I'll admit I have never been smart concerning money or the market. It took me nearly 66 years to see my ignorance come to fruition. But here are things I have learned.
Although my little bit of spending doesn't change things much, I watch where I spend my money. I go home happy that they are profiting with my money. I refuse to buy from people like Amazon. I try to go to local stores first. Investing? Only in things I can see and have control over. I like it that way.
Capitalism used to involve some smart guys investing money to create innovative things which created demand. Competition meant others sought to create something that could be used to create the same return for the buyer in a more efficient or better way and therefore created demand for their product.
Now, a company simply strives to become so big it can control the market, not by innovation or creation, but by simply controlling the "machine" that turns out product. With the demand for ammunition as it is right now, they don't have to up the quality game or come up with something that captures the market through quality or new ideas. They just turn out product and people will buy it. Plus Vista's statisticians are probably factoring in a liberal gun grab or elimination of more of our freedoms. If I read the article right, they will keep the demand and price up by controlling output. Imagine if you have to "subscribe" with Vista to take delivery of a set amount of ammo each month to get a locked in price. The small guy can't participate and the big guy can't sell below a certain point without losing money. If that is the case, their business model will fuel itself.
Remember "too big to fail"?
When I think of big business, I get this picture in my mind. A 400lb sow laying on her side with teats swollen and piglets attached to each one sucking as hard as they can. The sow is the easy money created by the Fed, the piglets are anyone high enough on the pyramid to get the cheap money.
For some more interesting reading, Try Matthew chapter 24, and Revelations. Someone in a previous post said it won't get better, and I agree.
It's a crazy world, because the world is telling us things are true which are impossible due to financial laws, physical laws, and the laws of nature - all put in place by one true God.
And one other thing: this country was built on belief in God, freedom , and sacrifice. And all these problems exist because we have given our freedom away through complacency and choosing to be content with things as they are. I sometimes think of the men who left homes and family forever to suffer for the creation of this nation.
My favorite quote is from General Robert E. Lee when questioned about his feelings about the outcome of the war. He said that he accepted the outcome of the war, but that he was "concerned that an overly powerful Federal government would prove to be a threat to the rights and authority reserved in the states and to the people and would result in a nation that was sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home". (taken from Lee the Last Years, by Charles Bracelen Flood, Copy right 1981).
I don't really see much true capitalism in the pure sense. We've all been fooled.
