swap doesn't give him voting rights in the company or trigger any disclosure requirements if his position exceeds 10% of the company's stock, but those are not relevant to what we discussed here.)
    1
  2. But his pronunciation closer to the original German pronunciation.
    1
  3.  @JB-yb4wn  Why that? Why not the novel that it's loosely based on and which doesn't feature cannibalism.
    1
  4.  @JB-yb4wn  Well, I don't think the name is a problem for them and the green color may even be intentional. Of course people aren't going to actually assume that in contains human flesh or even be repelled by that kind of association (mostly at least).
    1
  5.  @samsonsoturian6013  Tesla's debt is about $1.8 billion. That won't bring it anywhere near e.g. Lehman Brothers.
    1
  6. Companies traded on the stock exchange are (mostly) real companies.
    1
  7. ​ @dirtysilver2841  Of course you can pay them. Maybe not in full. Benefits might be cut somewhat (though not as much as what allowing those under 45 to opt-out would require) and retirement age raised. Also FICA taxes are also likely to increase in the future.
    1
  8.  @archingelus  But that doesn't mean it's good for business. It might be if you're a weapons manufacturer but most other businesses will suffer.
    1
  9. That's what they're intended for, not long-time holding.
    1
  10. @tripplefives1402 I don't buy that. Products like Soylent, Huel, Jimmy Joy, etc. are actually fairly affordable. I think you could get your necessary nutrients for somewhat cheaper by careful shopping in grocery store but I suspect that a majority of the people living in food deserts are probably paying more for their food.
    1
  11.  @RR-ll2ns  The burden on Western citizens is going to be smaller than on Russian citizens.
    1
  12. The broker isn't really in the business of speculating that the prices will rebound.
    1
  13.  @hoangle2483  The CEO of Nokia during the years 2014-2020 was an Indian named Rajeev Suri.
    1
  14. If they want low interest rates they should raise rates. Higher rates would bring inflation down and thus also (nominal) interest rates down due to Fisher effect. Cutting rates only leads to higher rates.
    1
  15.  @g-rexsaurus794  War on one's own soil tends to do that.
    1
  16. "everyone here visits WSB where we see newbies post 1000% gains" Clinton's gains were 10 times that which is much less probable.
    1
  17. Santander is a strange name. It's a city in Spain but the name sounds Germanic, at least to me.
    1
  18.  @DJTrancenergy  I'm not referring to minor details like how 'A' or 'R' are pronounced. To me the word looks quite Germanic though I can't explain why. Of course, this is just my subjective experience.
    1
  19.  @DJTrancenergy  "The accent is in "der", not in "tan"." Shouldn't it be written "Santandér" then? (EDIT: Forget the previous sentence. It's because it ends in a consonant not 'n' nor 's'.) Either way, it wasn't where the stress is that makes the name sound Germanic to me.
    1
  20. Isn't the president the one in the center? Not that it matters that much in the case of Switzerland but I don't think WSM was incorrect since he did show the president along with the rest of the Federal Council if I'm not seeing wrong.
    1
  21. Couldn't you argue that Plotkin's many successes in the past suggest he's a good investor even though he also failed at least once? Granted, the recent failure was rather big but that doesn't necessarily mean you wouldn't expect him to perform well in the future, especially if he's learned something from his failure.
    1
  22. In Finnish, the stress is on the first syllable and the letter 'O' is just a single vowel, not a diphthong like in English. However, IMHO it's not important to aim for a native pronunciation of names like this.
    1
  23. @tripplefives1402 In the original novel (Make Room! Make Room!) that the movie is very loosely based on, soylent is just made from soy and lentils (hence the name). There was no cannibalism in the novel. This real world product called Soylent is also partially made from soy (though not lentils).
    1
  24. Are you thinking about AIG?
    1
  25. Peter Zeihan is less informed about these kinds of topics. He doesn't have much interesting stuff to say about economic data like this.
    1
  26. @GE B Yeah, but that's quite not what I was talking about. In this video WSM said basically that a single broker might only give Hwang 2x leverage but he could get 5x leverage by going to multiple brokers. However, that makes no sense. You can't multiply the leverage ratio by using multiple brokers. By using multiple brokers Hwang was able to hide from his brokers how large portions of several companies he owned (well, not technically "owned" but you know what I mean). However, that's quite different from somehow increasing the leverage ratio.
    1
  27. "France and other countries which have a pension based retirement fund need to look at Australia's superannuation system" That isn't much help without a proposal to how to make the switch.
    1
  28. "Well he's not wrong about China's real estate market in a bubble." Are you sure? If so, how can you be sure? These things aren't easy to get right.
    1
  29. "Oil is better truest me" It's not.
    1
  30.  @toannguyen214dallas  "a lot of people make that trip every summer" Once a year is pretty rarely. You can just rent a car for such trips. "Plus u said it electric door an ice not me lol." What? I didn't say anything about electric doors or ice.
    1
  31. I don't think you understand what he meant. When Zhou Enlai was asked that question he thought it was about the 1968 student uprising in Paris which had occurred only about 4 years earlier. It's not the same as the French Revolution which happened almost 2 centuries earlier.
    1
  32.  @alexlazar4738  "we can all just guess what he really thought the question referred to" I've seen it mentioned that supposedly it's clear that his response was about the 1968 riots according to both Nixon's interpreter (Chas Freeman) and Chinese archives. Of course, I've not perused these archives myself so I'm relying on what people written but at least my impression is that it's pretty clear what he thought.
    1
  33.  @JB-yb4wn  It seems even fewer know about the original novel (Make Room! Make Room!) which didn't feature any cannibalism.
    1
  34.  @heavensbutterfly  It's entirely possible to voluntarily save for retirement so you have something on top government pension (or you can use it to retire before you start receiving government pension). Yes, some people are poor enough that they can't save without an unreasonable sacrifice but most people who have a typical middle-class salary (or more) should be able to save at least a little bit.
    1
  35. My understanding is that Hero Wars (or was that the name?) is also a good example.
    1
  36. To me, that image doesn't seem genuine at all. He just chose to present himself as down-to-earth whereas he earlier chose to present himself as more professional, both just based on what saw as more advantageous to himself at that time. Of course, he still (probably) is human like the rest of us, just perhaps more shrewd and dishonest than an average person, but that's not something you can see from manufactured images like these.
    1
  37.  @DumbledoreMcCracken  France's population density isn't that much higher. That the population is concentrated in a few places shouldn't make rail less viable. Tracks don't need to reach every corner of the state.
    1
  38. "It's not a Ponzi unless the initiators of the scheme run off with the money." Calling it a Ponzi scheme is an exaggeration. However, it's still the case that this kind of (less than 100% funded) system is also a transfer to the first generations enjoying the system from the later generations. If e.g. economic or population growth is less than expected then some generation (or generations) have to cover the shortfall and there often is a temptation to pass the cost onto later generations.
    1
  39.  @JB-yb4wn  But the movie is very loosely based on an earlier novel (Make Room! Make Room!) in which soylent is just made from soy and lentils (hence the name). The novel didn't feature cannibalism.
    1
  40.  @JB-yb4wn  I saw this same think mentioned under several comments. I didn't keep track of who was saying what. Hence the multiple replies to you.
    1
  41.  @shariqzafar  "Also, in 2021 Zelensky could have negotiated to reach a common minimum ground to avoid conflict." And what would that be? You just said earlier that promises to not join NATO wouldn't be credible.
    1
  42.  @TomSeliman99  Ukraine surely wanted to join NATO but it would have been unable to do so for the foreseeable future.
    1
  43. @tripplefives all = Norway?
    1
  44.  @mcrayfourd  She could theoretically get up to 20 years for that one charge on the pending trial and further accusations against her (for e.g. destroying evidence) exist and could potentially result in more years.
    1
  45.  @dantothemoon9154  I think he just used the Vietnam War as a metaphor for a traumatic experience.
    1
  46. On the other hand, the opposite strategies are a form of diversification. At the very least, the risk should be lower than only using the riskier strategy.
    1
  47.  @samsonsoturian6013  Driving it is likely cheaper. If you drive enough it can pay for itself eventually relative to getting an ICE car.
    1
  48. "They should just focus on starlink" Starlink is bad.
    1
  49.  @Pain-nw7gv  Not because of rail so that part isn't really relevant to OP's comment about rail vs. air.
    1
  50. $5 fare for such a short distance sounds like a ripoff.
    1