We're in a recession

[The Jays]

This is my proof.

Even the lowly hot dog is getting more expensive. Gray’s Papaya, a New York hot dog institution, will be jacking up the price for its $3.50 “Recession Special” – two hot dogs and a 14-ounce drink. Nicholas Gray, owner of the frankfurter chain, has yet to set the price increase, but he indicated it is coming soon.

hock:

[diceisgod]

$3 Trillion Dollars ---> Toilet

[Galt]

Four months ago, I bought December '09 S&P Puts with a strike price of $1,200!

[The Jays]

I have no clue what that means!

[diceisgod]

I don't know either but I imagine it's as educated a decision one can make when playing with the Wall Street bookies. It seems a sure thing in the short term but just when they think they got the answers, Wall Street changes the questions.

[Galt]

If Microsoft is at $27, and you think it will go to $37 by next January. One option is to just buy the stock. You spend $2,700 for 100 shares. If it goes up to $37, you make $1,000. If it stays at $27, you make and lose nothing. If it goes to $17, you lose $1,000. That's Scenario 1

In addition to buying or selling stocks (or indexes or ETFs) , you can buy derivatives ("options") of those underlying securities.

A "call" option is the ability to buy a stock at a later date
A "put" option is the ability to sell a stock at a later date

In the Microsoft example, another option is to buy a call. So instead of buying the stock, you buy an option to buy the stock at say $35 in January. So they would be "January $35s"

You would spend about $.77 per share (based on the last price - each option has a different premium) for that ability (the cost of time). To buy an option for 100 shares would cost you $77. If it went to $37 in December, you would make $200 (the $2 difference between $37 and $35). You subtract the $77 you spent on the premium, and you've made $123. Scenario 2. However if the stock only goes to $34, you get nothing back, and you lose your $77

under scenario 1: You came up with $2,700 and made only $1,000 (a 37% return)
Under scenario 2: You came up with only $77, and made $123 (a 159% return). The downside of scenario 2 is that you can lose all of your money.

You can also sell calls and puts to other people and instead of coming up with the $77, people give it to you. But you'll have to deliver the stock if the strike price is hit.

So, I bought puts in the S&P for December '09. Which means that in December '09, I'll be able to sell the S&P for $1,200. It's at about $1,330 now. If the S&P is below $1,200 in December '09, I make money. If it's above $1,200, I lose my premium. The further below $1,200 - the more I make.

[The Jays]

Very interesting. I would love to know more about stocks and investing and such. I'd like to know what to do with the money I earn from architecture besides my 401k.

[diceisgod]

I wanna know who the faggot at Comcast is that rated Conan the Barbarian at just two out of four stars. Just an incredible incredible 4 star flick if there ever was one.

I wish there was a stock I could invest in that involved kicking that faggot's ass.

[Arpikarhu]

what a shocker! DIG had no clue what was going on in this thread so he decided to masturbate verbally for us! i am stunned!

zero difference between what you post and a monkey flinging shit.

[diceisgod]

If it wasn't for me, you couldn't point me out. But trust me, if you'd like to compare my abilities to yours we can do so...along any dimension you like...even on your own ground if you wish. The following is what I mean exactly ....

So if I remember rightly, You change light bulbs on Broadway for a living and claim to know things. Well, I will guarantee that I could give a much more eloquent & informed opinion of a Broadway show than you could EVER give. People will think I installed the friggin light sockets when compared to you.

Moreover, I will do all of this despite the given facts that I know precisely ZIP about Broadway.... never been to a BW show, nor have ever been to NYC. If and when I ever do make a trip there and see a show, I will let you know and then I will let you know exactly who King Shit is and why. I'll post my review right here and I'll even post mine first.

This shit throwing monkey will swing from your chandeliers and shit right on you. Trust me.

[Galt]

How on earth do you live in Philly and never go to New York?

I will never understand people that don't step outside their little 10 mile radius of their birthplace. The entire industrial evolution occured so you could evolve out of the 1800s, yet there you rot.

[diceisgod]

I have lived in Ohio, Florida, and along the south Jersey shore (more or less). I have been as far west as Colorado, spent significant time in NC, SC, KY, and maybe a couple other states in the south, up north in NE, & in Canada (if only for a weekend in some cases...more or less).

Nonetheless, NYC is full of rot...mostly rot just like every other major metropolis on Earth that perhaps didn't start the Industrial Revolution. Despite this, I might see it one day...I might not. I'm not much of a tourist nor am I so career-focused that I feel I have to "make it" somewhere where it's supposedly the toughest place to do so.

Philly ain't a beacon of light no doubt about that but it's no bed of roses in terms of one being a success or living comfortably or just even surviving. It ain't where ya are...it's who & what you are...and here I are. If Philly ain't on the radar or even "on the map", I'll put it there or die trying.

[The Jays]

Holy shit, I didn't even catch that part. DIG has never been to NYC??

What the fuck does "full of rot" mean? All you ever know of the city is what you've seen in movies, on TV, and what you've read. If you honestly think that New York is the same as every other city, wow, that's like hayseed mentality.

[diceisgod]

Not just NYC wrt "rot" but every metropolis... as I said...and it's not a very controversial opinion...nor is it false.

NYC might have it's own mystique and charm but it's the same everywhere in every city: housing projects, dope slinging, megacrime, filthy poor, the fucked, and so on. Sure, most of the upper 1% call it home but I ain't impressed. However, I don't deny NYC's "glories" but I don't go gaga over them either. Further, I don't claim Philly is the home of the Daily Fucking Planet.

So what's the big deal?

[Galt]

what's the big deal is history. Being someplace. Walking where significant events have happened.

I was watching Heroes last year, and they showed the cheerleaders father walking in front of some random walled fortress on a secret mission - I saw it for a second and said "That's the Kremlin". I was there. I walk through it. I was on Red Square. I saw Lenin's (fake) body.

It's just an amazing feeling to actually be the places that you see or read about. Travelling is the best. I'm going to Australia in three weeks. Gonzo's coming!

[The Jays]

You aren't impressed because you've never been here. It's truly not like any other city you've ever been to. Seriously. It's not even funny.

[diceisgod]

I'm sure it will be a big deal and impressive when and if I ever get there. I'm sorry, but I am just not jealous that I am not there now... nor am I a travelling/touring enthusiast.

Sure, I can appreciate things, history and places, and in fact I do so when I experience them. But I won't burst into adrenal & testosteronal flames in the anticipation of the possibility.

Send me some suite/box tickets for a Yankee's game....well then maybe I will just a little bit.

[diceisgod]

Below is the only place I'd EVER be pining to be but on a permanent basis. Right in that chair there. Any place where I can watch the sun rise AND sink into the ocean...plus add a hot little honey (or 3) laying out on a beach towel in just a bikini bottom (maybe not even that) waiting around for me to rub lotion on her BACK and then to go off & get me another fruity drink with an umbrella in it.

To me, anywhere else on this earth is just another shit city or a fucking farm....it's just work work work & a big shot here & a big shot there & a slick asshole ova here now....& a fuck that BS. GET IT?!

[The Jays]

I enjoy that picture simply for the juxtaposition of an Adirondack chair on a beach.

[Galt]

Sitting on a beach for vacation does not interest me in the least. Even in Australia, I may spend one day on a beach - same thing in Rio.

You say every big city is the same? Every beach everywhere is the same. Sand. Water. The end.