Climate Change

[Tom]

I know what you mean, Gus.
I don't even buy green bananas anymore.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I sincerely appreciate the advice...but my long tenure as a horseplayer has practically destroyed my "long-term perspective", as far as "investments" are concerned. Even the thought of tying up my money for the duration of a baseball game aggravates me...at this point of my life.

I don't know if you are serious or not, but a couple years ago I dabbled in 1st quarter betting on NBA games for that very reason.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

I don't know if you are serious or not, but a couple years ago I dabbled in 1st quarter betting on NBA games for that very reason.

I am dead-serious. How people can wait for YEARS to find out if they are "right-or-wrong" is a mystery to me. If I am wrong about things...then I want to find this out as soon as possible.

I have a friend who thought he was a stock market genius...because he had made a great deal of money investing in stocks over a 20-year period of time. He was even nagging me to give him my OWN money so he could invest it for me...so he could "secure my retirement". And then the year 2000 came around, and the accompanying bear market wiped him out totally...proving that an "investor" could be a loser, even after 20 years of consistent winning.

A gambler doesn't suffer from this type of self-delusion. If he is a "loser", then he finds this out pretty fast...and that's how I like things to be.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I am dead-serious. How people can wait for YEARS to find out if they are "right-or-wrong" is a mystery to me. If I am wrong about things...then I want to find this out as soon as possible.

I have a friend who thought he was a stock market genius...because he had made a great deal of money investing in stocks over a 20-year period of time. He was even nagging me to give him my OWN money so he could invest it for me...so he could "secure my retirement". And then the year 2000 came around, and the accompanying bear market wiped him out totally...proving that an "investor" could be a loser, even after 20 years of consistent winning.

A gambler doesn't suffer from this type of self-delusion. If he is a "loser", then he finds this out pretty fast...and that's how I like things to be.

The lesson your friend learned was never confuse a bull market with brains.

I don't really see your point though.

I've netted profits over my lifetime gambling on horses, shooting pool, and playing cards. I'm even a little ahead in basketball since I took it up a few years ago. But I still have losing years and expect to continue to have lots of ups along the way. At any given time games like basketball or horses could easily pass me by and I could start losing badly.

Knowing if I am right or wrong with horses is a multi year thing too, just like my decision to take some of my retirement savings and buy gold mines. I think I still have an edge at horses, but I'll let you know in 5 years. If not, I hope I am right about those mines 5 years from now.

[Dahoss9698]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

The lesson your friend learned was never confuse a bull market with brains.

I don't really see your point though.

I've netted profits over my lifetime gambling on horses, shooting pool, and playing cards. I'm even a little ahead in basketball since I took it up a few years ago. But I still have losing years and expect to continue to have lots of ups along the way. At any given time games like basketball or horses could easily pass me by and I could start losing badly.

Knowing if I am right or wrong with horses is a multi year thing too, just like my decision to take some of my retirement savings and buy gold mines. I think I still have an edge at horses, but I'll let you know in 5 years. If not, I hope I am right about those mines 5 years from now.

I feel like this is a commercial for Dos Equis. The only thing you left out was mentioning you're the most interesting man in the world.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Dahoss9698

I feel like this is a commercial for Dos Equis. The only thing you left out was mentioning you're the most interesting man in the world.

And, if he ever gave you driving directions...not only would you never get lost...but you'd always get to your destination 5 minutes early.

[lefty359]

I wonder how many of you here that believe in man-made climate change have gotten rid of you air conditioners and cars?
I thought not...

[FakeNameChanged]

Originally Posted by Fager Fan

A lot of good is also done under the name of organized religion, so I can't condemn it with a blanket statement. From Billy Graham to hundreds of thousands small church leaders, they try to bring good to the world.

But like many others, I have a problem with the Catholic Church for its leaders and the very ungodly acts they committed, and with rich evangelicals, and also rich churches like the Catholic and Mormon churches.

Overall, I think churches should be stripped of their non-profit status, with only the money spent on charitable missions being tax deductible.

Billy Graham is a wonderful speaker, but certainly qualifies as an Uber rich evangelist. His net worth has been reported at $25,000,000. Franklin, his son received total compensation package back in 2009 at 1.2 Mil. His reported church salary as reported to the IRS back in 2015 was $880,000. Both of the Grahams are at the top or near the top of the Rich Evangelists list.

You typical pastor for a church of 300 has an average salary of $28,000 plus living quarters in some cases(from 2014). The pastor at my wife's church with a membership probably in the 600-800 range is probably making 2-3 times that amount.

[Fager Fan]

Originally Posted by Whosonfirst

Billy Graham is a wonderful speaker, but certainly qualifies as an Uber rich evangelist. His net worth has been reported at $25,000,000. Franklin, his son received total compensation package back in 2009 at 1.2 Mil. His reported church salary as reported to the IRS back in 2015 was $880,000. Both of the Grahams are at the top or near the top of the Rich Evangelists list.

You typical pastor for a church of 300 has an average salary of $28,000 plus living quarters in some cases(from 2014). The pastor at my wife's church with a membership probably in the 600-800 range is probably making 2-3 times that amount.

His salary was around $250,000, so I assume this was from book sales? It looks like he lived in a pretty modest home too, nice enough but not "rich" looking.

I've tried googling to learn more as I always heard he didn't live the life of a uber rich guy, but I'm not finding a whole lot.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by lefty359

I wonder how many of you here that believe in man-made climate change have gotten rid of you air conditioners and cars?
I thought not...

It is pure comedy how liberals will defend Al Gore not practicing what he preaches, he does the exact opposite. He lives in a mansion that consumes something like 20 times the energy of the average home.

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by lefty359

I wonder how many of you here that believe in man-made climate change have gotten rid of you air conditioners and cars?
I thought not...

that right there is the thing. until these clowns buck up and quit using petroleum and all products made from them, and anything else that they claim is causing global warming, they will get no attention from me. It's just like people from PETA screaming about protecting animals while they're wearing leather shoes. Complete morons.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by chadk66

that right there is the thing. until these clowns buck up and quit using petroleum and all products made from them, and anything else that they claim is causing global warming, they will get no attention from me. It's just like people from PETA screaming about protecting animals while they're wearing leather shoes. Complete morons.

So, in your opinion, if someone wears leather shoes...then he has no business complaining about animal abuse...RIGHT? Very astute!

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

So, in your opinion, if someone wears leather shoes...then he has no business complaining about animal abuse...RIGHT? Very astute!

you catch on pretty fast

[davew]

Originally Posted by chadk66

that right there is the thing. until these clowns buck up and quit using petroleum and all products made from them, and anything else that they claim is causing global warming, they will get no attention from me. It's just like people from PETA screaming about protecting animals while they're wearing leather shoes. Complete morons.

That reminds me of a recent oil tanker protest where the protestors made a blockade with their plastic kayaks.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by Dahoss9698

I feel like this is a commercial for Dos Equis. The only thing you left out was mentioning you're the most interesting man in the world.

Good one.

Maybe a little distasteful and over the top, but I was making a point.

When people invest in the stock market, imo they should be thinking in terms of 5-10 years because no one knows what's going to happen over short periods of time.

When people gamble at horses, cards, sports etc.. they should be doing the same thing. For example, after starting the year on fire, I'm now in the red a few units for the year on horses. That means almost as little as winning last year did. I have no idea what's going to happen over the next 6, 12, 18, or 24 months. But I "think" I still have an edge. If I am right, then 5 years from now I should be in the black over that period.

It's the same thing.