APPLE PIE OR APPLE CRUMBLE?
January 31, 2020 5 Comments
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
This WordPress.com site is dedicated to independent working class politics. Contact me at briangreen@theplanningmotive.com
THEPLANNINGMOTIVE.COM 
Pingback: APPLE PIE OR APPLE CRUMBLE? — Brian Green | theplanningmotivedotcom | Taking Sides
“Firm’s market cap climbing to $1 trillion”. This was a headline on Mar 19, 2000 in an article by Business Journal about Cisco Systems. Twenty years later the cap is $195B.
Apple’s outstanding shares has declined from 6631M in 2012 to 4375M today or about over 2B shares bought back. That is a 34% reduction. As of June 2109, Apple had spent $284.3 billion over 10 years buying back its own shares, according to Axios.com. Financial engineering as opposed to real engineering.
Tesla is an example of “Street places more emphasis on prospects rather than performance”. Its profit was all about its pollution credits in the last quarter. Its cap has exceeded that of VW. What is the prospect? An EV and solar panel company!
Thank you for dissecting and the analysis providing a clear picture of what is going on. I was wondering about that. The hype machine is deafening.This is the euphoria phase of the market just like the year 2000. ETFs did their magic going up and will have the opposite effect on the way down.Ticking time-bomb indeed.
Referring to 2000 is so important. Currently the top 5 corporations Market Cap exceeds $5 trillion or around 18% of the Market Cap of the S&P500 just as in 2000. I am not convinced Amazon can exist in its present form once governments and states start imposing taxes on it, to bring Amazon in line with the rest of retail, which will force it to raise its prices and become uncompetitive. Also once workers start unionising and opposing the harsh and cruel working conditions. It is not by accident that Amazon makes a loss on its international sales where workers are better organised.
“Based on our updated expectations for electric vehicle (EV) cost declines and demand, as well as our estimates for the potential profitability of robotaxis, our 2024 expected value per share for TSLA is $7,000. ” Ark Invest. Feb-03-2020. Today TSLA jumped 20%.
At $7000 valuation = $1.26T. This has got to be the peak insanity/euphoria.
There is a quote misattributed to Steinbeck: “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” I maybe wrong but I think there is a little bit of truth in that though it is changing. As I had mentioned before socialism used to be a dirty word not long ago but now seems the word capitalism is gradually becoming the dirty word.
When Roberts posted his article on CoronaVirus there were about 10000 confirmed cases. Three days later it has risen to 20000. Could this trigger the slump? What is your take?
I am writing the next post under the heading, THE VIRUS THAT BROKE THE CAMEL’S BACK. I was waiting for the industrial profit release for China which came out yesterday. The essential difference is that SARS took place when the Chinese economy was ascending, this outbreak takes place against a descending economy. So I hope the article will look at this question and stimulate a debate.