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0 pointsmatthewdgreen8mo ago0 comments

China is massively investing in the entire energy generation sector, renewables, advanced nuclear, batteries, EVs, full self driving. This is the future we were supposed to be investing in, but we’re losing it. Maybe we got some share buybacks instead.

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rjmunro8mo ago

The share buybacks enable and encourage investors to move their money to invest in other things for the future. That's usually a better idea than e.g. Intel, who know nothing about other wind farms, building their own.

matthewdgreenOP8mo ago

This is the thing we tell ourselves because we like share buybacks. The question is whether the numbers actually tell this story.

ben_w8mo ago

The investors are quite capable of taking the money from those US stock buy-backs and investing them in Chinese growth sectors.

I mean, I'm basically doing that.

That said, I'm an unsophisticated retail investor, and if I understand right all people like me combined only add up to about 20% of the market.

K0balt8mo ago

My concern is that America will become a sprawling no man’s land as the economy contracts to 20 percent of its present size. Rapid collapse is unpredictable and seems like a bad idea for a country with such a huge military presence.

ben_w8mo ago

Rapid collapse is indeed unpredictable, and always bad; but the military is heavily dependent on the economy, so it starting huge probably won't make a huge difference.

Especially if the US happens to do the collapsing at around the same time the rest of the globe moves away from oil etc., given how dependent the existing military equipment stockpiles are on petrochemicals.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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rjmunro8mo ago

matthewdgreenOP8mo ago

This is the thing we tell ourselves because we like share buybacks. The question is whether the numbers actually tell this story.

ben_w8mo ago

The investors are quite capable of taking the money from those US stock buy-backs and investing them in Chinese growth sectors.

I mean, I'm basically doing that.

That said, I'm an unsophisticated retail investor, and if I understand right all people like me combined only add up to about 20% of the market.

K0balt8mo ago

ben_w8mo ago

Rapid collapse is indeed unpredictable, and always bad; but the military is heavily dependent on the economy, so it starting huge probably won't make a huge difference.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse