R&E Political Discussion

R&E Political Discussion - Spring 2026
[ R&E Political Discussion - Spring 2026 ]

Another ridiculous idea gone bad ...

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on June 11, 2026, 9:36 am

Since hitting a record high of $126,000 last fall, Bitcoin has dropped to just above $60,000 amid waves of selling. That has erased more than $1.2 trillion in market cap in eight months. So, if you own any of this crap, best to sell now, lick your wounds if you are taking a loss, and learn that when things seem too fantastic to be real, they usually are not. Lucky people bailed at $126,000. Smart people never invested and are satisfied with their huge gains in the over-priced stock market.

I expect EV sales and AI stocks to tank over a period of time.

More technology isn't always the best pursuit.

Even if gold and silver drop for a while, the coins with real numismatic significance hold their own and continue to appreciate. After all, the only people who buy precious metal coins are avid collectors who are in for the long haul, and the dealers who help them get there. Coin Collectors typically hoard coins, which takes those coins out of the marketplace, which reduces supply vis-a-vis rising demand, which makes coins on the market scarce, which naturally drives up the prices. Voila!

Institutional investors which buy gold, silver and platinum generally do not buy coins ... they buy bulk bricks ... and they do this solely to make quick profits, which causes the significant fluctuations in spot metal prices.

Jewelry manufacturers keep raising prices steadily regardless of spot metal prices. High-end jewelry is a slowly-fading market, and the high-end retailers just keep raising prices in hopes of keeping revenue more or less constant while volume slowly decreases over time. Mass-market jewelry is tasteless, but the masses can't afford the high-end prices, eBay/Etsy and other 2nd market prices on used high-end jewelry keep rising, some almost as high as current retail, so the masses can't afford that either, so the mass-market manufacturers will continue to do well because nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

Creating value for others is the bedrock of our free market system.

Posted by Arwen on June 11, 2026, 12:24 pm, in reply to "Another ridiculous idea gone bad ..."

I haven’t owned bitcoins yet. I did own a Tesla for almost a year, but sold it because it didn’t bring me the value I anticipated.

Our tastes vary as Americans. For some bitcoin is a way to mitigate risk. I have no problem with two people making a free and voluntary decision to trade bitcoins, precious metals, or equity in publicly traded businesses. That freedom creates important market signals that spur capital investment, diversifies retirement portfolios, and informs business decisions.

AI is not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. For some it creates value. For some it is a threat. Like other things, while we all have opinions about the value it might or not create as individuals, what really matters in a capitalist system is the market as reflected by millions of people making free and voluntary decisions.

The beauty of this is that our opinions matter. And they matter infinitely more than a small, arrogant group of elites sitting in a smoke-filled room telling us what is good for us.

Don't overlook the reality that ...

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on June 13, 2026, 2:39 am, in reply to "Creating value for others is the bedrock of our free market system."

... "a small, arrogant group of elites sitting in a smoke-filled room telling us what is good for us" ran up a $37T national debt.

Bingo!

Posted by Arwen on June 13, 2026, 8:05 am, in reply to "Don't overlook the reality that ..."

Worse yet, the founders warned us of such foolishness.

"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Please don't confuse bitcoin with precious metals.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on June 12, 2026, 6:39 pm, in reply to "Creating value for others is the bedrock of our free market system."

Vastly different entities. The value of bitcoin is based on what?

Precious metals have real and intrinsic value because they can be used in a vast array of useful and/or desirable products, from chemical compounds and solutions, medical products and devices, dentistry, integrated circuits, time pieces, currency and collector coinage, jewelry, architecture, furniture, artwork, catalytic converters, solar panels, hydrogen production, zero-emission fuel cells, a store of financial and economic value, and more.

Precious metals have never been worth zero and have exhibited a relatively steady growth in monetary value.

Now, I know your platform is about freedom of choice, and I agree with you, but the choices that are made are what make the difference.

With precious metals, the value is what you say it is to you. Although gold and silver have taken a significant hit in the past month, my investment in numismatically graded and low mintage coins continues to appreciate. With a lower spot price, I continue to buy where the opportunities exist and where frightened investors want to bail because they don't know the value of what they have. Collector coins are destined to appreciate because mintage is fixed by year, collectors hoard coins, taking them out of the market more or less permanently, thus reducing supply vis-a-vis increasing demand, so Voila!

The value of bitcoin is based on what someone else says it. With a 50% tumble and a trillion $ market cap loss, I would not consider an investment therein, but the foolish gamblers who sit at the poker table in Vegas thinking they will win it back will continue to dump their money in crypto thinking it will go back to $126K and beyond. Meanwhile, it could go to $30K or $10K or $Enron-K.

The value of bitcoin is determined by a willing buyer and a willing seller.

Posted by Arwen on June 12, 2026, 9:15 pm, in reply to "Please don't confuse bitcoin with precious metals."

Just like stocks, precious metals or any other free and voluntary transaction.

I get that you think it is a scam and therefore refuse to participate. My point is that our individual opinions about what is a good investment doesn’t matter as much as the market which is a reflection of millions of free and voluntary decisions on what something is worth.

Freedom is a good thing, including the freedom to think bitcoin has no intrinsic value.

If bitcoin has intrinsic value, state the case.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on June 13, 2026, 2:25 am, in reply to "The value of bitcoin is determined by a willing buyer and a willing seller."

Hype and deception sometimes cloud the "willingness" of the buyer and seller.

Enron is a good example.

It is a fiat currency like the US dollar.

Posted by Arwen on June 13, 2026, 7:35 am, in reply to "If bitcoin has intrinsic value, state the case."

And like the dollar (or other fiat currencies) it has value because millions of people trust its security and portability.

It seems a silly thing to argue about, but whatever intrinsic value that bitcoin has is determined between a willing buyer and a willing seller.

Yes, People like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk create value and make the whole world richer overall.

Posted by Ken C on June 12, 2026, 7:47 am, in reply to "Creating value for others is the bedrock of our free market system."

Socialist extremists view the economy as a pie to be divided up evenly among the people. They don't understand that rich entrepreneurs create value and make the whole world richer overall.

I rented Teslas for about a year. I finally bought one when my state offered me a $9,500 rebate to buy one. My Tesla is about 35% more fun to drive than a similar gas powered car, and that benefits me more than any alleged environmental impacts.

Re: Another ridiculous idea gone bad ...

Posted by CHE on June 11, 2026, 11:55 am, in reply to "Another ridiculous idea gone bad ..."

I never "got" the whole idea of bitcoin

Posted by Trish on June 11, 2026, 10:38 am, in reply to "Another ridiculous idea gone bad ..."

It seemed like monopoly money... told people to stay away

Agree 100%. People try to explain "blockchain" and I'm thinking ....

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on June 12, 2026, 5:49 pm, in reply to "I never "got" the whole idea of bitcoin"

... blockchain, my ass ... some crafty techno-criminal is slowly pilfering some of your and everyone else's links and linking them to his. You eventually end up holding the bag, and he's in a luxury 3-floor suite in the Burj Dubai, with properties in Bali, Maui, Monaco, Geneva, Paris, Tahiti and all over the Mediterranean.

« Back to index

[ R&E Political Discussion - Spring 2026 ]