Facebook will open around 32x revenue, compared to about 4x for Google. Facebook does have amazing reach and has been great for spreading photos and ideas, however, the whole escapade seems more like a contrived attempt to rekindle animal spirits (Keynesianism) and Greater Fool Theory pyramid scheme investing. But this might be an unprecedented example of leaving no cake on the table for the Greater Fool.

Begs this question for me: If everyone is more engaged in socializing online than in being involved in productive work, where is the supporting wealth creation going to come from? Or is that too just dollars springing into existence out of a computer keystroke (thanks uncle Ben)?

Is this property over 100x less valuable?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2012/05/18/pinterests-first-investor-this-is-what-facebook-was-supposed-to-be/2/

“What is it?”

“One escaped”

“How did that happen?”

“I don’t know. Must not have received the years of proper programming”

“Send in the Drones!”

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens

Not enough natural law and sound money — honest weights and measures, Deuteronomy 25:15, U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 8 — in our present economic system. Wall street firms (primary dealers) are enabled by the Federal Reserve. The root problem is money based on nothing, which is not wealth creation. The central planning of money and markets by a bunch of economic mandarins (the Fed) produces nothing of value. The market is not a market at all when highly leveraged bets are rewarded exponentially and the Fed purchases everything that goes bad. That is a system based upon crony capitalism and it is fit for a banana republic where the wealth/success is somehow created through spending or is tied to being involved in the political class (ability to access bailout) rather than being based on capital formation and savings through the fruit of labor — hard work, innovation, and production — like it is in a capitalist system. The beauty of capitalism and free markets (vs. authoritarian all knowing gov’t intervention) is that problems are dealt with locally as a natural check on the type of systemic risk we now face. People will really wake up when they realize the government is bankrupt 10x over and it can’t pay for their welfare. It never could, it could only do so for awhile by printing money out of nothing. Capitalism is what we don’t have, yet it is what we need. We’re on the road to serfdom. Free markets, or the absence of central planning, enable the broadest prosperity through real wealth creation with the most satisfaction in a job well done resulting in the most economic freedom.

http://foodforthethinkers.com/2011/05/14/honest-money-the-bible-and-the-constitution/

The capital markets (and the economy) are like a leaking pressure cooker being held together with duck tape and chicken wire.

http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/properties/wpwg.php?id=92&today=2010-07-21

http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/economy/business-keeps-getting-squeezed/

When all that is growing is pace of rules and regulations, the economy cannot grow.  Only a wide-open free market leads to prosperity.

It might be better to create some fundamental health.

The lack of trust, which creates fear, often leads to war and destruction.  War is caused by poverty and politicians, not by market-driven prosperity.  Prosperity creates more specialized trade and enables creativity.  Integrity in trade, i.e. being able to trust the real value of the product you are buying, leads to more trust and thus more peace.