Paradise Lost Financial

Link to Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krK9gxQnA-8

Reviewing new taxes being proposed, and potential economic/social consequences of these policies.    

Consider supporting the Paradise Lost Financial channel: https://www.patreon.com/paradiselostfinancial?fan_landing=true   

Articles & References Mentioned in the Video:  

Elizabeth Warren fuels class warfare with new wealth redistribution ideas:  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/elizabeth-warren-fuels-class-warfare-with-new-wealth-redistribution-ideas/ar-BB1eMxfb?li=BBnb7Kz  

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates agree that the rich should pay higher taxes https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/25/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-the-rich-should-pay-higher-taxes.html   

The Income Tax in 1913: A Way to ‘Soak the Rich’: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/the-income-tax-in-1913-a-way-to-soak-the-rich  

Five staffers let go over marijuana use, White House says: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/five-staffers-fired-over-marijuana-use-white-house-says-n1261578    

Top 10% of Earners Pay Over 70% of Income Taxes: https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/who-pays-income-taxes   

Millions of illegal immigrants set to get $4.38 billion in Biden COVID cash: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/millions-of-illegal-immigrants-set-to-get-4-38-billion-in-biden-covid-cash/ar-BB1ePU08?li=BBnbcA1&srcref=rss   

A By-the-Mile Tax on Driving Gains Steam as a Way to Fund U.S. Roads: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/millions-of-illegal-immigrants-set-to-get-4-38-billion-in-biden-covid-cash/ar-BB1ePU08?li=BBnbcA1&srcref=rss     

Source for the Dollar Value Illustration: https://howmuch.net/articles/rise-and-fall-dollar   

By HowMuch.net, a financial literacy website

Here's the link to the Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2mFygMq-YA

Please consider supporting the Paradise Lost Financial channel: https://www.patreon.com/paradiselostfinancial?fan_landing=true

Articles/References Mentioned during the Video:

Wall Street Journal article on "What's New in the Third Covid 19 Stimulus Bill": https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-new-in-the-third-covid-19-stimulus-bill-11615285802   

US National Debt Tops $28 Trillion for the 1st Time [$224,000 per  taxpayer and $85,000 per citizen (even newborn American infants)]: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2021/03/u-s-national-debt-tops-28-trillion-for-the-1st-time/   

US DebtClock: https://usdebtclock.org/     

We are witnessing a fundamental structural change of how the financial & savings system works... my advice would be for Americans to get prepared.

Please consider becoming a patron for as little as $5 per month for additional research & content, or if you want to support the channel consider a one-time donation through Anchor. Thanks for your support, it keeps me going!

Patreon Link: https://www.patreon.com/paradiselostfinancial?fan_landing=true

Additional Links & Resources:

Bureau of Economic Analysis News Release on Rise in Personal Income: https://www.scribd.com/document/477497451/State-of-Personal-Income-2nd-Q-2020#from_embed

CBS News Article on Unemployment Benefits paying more than people's jobs: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/low-wage-workers-unemployment-cares-act-earn-more-income/

DISCLAIMER: nothing on this channel should be construed as financial  advice. I am not a financial advisor and you should always do your own  research

WallStreetBets driving up prices of Gamestop, AMC, BlackBerry, Nokia, and more, intentionally targeting some of these stocks due to outspoken short-selling firms.

Robinhood (and some other brokerages) have come under fire for restricting trades (or outright closing some of their user's positions, allegedly) and potentially even conspiring with hedge funds such as Citadel to allow for damage control at the expense of the retail trader.

We're beginning to see class action lawsuits against Robinhood, members of Congress demanding a DOJ investigation,  and billionaires stating that this situation is "dangerous for the markets". 

Many Robinhood traders & the WallStreetBets folks are saying they will close out their Robinhood accounts and #DeleteRobinhood is now trending. 

*Note that I should have said 76% of users say they will stop using Robinhood (I mistakenly said 76 people... sorry I'm tired lol) and it looks like hedge funds have lost roughly $5 billion,  not $70 billion  (I was thinking of Twitter & Facebook losing $70 billion in market cap after they shut down conservative accounts... separate topic) - that's still $5 million millions,  so $5B is nothing to sneeze at! 

DISCLAIMER: As always, nothing on the podcast or channel should be construed as financial advise, always do your own research and never invest unless you can afford to lose it all.

More links & details to follow - here are the links in the meantime:

Hindenberg Research Report:  Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America (GM): https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/

Potential class action lawsuit against Nikola that is in the works: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/law-offices-frank-r-cruz-184100187.html

Nikola One in Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAToxJ9CGb8

Investopedia - "Short Selling": https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortselling.asp

We are witnessing the biggest "reshuffling" of the DOW in almost 10 years:

Being Added:  

⦁ Salesforce (software/tech)

⦁ Amgen (biotech)

⦁ Honeywell (conglomerate that makes all sorts of products, you've probably seen them in retail stores like Target, WalMart, BestBuy)

Being removed from the DOW: 

⦁ Pfizer (pharmaceuticals)

⦁ Raytheon (military/industrial - US defense contractor)

⦁ Exxon (oil & energy) 

This is likely an indication that US commodity companies are in decline,  software & healthcare continue to gain some steam, at least in the eyes of investors

Also interesting to note that the DOW has trailed the other major indexes (S & P 500 and NASDAQ), but this "reshuffling" might allow it to catch up if these trends are to continue

Apple Market Cap $2 Trillion: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/technology/apple-2-trillion.html

Back in September, Apple's market cap was $1 trillion (has now doubled in size)

Stock market reaching all time highs (S & P 500 & NASDAQ): https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-index-futures-mostly-higher-dow-on-track-to-erase-2020-loss-2020-08-28

July's "official" unemployment data says unemployment rate is at 10.2%

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273909/seasonally-adjusted-monthly-unemployment-rate-in-the-us/

Voodoo Economics - definition: 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/voodooeconomics.asp

*Creation of the Federal Reserve 

Great book that covers the "Federal" Reserve:   Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin 

*The Working Group on Financial Markets AKA the "Plunge Protection Team"

Created by Executive Order 12631 in 1988 by Reagan

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/plunge-protection-team.asp

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1086

https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12631.html

*Exchange Stabilization Fund

"Emergency Reserve Fund of the US Treasury Department"

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/exchangestabilizationfund.asp

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/international/exchange-stabilization-fund

*High Frequency Algorthimic Trading 

Uses computer program with a defined set of rules or triggers to  buy & sell securities at an extremely fast pace

In theory, can produce profits at speed & frequency that are impossible for human traders/investors

Defined set of instructions based on timing, price, quantity, any mathematical model.

Can even "scan" headlines for certain words and be triggered based on what's being reported on a given day or time

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/091615/world-high-frequency-algorithmic-trading.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/101014/basics-algorithmic-trading-concepts-and-examples.asp

*Flash Crash

There have been a couple of these in history, but the main one I'm familiar with was the "Crash of 2:45" which happened on May 6th in 2010 - TRILLION dollar stock market crash (before recovering ALMOST entirely before the closing bell that day)

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/flash-crash.asp

*Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve (for "short-term objectives for open market operations")

https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_openmarketops.htm

Side note on gold stocks & Warren Buffet re-allocating his portfolio to include 20.9 million shares of Barrick Gold, while reducing his positions in banking & financial stocks:

(He has mocked gold as an investment for years...  as a reminder, I do not believe in gold or precious metals as an investment, but as a tool for wealth/purchasing power preservation as the USD becomes more debased)

Barrick's shares rose 7.4% after hours (that's pretty significant)

Articles: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/buffetts-berkshire-buys-gold-miner-barrick-slashes-wells-fargo-and-jpmorgan-stakes-amid-coronavirus-2020-08-14 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-14/buffett-s-gold-averse-berkshire-jumps-into-a-big-bullion-miner

Introduction to Counterparty Risk (Investopedia): https://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/11/understanding-counterparty-risk.asp

10 Questions to Ask Before Investing in Precious Metals: https://sprott.com/investment-strategies/physical-bullion-trusts/10-questions-to-ask-before-investing-in-precious-metals/#

[Links to follow]

Crony Capitalism defined: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/crony-capitalism

What is a "Champagne Socialist"? : https://www.thefreedictionary.com/champagne+socialists

Bernie Sanders 3 homes and millionaire status while demonizing millionaires (he is now shifting to "billionaires" to try to keep the heat off of his own financial status): https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/24/bernie-sanders-millionaires-226982

Nancy Pelosi net worth: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/nancy-pelosi-net-worth/

Paul Pelosi - 5 Facts (by Heavy.com): https://heavy.com/news/2018/12/nancy-pelosi-husband-paul/

Nancy Pelosi's husband received PPP loans from Small Business Administration:

https://nypost.com/2020/07/06/nancy-pelosis-husband-among-lawmaker-linked-loan-recipients/

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law as senior advisor in White House Cabinet:

https://www.citizensforethics.org/nepotism-conflicts-interest-jared-kushner-ivanka-trump/

Jared Kushner direct ties to venture capital firm(s):

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/15/jared-kushner-decides-not-to-divest-from-real-estate-tech-startup-he-co-founded.html

"Crossing the Rubicon" - historical context for Ancient Rome and the setup for Rome's Civil War, as compared to the US today: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/caesar.htm

Stay tuned for the next full-length Paradise Lost Financial podcast episode, and more to come resuming next week. Thanks for all the support!

Paradise Lose Financial Podcast - Episode 2: Financial Engineering

[Links to follow]

How both public and privately-held entities use non-GAAP financial measures to justify wasteful or unprofitable practices. 

Inflation is much worse than is officially reported:

BLS Inflation at -0.1%:

Official CPI calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics says it stands at -0.1% as of May 2020: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

ShadowStats Economic Measures

John Williams' ShadowStats alternate calculation based off the way inflation was measured in the 80's puts inflation at closer to 8% currently: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

The Chapwood Inflation Index 

Calculates inflation in the 50 largest cities in the US, in which cities such as San Jose have inflation measuring at 13% - remember this is per year so over time this trend significantly stunts your purchasing power: https://chapwoodindex.com/

Non-GAAP Measures 

Financial figures that are unaudited and do not comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles): https://www.lutz.us/non-gaap-measures/

EBITDA = Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, & Amortization

Measures such as EBITDA are more "flexible" than GAAP measures such as Net Income. Companies that switch to using EBITDA as a financial measure when they have not done so previously should present a potential red flag for investors and the public: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ebitda.asp

Real vs. Nominal GDP and how GDP uses a "GDP Deflator" instead of CPI to account for inflation

https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-macroeconomics/economic-iondicators-and-the-business-cycle/real-vs-nominal-gdp/a/lesson-summary-real-vs-nominal-gdp

Inflation as Calculated by TPTB for GDP:

GDP (Gross Domestic Product):

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gdp.asp

GDP Deflator:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gdppricedeflator.asp

Intro song by my childhood friend whose music project is titled "Maine Experiment": https://soundcloud.com/maineexperiment

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Paradise Lose Financial Podcast - Episode 1: Phantom Finance

Pilot Episode

US National Debt stands at over $26 Trillion,  that's over $79,000 per citizen and over $209,000 per taxpayer! https://usdebtclock.org/

On the Paradise Lost Financial Podcast we will demystify economics, public policy and personal finance with the goal of empowering listeners and promoting liberty, freedom of choice and quality of life.

Please consider becoming a Patron for as little as $5 per month to contribute to future content and access additional material not available to non-Patrons:  https://www.patreon.com/paradiselostfinancial

Check out the channel on Youtube (currently working on the upload but the plan is for future episodes to be hosted there): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnd6YphmVMqTsL5Q-upyeRg/

Credit - Clip in the intro is from the track titled "Rush Hour" by Mac Miller