has anyone covering the Wall Street GME reaping and sowing gone into the fact that a lot of the GameStop and directly associated trades have been largely amplified by social listening powered mega firms doing machine learning automated trades because the “idea” of GME is popular?

like I thought this was a thing investor people & press just knew & instead it’s all just focused on the message of redditors clowning short sellers and not “the computers saw the infinite monkeys on infinite typewriters and decided That Would Be A Cool Thing To Emulate” for $$$

for those new: finance social listening is a marketing “science” that involves advanced web & social network data collectors scraping everything for nuance on companies, purchasing behavior & language, investor & finance sentiment, etc & using it to make billions of trades for $$

Musk & his core investor clique is notorious for doing this as are some other big hedge firms & finance firms - you take the raw off Bloomberg Terminal, Superdata, public social networks and headlines etc etc, machine learning the fuck out of it, collect money. A hype machine.

This has been going on for about 8 years but only got popular & competitive in the past 2, when firms realized the machines could do a better job with these data flows in setting up short term shorts & holds vs people - & they could also “game” media to effect other hype machines

1/ Since "liquidity" has been the buzzword these days, here's an anecdote and a powerful lesson from history about printing unlimited amounts of money. Story time. #fintwit

2/ Our story begins with Mansa Musa or Musa I of Mali, an African king who consistently figures in the list of richest people in the world (Inflation-adjusted). One of his given names was 'Lord of the (Gold) Mines of Wangara'. Lest we forget, Gold was the 'Money' in those days.

3/ One fine day in 1324, Musa decided to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Of course, it was easier said than done. Mecca was ~8,500 Kms away from Timbuktu, Mali. Ultimately he did make that journey and it has been recorded in the script "The Chronicles of the Seeker" by Mahmud Kati.

4/ Famously, he took a ton of 'money' (Gold) with him to aid in his journey (Well in his defense, it was ~8,500 Kms). About 60,000 laborers and soldiers carried 2 Kgs each and their camels carried 13 Kgs each, bringing the tally to an estimated ~1,30,000 Kgs of Gold.

5/ Being a generous King, he donated Gold left and right to every poor person he saw on the way. Regions of Cairo, Medina and Mecca became instantly 'rich'. The estimated donation is ~32,000 Kgs of Gold or ~$2 Billion in today's estimate.

The economic impact of the Brexit deal: our

Key points to remember:

1. Leaving Single Market/Customs Union means major new trade barriers - customs and border checks, regulatory barriers, end of rules allowing services to be sold across borders.

2. A deal doesn't change that. It means no tariffs and quotas and *some* provisions that will stop trade breaking down. But the main impacts -on our and the government's own analysis, about two-thirds - happen either way

3. That also means that some disruption is inevitable. You can't introduce new systems/processes overnight. The delay in doing a deal plus covid means some things will go wrong

4. But short term disruption, even if it gets headlines, does *not* mean Brexit is a failure. And when that disruption is resolved and new systems are working, we should*not* conclude it's a success.

To see how the innovation economy has left much of the US behind, we traveled to the small town of Bryan, in northwestern Ohio's Williams County. This is a thread about how to fix what the innovation economy broke about America.

This is Valerie. She’s 46 and has worked all her life—three jobs currently—yet she has just $65 in her checking account. Her husband works full time at a metal fastener plant.

Altogether, after health insurance premiums but before taxes, Valerie and her husband make about $45,000 a year.

The story of her working life is also the story of Bryan. The town is broken in some of the same ways that much of the rest of the country is broken. Understanding what broke Bryan is crucial to understanding how it might be fixed.

For decades, America’s political and business leaders acted as if places like Bryan didn’t matter.

1. Georgia : China
"China is a TOP source for imports and our 3rd largest exports market. We welcome thousands of Chinese visitors each year to the Peach State..."
- Governor Brian Kemp

The “Should we get rid of the GRE?” conversation and the “Should we pay undergrad RAs $15/hour?” conversation have three things in common that I think are really unfortunate — 🧵

(For the record, I personally think we should keep the GRE and that the minimum wage should be $15 but I know a lot more about psychometrics than labor economics so I’m more confident about the former opinion)

1- lack of clarity regarding whether a proposed change is seen as a morally good END in itself, versus a MEANS to another end, and if the latter what that end is

1b - for instance, I don’t care whether or not capital punishment deters crime; it’s instrumental purpose is irrelevant to the fact that I think it’s a moral wrong

1c -for the GRE, do you think testing is Bad, regardless of its utility? Or do you think that under representation of some racial groups is Bad? Or do you think the racial wealth gap is Bad? people rarely clarify what ultimate wrong they are trying to right

Thread: Introducing $JAX.v $JXMNF Jaxon Mining, who’s 100% owned 466 square km Hazelton property in the Skeena Arch will prove that this mineral-rich region rivals that of the Golden Triangle. Recent chip samples in multiple surface grabs show grades of up to 5300 g/t Ag

Amongst other achievements and experience, CEO John King Burns was the former founder and chairman of Northern Orion, which was then acquired by Yamana in a $1 billion transaction, so he knows how to hold on when you have something good. Was also former chairman of Dolly Varden

The Hazelton property hosts 4 main areas of interest: Netalzul (where most of the high grade silver has been recently identified), Red Springs, Blunt Mountain, and Max. Drilling had been originally planned for Red Springs, but I believe efforts have been diverted to Netalzul

Property is close proximity to all facilities and services: highway, railway, power, and mining services.

This is the first systematic exploration of the highly mineralized property. Sporadic historical artisanal workings from the early 1900’s are scattered around the property. There’s silver where there was silver, and in these cases, only the surface has been scratched (literally)

Is it better to split up dominant networks (like social/communication networks) or keep them whole to maximize network effects? I’ve spent 8 years creating a way to use data to answer this for Rwanda’s mobile network, using 5.3b transaction records (1/15) https://t.co/hKC8Vj2PIE

The punchline: allowing an additional competitor in Rwanda’s mobile phone system earlier could have reduced prices and increased incentives to invest in rural towers, increasing welfare by the equivalent of 1% of GDP. (2/15)

Why study mobile phones in developing countries? Mobile operators are emerging as gatekeepers to information, the internet, and, increasingly, financial transactions. (3/15)

And many of the questions faced by tech antitrust have parallels in telecom: whether to force compatibility, make it easier for users to switch, or split dominant firms. (4/15)

But would encouraging competition improve quality--or reduce it? When a network is split between competitors, each internalizes less network effects. But they may still invest to steal customers. In theory it could go either way. (5/15)

1. Been excited about @JoeNBC's sustained convo today about @KBAndersen's new book Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America which explains how the Republican Party radicalized OVER ECONOMICS over the past 30 years. It was launched w the radical tax cuts in Reagan's presidency, but

2. as the GOP evolved through the 90s & 2000s they became dogmatic about their economic philosophy- until it became a radical litmus test/position the party followed even when conditions screamed for different policy. It was a MIRACLE the party acted to stabilize the economy at

3. at the end of 2008 when it was crashing down around us (though they just barely did & some didn't and that's bc it was before the Great Purges of 2010,2012, & 2014). America doesn't know the hit job the GOP did on the American economy as they dogmatically pursued tax cuts to

4. the exclusion of everything else while denying any policy that could grow wages or improve the economic lives of the bottom 80% aside from the 2 or 3 times Ds managed to squeeze through policy while in charge (minimum wage increase in 2007-which was the 1st time in a decade

5. and now, of course, its been another decade. It's actually a miracle wages (all wages bc when the min wage is artificially low it affects all the wages above it, that's how you end up w $10 per hr EMTs & teachers) aren't even more out of wack w inflation. As @JoeNBC points out

A product which provides a fixed income which is better than FD & an upside like equity.

Should you invest in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)?
A Thread 🧵👇

1/ REITs are a vehicle to invest in income-producing real estate properties managed by professionals.

2/ In India, we have REITs primarily focused on commercial real estate properties having 7-9% rental yields.

In listed REITs, Most of the completed properties are pre-leased to big companies.

Why no residential? As yields of 1-3% make them unattractive to investors.

3/ How do you get the benefit of such yield?

REITs have to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to their shareholders.

Both listed REITs trade at 6-7% dividend yield (which is also tax-free)

4/ Moreover, 80% of their total value must come from completed & income-generating properties + it must avoid speculative land acquisitions.

What about debt then? There's a restriction there too.
Not more than 49% of the total equity.

This oil crisis inquiry report once public is going to irk quite a few. Although, this will point towards incompetence of authorities, you can't take the credit away from the PM.

OGRA Ordinance was promulgated in 2002. The rules were not made till 2016. 14 Years of running on SROs, having no legal value. #OilinquiryReport

All oil import decisions are based on data provided by a non-statutory body i.e. OCAC. There is no mechanism in place for the government authorities to verify the authenticity of data provided by a representative body of all OMCs.

90% of the OMCs did not maintain requisite 20 day stocks during Jan-Jun 2020. DG Oil remained mum. In cases of some OMCs the stock suddenly jumped from 0 in may to over 100 days in June. Classic case of hoarding.

The authorities failed to lift sufficient stock from refineries in Feb and Marc, and then ban on imports came, a ta time when oil prices were dwindling. All in the name of Keeping the refineries safe from glut. End result: eventual shortage in Jun and potential saving loss

A few thoughts on tax policy. Thread:

So you are worth >$100M or perhaps even a few billion. There are only two ways to become this rich.

1. You start a business that becomes very successful.
2. You inherit wealth from your family. 1/

Whether you created a great company or inherited a lot of wealth, you are now sitting on a capital asset. You don’t really have any ordinary income (not meaningful to be relevant) and you never will. To the extent you ever pay taxes, it will be capital gains. 2/

The highest tax rate that the super rich will ever pay on their income (or wealth) is 20% capital gains tax. So, the super rich pay the equivalent effective tax rate of any American earning $75K (when you include FICA taxes). Same as a teacher or a cop. 3/

The question following from this obvious injustice in the tax system is the appropriate policy for taxing capital income. Economic policy would suggest that the best tax rate on capital is 0%. Why? ...4/

...Because in a capitalist society you want capital flowing efficiently without friction to its most productive use. Benefits of that are obvious. 5/

I’m focused on building an American free market economy protecting free speech.

Allowing the businesses with the highest creativity & best end user experience to compete.

Driving prices low, quality and service high, and putting American’s first.

Made in America!

Cont’d..

On Sep 3rd 2020 we closed on a 120k sf glove factory built in 1890 in a small NY town.

Has 45k sf of self storage inside and had $14k a month of net operating income at closing.

Let's breakdown this deal.

A THREAD on creating $2 million out of thin air in 18 months...

👇👇

First saw the property on Loopnet in mid 2018. I ignored it. Who wants to try to operate a business in an old factory in a dying NY town.

A few months later I reached out. Broker sent me financials. They were good. $24k a month in revenue and $10k in expenses.

So I visited the property. It was old. Needed a new roof. Full time manager. Only accessible to customers 9am-5pm M-S. No autopay. A lot of folks paying 1/2 market rent.

I loved everything about it.

But I knew they were going to have trouble selling this thing no matter the profitability, so on July 1 2018 I made a low offer. $750k + seller pays for new $250k roof + $20k in environmental work.

Countered at asking price + $100k credit towards roof.

I ignored the response.

Broker called me back mid September of 2018. Make another offer, he urged.

I knew it was a good biz so I got more aggressive - $1MM + seller pays for roof / environmental.

Declined. Countered with $1.2MM but they'd give me a new roof and do the environmental.

My Foresight

Whatever you see in the next 20 years to come in this country blame the bi-partisan mishandling of ASUU strike.
Let me drop some rough statistics to see what I'm thinking right now.

Today about 2 million Nigerians are working in the US alone. Almost 250 thousand of them are Medical Doctors. The rest are Academicians, Engineers and so forth. Most of these guys were the bests in their schools here in Nigeria.

Because of the poor working condition, unfavorable environment and very low salary, the're forced to emigrate to greener pastures for a better life. Many Nigerian students particularly the ones reading professional courses are thinking of leaving for a better life.

Don't forget this is a country that's in dare need of professional workers. The current doctor-patient ratio will throw you into a depth of despair. From what I observed recently, bad days are coming unless something is done.

Just recently our association hosted a Webinar on opportunities for Doctors in foreign countries. What do you think?
Almost all the people that participated including me are just waiting to graduate in order to apply for job abroad.