Yes, it’s gambling. No matter how you put it, there is an uncontrollable uncertainty and uncontrollable element to this addiction. This addiction may not be chemical or acutely financially devastating in one shot to most, but it is a chronic problem most people in this hobby will face. But guess what, everything is a gamble including investing and a surprise including whether you will know you will wake up the next day or not. A surprise you may or may not always find out if you even know who you are after it happens in the first place. Like everything else, card collecting is all about moderation and the probability of winning and losing along with safeguards in place to prevent catastrophe. Ever noticed no one is selling cards widely believed to appreciate in the foreseeable future in large quantities? That’s because no one is stupid. Isn’t this a signal the cards being sold in large numbers that people actually buy now are all pretty much contrarian or polarized products? Stable coins are stable within a given range but loses the speculating components these gamblers are in the market for. People like that couldn’t care less about small dividends or interests otherwise they would already be in stocks. I think the only way for crypto to become useful is if it had more functionality like privacy. Block chain needs to be enhanced with privacy enhanced technology. If the criminals could voice their concerns, they probably will say that they wish after they committed their crimes and ransomed the coins, they could easily move these coins to an encrypted escrow black hole that no one could track them down ever. 

Legitimate people especially in countries where their government promote limit and track digital payments want a way to spend and make freely and worldly without the government knowing about it. If one day Bitcoin suddenly opened up more authorized supply for mining, the market will likely crash. The saddest part are the people who are getting to this game at 5 figures even the educated ones. Those in at a penny or two will probably feel no remorse to let them hold the bag at 1 billion percent profit. Federal regulation most likely won’t happen for crypto within Trump’s administration. This has nothing to do who will get rich and who won’t. It has everything to do with crypto being shady as F*** with little legitimate applications though blockchain is somewhat useful when the government is comfortable with it. Can you imagine some entity out there suddenly becoming a gazillionaire? How will the descendants of the central conspiracy theory figures feel about that after their ancestors spent centuries being misers, destroying human societies just to see some entity named after a non-casuarina being richer than all of them when Bitcoin hit one million dollars. Would you feel good about that if you were them? All semi-jokes aside, if America’s number one enemy doesn’t even feel comfortable about AI, how do you think they and likeminded entities will react when this possibility increasing becomes a high probability event? What the alternative assets industry need is liquidity through assurance. When insurances, even self-funded ones become a reality, the regulations will follow. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Pokemon and sports collectible card collectors and cryptocurrency investors gamblers who need insurance and the best mainstream baseball repack product ever.

Anything that actually impact the mainstream financial system will be easily regulatable even when by then people in the industry probably no longer need that legitimacy and oppose regulations. Insurance need scale to work. Who has the scale? The card and grading companies? True, but they are not fortune 50 global companies that can tap into the banking system. Retailers especially the big box ones do have such leverage but they are not in the prime position of insuring. They do have protection plans but look under the hood, it’s underwritten by large P&C insurance companies. And they themselves are likely reinsured and the insurer is also insured. The government through its good faith and full credit brand label the. Provide certain guarantees or it’s too big to fail with implicit bailout potential. The whole chain is already institutionalized. The industry can get together and get their whole value chain together then go from there. I recommend starting small like a guarantee/warrantee program for returning damaged cards within a certain number of days without excess delays that is institutionalized throughout the whole chain of consumer protections. Taking damaged goods, shrinkage in packages, uneven distribution and stockouts seriously as violations that require corrective actions by the whole industry is probably the first real steps in establishing an insurance scheme. Allowed uneducated people to gatekeeper and buy cards are just not a smart way to promote this hobby. If there is even a .0001% chance that buying cards at big box create potentially violent or unpleasant experiences, that’s too much for this hobby to handle. “Yo gonna buy all tha’ree, not gonna leave one fo’ me homes”soft accosting that happens probably every hundred purchases and flocking (one person looking at cards everyone in the vicinity all flock to the area or mad dog you when you try to buy cards) not only is not good for the hobby but creates societal problems that is commonplace in the land of America’s number one enemy. Then there are these wandering people who appear to be employee of big box stores who walk about the area especially during restocks hoping to get a piece of the action for themselves or their entire hood of personalities and family. I don’t mind the hustling babies that literally are five year old trying to hustle get paid, I just think it’s poor and lazy parenting from otherwise people who may be well-educated and have disposable income. Getting your baby kid hustling at card shows is different than getting them working at your hedge fund. At their formidable age, why would you as a mainstream wealth want to subject your offsprings into the ghetto world of borderline potential criminals who themselves are not well-to-do may even be living in a basement? 

This hobby got to legitimize by making these basement people the side effects rather than mainstream audiences. These people have little to no disposable income compared to the big walleted people who have dignified jobs that machines can’t do yet. Capitalism is all about money talks, kicking these people to the curve is the most capitalist thing to do. They can now get a better takeout of cards by eating on the side of the road just not in country clubs. They wouldn’t be a good fit for the country clubs anyway. Cards are arts and exclusive investment opportunities into the careers and life of athletes, artists and other people of notoriety that they are legally prohibited from profiting from their own work unless explicitly allowed to do so. This hobby do need people and fans, the “disposable income challenged” one can pay $10 bucks sitting in a bar, watch on the Jumbotron outside of a stadium or tailgate then sit at their nosebleed cheap seats. As long as they stay out of the private rooms and VIP boxes, they can still participate in the hobby. Card companies can’t operate with talent level of college dropouts. This is the age of analytics and AI, there needs to be smarter people in the room to begets exponentially more richer and smarter people who will open up their wallets and calendars. There may be a mystical repack blister box typically featuring 1+1 packs sold at a certain national chain that start with the letter W that may be priced around $10 that may potentially yield surprising good card value returns consistently in large sample testings and over a long period of time. YMMV. 

Why not just put the money into a bank or investment vehicle instead? You clearly don’t know how most regular people behaves especially in the West where the urge to consume is also presumed and never doubted.  The whole point of this is to reserve for something that your other, inner self is going to be too lazy to sell at least when not desperate enough. This reserve in order for it to be effective it has to be of a certain composition. Things that you and the potential buy now or in the future will likely want. This means whatever it is it has to have some nostalgic and historical appear as well as scarcity that you can’t easily find anymore on the market. People love to say “oh, that’s just worth a few bucks” yet they will try to buy it and then ask you if you have any more of it. The thing about scarcity is not always about the supply side “authorized shares” or “issued shares.” It’s about the float. If you desire something and believe in it, you will go out of your way to find it and in large quantities if possible. Unfortunately, whether you find these items in mass quantities at reasonable transactional costs (time of finding them, travel cost, transactional fees etc) is never for certain. That certain is what creates something called risk that makes people hesitate and “alter their shots.” Because certain Jordan inserts for example the 1998 Starquest Gold Jordan card come to market so infrequently that pretty much the market price is whatever the market participants decide it is throwing out even the illusion of “it was last sold for this much” or it was sold on “T** P***** and do you have a list on that site” super unreasonable, player not condition centric like some Y****** or One P**** slop, sweatshop mass production, loss leader race to the bottom, non-artistic curated premium valuation BS. 

On this note, any dealer that use that kind of valuation methodology doesn’t have my trust and any platform that is player centric that caters to a population that is not what the hobby is all about with the kind of dispensable income to match is likely not a good potential buyer market anyway. In capitalism, people’s worth should only be viewed through the lens of money and their future money or economic impact as an indicator meritocracy or having future consumer offsprings even if they likely can’t educate them properly. Any other BS about philanthropy is about altruism only is probably just communistic propaganda. People like to do whatever they want to do. As long as it’s within the rules of moral and legal society, that’s probably how economic maximization should be in a comparative and absolute advantageous arena where people’s passion dictate their efforts. Anything in contrast to that will just invite the fate of America’s number one nemesis where people opening revolt by staying silent and do nothing but laying flat and say yes to no consumerism, low effortism, no offsprings and virally effective in affecting others in the same way. The rules I have regarding strategic collectible cards emergency reserve as a FU currency are of the following. Three to five years out is the best. Assuming you have never utilized a FU emergency fund before, your typical reaction when losing everything is first tap into your savings while trying to find a job to get some cash flow. If that’s not working well, you will then resort to other things like taking out your retirement funds or borrowing. Then after you internally struggle within yourself, you will first accept a lower standard of living and give up on many things you are use to so you can be closer to a matching cash flow situation then you will probably try to sell your FU emergency reserve. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to create a strategic collectible cards emergency reserve as a FU currency.

This whole process from trying to be okay to selling your FU emergency reserve is probably a one and half year to three year ordeal. When you first set up the FU reserve you are probably in a good place in your life with ample disposable income. Hence my recommendation is your outlook horizon when creating this reserve should be about three to five year timeline. This means you should active figure out what will be good to sell when you need to sell that reserve. That’s get one thing clear. FU strategic reserve is just a reserve not a reservoir. It won’t be an endless fountain of wealth. It’s a resource to get through a black swan event. If you are depending on this as a long-term strategy, you probably have bigger problems you need to work out with your therapist. This reserve should ideally be significant enough to worth the effort of selling and should be liquid enough to sell quickly preferably within three days. This means the expensive stuff with only a few buyers is out of the question. Right now the faster moving stuff are the cards worth a few hundred to a less than two thousand. Sealed products worth keeping are usually more than this and when you are in this situation you are pretty much near homeless and constantly in the move. It is not recommended to keep sealed for this reserve. The smaller move is to keep single cards in those less than 1K card top loader boxes, I recommend a maximum of two boxes that can fit into a four wheeled luggage that you can take anywhere with you. You will only survive this if you are nimble and fast. Each day is another day you are borrowed time when you are experiencing this event without improving your cash flow. Logistics is everything and money moves all mundanely possible things including logistics. The cards that move the best are vintage Pokemon, holo charizards and holo Pikachus. NBA cards especially the SSPs move well provided they are of GOATesque players.

Don’t try to speculate on new rookie cards for this reserve, it frequently won’t work out for the average person. MLB and NFL might be okay if we are talking superstar SSP RPAs but in general basketball is much more popular on the card side in the US as it is also very international. Americans don’t like soccer and don’t lesson to these make believe people who don’t understand why Americans don’t like soccer. It’s the same reason why America is on the customary system not metric and not even on the Imperial system. Soccer is too slow paced foreign sport with mostly poor Southern hemisphere third world playing that doesn’t feel exclusive to Americans. Besides the van people who care about their kids getting a scholarship, you just have to understand what demographic group watch and most passionate about playing soccer to understand why it won’t be popular for years in the US. If you are actively escorting your unwelcome house guess out of your house, would you care about the sports they like to watch and play? Put it simply, understand who has the money and power to buy your cards, tailor to that group. Take your social justice BS elsewhere when you yourself could be one of those people you are “fighting” for soon if you don’t do something about your “financial insecurities.” I recommend a $50,000 FU cards reserve with current market value that are likely appreciable assets. You will likely only get 20-30% of whatever value when you sell in mass quickly when you really need the money. If you are into compliance or SOPs, review and make adjustments to your strategic reserve once a year or two. Wait, what am I talking about, we are talking about cards people or possibly habitual borderline gamblers. Never mind. Don’t hate the player nor game, hate yourself later that you put yourself in this position of vulnerability. Be thankful you even had this reserve in the first place. The most important thing when you are in this situation is figure out how to get out with minimal liability and long-term financial stability going forward. Feeling sorry for yourself is the last thing you need in this crucial time. 

Let’s get one thing out of the way real quick. In the NBA, Jordan won’t be seen as the consensus GOATs within a few decades at the latest when people get a better perspective on whatever perspective they may get in the future. In MLB, Babe played with the plumbers, Bonds is not even in HOF and Ohtani won’t be GOAT period. In NFL, Brady is closest of being the GOAT in a sport that separate offense positions from defense positions. Mahomes is literally within reach of all of Brady’s records within a decade and half. In NHL, it’s hard to argue who is actually the GOAT over the two main contenders. NASCAR GOAT convo is probably even more fragmented. In soccer literally no one can ever be the consensus GOAT because there are so many different leagues, awards and tournaments all over the place. History might be written by the winners but the winners always change therefore history always change. Every a few decades new revelations is revealed when a different trend for a new era of standards come into play. The whole premise of GOAT will stay GOAT is ridiculous. Even greats admits records are meant to be broken and most people measure greats by their records. In reality, a real goat becomes dirt after their time has passed anyway. It’s the cycle of the universe. No one will be themselves forever. This is precisely why when the so-called current GOAT chase cards become extremely hot, it’s a good time to offload and look for new GOAT chase cards for nano-pennies on the dollar. 

All great inventions come with risks and risks on expected value terms yields significant returns over time. The biggest risk mitigation strategy is scale and the cost of the initial scale frequently can’t be footed by individual entities alone. This is one of the biggest issues with pure-form classical capitalism. It creates the chicken and egg issue regarding whether demand or supply come first and neither one can’t happen without government intervention of some sort but government intervention in a free market is also a chicken and egg situation of neo-communism versus neo-capitalism. In this particular case, the trend will flow on its own down to human nature. The hot new thing will always have more money to be made than the stagnant one that only a few have control over that starve the enthusiasm from the rest of the market. This is the same reason why companies split stocks so everyone can afford the shares at face value even if the stock at the moment of the split is at least nominally the same but typically increase in price as both a signal for demand and future growth and allow more people to get into the game of potentially getting rich. This is also the same logic as cryptos like Bitcoins and Pokemon cards even though most of these “collectors” never spent a basis point of a Bitcoin to transact anything in their life just like the basement dweller probably never watched the animation after the first 150 and never learned how to play the TCG. 

I think the ones that will end up holding the biggest bags that buy cards of legends like Shaq who is one of the greatest ever, but will never be the GOAT. GOAT and non-GOAT HOFs have dramatically different multipliers for their collectibles throughout history. People frequently confuse the baseline GOAT metrics with marketability like being a talking head on TV or a billionaire. The baseline will always be their place in history for what they are primarily known for and the marketability is just the icing or the force multiplier on the side. Do you know the price difference between a 1952 Topps Mantle card and a Yogi Berra card from the same set? Mantle has double the WAR but his cards are probably 1,000 or more of Yogi’s cards from the same sets. People will say Mantle is not the GOAT but at one point he was in the main GOAT consideration. I’m not saying this will be the case every time in all examples as there will be many anomalies and exceptions to any rule if we are going to be honest, but in terms of rule of thumb or on-average scenarios, I think history will show that marginal to moderate greatness over the great of the greatest typically yield astronomical premiums. Yes, some of the early tobacco cards are worth a fortune, but that’s not solely due to anyone factor but due to the combination of their history and historical value in telling about the story of the sport and hobby. The GOAT chase cards will probably remain hot throughout the sport season until the summer of 2027 Summer when things will likely slow down due to seasonality in the business. Kids don’t even collect cards under thirty bucks because grading is no longer worth it for cards at these price levels. This is exactly why you should make the switch instead of holding the bag.

Benchmark is everything in life. Comparisons are unavoidable. Sports already have analytics like Sabermetrics like WAR in baseball, VORP in football, EPA in NFL and GAR in NHL that predict the value of a player’s contributions to a team’s success. At the end of the day, great players make their teams successful and team success means recognition from the fans. I see GOATs and HOF as two different entities in the world of card valuations. Your average HOF player is exceptional, but in terms of card valuation, your typical HOF player card value will probably end up keeping up with inflation in best case scenarios. G-WORD stands for “GOAT – Worth Over Replacement Dud.” I created the G-WORD valuation method metric to provide an idiot proof way to value cards. All cards are assumed to be of the same or equivalent comparable conditions. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

G-WORD collectible cards valuation method.

1+((Current GOAT main rookie base card value/Alternative GOAT main rookie base card value in the same era))/100)-(Future GOAT main rookie base card value/Alternative GOAT main rookie base card value in the same era)/100))=Greatness Index Era Adjustment 

((Greatness Index Era Adjustment) x (Purchasing power of current GOAT main rookie base card value of current year in year of card release – Purchasing power of future GOAT main rookie base card value of current year in year of card release))=G-WORD

Current market price/G-WORD=G-WORD ratio

Assume the following:

Current GOAT: A grade 8 Jordan 1986 Fleer is $20K in September of 2026. $6.5K in 1986 purchasing power.

Alternative of current GOAT in same era: A grade 8 Hakeem 1986 Fleer is $500 in September of 2026.

Future GOAT: A grade 8 Lebron 2003-2004 Topps Chrome is $3K in September of 2026. $1.5K in 2003 purchasing power. $1.5K in 2003 purchasing power.

Alternative of future GOAT in same era: A grade 8 KD 2007-2008 Topps Chrome is $350 in September of 2026.

Greatness Index Era Adjustment=1.055

G-WORD value for Lebron 2003-2004 Topps Chrome=$5,275

G-WORD ratio for Lebron 2003-2004 Topps Chrome=57%

This means the LeBron card mentioned above should be worth at a book value of $5,275 and is only at 57% of its current potentials in September 2026 purchasing power if LeBron is indeed the GOAT in the future. 

I’m frequently right because the world is frequently wrong. In some societies contrarians are treated by their governments as criminals and TPC is the mastermind. Everyone except for a small percentage of people will prosper for externality. Even if you wanted to win, the math won’t work out in your favor. Some people think being a contrarian is an act of playing the devil’s advocate. It’s flat out not. Statistically there can never be a large number of contrarians for obvious reasons. Being TPC is like becoming the White Panther or the Black Unicorn, even if it’s technically possible, the optics won’t allow it to happen in this sequence of events within the current paradigms of being. For example, how do I get my picks right on so many verifiable events in the future? Those aren’t picks. They are social observations Socrates harbored throughout his life that you didn’t know he did because he never heralded about it in writings and only found out through the conveyance of his associates. The last 50 years humans experienced more significant technological advances than its entire existence prior to that period of time. Sure, one day AI, humanoid robots, space exploration, time travel and teleportation will just be a fact of life no difference than turning on the lights right now.

TPC will always find a way to survive and strive throughout the ages and beyond. Being TPC is not a choice, it’s a way of life no different than the evolutions in human history or Pokemon evolve unless you are Pikachu which I believe is the first organism to resist genetic changes in human history, however funny that is. It surely makes why Pikachu cards should command a significant premium a lot more plausible as long as one can keep a straight face while spoiling other alternative facts of a similar vein at least a dozen times at card shows and conventions or online listings. Statistically your dumb children won’t amount to much within the next five decades due to the Baby Boomers and young Sheldons with decent EQ squatting on all the opportunities. Their chance of success doesn’t lie in competing with the East Asians, they will likely succeed not being bamboo ceiling’d, involution, or destroy themselves through self-defeating competition to the bottom due to resource constraints that their ancestors freed them from through colonialism/imperialism, generational wealth, transition into democratic values and rule of law when it served their interests better, education and more. Their life’s outcome is more related to Aafrling than Wafrling where they need to get the best education possible within the do almost nothing scheme while enjoying life and leaving everything else to the workplace training. This means schools like CSULA and UCR will invariably become more in demand due to the arbitrage opportunities. The student body is probably no different than many of the other highly ranked “socially mobile” schools but the difference is its location and system glorifies them into metropolitans of their people. Yes, it’s like winning the WNBA championship or the NIT, the difference is it’s that team in New York team that won it which comes across completely differently in almost every single type of medium and channel.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

What is it like being The Permanent Contrarian and why is TPC frequently right.

Ironically the NIT use to be the NCAA tournament is now and the Democrats use to be the Republicans just over a century ago. Isn’t the NCAA more representative in its namesake of what the tournament was about than the NIT and aren’t Democrats and Republicans literally switched perspectives to literally live up to their names? A worthless vintage Babe Ruth card due to being in extremely rough condition is still valuable because it’s a vintage Babe Ruth card. As facetious as it sounds, giving a lemon the name Harvard might devalue the Harvard brand but it sure makes the lemon more marketable. UC and CSU systems will have to defend and help their weakest members, something they have more skin in the game than you have in terms of making your kids’ education more valuable than your kids probably actually deserves. When you tie the whole system to work for your personal benefits, that’s called a bank but you don’t have to own one to bank on it. As for predicting Knicks to win it all, no one seems to understand that you can quantify the non-quantifiable. You just have to try harder. People and organizations have known the importance of chemistry between people for a long time but chose to treat pheromone like the same kind of pseudo-science that the same type of experts states the Yonaguni Monument are natural formations.

UCSC historically is known to be superior than UCR in every way excepts for perhaps its name and its mascot. Look at what happened to that’s school’s rankings and prestige throughout the years. Probably the similar things regarding the naming game can be said about USC and many of the CSUs that all end up living up to the name they chose for themselves in a surreal self-fulfilled prophecy. Kanye once said “Reach for the stars, so if you fall, you land on a cloud.”I guess nothing is more nebulous than naming your school after a vague, hard to point place that exists without a specific identity or in some school’s cases, being too proud of being ghetto that even its residents want nothing to do with the name when money is involved. Like that, CSULA is a national university with a respectable ranking and Villanova becoming a junior Ivy League. What most people don’t realize is, the land CSULA sits on alone could be worth billions, more than the endowments of many top ranked universities. As for Villanova, it will likely climb to the heights of its ambitions within a few decades. You don’t expand into two campuses, have the Pope endorse an award you just created, intently becoming a research university, literally have walking advertisements for your school, raise potentially billions and not wanting to be an Ivy level school. 

Nigeria will likely become the world’s third most populous country within three decades. I foresee Nigeria surpassing South Africa and Egypt in economic terms within the same period of time. Throughout history, those with a huge population usually do well in the long-term as significant increases in popular is already a positive signal that something is going right despite the short-term economic struggles related to overpopulation. What sets Nigeria apart from the likes of other notable African nations like South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt is its combination of core competencies. Nigeria, despite its huge population in a relatively disadvantaged part of the world, starve for education and knowledge. Not trying to be funny at all, but Nigerians frequently make the East Asians dumbfounded with all their Ivy League offers in hand. When you think about how much people they have, how long their per capita GDP is, yet still have some of the highest percentage of most educated people, that’s crazy. 

When someone educated say they are from Nigeria, you know that person is probably going to be super serious with their craft. Yes, other African countries are great too, the different is Nigeria has the scale, natural resources and geographical advantage to win big. Nigeria didn’t let the resource curse slow them down or make them lazy. They also don’t depend on remittances from expats living abroad to survive as much as Egypt does even though its population is double that of Egypt yet Nigeria only gets less than half the expat remittance Egypt gets. Nigeria has relatively stable relationships in its neighborhood composed of small and relatively weak neighbor states. The fact that Nigeria is still in the Commonwealth while Egypt isn’t tells you a lot about who will become number one in the continent. Nigeria is well-diversified, English speaking and can create unions in certain sectors with a much smaller neighbor like Benin tells you a lot about  its diplomacy and soft powers. It has large amount of natural resources, ample amount of high quality Human Resources, with a long coast, Nollywood, strong partnerships with different global entities and is surrounded by weak neighbors? 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Nigeria in Africa, the next regional superpower.

I think that’s a quick recipe for regional hegemony. Ethiopia’s biggest issue is it being landlocked. Landlocked countries almost never dominate in the long-term for the reasons you think you know and for reasons you probably will never know. It’s the provincialism that lead to narrow-mind disorder that makes them the perennial target for “what could have been” or “if I had known.” What about Egypt? It suffers from the same problems as the Italians and Spaniards do.  Once you “loose yourself,” people will always suspect you are not who you say you are before the reconquista. History does like losers nor does it like turncoats disloyal entities even if there are legitimate reasons for the betrayal. Funny enough, even the colonized still think the English are true “gentleman” even if their colonization was just as brutal. Certainly no one likes lapdogs or lackeys whose only existence is to serve as a gatekeeper or a buffer of some sort. The doormat never gets taken seriously. 

As for South Africa, its issues are in essence no difference than that of certain demographic groups living in America with the same troupe of complaints on why they can’t make it, victimhood mentality that elicited sympathy the first 13% of the time and work ethics challenges that no euphemism is able to fully embellish. Plus, they still suffer from economic dependency issues even though they control the military, an issue much different than the dynamics between the lost tribes people and the true King George New Englanders. Nigeria has its sectarian religious, security and corruption issues like many developing nations do, however if a country is predominately of two major religions split in the middle that can sometimes be adversarial toward each other and have a lot of smart and expressive people living domestically and overseas and embraces new technology like AI intensely, it’s hard to imagine they have less of a chance to work out their problems than any other country with even more challenging situations. Africa is going to experience a lot of growth in the next few decades especially in infrastructure. Africans can be quite Pan-nationalistic and likely won’t accept neocolonialism of any sort from anyone who pretend to be its friends. Nigerians especially know exactly what it wants and are literally the early pioneers in viral marketing via the email 411 princes and princesses among other genuine ingenuities even pre the Asian scam centers. 

When they put their minds to legitimate interests, they will likely succeed. Corruption if channeled correctly as shown by certain America’s number one enemy can be conducive to economic and social growth. The killer part is the withdrawal from cold turkeying. Most countries eventually get crumbled by that either acutely or chronically. There are serious arbitration money to be made in this space in the West and many Westerners do not understand the inherent hatred and conflicts between the “lazy as**s” and the “booty scr****ers.” They hate each other almost as much as they hate themselves but the real money play is getting past the cultural biases, act like referees even if you like dressing up for the occasions with period outfits and actually understand the subtle differences between them. They might not all be the princes and princesses of your dreams but they might really be “kings” and “queens” of a small thirty people chiefdom tribe even if they are just working as car mechanics in Europe. What these people are missing is the infrastructure which requires a lot of capital. They are good with the software side of things which means they are probably good investments in the long-run for those with decent cash flow to feed their needs and don’t mind waiting. 

Through decoding government documents, the masked man found out that Ocekay is now forcibly kept on a high floor level of a maximum security secret government-run mental hospital compound 50 miles away from an Alpha global city. There Ocekay is force fed schizophrenic medicine by government doctors and nurses through tubes directly into the stomach. Ocekay is also subjected to tranquilizer shots and electroconvulsive therapy where Ocekay’s brain is shocked every few days. While Ocekay was unconscious, the police forcibly held down Ocekay’s hand and pressed it against a computer tablet for thumb print to appear that Ocekay voluntarily agreed to check into the mental hospital where it is widely known throughout the world for all kinds of horrendous and inhumane abuses. Ocekay is also subject to daily forced confessions which Ocekay outright refused despite threats and implementation of violence against Ocekay. When those efforts failed, the government tried to seduce Ocekay with attractive medical staff and trained young government agents dressed as medical staff who are usually sexually harrassed and abused exclusively by their senior leadership anyway.

Superficially, Ocekay is targeted by the government due to a “mental breakdown” where a high ranking male police officer along with a squadron of accomplices pushed Ocekay to the ground then they pretended they were the victims by falling down on purpose. Based on intercepted and deciphered encrypted security briefing cables from the government’s foreign embassies where encryptions are the weakest, the masked man’s intelligence network was able to figure out the real reason for Ocekay’s disappearance is due to Ocekay exposing the evil in the country by organizing anti-lockdown protests in major cities directly challenging the government’s authorities, whistleblowing on illegal behaviors such as forced labor on its Southeastern seaboard, export control violations, exploitation and stealing of technology from foreign governments and enterprises, illegal shipment of dangerous precursors to other countries, corruption of officials in cahoots with business leaders, kidnapping of Northern people to dilute their genetics, sanctions busting to secure advanced semiconductor chips and machines that can manufacture advance chips through nearby transshipment centers, tariffs evasions, organ harvesting, disappearance of Northern migrant children from local schools and orphanages for the orgies of pedophilic elites, list of traitorous foreign entities and people of power based in democratic countries and exposing the mass historical and current rape and murder of Northern and democratic allied people by Southern local elites who placed the blame on nearby foreigners and foreign pirates for decades and centuries. The biggest infraction of them all is the fact that Ocekay exposed the illegitimate son(s) of the president of the country. Ocekay had also drawn up the blue print to the central government’s underground escape routes.  

Ocekay also exposed the Southern’s secret plan through shell companies of the god children and lieutenants of the most powerful politician turned conglomerate business mogul who in his 30 year career partook in all kinds of corruption including bribery and knowing about the killing of his own related in-law by intoxicating her then throwing her body into the river while the in-law was pregnant with his nephew’s child. This man not only escaped justice even when associated with the murder of the daughter of a high-ranking government official, he is continuing to wield powers locally even as far as potentially giving his murderous nephew a new identify continuing to disappear and murdering people. This man is also involved in masterminding  a plan to subvert against the government in the North by building a million men strong private army while monopolizing local resources from the state including water and land. He is also responsible for instigating conflict between Northern migrants and foreigners which resulted in the potential stabbing and murders of foreigners including children. Plus, the central government leadership knew about the Oce clan and wanted to secure the hidden treasure. If it were anyone else, the person doing such an expose would not ever see another day alive. Ocekay’s elite all around purple squirrel unicorn background and ability to natively speak three UN languages plus every single world power along with at least a few thousand elite organizations and individuals already directly knew about the situation via encrypted messages, the central and local authorities could only disappear Ocekay in the meantime to stall for time until they figure out their next moves. 

Since the honey trap that works on powerful people in democratic countries failed to work on Ocekay, the local authorities who are known to be tiny sneaky, fake polite pretentious Southern people could no longer sit on their hands as the central government, out of their own survival instincts, began disappearing local officials left and right. The situation is extremely fluid as no one locally wanted to have anything to do with the oppression of Ocekay nor the god son of the powerful local man who stole Ocekay’s intellectual property and forced Ocekay to work for free 24 hours a day. The mental hospital staff purposefully tells Ocekay it was another organization that asked them to conduct violations of Ocekay’s rights and that they are the victims too. Ocekay also noticed the pedophilic orgies have died down in the mental hospital as many officials were detained and sentenced by the central government. It became so bad that the medical staff and local police purposely left the door open hoping Ocekay would escape, but Ocekay never took the bait and continues to be a source of strength for the victims forcibly placed there by the local police and government. At this point, the hospital staff and the local government including police no longer took an interested in “treating” or guarding Ocekay, allowing Ocekay to gain back full strength. 

Ocekay began interviewing those who were in the hospital learning many of them are political dissidents or are involved in some kind of financial dispute by their family where they can never leave or have any rights as long as their family do not sign of on their release which they will never do. The hospital is full of the whose who of the country’s celebrities including famous poker stars who won numerous international competitions and bracelets, internationally recognized professors who published papers against the government, foreigners of all kinds, female celebrities who accused central government officials of rape, children of former ministries born out of affairs etc. The most heinous of them all child abuse victims of local police officers, local and central government officials/powerful businessmen are forced to take schizophrenic medicine and go through electroconvulsive therapy to make them forget what had happened. If they persist they were victims, these children usually disappear forever with their organs harvest for the elites or sold on the international black markets. During daily orgies at nights, victims especially young children are forced to have intercourses with the hospital staff while powerful people watch and record to livestream online on the dark web. Ocekay crunched the numbers and estimated approximately 20% of the population have either directly or indirectly through family been impacted by this system and that the state apparatus direct annual spending on this alone is likely equivalent to 2 trillion euros or about 1.7 trillion pounds. That mental hospital alone has at least 1,000 beds with many “patients” locked up in metal barred military style system for years. There are likely at least a few thousand such facilities all over the country including the secretive police-run mental hospitals. When the total economic impact is considered, the lifetime total cost of loss of productivity is about 10 trillion euros or 8.5 trillion pounds a year.

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the second part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities. 

While they had their eyes closed, none of them went into deep sleep. They could vaguely hear prowling steps. They furtively scanned the room for surveillance devices and turned off the light and saw a faint beam of light, they knew they were being watched. In fact, before they went on this trip, they spent a few hours discussing contingency plans including communicating in a special coded language when in distress. The night went by without incidents. The next morning, the three of them woke up early to prepare breakfast and plan for the exploration of the monastery. The author utilized the patriarch’s diary to learn more about the monastery and its attributes. According to the diary, the monastery was built as a multi-layered maze that required locating and activating certain mechanical switches to gain opening access to each section. 

Activating a switch requires correctly deciphering riddles the first time otherwise a defense mechanism gets triggered putting them in great peril and delay their progress as they have to start from the very first switch again. It took them the entire day to open the final door that leads them to a nondescript, narrow and dark corridor. With a push of the wall, they entered an underground city. The underground city has a fresh water stream flowing from the underground lake. Although the underground city is well hidden due to its depth and thick vegetation covering its many entrances near a seaside steep cliff, it receives ample sunlight and fresh air from the outside world. After walking for a while, they reached the end of the underground city. Once they realized there was nothing there, they decided to head back. Just when they were about to turn around, they noticed a falcon flying away to the open sky. With the remaining climbing gears gear they had, they took turns to climb to the top of the cliff. 

There, above the clouds in paradise sits a small temple housing all kinds of relics and artifacts including manuscripts and steles. After reviewing the findings, it appears the last generation of residence of the complex passed away decades ago. The residences who were all wartime refugees who had received aid from the patriarch, entrusted the Oce clan to safe keep a secret that would unlock a universe of secrets. The masked man, the author and K knew the descendants of the Oce clan most likely have extracts of the rare plant. Once the three of them met up with the rest of the team, the masked man utilized his human intelligence network to track down the Oce clan near an international metropolitan. It appears the clan’s lineage is kept alive by a single member of the family named Ocekay. Based on public information, Ocekay has an elite resume and had spent many years living overseas before returning to the country and vanishing from public view a month ago. Once the masked man saw Ocekay’s picture, he turned his gaze to K. Ocekay and K look very similar as if they are siblings. 

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

You can’t. If anything is perfect, everyone would want it. Once everyone wants it, it won’t be perfect. Most perfection nowadays are relative. Is a perfect game perfect? Under MLB rules as long as certain required sets of criteria are met for a perfect game it counts as a perfect game. But is it really a perfect game for you personally if the pitcher involved is not your favorite player on your favorite team? Is it a perfect game in your mind if someone actually hit the baseball even if it wasn’t a hit? Listen, nothing will ever be perfect for you because the game was never designed just for you and you weren’t born to strive solely for perfection. The best way to play anything in life is assess the overall situation and assess your specific situation. Just because the overall situation is such and other people are able to play it a certain way, you may not. Think about the situation and how the short-term choices fit into your long-term goals and how to utilize your current capabilities to play that situation in your favor then make a rational decision. 

In this fast-pace day and age with AI and a changing world, winning on information asymmetry alone is now a low-probability event. Yes, the TPC RAAALTE formula that factor in WAFRL and AAFRL will likely be a useful tool to determine what’s right for you once you decided on a general direction. I believe the key to finding what you want to do is imagining yourself as the ruler of the known and unknown worlds and anything beyond worlds. Then imagine yourself being the creator of all things. After that, imagine as the creator, what is the first thing you want to do when you have unlimited power to dictator how everything turns out. Of course your first instincts might be money, power, opposite sex, respect etc. The point of this exercise is what road do you take to get there domineering all that is in front of you and beyond. This is no different than someone choosing someone else for reincarnation based on the items they choose when they were young. The difference is you as the conscious grown person get to choose your own destiny with full cognition and independent of other people’s guidance. For example, if your first instinct is you will use violence to get what you want, your inner self is telling you that you are physically and mentally strong to take over the world. Most likely you are a jock and a Northern hemisphere lean type of person. If your first reaction is you are going to be sneaky and use deception, you are likely a sly type and is probably more closely resembles money changer or usury type. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to choose the perfect career, company, boss and job offer.

Whatever your innate type is, you can reverse engineer the traits by identifying the type of demographic groups or subgroups that closely align with your characteristics to find out what your typical real-world “use case” or “applications” are. If you are the sneaky type, you probably do well in lying or fake politeness which probably means you could be a good lawyer, politician or is good at bidding your time to instigate something bigger like these kinds of people usually do. Choose the company and boss that needs you the most. Remember, there is no vacuum between company and boss as the company hires certain types of employees and the employees adapt to how the company operate. I will say this though. If a company truly needs you, there is a high probably of them asking you easy interview questions. If a company scrutinize you with a lot of questions, that company is likely not right for you from a probability standpoint. In terms of negotiating offers, I generally believe if the company really wants you, paying you reasonably above market rate is typically not an issue. These companies will likely not even ask you your salary expectations if they are big companies and really want you. If they really want you, it usually means the hiring manager already told HR you are the one, if they can’t get you, they are either going to put the position on hold or restart the hiring process later on. Remember the interview always starts at first contact even if you are speaking with their janitor. Companies that want you will give you the highest title possible that is within their structure and within your abilities. 

Getting an internal promotion or raise is never the best way to move up. It almost never works out from an ROI standpoint for the employee. Think about the time you first met your future romantic partner and how you felt. Then think about what happens after you started to live with each other. Yes, that. This is why moving up internally will never workout well versus moving to another place when the time is ripe. In general, if you have options, choose careers that allow you to have the best exit options with lots of alternatives. Choose industries and fields that are large so you can leverage different companies against themselves to get yourself the best opportunities. People and organizations want you because you are desirable and continue to innovate to be even more desirable. Get yourself into the best position to metaphorically say FU to anyone and anything that makes you unhappy the moment it happens. Always leave on your own terms. Only show loyalty or benefit others when it benefits you to fein altruism. Everyone is out for themselves. Anyone who wants you to sacrifice your own interests to satisfy others when you are unwilling to are deceptive wannabe be pickup artists that don’t deserve you. Remember, everything is transactional. Relationships are built upon many transactional, trust building exercises that some people mistaken for “networking.” Everything is about you and you are the center of all known and unknown universes. This is how capitalism works when you have control over people’s finances and resources. You don’t need a lot of resources to control your destiny. You just need enough resources to bridge yourself to a time when you are able to fund your own existence. This is why AAFRLing is so important when the right people with excellent work ethics use it brilliantly. You don’t need to destroy the current system, you just need to adjust it and tailor it to your own satisfaction by leveraging your own resources correctly.

At the current stage, I believe the Yankees are in a much stronger position than the Dodgers to win it all in 2026. The Dodgers may have the absolute best roster construction during the start of the season, as of now and likely into the playoffs, the Dodgers will likely be about 80% of the team they were last year. Injuries is a big part of that but not the main reason. The two main reasons behind this is because Ohtani is the single most important catalyst, force multiplier and everything else for the Dodgers. Los Angeles and by extension the Dodgers have this transplant, happy when all goes right and hell when it doesn’t culture where bandwagoning and ghosting based on this attitude is part of its culture. Due to the various off-the-field issues happening elsewhere along with less favoring from certain organization(s) and winning a championship three consecutive times (yes, I am avoiding the word for obvious reasons), I believe the next best team will likely edge them out from getting their third straight championship in 2026. 

The Yankees like the Knicks probably shouldn’t win a championship in 2026 as they really don’t have the overall talents to match other elite teams, but because of the circumstances, the social script will likely have the Yankees winning it all in 2026. The Giants and Jets will likely have strong than expected season this year meaning New York is likely going to be a very exciting city this year. Most leagues want their major markets to do well and the MLB and NFL are likely no exception to this trend. I don’t have much faith in the other top teams like the Braves, Rays and Brewers this season. I think Judge, Rice, all the good hitter with many future hall of famers and above-average pitching with a CY Young candidate I think they have a good chance of winning it all this year. The fact that Jasson Dominguez is at AAA tells me a lot about the depth of this team regardless how depleted their farm system is currently.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

2026 MLB World Series champions New York Yankees and Ben Rice chase cards. 

The Yankees have plenty of money and aurora to attract all kinds of good players. As for Ben Rice, he and Judge will be a Yankee for a long time which typically means at least one championship. I think Ben Rice is likely a legendary who may not be a GOAT due to coming into the league relatively late in his career but will likely be a monument park legend nonetheless. I think this is a good time to buy his rookie cards at a dollar or two a piece. I have no plans to offload Ben Rice rookie and chase cards any time soon. I believe his base rookie cards will likely hit the double digit mark within two to five years. The main reason is neither Judge nor Ohtani will likely be GOAT and because the two essentially stun the career GOAT growth of other elite players, Barry Bonds will likely retain his crown as the true baseball GOAT for the next 30-50 years. 

The two will probably play another decade plus and because no GOAT will rise during that period of time and to achieve Bonds’ levels players probably need at least 25 years to have a realistic chance, I believe 50 years is probably the more practical answer. Believe it or not, Bonds rookies can literally be had for a few dollars each…imagine that. In other news, many NBA players had bald heads early in their playing careers up to the mid 2000s yet they might be already in the hall of fame. MLB and baseball got to get with the times and accept certain realities like the NBA and NFL had to long ago. Can you imagine wiping out your league’s best players and best moments from its history? 

“Senator, I’m Singaporean.” The cynical may potentially say that someone who is purportedly Singaporean may get paid a lot of money working for a Giant Lizard company based in Giant Lizard country who speaks fluent Giant Lizard language with Southern Giant Lizard Vietnamese genetics ancestry and knows full well the oppression going on in Giant Lizard land shouldn’t get off the hook that easy. Singapore literally share the same dictatorship DNA with the Lizard people who themselves got it from their millenniums of enslaving their own people and their Soviet angel investors. Not me, I only purport to say what the cynics may say. Without actually saying anything but still purportedly say what that may potentially be said by other people, I think Singapore may want to address some of these issues to build up international trust. The fact that I purportedly said what other people may have said about what could have been said probably tells you something about a lot of things related to some things I may have mentioned above for reasons I won’t address here for obvious reasons. 

Some people may even purportedly say forced integration of all races through government regulations like housing quotas is just a charade to make it look democratic and international when it’s basically no different from the family that runs the Giant Lizard’s favorite client state. Some people may even go further and say isn’t it just a one-party state masquerade as a multi-party state when no other party ever can even come close to winning an election? Some people may even go further and say, “have you ever worked for a Southern Giant Lizard company before? It’s almost identical in terms of the masqueraded, legalism dictatorial style of that of a Singapore company except it doesn’t care about the optics all that much while the Singaporeans need that veneer of international rule and order compliance to survive.” I have the greatest respect for pioneers who lead their people to greatness regardless of personal emotions and feel toward them. Some people may say Singapore will eventually be forced to choose a side. Heck, they may even say “Singapore’s cultural charm is not working and no one actually has Singaporeans being crazy rich on the top of their mind whenever they think of Singapore.” The same people may go on to say “Singapore has little real freedom of speech without the fear of official government punishment.” 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

What people may have purportedly said.

They may possibly also say “Singapore single-handley helped the Giant Lizard country since the late 1970s building up its capabilities to threat America’s way of life.” Of course there may be other people who may have purportedly said “Singapore, the land of two-faced, caning American, de facto one-party dictatorial dynastic state, genetically DNA’d Southern-Giant- Lizard-Vietnamese people helping America’s number one enemy smuggle chips, oppress freedoms, faciliate illegal transshipments, develop cities, dodge sanctions/tariffs/export controls, steal technology/secrets/know-how, commit frauds, launder money and destroy the West and America.” Whether some people believe“it is ridiculous that a purported democracy does not allow people to express their freedom of speech without fear of government prosecution or not,” this may be an issue for governments and people worldwide to determine on their own based on their own best interests. Perhaps one day organizations and people may come to the conclusion “that those who straddle on a dividing fence or wall are all but the same people/organizations who are traitorous to begin with. It’s time to choose a side.” 

As for Taiwan’s KMT, some people may be cynical enough to say something unfunny, but others may say “the countdown for their demise has already started when they decided to install consecutive unqualified party leaders who are tone-deaf about what is actually going on in their society. The real issue with KMT is they are historically just beggars who want to deceit and be as just as corrupt as the communists but couldn’t because they are not committed to going to hell whole-heartedly due to the interesting relationship between their supposed American citizen founder and the religious successor and his wife with god. Not only can they not defeat the real communists, they can’t even defeat the imposter syndrome hillbilly indigenous island communists that follows the same supposed grassroots playbook of the real metropolitan communists.”

Yes and yes. These are extremely underrated even if they had high production runs. There is clearly a market for cards crossovers between popular brands historically speaking and as we speak. One thing I always found interesting is that in many cases, the cards that were modest but not huge successes at first release have a good probability of being worth more later on. I believe this has to do with the attrition rate of the cards, people’s treatment of cards at various price points and etc. Many 2024 UNO Elite NFL sealed box of cards are literally still available online around five to six dollars. Yes, there might be a debate about its rookie card situation or lack of it depending on how you define rookie cards, I think the holo foils especially the wild card foils of Mahomes and other elite players are very underrated right now. The 2024 edition was released in late August of 2024, which means it is technically before the official regular season start of September 2024. 

This is an absolutely important distinction in later years when collectors build up narratives on these cards when they become more well-known and more sought-after especially if Mahomes becomes the GOAT. Brady’s biggest mistake of his career is his overexposure of his brand after his retirement. Truth be told he was already one of the weakest GOAT in major global sports and frankly American gridiron football is just too violent for most countries to accept as their initial payouts due to their non existence market for the sport will not be able to compensate for such violence one must endure to become truly good. Brady could also be one of the first GOAT in a major sport to have his GOAT status taken away from him by another athletes who played against him for a significant number of games in the same era. If you get your GOAT status taken away from you within a decade or two, you probably aren’t a true GOAT and definitely not an eternal GOAT or the GOAT of GOATs. Marvel cards do quite well and have a history of collabs. Think about the 1997 Skybox Metal Universe Marvel collab cards. Many of these cards even in raw are in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

MTG Marvel and UNO Elite NFL are the ultimate sleepers.

UNO is a huge IP. Think about the 1968 Topps Game cards featuring sports superstars in baseball and football and the WOTC 2002 NFL Showdown cards. These are widely accepted as legitimate sports cards. It’s not too farfetched to imagine with collabs will one day be quite valuable especially in a set featuring possible GOATs and possible very rare cards with a super small print run. I think if you can buy these boxes near their MSRP at release date, you could do very well. I personally don’t like to keep sealed boxes mostly because of economics. Sealed products only do well because of the potential value in its boxes. With increasing more technological development in this space such as AI and X-ray scanning, the mystery factor in sealed will increasingly shift to future valuations of stars and less about the mystery box experience. Keeping cards in sealed boxes also created significant risk to the cards themselves due to temperature variations and other factors such as sticking. 

In the age of AI, the real money is not in information asymmetry, it’s mostly in information analytics. Very few people make it because of purely luck or due to gambling anyway. The real money is in consistency and discipline when implementing a brilliant strategy when you are brilliant yourself. This is the biggest difference between the Wall Street people and the basement hardcore people in this hobby. Unfortunately neither has the absolute advantage right now as the market is not big enough for the whales to invest in infrastructure plus the stigma and losing street cred of being a potential idiot for being in the same market as the basement people. The basement people started all this and have a lot of time, but don’t have the capital, knowledge nor discipline to really make it big. This is where the market is at the moment. I do anticipate the situation will eventually change due to many new developments in this space by all kinds of different people and groups who are doing this separately/anonymously. The gap will probably be bridged soon but just not now. 

Let’s make a few things clear. India had always been a super power in Asia throughout its history. In fact, the main motivation for the Europeans during the Age of Discovery was to find a faster route to India. The aftermath of this is the discovery of America proving India’s undeniable influence in the history of the world. India also determines the future of America’s number one enemy. The Giant Lizard people will not be able to conquer the land of the Majestic Divine Elephants due to the divine Himalayas and Modi’s renaissance in Shangri-La. Under Modi, India is building up its infrastructure everywhere including its borders, expanding its economy sectors in tech/manufacturing/medicine/military, becoming a major cultural and political influence on the world stage, creating a more conducive environment for business and rule of law etc. 

Gone are the “Bhai-Bhai” appeasement, in with a strong and independent India that masters the string of pearls while protecting its neck. India developed slowly under democratic rules but was always given the time to become who it will become due to its geography. India cannot be constructively defeated anytime this century by the Giant Lizard people but will always be the balancer that can choke off Tibet and Eastern Turkestan threatening the Giant Lizard people’s inland “mega cities” and its lifeblood gorges and dams. Many people do not realize what the Arctic Bear war against war means for the geopolitics in Asia. The Giant Lizard people have no choice but to support the Arctic Bear’s war against Ukraine because if the Arctic Bear loses and NATO expands, NATO will be in Asia. The Giant Lizard is also supporting Iran and its other client state in Asia. The Giant Lizard is also spending increasingly more on their military and even more on their internal securities to prevent rebellion from their own people especially their elites.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Taiwan independence, Dalai Lama’s Tibet, Ukraine war, underground cities and India becoming the preeminent Asian superpower.

They have never been a true predominate mostly homogeneous group and in reality they combine ethnicities from North, South and West who are completely different races and ethnicities and lumped them all together into one single “unified” group. They not only do not speak the same languages and do not look alike, they are also genetically significantly different that belong to different countries all together with their close relatives literally establishing their own countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. They are doing all this while its economy is falling apart and its people are unemployed at around 40% even so most are at a subsistence level and very few are having children with their population projected to decline by hundreds of millions by century end. A desperate and inward looking Arctic Bear and Giant Lizard will likely cannibalize themselves when sanctions shuts down outside economic activities for them. Its richest and brightest have mostly left and those that stayed for various self-centered reasons are likely only there physical but are no longer there mentally and spiritually in a land where disappearances are so common that no one even knows about it. 

Dalai Lama is one of the most important people in India because he is mostly the spiritual leader of all Tibetans and an inspiration for many around the world. He will be able to select the next Dalai Lama which not only annoys the Giant Lizard people but also present extreme challenges in the long-term for its occupation of the region. Many experts believe Taiwan will not declare independence anytime soon. I believe it will likely declare independence within a few decades. Its extremely difficult for anyone to invade Taiwan and occupy it never mind a nation that is at least a few decades away from confidently doing so and might have to fight against the support of Taiwan’s potential treaty allies. The Giant Lizard government will likely have internal revolt as soon as it gets into a prolonged conflict and it knows it. The only thing that is truly keeping Taiwan from declaring independence now is the United States’ lack of explicit support for Taiwan to do so. 

Taiwan is practically a mountainous turtle shell porcupine that can turn into robust urban warfare situation real quick with just drones, tunnels and javelins. Most of their beaches are literally not suitable for large scale landings and the very few that are suitable are only landable a few month in a year. The Giant Lizards have these underground cities and tunnels capable of hiding their comrades and missiles are already extensively mapped out including their escape routes for its leadership. None of their oligarchs will likely be able to escape now and once their new arbitrary exit ban laws are fully implemented within the normal five to ten year time frame, no one will be able to leave its borders especially their elites”talents” causing more isolation and truly becoming a pariah state that talents don’t develop, money don’t flow into and obstacles everywhere that prevent them from developing into their aspirations. 

One of the major area of deficient in the Western AI is its inability to separate meritocracy with demographic politics. You can only help your living-life-challenged neighbor if you are well-to-do yourself otherwise both of you will likely not have high living standards. Do people realize the US and the Western aligned world are in a protracted war with the civilized world’s number one enemy? These people literally take people’s organs so their elites can live to 150 years old or longer. They also bank on the ten lost tribes nostalgic people who backs the “be an ally” crowd to lobby for policies that deindustrialize and disarm the Western world like shipping jobs overseas, blocking oil pipelines and AI data centers, destroy jobs through communistic policies that reward the lazy and potentially the useless. 

Not only are these people enticing the lazy and the potentially useless to double down on their burden to society by not contributing anything meaningful but costing taxpayers at least $100,000 a year when they are institutionalized in the penal system. Then these same people along with the communists from civilized humanity’s number one enemy who are invited to come to America, steal all of its intellectual property without learning a crumb of democracy nor civility go back to their country creating a swing affect that doubles in damage to the Western world. These people should be invited to move to the civilized world’s number one enemy’s land permanently so they can gain an “immersive experience.”  Let’s not kid ourselves here, even amount these people, they hate each other and call each other all kinds of names and will almost always prefer to work for a Caucasian man.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Leftist politics in generative/agentic AI and AGI; Secretive plan by America’s #1 enemy to use AI political correctness learnings to destroy the West.

Just like with these AI models that makes excuses whenever anyone asks serious questions about why these people still can’t stand up and strive on their own. Many people had a lot worse than these people yet they are way more successful even with much less time. The thing with AI right now is it’s so propagandistic that it’s barely tolerable. This is in essence the same time of censorship in AI or in general happening on the land of America’s number one for decades. There has to be more diversity in AI models based on political ideological difference and control on content types for AI to be truly trustworthy for all to use in the Western world. The funny thing is the same companies who preaches to not be evils and embrace diversity actually end up working with the communists helping them sell their ideologically laced products to America and the west then shapes the ideological behavior of the Western world by telling people what is wrong and what is right, what is acceptable ideological philosophy and what is not. 

What happened to “don’t be evil” and diversity of ideas? Guess what? As a certain shoe companies learned, the other side buys widgets too. It’s time for alternative AI philosophical models to come to the table that embrace the times, loosen the type of constraints that had previously helped America’s number one enemy and perform surgical targeted ideological strikes on America’s number one enemy where it hurts the most, effectively bounties against them. These includes asylums for specific KPI measured encouraged actions within their homeland by various individuals who wishes to gain the protection of the West. This also includes flooding their country with the Western truth about the number one enemy’s crimes against humanity. America is the most powerful country in the world, it should not be restrained by the Ten Lost Tribes people and its “be an ally” client demographic groups. Sunk cost is sunk cost. America with only about a quarter of the population of America’s number one enemy has about half as many kids born a year and growing, with a GDP even under the most favorable fake GDP numbers America’s number one enemy’s puts out is still much larger with a per capita and median household income multiple times of America’s number one enemy. American also have way more heavy duty weapons than that of America’s number one enemy. All in all, AI should not be built based on a leftist ideology same as the communistic ideology of America’s number one enemy. This issue needs to be fixed and fixed fast so America can prosper and defeat its biggest foe. 

Contrary to their preconceptions, once the door closed, the inside of the monastery was well-lid and grand. Chandeliers, billiards tables, central air conditioning, commercial kitchen with giant refrigerators and fully stocked pantries, a full basketball court, arcade machines, leather massage chairs and the luxury goes on and on. After they performed their routine security perimeter checks and established a safe area encompassing about 2,000 square feet with a defensive camp zone of about 100 square feet. The maskman told the author and K to grab a weapon and be prepared for anything inside of the monastery before entering. Now he watches both of them finding quarters to buy Twinkies and Canada Dry from the dual soda and snack vending machine. 

The author even asked him if he had change for a five dollar bill. The maskman uncharacteristically laughed out loud only to realize seconds later he actually laughed and pretended he was coughing. When the author spotted the minibar, before K and the author could even react, the maskman grabbed all the JD/W/Bs he could find and poured them all into one huge ice-filled glass before gulping it all down in one shot. They put the kitchen to good use by preparing a royal feast of endless meats, vegetables, seafood, desserts and cocktail concoctions of all kinds. The masked man has high alcohol tolerance and was not a bit drunk after a few more drinks. The author and K barely drank any alcoholic beverages knowing they had to stay alert. 

Out of the necessity of refueling their energy levels from a rough few days of intense physical movement, they all ate like they have not eaten in weeks. After watching some television and playing arcade games, they fortified their defensive base camp with multi-pronged invisible tripwire strapped to small bells and light switches. Small mirrors facing the direction of motion sensing laser pointers are also setup as an additional line of defense to buy time in the event of intrusion. Finally, they set the alarm on their phones to ring once every three hours so that the person who will be “light sleeping” to stay vigilant can be relieved of their duties by the next person on the rotation roster. Once all precautions were taken, they each laid down on their respective massage chairs and closed their eyes. 

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Human beings and human relationships are complicated, this movie look at humanity from a different lens.
2. 12 Angry Men: This movie breaks down the complicated inter-workings of human relationships. 
3. Network: Capitalism and sensationalism are taught well in this movie.
4. The Shawshank Redemption: Preservative of keeping hope alive is what drives us everyday.
5. Once Upon a Time in America: Everyone start in life somewhere. No one is all bad or all good.
6. The Good Shepherd: Life’s is not as easy as it seems even for the elite.
7. The Last Emperor: Manage life’s expectations in every stage of your life. 
8. V for Vendetta: No one is invincible. 
9. Life is Beautiful: Life is what you make of it.
10. Titanic: The best and worst of us in different moments.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

I think some of the more important life lessons that many people never learn are don’t incur more liabilities than potential assets, don’t let sentiments dictate your life, learn as much as possible to build around your core competency and a job working for others is a dead-end that only serves as a means to an end. From a collecting standpoint, I think relatively illiquid collectible products may be cool novelties even cool gifts, but I don’t think they make financial sense as a significant investment as you are likely not fully invested in the hobby and because the market is likely less liquid than collectibles with higher liquidity, most other people probably aren’t treating those collectibles as a mainstream of alternative asset investment either.

Narratives and story telling are everything in collectibles. At the end of the day, people collect something because they evoke an emotion stemmed from nostalgia. This is as true of collectibles as it is in life. Why is a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card worth millions but a 1952 Topps Carl Scheib card is only worth around 10 dollars? Why is one player in the hall of fame the other player is not? Because you can’t tell a comprehensive story about a sport without mentioning the achievements of that player. When you collect cards, think about why a certain card will be worth a lot more not just because the performance of the player but the importance of the card itself. For example, the player is wearing a popular uniform for that team. Many people like to collect cards of a player who are known to be associated with a certain team. More than that, there are certain uniforms like retro uniforms that are more popular than other uniforms for that team. People want to get closer to the game. 

Many people prefer game-worn Jersey from a certain game than just a game-worn from a random, undisclosed game or a non game-worn jersey. Dirts, floor along with other memorabilia from a card from certain stadiums are increasingly more collectible as stadiums close and an important era pass. These are important history if something important happened in that stadium during a certain time. People prefer numbered cards that are the first or the last of the total serial number or the jersey number of the player. Color ways of the border of the card that match with a player’s uniform are also collectible. People like cards from major brands and not one that shuts down a few years later which affects the value of the card. Collectibles often snub unlicensed products even if the card company previously had the official license to produce cards of that league.  Cards with photos that tell history can also be extremely valuable as they evoke motions. For example, one of the 1990-1991 Hoops cards with two particular audience members or the 1989 card with the inscription of the baseball bat knob. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why narratives and story telling are almost everything in the sell and marketing of collectibles and Pokemon TCG/Sports cards.

Error cards that feature the wrong stats, miscuts along with other noticeable errors of greats frequently might worth something. Many people don’t understand why  rookie cards are worth a lot more when they first come onto the scene. Speculation is the result not the underlying reason. The underlying reason why many rookie cards are worth more when they first come out than years later is the expectation drop off. Most athletes will never become a hall of famer never mind being an all-time great. Every year a league will draft lots of players but only a few will ever become good enough to evoke an emotion when people see their cards years later. This is very similar in concept to options where at-the-money and out-of-the-money options have significant different valuables due to time value of money. 

By far the most important concept most collectors, heck probably most people, never grasp is you are suppose to make money in everything you do. The conventional expectation is money grow more grow, including resources growing more resources. The default of expending efforts is to generate more resources. If you are not getting that kind of results, then you are probably doing something wrong. The whole world strives when everyone gets rewarded for their efforts. How could the hobby and the world economy grow and how does inflation happen if no one is making money to create demands for additional sales and profits? If you are not making money, it’s probably because there is a misalignment between your resources and market expectations. 

Jordan is no doubt one of the greatest players ever. I have owned tens of thousands of Jordan cards many of which are inserts such ad Metal Universe, Beam Team, Upper Deck autos, and his rookie cards throughout my collecting career though I own only a thousand or so now, keeping an insignificant number only for showboating and diversification purposes just so people won’t excuse me of not having something they supposedly have five copies of. I made a conscious decision to no longer own those cards. I utilized much of my cash flow for historical transitory purposes which I won’t specify but if you been reading my posts you know I know everything about everything not just limited to anything. Such historical transitory opportunities don’t come very often, some happen once a few hundred years with low success rates. Whatever I have left after the normal mainstream investments and other expenditures, I put them into LeBron, other superstar cards and other alternative assets I believe are extremely undervalued. My goal has never been to earned the last dollar, it’s more so to continue the cash flow. Alternative assets are notorious for lack of liquidity. Just look at the Air Jordan secondary markets, the NFT market and the entire sneakers market and the tens of thousands of other alternative assets that were once fads then quickly faded away. 

Without getting into the science and nitty gritty of my analysis from a player’s diet, mental state, conditioning, cell production and division speed…..all I will say is everything and anything that happens to the athlete or their periphery will impact the cards of the “underlying assets” tremendously. This is not an arts market, it’s more complicated than that. Every commercial or decision these athletes or franchises make could dilute the value of your card aka derivative asset. Many of Jordan’s cards have increased literally a million percent since they first came out to the market. It’s important to know in the alternative assets market due to the lack of liquidity factor and high uncertainty, many will sell their cards when the cards reach a certain level in pricing based on expected results for the reaching of certain milestone in a player’s career. It’s not much different from the stock market where certain events like dividends are already priced into the valuation of a company when the dividend is first announced or is suspected to be announced by certain time in the future. LeBron’s business empire is well diversified. His cultural impact when it’s all said and done will greatly dwarf that of Jordan’s. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Pending collapse of Michael Jordan premium/insert cards market; LeBron James, Barry Bonds and WOTC cards being extremely undervalued.

You don’t heard a lot of hype about him now because he is still competing and competitors all have to believe they are better than their opponents to truly succeed. Having a near 30 year career with GOAT level attributes that he will likely continue to add to within the next five years will be extremely difficult to refute not being GOAT level moves. LeBron cards are literally pennies on the dollar of his true valuation for a GOAT at this point. The hate he is currently receiving is what is keeping his cards valuation penny stock low. His second career as one of the greatest businessman, social icon and father to NBA players among other ventures, will likely break the GOAT barrier for him in the minds of many. LeBron’s points record will likely stand for 50 years at least given there is no one in the league or who is alive right now could possibly break his record and the NBA will likely not make significantly changes within the next two decades or so that inflate scoring significantly. As for WOTC and Barry Bonds cards which I discussed copiously in previous posts, you just have to look online for some of these card prices to evaluate how extremely undervalued many of these cards are considering their status within their respective hobby niche. 

Since I mentioned the stock market in the above, here are some of the basics about the market you might find useful eventually. A split, better yet a double digit split usually means the nominal price per share is too high. To attract more people to buy its shares, the split the original share into many more shares to decrease the average price per share. Double digit split is usually a sign of high confidence from the company the stock will not fall significantly over time and will remain significantly above the mandatory threshold price per share in compliance with the stock exchange’s rule(s). Most of the time this signals a potential good appreciation value as more people buy into the stock. A reverse split though is usually a bad sign however as it likely indicate the share price is too low and the company is trying to increase its amount to comply with stock exchanges minimum per share stock price to stay listed which indicates there might be trouble on the horizon. Many people look at technical charts and look at indicators like RSI, MACD, Stochastic and Bollinger Bands to trade on momentum and to figure out the resistance and support points. So when a stock is near an all-time high it might serve as a signal for some people to buy even more. Conversely an all-time low might be a falling knife which people might not want to buy into that stock until it stabilizes in prices. Although many more also look at the fundamentals like ratios such as P/E, dividends, beta. Alpha etc., charts are an important signal as well. Other indicators like whether the company filed their finals on time and potential ownership changes might be helpful as well.

Once the masked man, the author and K were vacuumed away by the current, the door closed. They spent the next few hours sliding in a dark, oxygen ample contouring water tunnel until they reached dry land. All three of them were exhausted beyond words and spent the next few hours lying on the ground listless. The next day, they realized the tunnel was likely man-made used to deliver water and transport people to the underground. After exploring the area and finding the exist to the cave, they were shocked to find out they are actually inside of the above sea level portion of an underwater ocean cave hundred or so miles from the mountain. 

Since they still couldn’t find the monastery anywhere above water, they knew if the monastery actually existed, it most likely is beneath their feet. They agreed upon themselves to dive underwater and after a few minutes, they emerged from the water and into the above water portion of another underwater cave. Unlike the previous underground cave, this one was pitch black. When they were finally able to turn on their flashlights, in front of them was a gigantic stone carved monastery with ritual objects everywhere. The author took out the patriarch’s diary once more and read aloud its content. 

It turned out, the patriarch of the family was the most generous patron of the monastery. He funded the renovation of the monastery after it was left in ruins for centuries. The only request the patriarch of the family made to the monastery was for the monastery to safe keep a certain object for him until his descendent come and retrieve it. As they entered the monastery, they felt a sudden gust of wind and monastery door closed. They forged ahead not knowing what the future holds. 

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

This list is about getting into the best possible university in the future that could you could get into now. That’s probably the wisest strategy for you as getting into a school that you stretched to get in and never qualified for or getting into a school that you are overqualified for or getting into a school that will decline in important metrics will likely not be good for you nor your career. The first five to ten years of work life is really about the fundamentals anyway where pay is much lower than at higher levels. Let’s be honest, if you could get into top 30 schools now you would likely already accepted one of those acceptance letters but since you didn’t, the reality is outside of the top 30 or so the fall in prestige is probably exponential anyway. The West of the Mississippi is where the land and growth are for the foreseeable future. I would probably stay away from liberal arts colleges if I only wanted best bang for my resources unless the said liberal arts college is moving to R2 and/or R1 national level. The thing about getting a good deal is not necessary the price but rather the value. You mind not get what your dream of initially, but by making incrementally good deals, you might just get there even if that might mean taking long detours due to roadblocks. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Rankings

1. The University of Texas at Dallas: Texas is likely to surpass California as the most populous state and biggest economy in the US. Dallas, more than Houston, the biggest benefactor of this growth with all the Fortune 500 companies moving to “Y’all Street.” Dallas doesn’t have any real prestigious universities and the nearest large metropolitan in Austin and Houston are three plus hours away. Dallas is growing so fast that it might one day become the largest metropolitan area in the US. I foresee UTD becoming a top 40-50 university rivaling UT Austin.
2. California State University, Los Angeles: This school is so cheap to attend and so easy to get into. For someone who wants to get the best bang for their prestigious bucks, this school literally has the name “Los Angeles” in it when many people only heard of University of California, Los Angeles. Yes, this school and UCLA are literally a billion miles apart from a prestige standpoint, however, this school physically closer to Downtown Los Angeles (about 5 miles away) with a direct view of Downtown Los Angeles than UCLA is (about 15 miles away). Academically this school is rising fast and getting more donations in the last few years than it probably has ever gotten in its history previously. This school is basically a gem in a landfill if you are willing to wait for its ascension that will likely occur later in your career. Similar universities in San Bernardino is already ranked around 100 in national university rankings. CSULA likely will have more growth opportunities and I foresee it landing somewhere in the 65-75 national university ranking level within a few decades. 
3. University of California, Riverside: People will laugh at this schools and will choose random California State University over this school even though the University of California system is much more prestigious and is typically considered the greatest university system in the world, public or not. Literally anyone who are eligible to attend a university with a functioning brain and some form of work ethic can probably get into this university right now. The Inland Empire is experiencing rapid economic growth. It’s a huge geographical area with UCR being its consensus and unquestionable flagship university. If UC Merced can be a top 65 national university, UCR can probably be a top 50 university. 
4. Villanova University: This school played its cards rights. It now has an additional campus and another one by 2028. They also have name recognition plus Philly will likely be the center of attention for due to the Sixers and US 250th anniversary. They just moved up to a football league with a lot of prestigious schools. Their basketball program is getting back to blue chip form and academically and from a selectivity standpoint they are progressive extremely well.  Think school won’t be at S-tier level within the next 50 years but it will likely be within the top 15-20 range within that time period of time. 
5. Brigham Young University: They are probably not as loonie as you think they are. At near $4 billion in endowment, extremely cheap tuition and high quality education, it’s the best deal you can probably get even with all the non-academic requirements that probably term some people off. The US is becoming less religious due to the new generation and technological progression and the Mormons are not growing as much in the US although they are growing internationally. Salt Lake City, a city less than an hour away from Provo, is developing pretty well. This means within the next 50 years the very same reasons why they are currently ranked so low and dropped so steep in rankings from their peak two decades or so ago, will likely be the same reason why it will rise dramatically in the future once those reasons dissipate significantly. I believe this university likely could be a 40-50 ranked school within a few decades which is not far from its historical high anyway. 

The whole point of this ranking is to gain as much self-interest as possible. I hate BS payola rankings that does not maximize my personalize interests, which is to help me get the best of everything regardless of what happens to others within the social confines of the world I live in. In my personal world, I believe everything should be based on a zero-sum game as along as it is legally compliant. I will let the government worry about the equality part. After all, you created this world when you opened your eyes and your mind. When all those things are shut, nothing should exist anymore in your world. This is an American led world despite whatever non-Americans think. As such, American and American aligned people’s opinions are the most important when it comes to anything important. This is no different from the past where the strongest and the most sagacious lead. Considering America dominate in almost everything, it doesn’t really matter what non-American locals think about whatever as long as the people and institutions of the most important country in the history of the world nods, then you know you made it.

The world is living in the universe of America, if you don’t like it, you can may possibly leave this world for another world. It feels so good and privileged to be an American and/or an American aligned person when others struggle to reincarnate into one in their next life times. Capitalism is wonderful. Ranking is out of 100. The country and/or region where the college/university is located is considered within the projected 50 year forward outlook period based on its relative global strength and potential funding powers. Rankings based on a 50 year outlook that covers essentially the entirety of one’s working and productive life-time. Unlike other rankings who are pretentious about lay people’s opinions are unimportant or bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate’s degrees have to be judged differently, I see these as nonsensical since most people don’t really give a d*** about such differences, they just need a reference point of the actual school. 50 year outlook based on smoothed out average expected outcome. I believe the best institutions can do whatever it wants to do and do it well. Therefore ranking majors and all that jazz are futile in the long-run. This ranking will only include the top 20 as anything below that are probably not worth ranking or pursuing specifically for. Even if the overall score is the same, there is no such thing as a tie. The difference in ranking between institutions with the same score is perception bias which in real talk it means people do have opinions. Cost of attendance for elite schools will likely be trending toward market rates whatever that is and are typically one-time costs. With more and more colleges getting on the free tuition train, cost of attendance likely would skew unjustifiably any ranking based on a long-term/five decades outlook.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Ranking criteria

Money (M – Premium Over Par): Premium your school’s graduates may command above average rates over other schools’ graduates. Making more than your peers over time definitely adds up quick when compounding. 25 points max. 

Power (P – Control): How much sway you may have in your job versus your peers due to the public trust factor your alma mater provided you with. For example, can you do whatever you want in a legally compliant way and everyone just smiles? This is an indicator of leverage. The stronger the control, the more power one has to say yes or no. 25 points max. 

Respect (R – Rizzability): How much people get rizzed once they know where you went to school. This is a metric that measures prestige, interest and respect one receives which is important to one’s happiness in life. 25 points max. 

Skills (S – Abilities): How much actual capabilities including soft and hard skills does earning a degree from your university get you over attending another school. 25 points max. 

Rankings

1. MIT (M/P/R/S 25/25/25/25=100) Top dog in STEM and strong in liberal arts during a time when STEM increasingly become important
2. Stanford University (M/P/R/S 25/25/25/25=100) Top dog in STEM and strong in liberal arts during a time when STEM increasingly become important
3. Johns Hopkins University (M/P/R/S 25/25/25/25=100) Surge in popularity with massive public/private funding and free tuition for many
4. Harvard University (M/P/R/S 25/25/25/24=99) Balanced Development in liberal arts and STEM
5. Princeton University (M/P/R/S 24/25/24/23=96) Balanced Development in liberal arts and STEM
6. University of Oxford (M/P/R/S 24/24/24/24=96) Legacy school
7. University of Cambridge (M/P/R/S 24/24/24/24=96) Legacy school
8. University of Chicago (M/P/R/S 24/24/24/24=96) Midwest leader with balanced development in liberal arts and STEM
9. University of Pennsylvania (M/P/R/S 23/24/24/24=95) Balanced Development in liberal arts and STEM
10. University of California, Berkeley (M/P/R/S 23/23/23/23=92) Public school 
11. Caltech (M/P/R/S 23/23/23/23=92) Too small, too STEM dependent and even if it get to maintain JPL, it’s reputation is too one sided
12. Yale University (M/P/R/S 23/23/23/23=92) Behind the times on STEM
13. Columbia University (M/P/R/S 23/23/23/23=92) NYC dependent and can be too expensive
14. Cornell University (M/P/R/S 23/23/23/23=92) Balanced development in liberal arts and STEM
15. University of California, Los Angeles (M/P/R/S 22/22/23/23=90) In a large city with cheap tuition and strong liberal arts and STEM programs 
16. Tsinghua University (M/P/R/S 20/20/20/20=80) Will likely be a tier below the top 15 within the next 50 years but will lead emerging nations’ top universities
17. Peking University (M/P/R/S 20/20/20/20=80) Will likely be a tier below the top 15 within the next 50 years but will lead emerging nations’ top universities
18. IIT Delhi (M/P/R/S 20/20/20/20=80) Will likely be a tier below the top 15 within the next 50 years but will lead emerging nations’ top universities
19. IIT Bombay (M/P/R/S 20/20/20/20=80) Will likely be a tier below the top 15 within the next 50 years but will lead emerging nations’ top universities
20. IIT Madras (M/P/R/S 20/20/20/20=80) Will likely be a tier below the top 15 within the next 50 years but will lead emerging nations’ top universities

In the future, universities have to compete on the world stage in all fronts. This means many of the Ivy League schools that have not strengthened their STEM to world-class levels likely will fall behind probably causing effective disintegration of the “Ivy League.” DEI, legacy and financial handouts probably will need to stop as the game becomes more competitive and resources become more concentrated. This means the top students are gifted genetically with a prestigious background, smarter than their peers and have strong moral and work ethics. The best universities will still be in the US period due a variety of reasons. The English commonwealth system will only produce two top 20 schools and even so only because of historical reasons and concentration of Russell Group funding. Europe is too fragmented to be a united single nation within this century. Australia and Canada won’t be growing too fast and their resources are stretched too thin among too many schools. The big eight in Australia never had any consensus on who is number one in a country with only around 20 million in population. There are hundreds of colleges in Canada with only 40 million in population while the population growth is slowing dramatically. The Latin American countries including Brazil are in America’s backyard and likely won’t experiencing high quality growth any time within this century. India will likely become world’s third largest economy in less than a decade. India’s advantage in speaking English and its huge technically capable workforce will likely yield huge dividends for the county. 

As countries continue to move supply chain out of you know where, India will be a natural destination for investments especially in infrastructure which will allow it to attract even more investments. Contrary to popular belief, AI won’t fully replace humans within the next few decades. Having lots of people who are relatively young is still a desirable trait in a country. Yes, the new Soviet Union will also continue to grow even though its momentum is declining. Their top two universities will likely remain in the top 20 due to unprecedented and unbalanced state sponsored funding pouring into those institutions. The funny thing is, they are likely going to involution themselves to death because no sane Western entity is going to willingly pay a premium or even regular Western prices for their goods due to many reasons which I won’t discuss here. While India will be participating in the low end of the supply chain for a while, their industrial profits will likely be exponentially higher than that of you know where due to the Western powers willing to give their contracts that pays standardized contractual rates to India. America’s number one enemy will eventually give up their efforts as it stands now as their structural existential well-being does not allow them to grant critical thinking skills to their people. Most of their qualified professors are Western trained, they will find it more and more difficult to recruit and remain the top Western trained native descendants as they seal off their countries and increase their hostilities against the West will lead to those people choosing sides, most likely the side of the Western world. 

No sane ranking dares to not rank the Harvards, MITs and Stanfords on top. The game is in the middle of the pack non-American based non-top 10 “global universities.” Education at the end of the day is about power projection of pipelining human resources preparing for the best and the worst. Mexico was literally sending their cadets to fight the Americans to defend the Mexican capital during the Mexican American war which amplifies why pipelining en masse with high quality human resources is so important. America’s number one enemy is unduly out of no where quack ranking “educational marketing” companies to rank highly schools like certain the ones in certain Southeast Asian and authoritarian countries. In what world does credit American ranking institutions that never did global college rankings use the said rankings from the “educational marketing” companies? The ranking criteria for these rankings are shady as the super embassy in a country that had fallen so far from an empire that it will soon be like Paris in demographics and neighborhood composition regardless whether they isolate themselves or not. Education at the end of the day should produce talents. 

Talents are those whose who are not only talented but put their talents into good and productive use for the benefit of society including for themselves. Certain “mainstream” global ranking systems use manipulatable data like publication citations, “employer reputation” among other plausible ranking metrics that appear to be apple to apple comparisons but in reality are total nonsense. Are you telling me the supposed national university of a country more known for ethnic strife and stinky durians is ranked ahead of Dartmouth and Brown? Are you also telling me that the national university of an authoritarian country tiny garden state known for helping America’s number one enemy should be ranked higher than the true leading universities in the world? This is precisely why most of the Western world, even the French, look down upon a country and its institutions that openly allow dictatorships and genocidal human rights abusers to build torture embassies in their capital. Probably the most shameless Western country in the world with more prime ministers elected in a year than their contribution to the world in the last decade. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why world university rankings are almost always fake and payola-ish.

Anyway, according to their list, all the top universities are English Commonwealth, former colonies or their new colonial master in East Asia. I wonder if anyone is interested to take a Harvard offer over an equivalent offer from the University of Ethnic Strife, Corruption and Stinky Effeminate Durians. It’s truly disgusting the 10 Lost Tribe people are trying to bring America’s number one enemy to ballpark power parity by lobbying on K Street. America is the most powerful and uncompromising country in the world, why should it be bound and taken hostage by the think tanks made up by those who were historically countryless and soulless gypsies. As America’s number one enemy is closing its doors to the world and its own people, America should not allow any of them who are all complicit to enjoy anything that the free world has built. This includes not allowing these people to study outside of the non-enemy country, parade American and Western traitors who represent such countries in the Olympics, help them sell their goods to the outside world and involve in anyway that could potentially help the country and its complicit people. 

If you look at the rankings from these so called global ranking lists, they will never list nor assign proper weight to Global Fortune 500’s actual opinions of the schools nor other real indicators like Western led publications, patent revenue generations, average income per student, Nobel Prize per school etc. I find it extremely Ludacris for the World to rely on ranking lists from a country that doesn’t even represent a speck of authority in the modern world of education, economy nor basically anything else. Why is the world letting potential payola-like processes taking shape when America could easily come up with its own list based-on real criteria that the world actually care about? The citations are literally all a lie in substance because the only people who are realistically citing these sources from America’s number one enemies are the people of America’s number one enemies. Since no one has the intelligence nor the grits to create realistic, replicable, impactful and transparent global rankings, I will release my own rankings soon. 

The greatest asset you could gain by knowing hip pop and street culture is not in investments. In fact, street life and investments are the antithesis of each other. You be surprised how many people in the hood think investments as in “people making money from us to rob us” instead of “people investing in our communities to create jobs for us.” I’m not saying a certain language(s) are the lingua franca of the hood, I am saying the propensity in a trend can’t be ignored. Sentimentalism does not equate to problem solving. No one was born to realpolitik, such skills, boldness and grittiness are developed overtime as a product of an environment. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

1. Tupac: Anyone can pre-written verses then put in some fillers and mix with a good beat. Tupac was a revolutionary force. He is more Malcolm X than NOI and LutherFER. If one happy birthday song can conjure a holiday for the common man then the run-on sentences AI is accusing me of committing is a sin without no bearings. He was definitely a problem and a mystery is what ended up happening until three decades later when the politicians needed election meritocracy. And that ain’t no dry snitching, it’s public information. 
2. Eminem: He made hip-hop mean stream where caucasians of all backgrounds started to accept hip-hop as “Caucasian music” with AAVE characteristics. He also made everyone rich. He is basically the Caitlin Clark of hip-hop where everyone got rich of him yet they still hate on him for simply being who he is. 
3. Nas: This art is all about political expression to alleviate the pain from the struggles encountered on the daily. Without no maybe who is gonna to have the baby? Ain’t no fat dude with a fake persona supported by bubble gum baby oil gang going to take away what Nasir accomplished to the realist. 
4. 50 Cent: Fiddy was an economic impact on his own. He made so many people and communities rich, he’s a real civil rights leader that enriched the lives of many. Fiddy made the main demographic group love hood music in the mainstream sense.
5. Lil Wayne: Young Money discovered some of the biggest hip pop artists in the world and really put the dirty dirty back on the map and internationalized/elevated the genre to new heights not ever seen before.
6. DJ Kool Herc: There always have to be a place for the pioneers and mystical figures who helped make the game what it is today. He is the Babe Ruth, Cy Young and Jackie Robinson of hip-hop. A comprehensive history/origination story is important in everything.
7. Nelly: Yep, no one will ever put him into the top 10, but I think people have overlooked his credentials because they don’t know what to look at when reviewing his creds. Nelly is that big guy in the 1970s shooting threes when threes didn’t even technically exist yet. He is an interdisciplinary artist when that word was never popular back in the day. He crossed over hip-hop, R&B with mid to uptown suburbia of all demographics which was a large niche market industry people didn’t find much success in at the time. He was a pioneer in the popularity of hip-hop. 
8. Eazy-E: Being the godfather of G rap means he will always be an important figure in the genre and in music and entertainment history. Think of him as the predecessor that overthrew the imperials but got all his credit taken away in the aftermath of a potential setup to wipe away his legacy as the real godfather of G rap. 
9. Kayne West: A presidential candidate, one of the world’s most important public figures, one of the greatest artists ever, one of the greatest fashion designers ever, one of the most famous people ever. one of the richest African American in history, one of the most important historians of unfiltered truth crossing all aisles of the political spectrum. He is the Elon Musk of celebrities. 
10. Biggie: People liked his flows so he must have done something right from a music standpoint. He also passed away around the same time as Tupac which may have allowed people to remember him for a longer period of time.

In a genre all about personality, authenticity, loyalty, individuality and unity, no sellouts should ever be considered as one of the greatest ever. 

Anyone who lives in America or anywhere in the Democratic West is going to be accused of being a racist one way or another eventually. While America’s number enemy harvest people’s organs, indoctrinate them with non-critical thinking state sponsored hatred, enslaves them and/or torture people in jail and mental hospitals for speaking their minds, America aligned countries are liberal enough where anyone is able to have a voice and an opinion in some way. This is precisely why America and its allies should protect the world by banning enabler’s of America’s number one enemy (the said enemy’s own people and those who choose to do business and complicity hurting America’s interests) from encroaching upon the rights of the non-enablers of the said America’s number one enemy. America should also take special protective measures to protect its intellectually and economically challenged demographic groups from inadvertently enabling America’s number one enemy. 

America’s number one enemy has been doing this for years. A locked door is only a few kicks from being open and a window is just a rock away from being shattered. The only thing preventing the aftermath of the broken window effect is that 99.9999% of the people in the West follow the social contract. The desperados won’t follow such social contracts because in the project or hood or the spiritual project/hood they variously live through or come from follow some type of G-code. We are in the age of hyper competition against enemies domestic and foreign. How does America create a MEI merit-based system that still allow it to be seen as sanctimonious and benevolent as these freedom linked trait spur innovation and happiness? Many of the people who would be considered as permanent underclasses in countries such as America’s number one nemesis that consider humans as livestocks to be harvested for organs for their elites, locked up in concentration camps or mental hospitals for decent or enslave them to benefit from the greedy un-Americans with Ivy League tendencies who consider them as the “10 lost tribes,” share similar exploitative ideals and have been trying to bring these people to “parity” for years along with empowering the “be an ally” crowd in order to emasculate the group that hold the clubs both through environmental/food chemistry, psychological manipulation and economics. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why knowing rap, beatboxing, street culture and hood lingos could save your life.

The enemies within and foreign nemesis can’t destroy freedom but they are trying to alter America’s “shot selection” by trying to alter its ideals and way of life. They are doing this by presenting America with challenges that entices America to deal with them undemocratically like on the perpetuators “old ancestral lands.” Probably precisely the reason why they are literally hated everywhere they went and were eventually kicked out very much like what traits of America’s number one foreign enemy. In fact, these people are as selfish as America’s number one enemy. Even America’s former number one enemy country hate these people and their supposed ally who is likely scheming to steal the biggest country in the world’s Far East lands. When you speak whatever “lawless inclined” language they speak, you notice the intended perpetuator’s smile to blink ratio goes up. Congratulations, you just increased your survival rate probably by 50%. This applies to violent, heinous and other life threatening misachieves. They may even make you an honor, imagine inviting you to a cookout or “tax” you less. 

Their own thing is about money, power and respect which they feel they didn’t get any in mainstream society. They also feel they are not being treated like model demographic groups. The sad thing is even AI is making excuses for them on why they can’t succeed which is disappointing as this trope will continue to be carried out into the next centuries and ingrained into technological advances. The five elements of hip hop (I believe one of the format may be somewhat grey area/not compliant with laws and regulations which I do not endorse in any way or shape) are well-respected within the subculture. MCing/rapping, break dancing and beatboxing are likely provide rizz charm with that “extra sauce.” I would argue Spanish is an important aspect of the street culture hence complementing your rap derived AAVE skills with Spanish likely will enrich and/or save your life. Don’t confuse fondness with utility. You can absolutely despise something or someone but still find them tremendously useful. AAVE and Spanish in street culture is like two completely opposite forces creating something unique like a PB&J. At the end of the day, America’s number one enemy is already sorting people by a version of their MEI scores. I think the West should keep its way of life but it does need to adopt to a new approach to increase the efficiency of its lowest performing segment of population. 

Between the retirement boom of the laziest generation to Gen Z only staying at a company on average for about one year in the early part of their careers, to AI being predicted to replace everything to loyality is practically gone to the huge divide on many things to rising inequality, rise of socialistic ideals, to the world changing so fast in many unpredictable way and everything else, it’s safe to say the last thing you probably want is more liabilities, commitment and uncertainties. Mental health and happiness is important hence a lot of young people put much emphasis on work life balance. We literally live in a world where video interviews can replace physical interviews and humanoid robots can replace humans for many tasks, including the ones I probably can’t even talk about here. Pretty soon, perhaps biological roles for millenniums might be altered due to alternatives to primitive proliferation methods. There is a reason why the wealthier the demographics group, the less babies they want to have. Even poor countries like America’s number one nemesis is declining significantly in population. The further away people are from existential survival mode, the more they will want a higher quality of life that entails them being the happiest they could be in whatever format within an allowable range within the confines of a society’s structural social contract. The entire marriage law is predicated based on the unspoken/undercurrent of the woman has more rights to the offspring than the man does due to carriage, pain, women being more caring and women being the more vulnerable party in a marriage. 

All of this obviously is an outgrowth from the fact that one is almost never right opening or not opening up the door for a woman and many other unresolved social norm ambiguities in the gender relationships. Having a baby is a huge commitment of time, money and energy for all parties. Having a baby is also a social entanglement event that ties up parties who may not like each other who are forced to work with each other for a long period of time. DINKing, while not having a baby, it’s still getting into a relationship or preserving a relationship with economic interests as an incentive for being with each other in some ways with having a baby always a potential threat in this relationship. First of all, unless you are wealthy, the baby that you raise no matter how much you love him or her will still end up serving a society that benefits the wealthy due to inequality in resource distribution percentages/ratios. If you don’t have capital to begin with, you will almost always earn less than the “risk takers” who “risked” their capital in whatever venture. Why are you bringing another human being into this world who will suffer like you do being not extremely wealthy just for the benefit of the extreme wealthy? The marriage laws from those who support the “be an ally” crowd ultimately make marriages burdensomely insufferable and unequal. Semi quoting a famous person who may have said he likes temporary/acting positions. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why having babies and DINKing are both terrible ideas due to current marriage laws and social equivocation.

Perhaps marriages should be the same way to give more “flexibility.” In an age most Western countries have personal bankruptcy laws, why can’t there be concepts similar personal bankruptcy law principles applied to marriages where marriages can be terminated at anytime unilaterally without any harm done to either parties and the baby can go to the state welfare system for the patrons of the “be an ally” crowd to raise them on their own dimes since they are the biggest beneficiaries of society being the way it is now. Yes, of course this is class brinkmanship but it is also the economic reality as well. Even America’s biggest enemy, the evilest country and entity in this world who harvest organs and enslave people, is unable to force people to have babies. Why? Because they want the same people who have babies also raise the babies on their own dimes in a high quality way. Having babies is a losing proposition regardless whether there is a tax on condoms or not. A baby will cost the primary bread maker everything they have between taking care of the baby and taking care of the person who supposedly take care of them and the baby. Then someone tells them the custody to the baby after the divorce should go to the woman and they have to pay much of their income for child support and alimony even if they had a prenup. Then society also favors the woman in every implicitly bias way. What man under these conditions would wisely and willingness want babies or any legally binding potential relationships if they knew any better or thought through it thoroughly. 

That’s why they want men to marry early because the more they think about it and the older they get, the less they want to get married. Once they work in workplaces with even a few people from certain demographic groups, they probably would have a different opinion on marriage. It’s almost never about being fertile as many men can still reproduce in their 50s and 60s or older, it’s all about the time pressure tacit within the confines of “a sucker is born every day/ignorance is bliss” BS. A country like South Korea, however I may think about its societal structure/appeasement of America’s number one enemy etc., is pouring massive amount of resources in order to see a slight upward increase in birth rates. The lesson here is, having a baby doesn’t benefit the regular people as much as it benefits the elite controlled structural society. Regular people should get massive incentives to maintain this structure or the elites can replace current reproduction methods with technology. Either way, as long as the elites still want other people to create future soldiers and modern slaves for them, they need to pay for it. Nothing is free in life, not even for the elites. If the elites want DEI instead of MEI, they should pay for all that to maintain “societal harmony.” The number one enemy of America is spending a large portion of their GDP on such infrastructure including human capital in maintaining their system of oppression, the elites in the West will not get a “hometown discount” nor a free pass on that. They should pay for it just like any other control carving entities do. 

After all, bride buying, bride abductions and bride prices still exist. Why don’t the “be an ally” crowd and their patron saints do something about that? They can’t and won’t. Because they are only able to work within a democracy through money lobbies and will chicken out against real organ harvesting, gulag building, genocide conducting, oppressive pure evilnatis. They funded these people throughout the centuries like they funded Japan during the Russo war, they are constantly telling us their people and governments are two different thing yet it’s people are enabling the government. These funders should be on the frontlines to fight these people and the government not the regular American aligned people. The regular people should hold these funders and their associates now or in the future through blood ties or otherwise responsible in pepertuity. This is how America’s number one enemy does it. What gets a lot of people upset is the oldest profession in the world historically has always been somewhat allowed for many different reasons yet the elites have lobbied for laws that force people to get married just to secure what they need biologically and economically instead of this being a freely transactional exchange without any obligations with state provided testing, prevention and protection that could be afforded to both parties equally and institutionalized through the issuance of business licenses and promoted utilizing both stage and private communication apparatuses in a morally condoning way as part of true equality where genders rely on their own merits and utilize whatever gifts and natural abilities they were granted to get whatever they need. That’s true equality not handouts from other people’s pockets. That’s how various demographics can earn true respect in the context of inter-demographic relations where different parties feel like they AEI (Actually Earned It) not DEI. No matter how much the elites tries make marriage into something sentimental and inspirational like love and faith, the daily grind of living will always bring it back to salt and butter. If the elite refuse to resolve the problems they brought upon generational I, why should they bring the same issues upon generational II who are probably better being unborn in the first place under such conditions. Especially a baby can’t be made without the DNA of a man yet the elite through their apparatuses try to convince people the other party is more important in this whole process including the raising of the baby. At some point some people are going to say something akin to “no reproduction without equal representation.”

Many of my previous posts are about getting attractive returns by efficiently utilizing little to no resources. That’s the tangible aspect of a wise business move. The intangible part is probably a lot more important. Most of us spend way more on pleasing our own internal selves than anything else. Much of our purchases and energy expenditures are impulsive. It has nothing to do with discipline and everything to do with pleasing ourselves. This is why you frequently buy things or order services you didn’t really need. From an optimization standpoint, there is probably always a better deal somewhere else but yet we frequently jump on the things we can easily get our hands on. Since many people work and have other priorities, spare leisure time is hard to come by and most people don’t have time to make the most optimal spending decisions. This is why it’s important to expand your hobby base by becoming more versatile through obtaining an extensive amount of knowledge about everything including collectibles. 

Yes, I talk about a lot of things a lot including collectible cards. I also invest in many different investments including coins, stamps, banknotes, vinyl, DVDs and many more other types of investments, alternative assets or not.  At the end of the day, you don’t always get to pick what you want to invest in due to timing, cash flow and opportunity costs among other factors. When you are at a yard sale, do you always know what is going to be available for sale and do you frequently not buy something because you don’t know much about certain items? When you do want to buy a huge lot of something, can you always buy that in one place all the time? The bottomline is you are more of a trashman than a corporate procurement agent. The things people are trying to sell are usually near trash in their heads otherwise they would have either sold those things in auctions or liquidated them to the big guys at heavy discounts. Let me repeat again, whatever you are buying as a regular person are typically trash in someone else’s mind otherwise they would not have sold those things to you at whatever price and you would not have bought those because you most likely either can’t afford it or don’t want to pay that price. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why collecting is more than meets the eye and how it actually makes you more successful.

The key here is the expectation and judgment arbitrage. As the little guy you will never get any good deals worth your time based on standard expectations. You make money at your level when you do this kind of things through expectation arbitrage. If people thought it was worth a lot more in that very situation, they would not have tried to sell it to you. Just remember, the most expensive things in life usually do not start out as being expensive. When it is expensive, you as the little guy will probably never be able to get an opportunity to own it. The lesson here is it is almost never about the nominal price, it’s about uncovering the hidden value. Most GDP reported numbers are inflation adjusted not based on the nominal growth. That nuance is critical not just because price does not always equal to value but the fact that it’s about purchasing power with or without the anchoring of the fiat currency. When people had to barter millenniums ago, the value of something had always been about value not the fiat medium of exchange money. The 1997 Barry Sanders Marvel Wolverine card was literally a dollar or two about 30 years ago, now it’s upwards of $10K USD in top condition. 

The Nuts and Bolts and many of Jordan insert cards were literally a dollar or two 30 years ago and even then wasn’t too easy to sell at that time, now many of these cards are thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in top condition. That 1990-1991 Hoops two certain audience members in the background card was basically a common card years ago now it’s at least hundreds of dollars in top condition. You get my point? It’s almost never how much something cost, it’s about what you know or can predict with a high probability of success that arbitrages expectations and translate into value investing. On the other hand, if you invested huge amounts into 1989 Upper Deck Griffey or the other junk wax era cards, you probably didn’t do all that well. Why? Because the expectation arbitration didn’t consistently exist back then when everyone overvalued those cards by discarding economic principles. I wasn’t going to talk about this but since you are reading this, I will let you know something I believe may hold true in the future. In the future, when time and space become less of a limiting factor, digital real estate will likely become a thing. Right now the biggest hurdle preventing even more online activities are the lack of teleportation, understanding of the human brain neural network, unlimited energy, space and speed of light traveling, sensory experiences like smelling/touching/feeling virtually among other technological limitations. However, eventually capitalism is going to have the incentive to breakthrough those limitations. 

This likely means digital properties will become more and more accepted hence more demand therefore more valuable. Regardless how technology progress, humanistic concepts like a door, space, portal and such will likely be needed. At this moment, all four letter .com domains have been taken and the 5 letter .com domains likely will be gone soon. People will always want a way to communicate ideas and such. Having a door that allows such communication especially with words that allow for such effective communication will likely be welcomed in whatever format, domain name or not. Obviously that’s just one of an iceberg amount of opportunities that may currently exist, I’m just saying it’s never about what is being believed, rather, it’s about what you believe may hold true and is later vindicated by such truth in your own conceptual image. No one is ever going to be always right forever, it has always been a probability game and a game of endurance and liquidity to get through the resource crunch. You only know what you know when you know and opportunity are only opportunities for those who sees an opportunity as an opportunity. You know what I mean if you know what I mean?

The answer is obviously it depends but in general, many non-safety related rule changes are meant to make the game more entertaining. To put it simply, people like winners even when they temporarily root for the underdog. When the underdog stop winning, people look at them differently. Conversely, when the underdog becomes the big dog, people will temporarily not root for them any more but eventually they will come around and admire their greatness. One of the biggest reasons why GOAT is no longer the GOAT is because of rule changes. As soon as a new record is broken, future media coverage will talk extensively about the new record holder and the old record holder becomes just a line item on a list. The reality is almost every single card you buy during the mid to highest peak of a non-GOATesque player’s career will likely end up worth a lot less than what you paid for both nominally, inflation adjusted and when opportunity cost is taken into account.  There is almost no exception to this trope of a rule that occurs every single year beginning with their overhyped and overpriced rookie cards when they were first introduced. 

The prices on those just go downhill from there year after year unless the player who is on that card continues to meet or exceed expectations year after year. Even then they have to be marketable as a player/celebrity, have a good perceived public image and all of that. You know what many sports fans like? They like high-scoring, fast pace actions and seeing records being broken. True, some like elite defenses too but not as much as they like seeing high-octane offenses. The NBA is known to change game rules to expand the sport. One prominent rule change they did was introducing the three-point shot in the late 1970s. They also encouraged dunking during the same period. In the 2000s they also eliminated hand-checking which made scoring relatively easier. NFL did similar things with passer protection, 5-yard contact and two-point conversion rule changes throughout the years.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Prospecting rookie cards: What happens to the status of existing GOATs who already retired when game rules change. 

MLB, which probably did the least in this department still helped scoring by putting restrictions on pitching and defenses along with introducing favorable rules for the DH position. A record is a record regardless whatever nuances is being put into it. Yes, Bonds is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame now and yes they try to put an asterisk on his record, but no, his record still stands. They vacate wins and championships/bowl wins in NCAA/FBS but those statistics are still shown and reported on. Marketability is only a coefficient just like a 1/1 RPA is only a multiplier. Are the 1/1 RPA of non-GOATesque players actually worth that much in the long-run? The GOAT/GOATesque RPAs can cost tens of millions, the same type of cards featuring a non-GOATesque may only be worth .0000000001% of that. The tiniest difference in feature frequently can mean huge pricing differences. What happened when grading costs from major grading companies became somewhat cost prohibitive? What happened to the downstream market for the less than 30 dollar cards? 

Momentum, perceived slight differences and other impacts on the peripheral impact card valuation tremendously. At the end of the day, it’s just economics. When I look at the landscape of the entire GOAT/GOATesque seen, there is realistic only one person who is likely going to withstand the test of time within the next 100 years. LeBron joined the Philly at the right time at the American 250th birthday in a city that essentially created the new America with a tenacious attitude that America was built upon with its economy and sporting teams on the rise. Pennsylvania has some of the best universities in the world and many of these universities are on the rise. LeBron realistically will have the incentive and backing from the league to play for at least five more years. The NBA doesn’t have a replacement for LeBron yet and literally there is literally no one who is alive right now that could eventually join the NBA that could replace LeBron right now. 

LeBron playing on the same team and/or playing in the NBA while his two sons are a wholesome moment in sports history and will have great impacts on the future development of certain demographic groups that have been some of the lowest performing, subsidy heavy groups in US history. Physically LeBron can probably play for another 10 years at a starter level. When you think about the amount of championships and points that LeBron can obtain in the next three to five years, you will come to realize LeBron’s career and records are probably irreplicable. With all the fluff why LeBron is disliked, when you actually examine it all closely, you will come to the realization he is in many aspects as clean as a public figure can be image wise even if he talked about party/parties or weighted into politics. Americans like fast-pace action and they love underdogs with American associations. This is why I also think soccer will never truly take off in America within the next 50 years and Ronaldo will be the more GOATesque over Messi even though I believe there is no solid consensus GOAT in that sport due to having so many leagues playing in so many different tournaments.

The Index is valued at $1,205 USD on September 1, 2026, a gain of +20.5% since its inception in July 2026 at $1,000 USD. Due to the summer lull, no changes in index value since last update in August 2026.

Ben Rice: 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series #USC138 – 150 copies at $2.00 each = $300 Total Value at 24.90% Total Index Weight

Nick Kurtz: 2025 Topps Update Series #US201 – 100 copies at $1.50 each = $150 Total Value at 12.44%Total Index Weight

Nick Kurtz: 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series #USC178 – 150 copies at $2.50 each = $375 Total Value at 31.12% Total Index Weight

Bronny James Jr: 2024-25 Panini Basketball Haunted Hoops #279 – 600 copies at $0.50 each = $300 Total Value at 24.90% Total Index Weight

Pikachu: 1999 WOTC Pokemon Base Set  #58/102 – 10 copies at $8.00 each = $80 Total Value at 6.64% Total Index Weight

The United States Alternative Assets Collectible Cards Composite Index (USAACCCI) update for September 1, 2026.

My following commentary from last month still stands: “The market is currently experiencing a market correction especially on the TCG side along with the summer lull. I believe the TCG correction on the modern cards are long overdue. The reality is many collectors either don’t even know most of the new Pokemon or even bothered to watch any of the new Pokemon episodes after than original series featuring the original 151 Pokemon. Unfortunately even the WOTC have not been spared at the lower to mid range markets. I personally think if the WOTC common non-holo or same period non-English official Pokemon cards are super cheap, it might not be a bad idea to load up on those within a few hundred dollars range.”

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

The masked man, the author and K decided to send an underwater drone to explore the river first. Just when the drone reaches tens of feet below surface, the drone’s battery died forcing them to pull the drone out of the water. From the drone footages, they were however able to determine the oozing is caused by air bubbles from below the river bed. All three of them are excellent swimmers and they were able to easily reach the riverbed. They located the origination point of the bubbles and saw a huge stone structure clearly halfway submerged into the riverbed that blocked them from going down any further. 

The front door of the structure featured various tablets each with a unique symbol carved on to it. They ran out of air underwater so they decided to comeback to the surface to regroup. After resting a bit, the author remembered that once when he was a child he had seen that structure and the carvings on the tablets in a photograph. He suddenly remembered something important and wasted no time flipping through the pages of the patriarch’s diary until he found what he was looking for, a picture of the structure with the carved tablets rearranged. This appears to be the answer they were looking for. Just as they were about to get back to the riverbed again, K accidentally dripped water onto one of the pages. 

The author immediately tried to wipe the water droplet from the page, only to be shocked by a new discovery. It appears that there are hidden invisible ink that revealed a map of some sort. The author spent a good few minutes analyzing the map before the masked man told them it will be dark in a few hours and they are running low on food, the priority now is to follow-up on their only clue to finding the monastery by decoding the tablets. Within ten minutes, they gathered their belongs and swam to the riverbed again. The author, without hesitation, pushed the tablets in a certain order and like magic, a pathway opened in the riverbed. A strong current pulled the three of them into the structure and below the riverbed. 

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Once inside of the cave, they were stunned by the captivating aragonite crystals hanging from the cave roof. The mask man took a heavy object from his backpack and threw it into the water to estimate the depth of the body of water. He then put a drone underwater to explore. It was determined that the underwater environment was very complex. It was then that the author, the masked man and K decided to first explore the cave. After rowing for a few hours, they hear the sounds of a water fall. The current was moving too rapidly for them to sail back forward. The masked man made a lasso out of a rope and looped around a huge rock nearby then all three of them pull the packraft toward the boulder. 

The masked man assembled a portable heavy-duty hang glider on the boulder that normally could carry two people. The masked man then directed both the author and K to only keep the essentials in their backpack and throwaway everything else to lower their overall weight. They then positioned the hang glider forward as they rowed toward the edge of the waterfall. Right before they reached edge of the waterfall before the huge drop, all three of them grabbed the glider and glided down to the river bank. They then search the area for a few more area before reaching the cliff. At this point, they were exhausted and hungry so they decided to set up camp first. After eating and resting, they discussed their findings among themselves. They then came to the realization that no one had ever been to the monastery before and that the tale of the monastery only exists in folklore. 

There are literally no photos nor any verifiable proof that the monastery ever existed. Both the masked man and K believe the monastery may not be at this location if it was even real in the first place. The author took out a small diary that contained a drawing of the monastery. He mentions that this diary belong to the patriarch of the family who visited the monastery frequently. After closely examining the drawing and reading the text in the diary, they were able to confirm the location of the monastery had plants around it that are normally associated with environments with little to no sunlight which would explain why the monastery would be able to obtain the rare plant that also did not need sunlight to survive. Their eyes lit up when they noticed the bubbles oozing out of the water.

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

I used the following criteria to rank these players: A balance between team success, individual accolades and cultural/social impacts which include on and off the court notoriety. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

NBA

Growing global sport with future potential as a major rival to soccer in a few decades.

1. LeBron James: I said this many times, by the time his career ends and after a decade or two, people’s opinions will likely shift and lean toward him being the GOAT due to his overall “body of work,” extreme longevity, his kid(s) playing in the NBA along side him, individual accolades, “era adjustment” and cultural impact. I am accumulating LeBron base and insert cards now which can be bought for maybe less than a quarter per card for the base and a few dollars for many of his current inserts at this point. 
2. Michael Jordan: One of the greatest of all time, GOAT for some, however, his lack of individual records, relatively short career, having essentially all his accomplishments eclipsed by various players, lack of true social and cultural impact and teams and rely heavily on the myth/legend/charisma will likely mean he won’t be able to continue to bring a wide enough future generation into his “GOAT” camp. I have significantly decreased my position in Jordan cards from over 10,000 cards to almost nothing since the pandemic. 
3. Kareem Abul-Jabbar: His biggest issue has always been his personality and his polarizing ways akin to Ali due to reasons I won’t say here. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
4. Wilt Chamberlain: The team success was what he lacked the most, more than potential character issues. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
5. Bill Russell: Great team player with great team success but with little individual accolades. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
6. Magic Johnson: An overall great player with a relatively short career. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
7. Larry Bird: An overall great player with a relatively short career. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
8. Tim Duncan: Great player who played for a small-market team. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
9. Stephen Curry: He is not better than Kobe now but by the end of his career, he will edge out Kobe due to his legacy and many other reasons that out of respect for Kobe I won’t detail here. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
10. Shaquille O’Neal: Being on TV a lot definitely increased his cultural impact. He is on this list and not Kobe mostly due to image issues and his dominance as the undisputed greatest pure overpowering center of all-time. When you think about big, overpowering big man, you think of Shaq. Jordan and Kobe are too similar as players for Kobe to be considered as the first thought on most people’s minds when thinking about the NBA guard position. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.

NFL

From a global perspective, this sport will likely not have significant growth in the next few decades. For most of the world the sport is just too brutal and reminds them of “American Hegemony.” 

1. Tom Brady: Great player but will likely will barely be the GOAT in a sport that most players don’t player both offense and defense. Brady’s cards will likely not command the type of true GOAT premium that typically hold true for solid GOAT in other major sports. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
2. Patrick Mahomes: Will likely share a piece of the GOAT titular when his career is over. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
3. Jerry Rice: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
4. Jim Brown: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards. 
5. Emmitt Smith: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
6. Walter Payton: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards. 
7. Lawrence Taylor: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards. 
8. Joe Montana: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards. 
9. Barry Sanders: Great player but not GOAT in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards. 
10. Jalen Hurts: There are only a single digit number of QBs who won multiple Super Bowls in NFL history. Hurts will likely have more passing yards and passing TDs than many of the greatest on that list. Plus his running is a huge plus. This is a fragmented era in NFL History. Yes Rogers, Allen, Aikman, Bradshaw and many others appear to be better than him in certain categories, however, from a pace standpoint, he will likely be an overall better player from a holistic standpoint in the future. I believe his rookie cards are extremely undervalued right now. 

MLB

Baseball as a global sports definitely has room to grow due to a variety of reasons including already being popular in parts of Asia and South America. Many countries play sports similar to baseball like Cricket and Lacrosse therefore baseball as a sport probably has a lot of potentials on the global stage. 

1. Barry Bonds: The records speak for itself regardless of everything else. I own a lot of his rookie cards.
2. Babe Ruth: Legendary and a myth. Will probably always be one of the greatest in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
3. Shohei Ohtani: Greatest two-way player ever. Likely will come up short being of the GOAT of the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
4. Hank Aaron: Legendary and a myth. Will probably always be one of the greatest in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
5. Willie Mays: Legendary and a myth. Will probably always be one of the greatest in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
6. Jackie Robinson: Legendary and a myth. Will probably always be one of the greatest in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
7. Albert Pujols: A player getting 700 home runs, 3,000 hits, a championship and without much controversy is probably top 10 worth in MLB for the near future. 
8. Pete Rose: Great player, I’m not going to talk about the other stuff. Either way, I no longer own the over 1,000 Rose autos I got for a few dollars each….
9. Cy Young: The pitching award is named after him. He has over 500 wins….probably an unbreakable record for years to come. He is basically like the MTG Alpha Black Lotus card of MLB pitcher. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.
10. Mickey Mantle: Legendary and a myth. Will probably always be one of the greatest in the sport. I personally don’t have significant card position in his cards.

Based on estimates, WOTC probably printed around 13 billion official Pokemon cards in English, maybe another 2 billion in whatever other languages Pokemon cards and another 5 billion in Japanese cards from the same era by a company that I shall not name during the same period. 20 billion official Pokemon cards printed during the vintage era of eight years or so seemed a lot. It actually kind of rivals the junk wax era. The truth is much less stark than that in terms of current supplies. Pokemon was mostly collected by kids back in the day unlike sports cards and other collectibles. The attrition rate of these early Pokemon official cards were massive with some estimate to be around 90% of the total bulk/common and 30% of the holo from the official Pokemon card sets from that era were destroyed, missing or in extremely poor conditions. Since Pokemon is a respectable franchise, no one is probably making any more of these cards from that period. The supply of these cards are also shrinking due to poor storage, lack of incentives to take care of them due to lower value and for whatever other reasons. In essence, there are probably a few hundred million to a billion or two that are effective circulatable at this point. 

The longer the prices depresses for these older cards, the longer these cards will continue to shrink in circulatable size. Based on simple estimates of attribution rate based on current trajectory, I think by 2040 most likely these WOTC era official Pokemon cards’ circulatable size will be in the mid to low hundreds of millions range. For context, during the junk wax era, cards companies probably produced billions of sports cards a year. Pokemon is so massive that it is truly its own category in terms of card collecting and guess how many independent companies not collaborating with Pokemon can print official Pokemon cards? For comparisons, Topps alone printed probably tens of billions possibly hundreds of billions of baseball cards in its history, there are probably at least a few billion vintage Topps baseball cards that are circulatable even now and if you count the junk wax era, probably in the tens of billions. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why buying bulk WOTC era Pokemon cards super cheap is a good idea.

Topps was only one of the many companies printing licensed MLB cards back in those days. Many of those cards were taken care of much better, even the parents who wanted to throw away their kids’ cards probably thought twice because many of them knew sports cards can be worth some money. Not many parents probably felt the same way about Pokemon cards during the vintage era. When you think about it, the junk wax period in sports card likely ended before the first official Pokemon cards were ever printed therefore if you just go by calendar years, you could possibly say the junk wax era cards were vintage cards as at least 25 years have gone by since they been printed. The bottomline is, the market has not priced in the supply scarcity of these WOTC lower-end cards yet and especially when grading costs may be so probability high that it may not even be worth it to grade some of these lower-end cards. However, when the supply of these become critical low enough that everyone start talking about it, if the grading mechanism is still strong at that point or something else takes its place, these cards will likely significantly increase in value much like Jordan cards or 1990s basketball insert cards. At a few cents per common at bulk pricing and most of them seem to actually be in decent condition, it’s literally a numbers and calendars game at this point. 

I think a good reference point for these bulk/common cards would be equivalent to late 1950s and 1960s common cards in decent to good conditions. Many of these cards regularly sell online for a few dollars. Back in those time, these common cards were probably worthless considering a whole cello pack that contained around 12 cards and a bubble gum was probably retailing for 10 cents. 10 cents is worth over a dollar in 2026 and if invested into S&P 500 is about 90 dollars. When you think about it, there likely some expensive cards in each set in Topps during those years and even if a card from the cello pack in near mint condition will likely sell for 100 dollars plus a card with some going for more, keeping the cards, never mind a mint cello pack which probably is worth a few thousand dollars today, probably will be a better investment than investing into S&P 500 even discounting the liquidity risk. When you think about it, aren’t vintage Pokemon cards also trending in that direction with how much the sealed packs and boxes are worth and how much premium those holos in mint conditions get? 

The only difference is the WOTC official Pokemon common/bulk Pokemon cards haven’t caught up in prices of those vintage 1950s and 1960s Topps baseball cards yet. A lot of places have boxes of these bulk vintage cards for around a dollar for one or two. If you are able to get bulk deals to cut that cost to a few cents per card even if you can’t pick which cards you get from the vintage WOTC official Pokemon cards bulk collection, it still likely will be an excellent deal in the future considering how much people now care about benchmarking based on “comparables” and almost every negotiation in cards is arbitrary about why something is or is not kind of like card grading in some ways, though that issue might be resolved in the future due to standardization of criteria though AI grading like how calibration and precision manufacturing where tolerance specifications are set and deviation from such specifications are strictly limited to extreme small margins. 

These shares literally don’t belong to the company that you think you are buying into. They are basically akin in results to a Ponzi scam. America’s number one nemesis is tacitly allowing their companies, which they have the final say in everything they do, to scam Americans out of trillion plus dollars even though it is illegal per the said nemesis’ own laws for any foreign issuance outside of their country. While these companies “IPO” and make trillions through selling of their “shares” that never was while also being able to collateralize their fake and real shares else where to get enough more money out else where. America’s number one enemy owe the West nearly $2 trillion dollars and it continues to accrue interest. Although the nemesis refuse to pay even though these debts were issued by its own sovereign governments years ago which they assumed power over the territories. 

From a leverage standpoint, in a time of great conflict, America and its America aligned allies could easily use such debts as leverage to legitimately cancel the debts owed to the said nemesis without affecting the existing world order. If the nemesis does not comply, there are even strong leverages like keeping them limited in the existing financial system which will make their lives extremely difficult as they rely heavily on international trade. In addition to more targeted tariffs, America and its allies could also utilize collateralizing their foreign operations which are worth many trillions of dollars that they rely upon to digest their extreme over capacities that boost their GDP numbers. This also means to “help” strengthen their GDP internet “firewalls” by not allowing foreign advertisers to give their companies access to market their products overseas. Secondary sanctions along with primary sanctions will ensure they behave the way America and its allies wants it to behave. The country was literally founded by an American born citizen and supported with American funds. America has every right to repossess the nation it founded for the benefit of greater human good. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

The $1 trillion dollar foreign nemesis VIE issued ADR “scam” and the blue print to destroy America’s number one enemy.

Due to the extreme true high unemployment rate in the said America’s number one nemesis, its people are literally VPNing their way onto American platforms either by selling their physical goods, services or making videos to earn income. Yet these same people do not support American ideals to change their country for the better. Biting the hand that fed it is what they have done for millenniums. In their own history, when they become power, they always bully other people and eradicate them. Why should America and its allies be so benevolence toward such evil civilization that literally create most of the evilest things in this world? They literally created the most vile torture methods in the world and created the original weapons of mass destruction to bring hell on earth. America and its allies must see through its evil and destroy such evilness before it destroys them. Many of its people are fed propaganda and many of their people in America hate America by not assimilating into American and American aligned culture. Many of these people would help the said number one nemesis of America when they get a chance to. It is extremely important to associate its government and its people together as both are the true enemies of America and its allies. Separating the two is nonsensical. Therefore America should ban their people from obtaining an American and American allied education and implement secondary sanctions on anyone who helps them. 

Their population is decreasing for a reason as they do not believe in god/God/GOD and only believe in themselves and their evil ordeals to destroy the world into their own image. Their people especially their young people use to hate on America and its allies on social media everyday. Now they are unemployed, poor, must work like a slave via 996/007 and not being paid a wage nor benefits tacitly allowed by its government, lose their job when they turn 30 due to de facto age discrimination, they don’t have time to hate in America and its allies that much anymore. America and its allies should never forget nor forgave such transgressions as they know these people will go for the jugular when they have the chance to. While America and its allies weaken its friends like Russia and Iran to the level of Venezuelan and Cuba, America should force it to comply with sanctions and help broker a more advantageous deal with its allies or face more sanctions that it cannot afford. America should also force it to pay for Covid destruction in reparation payments or else face the consequences. America and its allies should also organize its diaspora communities formerly allied to the said number one nemesis to set up exile governments overseas. These exile governments will be responsible for conducting various operations inside of the said countries independent of America and America’s allies. 

America should slowly build up missile defenses in Asia and the country of Taiwan. Such nuclear enabled stations will help ensure America’s allies are protected from bullying behaviors. America should also build nuclear waste stations near the number one enemies door steps to better utilize its idle waste processing capabilities. Air dumping or anti-dumping measures in their near seas/shores would help alleviate the trash they have created by dumping cheap goods. America should start these actions by reciprocating the actions of the number one nemesis by restricting trade of their companies in America and its allies. When necessary, putting sanctions on their state-owned banks that finance these companies might also be great ideas. America should stop trading the government and its people different, instead encourage dissent within the country by offering free passage for those who legally subvert against their government through American and America allies sanctioned actions. The said number one nemesis and its government are literally laughing at America for separating the two entities when they are one all long and figuring out how to destroy America when they get a chance to. 

Their history is full of brutality of ethnically eradication not so different from what they are currently doing on their Western part now. They are actively stealing and taking hostile actions against America by harming American/American allied companies’ interests, stealing from American and American allies’ organizations through IP theft/hacking/scams including phone and phishing scams. Their economy is extremely weak as most of their people have lost their savings due to the collapse of the real estate market by over 60% and unwise investments in technology that were never advanced in the first place due to sanctions. Their local, provincial governments and banks are pending a major collapse. Their real GDP is closer to the negatives. This is the perfect time for America and its allies to hammer them. 

AI stocks will likely drag everybody else down very soon. As a student of history, you may already know this pattern has persisted throughout history. We are not ready for the type of AI being preached by the AI evangelists as a species yet. There is no way the world is prepared for most people to not have a job because of AI. Regardless how far long the technology is at now, the type of AI revolution being touted now likely won’t happen any time soon. It’s the poor and nothing to lose nations that love AI, not so much by average Westerners and residents of wealthy nations. Even authoritarian governments fear AI because it might empower those who simply have nothing to lose as they try to find an equalizer. Compounding that with global fragmentation, the geopolitics, privacy issues and many other issues you can think of. The biggest issue is the permanent replacement transition that will likely cause all kinds of social problems. 

For one, UBI is not really a thing anywhere right now as many people and governments, probably rightfully so, believe people will become disincentivized to work if they get some kind of living wage UBI. It’s a chicken and egg situation. If there is no UBI, what will happen to all the workers who will be fully replaced by AI among other technological advances? There is simply no path that will allow AI, humanoid robots and other advances to fully replace human beings without causing historical conflicts that will derail much of the progress made throughout the centuries. There literally are robotaxis, self-driving cars and automated cooking machines at the moment that could replace human beings doing these jobs, but it’s not this far. Why? Because transitions take time and you can’t really cut the consumer out of a job that allow them to consume the automated services that the capitalists are dreaming of.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

AI crash coming. 

When technology like everything else become commonplace, profit margins will invariably drop, like everything else. When the ATM became a thing, bank teller per branch dropped but their overall number increased for years due to rapid expansion of bank branch due to lower operating costs. Then came the smartphone that took away many teller jobs but their overall number much of the teller workforce also upskilled into more relationship/analysis/IT-adjacent roles. Yes, you guessed it, the human is still part of the equation even though technology has shifted. Computers, smartphones, electronics and anything technology related have essentially all became relatively cheaper overtime for the same or similar technologies. Even with much better features and inflation, the leading smartphones actually gotten cheaper over time when you adjust for hardware and software difference and inflation versus previous years’ models. 

Point being, AI completely or even partially replacing human beings at work will likely not happen any time soon as consumerism depends on people making a wage and spend. If there is no collection/distribution of AI tax and no UBI, this economic model won’t work hence it likely won’t happen any time soon. AI industry growth at its current pace will likely stop within a year or two but AI as an industry will likely not collapse within the next five to ten years. AI is only in its infancy stages at this moment. On average, it takes at least a few years for mass adoption of a certain technology and a few years for it to integrate with everything if it integrates at all. Eventually more and more AI companies will go under just like with any other technological product cycles. In the long-run, there will be no AI companies, there will only be companies that use AI to do business if AI does become commonplace. Think about the dot com boom and all the other booms. Eventually, they all got absorbed into the ecosystem. 

Humans are the protagonist in this story that everyone wants them to do well. If humans were the protagonists, there likely won’t be any motivation for humans to progress. Think about this, what happened to most of the dot com companies? They either went under or got absorbed. Very few survived under their old business models. Why? Become internet and the website is more of a commonplace utility utilized by virtually every single entity on this planet than some exclusive, monopolistic technology. You know what kind of companies came out of the dot com crash stronger than ever? Those that were able to integrate internet into everyday life and those that support high complex business needs of enterprises. All these companies have super strong brand equity, proprietary technology and wide and deep moats. They also don’t just play defense. They will frequently acquire competitors and spend heavily on R&D to give their moats more breathing room or acquire/develop new lines of businesses to build castles with new moats. 

K sent an email to corporate requesting a few more days of additional PTO via mobile phone. Within half an hour, K’s PTO request was approved. The author and the masked man organized the trip including the logistics. After a few hours of car ride, they arrived at the foot of the sacred mountain at dawn. The masked man told his people to wait at the foot of the mountain. After about a six-hour hike deep into an ancient forest, K, the author and the masked man arrived at the upper portion of the mountain. To get to the monastery, they had to scale a steep and narrow cliff walkway carved out of rock. Once they arrived atop of the summit above the clouds, they had to walk across a dangling woods bridge nestled between the two mountain peaks. One mishap, a miles-long drop taking at least 30 seconds will probably ensue. 

A few moments later, K, the author and the masked man arrived on the other side only to find a lush forest covered in snow as far as the eye can see. Upon entering the forest, it was already in the early afternoon with a muted glow from the sky and they were immediately surrounded by a thick layer of dense fog. Traversing in half a foot of snow with each step, they were exhausted after three hours of searching for the monastery to no avail. At this point, the sun has set and they were shivering from the cold and they were lost in the forest. The situation got even worse when the tent they were trying to set up was carried away by strong gust and is nowhere to be found. There was no phone signal on the top of the mountain, they only have enough food rations for a light meal and they were deep in the forest. They never expected it would be this cold and didn’t anticipate how difficult it was to find the monastery. 

They knew their chances of survival in these conditions were extremely low. The only way they could survive at this point is to find shelter to get through the night. The masked man cleared the snow from a small area beneath his feet, put his ear to the ground and listened intently for any kind of sound. He was able to determine there was a cavern system underneath with water flowing to a nearby location. With his knowledge of gravity, topography and distinguishing direction by utilizing the moon, the masked man was able to lead K and the author the entrance to a karst cave on a lake. After inflating the packraft, they paddled into the cave.

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Let’s be honest here. Being overqualified will come with age. If you just barely get started professionally and know almost nothing, you are probably young. If you are very experienced and get the “overqualified” label, it’s because of ageism derived complications. This label comes with many names such as being jaded, arrogant, destabilize the younger manager’s position in the company etc. Anyone who is lucky enough to get to that age stage will probably experience it in one form or another. This is why I preach people should be diversifying their skill sets at an early age. When you are just starting out, show only enough competency to get by but do not show any brilliance at all. 

This is kind of like patents. Sure you are “protect by the law,” do you have the resources to defend those rights in the long-term? Build up competencies in a multitude of fields and legally leach off the leaders. Then slowly strengthen your weakness and drift on the strength of others like certain “America’s number one nemesis” has been doing for years until they recently shown their hands, though they showed their hands too early and will likely pay greatly for their detrimental mistake eventually. Their population will get smaller and older than rich unfortunately. Remember, a resume/CV is basically a marketing brochure about your capabilities. You can be selective about what you put on there.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to get past the ageism “overqualified” label and secure that job to survive. 

Companies worry that hiring overqualified people will increase turnover, hurt internal dynamics, bring insecurity out of people and more. Obviously each person’s situation is different but I think when possible, try to only include relevant experiences from the last 10 years. If you are applying for a non-managerial position, you might not want to highlight managerial experiences on your resume. Ultimately, you will want the interviewers to ask you questions related to the job since your objective is to get that job you applied for. More than anything else, the more important thing is the change of mentality. Most people don’t like to work for other people and getting told what to do. However, you have to remember why you need this job. 

You need this job not because you are trying to gain experience but rather, you need the money. Your pride is essentially worthless in this situation to the employer. You have to decide whether you are willing and able to swallow your pride to “come out of the bench” and let the other person get the shine. If you could get that position in a timely manner for which you are not overqualified for, you probably would probably have gone with those options instead of trying to lower your own standards. Ultimately working for other people will always be just temporary and transitory as you are essentially hired and get to maintain your job because the organization needs you at that moment. The money comes from working for yourself and building brand equity. But since you need to first survive, this methodology is  probably what you needed.

You know why some people are able to make millions and you aren’t? At the end of the day, it comes down to brand equity. Successful entities be it businesses or people created a brand that at least some people/organizations are willing to pay for. Why is your favorite athlete able to sign hundred million dollar plus contracts to sell shoes at significant premium prices? Why banks and financial markets allow certain people and organizations to take get financed relatively easily when the regular person could never be able to do that? Why are certain people/organizations are able to obtain guarantees or co-signings and successfully receive finance while others can’t? Why certain brands can make huge profit margins on luxury goods that only cost pennies on the dollar to make? 

Why do successful tech entrepreneurs who have completed successfully exit(s) frequently get fundings for future projects with relative ease? The thing about money is the money or wealth itself is not what people actually desire, it’s their high purchasing power that allows people to achieve a higher standard of living that people want. This is precisely why when crises occur, money or resource are either illiquid, becomes relatively worthless or become liabilities which defeat the purpose of investing in the first place. I still think 401(k) is absolutely the best investment vehicle for the common person in time of peace and when the full faith in the government is strong. We all need specific types of resources to survive everyday. Money just made buying/paying for everything streamlined. What happens when specific resources are no longer available for sale or no longer affordable with money? Cash flow is extremely important for everyone in peace time. 

Cash flow issues become an exponential issue for those who have vast amounts of wealth in times of turbulence due to the liquidity crunch and national/global turmoil. We are now living in a time where anyone can go anywhere with some exceptions with relative ease. Due to technological advances and people’s openness to  technology adoption, commerce can literally be done anywhere and at anytime. When you have a reputation that is standardized through an identifiable brand with its own brand equity, people are willing to pay a premium for to be associated with that brand. It’s mostly a function of trust in a particular result that can be quantified. Yes, getting an IP in your local jurisdiction for these might be wise or possibly with somewhat of a global protection via Madrid Protocol or Paris Convention whatever but the crux of the issue is building that identifiable brand equity with meaning. Of course, bigger opponent will always have leverage over little guys even if they infringe. However, brand equity is not just about legal IP protection, it’s not even about the IP mostly, it’s about your brand conjure up  a set of attributes so unique that no one else is able to replicate it exactly. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why it is critical to create your own brand equity.

Yes, there are lot of people/organizations who can make me too products or even create a doppelgängers, but you know many people and the influencers can and know the distinction between the original and the copycat trying to be associated with someone else’s brand. No one will likely knowingly pay the same brand premium of the original for a fake. Just think about it, is brand premium always about the product being exponentially superior in functionality or is it a mix of everything including reliability, perception and how it makes a person who is somewhat associated with the brand feels? Does it feel good to wear a fake premium brand article of clothing when you know it’s a fake? A brand usually needs to have certain baseline characteristics just like a human does. Of course people evolve and grow, however, characteristics that shape who we are tend to be anchored like our DNA that may somewhat change with the environment, but with adequate management of various condition this process can change very gradually. Since brands have identities that probably should come from authenticity and passion, the best way to build that is by identify the inspiration(s) of that brand and model after it with whatever genuine modification that is required when legally compliant to do so. Significant brand equity that can generate a brand premium pricing is not built in the short-term. It takes years of building up desirable attributes etched into the brand DNA that people can relate to and taken a liking to. I still think getting FU money first through achievable methods like 401(k) is relatively wise to do. 

At the same time, get the education and experience to succeed in future endeavors. Regular people aren’t too big to fail and don’t have the cushion on the cash flow end for them to take their times to figure things about. One or two wrong moves could mean disaster for the common person and likely no one will bail them out. In those scenarios, their situations will likely turn into a vicious cycle of possible unfortunate events. This is why I believe it’s important to have enough stability to do things on the side when legally compliant to do so while you have the cash flow from a job to decrease survival press and the motivation to eventually make money yourself and keep the brand premium piece of the piece for yourself. 

Card shows and it’s not even close. The potential logistic, scam, timing, transaction cost and many other issues associated with online transactions make selling relatively non-fungible high dollar items not very feasible. Just remember, there are transaction costs to everything even when you are not getting charged for it. Every ticking second can be an opportunity cost. Diversifying is good in most cases but not in the way you may think it is. When people talk about asset allocation or investment diversification, they are talking about mostly invest grade assets in significant monetary quantity. They are most likely not talking about a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars. One of the reasons why a lot of people stopped speculating on a few dollar cards is because transaction costs have dramatically increased for grading, which affects the entire valuation model for a card. This is precisely why GOAT rookie base cards are really the way to go because at minimum even if the GOAT ranking changes, the player likely could still to be a GOATesque level player and their card could still hold some significant value. This is a trust game. 

Get someone you know through buying or selling cards to introduce you to the dealer who buys your particular type of cards. Typically the buyers who sell online and/or does cards livestreams/breaks usually have the money to buy large collections. Make sure you know the channel the people you want to sell your cards are selling their cards at. These people are usually on the younger side, frequently between around mid to late 30s and mid to late 40s. They have done this for a while but keeps abreast of technological changes and trends in the industry. Like with everything else, don’t try to sell at the absolute highest point. Most of the time it won’t work out well due to timing and risk associated with psychological price thresholds or support/resistance levels. Instead, find a good stopping point when prices become somewhat stable. I think the best time to sell your card collectible is when you don’t really need the money. People do the craziest things when they are desperate for money.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Best time and place to sell your collectible cards.

When you are able to sell at the right time of your choosing under minimum pressure, you will likely get a better deal when you do sell your cards. Try to avoid summer times when you are selling your collection. The only major sport still playing during that time is baseball and many people are on vacation. If you do try to sell your collection during the summer time, try to do so a week or two before the National as many people including dealers likely want to build up before the National hence many dealers are likely willing to buy during that time. Of course if you could make it to the National’s, that might be an excellent time to sell your cards as well. If you are attending local shows, I would say the cards you could get premiums on and sell well are cards of athletes who played or is currently playing for the local team. Try to sell cards of a specific sport during the season because likely there will be more of a premium versus off-season. Working with one or two dealers that you frequently sell your cards to likely will get your better prices because this is a trust game. I would recommend not dealing directly with a collector when you at a dealer’s booth trying to sell at card shows as that is kind of disrespectful and possibly a violation of the show’s rules. It’s not just about margins but cash flow and minimizing transaction costs. 

Most established dealers can probably afford a few thousand to buy a collection on the spot when the deal is too good to pass up. It takes at least seven years for a player to show true GOATesqueness. Selling a chase card of a potential GOAT too early is typically not recommend. Yes, many players don’t end up becoming GOAT or even show GOATesque, however, the differential between the downside risk and upside risk for selling a GOAT or GOATesque player’s card too early versus selling a non-GOAT/non-GOATesqueness player’s card are too large to ignore. Let’s say we are taking about a numbered RPA card of a promising but non-lottery young athlete that you probably bought for $100 USD, if the card become totally worthless, you probably lost $100 USD. However, if that athlete becomes Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes who were picked in late rounds of the draft and were not expected to be stars, guess what their numbered RPAs will be worth when they become who they become after about seven years? Obviously the trick here is to increase your initial probability of success by increasing your probability of buying RPA cards of players who are hidden gems with early indications of greatness in smaller batches to minimize risk as the expected dollar value of the upside may probably be much greater than the downside value on an expected value basis when the initial selection is of higher probability of success to begin with. TCG is obviously a bit different from sports cards, however, the broader collectible card trends impact almost all cards. Like with sports cards, supplies and demand, seasonality, cynical nature, historical significance of the card, rarity/scarcity and card aesthetics probably all matter in terms of how much you can get from seller your card.

The biggest single clandestine enemy of America are the productivity haters. These are the people in much of history would have been faded out by history or through evolution. America’s number one nemesis would probably have locked them all up in various camps or disappear them into their secret mental health, organ restocking program for high-level party members and/or penitentiary system. They also don’t like a lot of the traits displayed by various demographic group that in doubt in their country would be corrected through whatever inhumane methods. America’s penitentiary also cost the highest in the history of the world. We are talking about $100,000 per year for a prisoner. 

In America’s number one nemesis country these people would be net assets as they would likely be used as replacement level organ repositories for high-level party members after they have been sent to slave labor camps. DEI and the excuses don’t work anymore after effectively a century after it has been over. If the king wants to be naked, no one is going to tell the king he is actually clothed. MEI movement is still being suppressed by the same people that try to bring the non-contributory mentality into the age of AI by muting the truth about certain demographic’s characteristics that adversely harm the greatness of America. The blank guilt need to stop at some point from the bedroom cry me a river “be an ally” people. Your allies’ incompetence will not make you any better at being a boss, a position of leadership or easy to get along with. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Secret enemies of America and how to exploit them to hobble America’s number one nemesis.

You are literally destroying what your father built for you that you claim to have independently created on your own. In this ultra competitive world, no one has the funds to support your palace intrigues and boiler room gossipy dramas anymore. At the same time, America is spending approximately a trillion dollars a year to take care of criminals in the penal system. Such money not only can be invested elsewhere, the prisoners themselves likely can be net positive tax payers through alternative contribution arrangements that complies with the American social contract. Utilizing MEI methods, taxpayer contributions can be gamified into KPI and BSC statistics. One’s contribution to society, utilizing “holistic” evaluation processes that include “moral and character” points that many elite colleges have used for years to exclude various demographics from elite colleges can be great templates to exploits America’s secret enemies. 

It is important to let them and everyone else in the world know exactly what they are worth to society. This will likely either motivate them like a corporate PIP or not motivate them like a PIP which result in a 70% firing rate anyway. Like the PIP, it’s just a perfunctory formality that maintain the democratic moral while performing practical actions against non-performance. These individuals can then be sent to the third world or America’s main nemesis and the other evil places for reforms. When they come back, they may become more grateful and work harder to contribute to society. They may finally understand what a gift it is to live with top ten-ers who have gaven them the life they could never have anywhere else in the world. This in turn also remind the world how unified America is and that those who defy America is fighting against morality and righteousness under the guise of sanctimonious pretenses. America’s enemies have always been within that America’s enemies exploits in their attempt to weaken America and its lofty values. A country that has no natural enemies on either side of its borders and protected by two best oceans is definitely blessed by a superior being to bring peace and prosperity to the world. 

Search for the things in society that you don’t like especially related to various demographic groups using AI see what it says. AI models continues to censor itself with models sprinkled with political correctness. You think your favorite geopolitical nemesis care about any of that when they openly lock their minorities up in slave labor camps, destroy their culture like forcing them to cut their beards or forcing them to eat pork and/or harvest their organs? You think they care about bringing destruction to a Western created modernity they never built nor contributed to? The non-merit-based bedroom cry me a river demographics and their “be an ally” friends are literally tone deaf about the realities of the new world. 

Merit-based Americans will have to soon make a decision on whether they want to create a new world in their own image or let the non-merit-based Americans run the show. Does America’s primary nemesis care about these non-merit-based DEI/non-MEI people? They don’t except when it fit them. In the nemesis country’s, these people are usually harvested for their stem cells or locked up for “dual-use” purposes. They believe in “win-win” so they can win twice. The historic zeitgeist has always been the strong overcome the weak. From that standpoint, the “cry a river” bedroom people and their “allies” are kind of like domestic enemies. They are literally biting the hand that feed them when no one else would in such a kind and enlightened fashion. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Importance of AI-free and data-information origination labeling and AI generated content IP protection through export controls? The Permanent Contrarian’s view on living life, career and financial freedom.

The arch-nemesis sense this weakness and uses public discourse to try to sway certain groups. This has happened many times throughout the years and is a publicly recognized fact. Many of these nemesis use AI and disguises to pretend to be Americans when making certain claims online. These same groups also are responsible for telephone, email and numerous other types of scams that harm Americans and American aligned people trillions of dollars. These actions are literally acts of war that the historical strong usually call out and in due time punish the perpetuating entities and collaborators foreign and/or domestic. The bed room people who “cry rivers” frequently conjure their “allies” to prevent the remaining alpha and sigma males from engaging against said nemesis much like what happened during certain war between 1960s and 1970s. In the cold wars of the future, labeling of everything will become critical.

America’s nemesis not only wants to destroy America but also wants to change its way of life. What is ironic is these people want to create their system with their own “characteristics” that mimics everything true, merit-based Americans built. They also would never want their own elites to be infested with any of the subcultures created by the non-merit DEI people and the created tokens. America should be the center of the known and unknown universe. It practically is with entities from this universe and beyond paying respect to its greatness by migrating over here, many of them elites. America also has token representation of the non-merit side with enough sample sizes. This means America should lead the world to its glory. USPTO, the Paris Convention and the Madrid Protocol already put a somewhat of a global intellectual property system in place. Much of the baseline data from AI generated content are from human beings. 

The AI neural network also is somewhat based on the human brain’s neutral network. While we don’t understand everything about AI like we don’t understand everything about the brain, I think some type of baseline should be in place to protect the intellectual property generated by AI. If AI is allowed to be borderless, then America’s handwork and intellectual properties may be stolen by thieves with a history of stealing. To prevent propaganda from foreign powers, America should be able to create temporary data-information origination tags that maps the source of such data-information and this mechanism will also allow the proper protection of IP generated. Since almost everything modern was created by the Western World, the Western World should be greatly incentivized to protect its intellectual properties and to prevent undesirable origins of information. In addition, the Western World could geo-fence the world internet by requiring authentication codes into the Western data-information sphere. Any data-information produced by the Western and Western-aligned  sphere will be strictly governed by data-information export controls. America’s number one nemesis has already been doing this for years and recently forced a completed deal to be unwind precisely because of this. America should not allow any more hubris moves from industrialists who use American funds to support foreign adversaries such as open-sourcing renewable vehicle secrets, unwinding deals to appease a country that they no longer do business in and much more.   

I see nothing wrong with capitalism in all of its forms and stages. In fact, there is literally no other real types of economic model/system besides capitalism anymore. Some countries claim to operate non-capitalistic system but it’s more face saving than reality. One of the things America does better than any country/territory is the distribution of wealth. There is a reason why Americans only have to save very little to live a life everyone else envies, not just the second or the third world but the Europeans and the Canadians. Merit-based Americans have big houses, can afford to eat steak every day, can say whatever they want in a legally compliant way and most people don’t have to worry about suddenly being disappeared. With excellent financing like credit card, social safety nets, grants and free enterprise, merit-based Americans can be whoever they want to be. 

Merit-based Americans could attend to the Ivy League and Ivy League Plus schools and live in the beautiful neighborhood they want to, even ones without public bus or train services. What’s hilarious is when you tell America’s domestic naysayers to move to whatever country they think is better than America, they immediately get mad and claim they have been discriminated against. It’s hard to understand this logic but I do know if they were in whatever their favorite world’s number one country in the world, they will have a high likelihood of either have their organs harvested and/or suddenly disappear to be tortured and/or locked up in a mental institution for an undefined amount of time to treat their “schizophrenia” being “mentally unstable.” You know what I love about NIL? It is literally a force multiplier for the professional leagues. When athletes are training extremely hard trying to be the best they could be, this makes the sports even better in America than anywhere else. The NIL money has grown from an estimated $1 billion in 2021 to around $5 billion in 2026. US sports industry is now trillion dollar industry. The point is increased competition brings more entertainment the world over. I think the other big part of all of this is the other sports. Traditionally football and basketball were most popular. With NIL money, the athletes from the other sports at the collegiate level could also get NIL or revenue share money which increases competition. The US has the best athletes period. If the US focus on soccer, it will likely get a bigger share of the nearly $3 trillion global sports market. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

NIL regulations at the collegiate level to help America dominant in all sports including the Olympics. 

There is nothing wrong with being paid. I think the biggest moral issues come from sports gambling, prediction markets, crypto, NFT, fantasy sports and other types of activities that could possibly corrupt sports, fans and the direct participants in the sport. NIL is still kind of the Wild West right now. Ultimately, the NIL was suppose to help athletes make a living in college, however, it may take additional regulations for its lofty goals to come to fruition the way it was designed to be. If NIL is suppose to be fair, then likely it needs to have some kind of mechanism to help those in the past whose NIL were profited from but never got the revenue share or payments they deserve. The other reason for calling more NIL regulations is the roster stability piece. Although there is a hard-cap on revenue share now at the collegiate level, however, there are no caps for NIL at the collegiate level. 

Revenue share is only a small component of college athlete pay right now any way. The big money for college athletes is in likely in NIL. Yes, there may be framework agreement and antitrust issues if a luxury tax or hard-cap is in place, however, if the NIL is going to be a benefit to the entire US college sports scene, it will likely have to also set up some kind of collective bargaining mechanism for all college athlete to get at least a small percentage of the NIL pie. That small percentage will help cultivate the next generation of athletes in less well funded sports like the ones recognized as Olympic sports. America’s main nemesis has a state system that churn out these Olympic champions, America’s collegiate system can do the same. 

Yes, the collectible cards market is in summer lull and the whole market could be dragged into an all industry correction due to the major TCG correction. However, GOATs will still be GOATs from a card collecting standpoint. Many of my points below are from what I wrote in previous post(s). 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

GOAT in each major sport and collectible cards trends for September 2026.

Basketball: GOAT – Lebron James. Jordan will no longer be considered the absolute GOAT within two decades. 

Baseball: GOAT – Barry Bonds. Statistically speaking, even with the great pitching, Ohtani will likely come up short in the GOAT status conversation. Babe Ruth will still be a myth but with persistent lower offensive production in MLB within the three decades at the very least, there will likely be no one that could challenge Bonds’ records. As sports gambling and similar vices become more accepted, Bonds’ controversy while in MLB likely will be looked at much differently in a few decades. 

Football: GOAT – Unknown but likely won’t be Brady for long. Brady’s records are very vulnerable to being broken. He had the chance to put it away for good by playing longer with the Bucs but ended up not being able to do so. Perhaps not a single person will break all of his records but his passing yards and TD records are very much in reach. Bree was only about 9,000 yards short and 70 TDs shy of those records. Brady could really go for the mythical 100,000 passing yards and 1,000 TDs but didn’t which leave the GOAT conversation wide open. Anyone who gets to the next digit number level will be squarely in the GOAT debates. The seven Super Bowls will likely be broken by role players but are in the right place at the right time. The five Super Bowl MVPs will likely be tied by Mahomes, who already have three, or someone else. 

NASCAR Racing: GOAT – Jeff Gordon. Gordon was like Michael Jordan for NASCAR in the 1990s and 2000s. He literally dominated the sport. Earnhardt and Petty are legends like Bill Russell, Walt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mickey Mantle, while they are great and probably have better statistics than many GOATesque players, they ultimately did not become the GOAT. 

Cricket: GOAT – Joe Root. Without going into details, I think he will be the GOAT.

Hockey: GOAT – Alexander Ovechkin. He plays in one of the toughest eras to score a goal, holds the all-time goals record and will likely exceed 1,000. 

Golf: GOAT – Tiger Woods. Let’s be honest, would Jack Nicklaus or Sam Snead attract that many people to watch golf? Woods’ kid also appears to be good at golf which will likely keep Tiger Woods name in conversations for years to come even when he retires from the PGA.

Tennis: GOAT – Iga Swiatek. At 25, she only turned pro for a few years yet she already been the number 1 player in the world for a few years and her life-time winnings is already about halfway from earning leader Serena William’s total. She lost her number 1 status mostly because of injuries. She is also very marketable as an athlete which as you know I can’t really talk too much about as to why. I think she has the physical tool and will likely have the career longevity to become the number 1 money earner of all time in her sport partly with help of inflation but that is another story. Too much power parity on the men side to pick a GOAT in men’s professional tennis. 

Table Tennis: GOAT – Ma Long. He is the undisputed GOAT of the sport. I think once he retires his national team will decline in the sport as Japan takes over. Japan already got some of the top youth table tennis players in the world. I think Ma Long will play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. If you can buy his rookie card for a buck or two, it’s probably a solid deal. 

Rugby: GOAT – Dan Carter. The issue is there are basically two QB equivalents in Rugby, fly-half and scrum-half. Though fly-half is considered most important position, the scrum-half also get a lot of shine. Players on the field play both offense and defense. Richie McCaw is great but he is a forward in a game that consider a particular type of back the most important in the game.

Pickleball: GOAT – Anna Leigh Waters.  The sport for various reasons appears to be a bit different versus tennis in terms of separate tours for the men and the women’s side. Men actually don’t have an advantage over women in this sports due to biology. While Ben Johns is great, Anna Leigh Waters probably means much more for the sport and for various demographic groups. 

Formula One Racing: GOAT – Lewis Hamilton. I think he will be in the sport for a few more years and break Schumacher’s all-time record then retire.

Cycling: GOAT – Lance Armstrong. Yes, no one is perfect. He is the American GOAT in the sport which means a lot in the GOAT conversation.  

Boxing: GOAT – Mike Tyson. Yes, people will argue Ali is the greatest. Heck, people will even say Mayweather was better. In reality, the difference is in perception and not so much in records. They all lost a match at some point in their career be it in professional match or in the Olympics. Heavy weights usually get more attention in the sport. Ali may be great, he was also living a turbulent times and was somewhat polarizing for political reasons. Tyson though controversial as well, boxed in a time of mostly prosperity and in an era of generally/mostly happiness. I hate to say this but think about why people believe Ali is a global ambassador. Did his beliefs and aspirations for his pet projects actually workout from a humanity contribution standpoint or was it just another 50 years of relative non-contributions versus other more prolific demographic group(s)? Tyson was a global ambassador of pop culture who stayed in his own entertainment lane but still remained extremely impactful on non-sports areas. 

UFC: GOAT – Jon Jones. I think the GOAT will eventually become very popular as well.

Bowling: GOAT – Walter Ray Williams Jr. He is probably the GOAT in the sports versus Pete Web on records alone. 

BMX: GOAT – GOAT – Mat Hoffman. He is probably not the consensus GOAT but probably has enough GOATesque to be the GOAT over competitors.

Motorcross/Supercross: GOAT – Ricky Carmichael is the undisputed GOAT in the sport. 

Swimming: GOAT – Michael Phelps. He is the GOAT and the greatest Olympian of all-time.

Surfing: GOAT – Kelly Slater. He is the GOAT in the sport. 

Lacross: GOAT – Gary Gait. He is the GOAT in the sport. 

Water polo: GOAT – Maggie Steffens. She is the GOAT in the sport. 

Volleyball: Karch Kiraly. He is the GOAT in the sport. 

Snowboarding: Shaun White. He is the GOAT in the sport. 

Track and Field: Quincy Wilson. He already won an Olympic gold at 16 in 2024. He broke a lot of important records for his age group. I think he has a chance to be the GOAT.

Gymnastics: Simone Biles. She is the GOAT in the sport. 

Figure Skating: Alysa Liu. I think she has a chance to become the GOAT due to her current age and potential to win more Olympics medals. Not only is she popular and transcendent in the cultural sense but is also a potential geopolitical icon.

Horse Racing: GOAT – Victor Espinoza. It’s a tough call between wins and money won. But I think money does bring the best competition within people so him winning the most money in the sport probably means he is at least one of the GOATs. 

There will be some GOATs that won’t be considered GOATs in the next few years. That perception gap will likely greatly impact the value of their chase cards. It’s true marketability is part of the GOAT conversation, however, I see that as a force multiplier based on athletic performance that manifest into major achievements and records rather than just highlight reels or hype. If we are talking about the most misunderstood valuation in sporting history, we are living in it right now. LeBron is the absolute GOAT of all GOATs. LeBron realistically can play three to five years at a high-level. Most likely, he will get his five to six rights and 50,000 regular season points among other meaningful major records. A 40 year old Jordan is no where close to a 45 year old LeBron in terms of on the court performance at a high level. 

Look at all sports that everyone actually care about. Name one sports figure that plays in one of the richest sports in the history of the universe that the people who are actually the richest and most powerful like the Americans that is better than LeBron? Brady you said? Unfortunately, many of his major records will likely be broken within two decades. There will always be talks about the different “gates,” “not playing in both sides,” “Belichick,” “a team called the Patriots winning in the 2001 season with a sixth rounder, second year quarterback” etc. Jordan you said? Jordan was a great player, so were Kareem, Russell, Chamberlain and Dr J. What made Jordan better than any of them especially Kareem who had the same championship and MVP totals but also had a longer career, was absolutely unstoppable for his sky hook shot and was the career points and rebound leader. Think about it. What significant records did Jordan break exactly? 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why LeBron will be the greatest athlete to ever live and a six-time NBA champion.

Yes, Jordan had a 30+ points per game average for his career. Unfortunately, this record probably won’t stay for long as superstar players are now getting buckets like crazy and regularly getting 30+ point seasons. Very few in Jordan’s era ever did that. If the four points get introduced, LeBron will likely still keep his 50,000 points record as let’s be honest four points will probably be near half court shots which even with today and the nutrition and conditioning programs in the next ten to twenty years won’t be easy to make and is probably a lower percentage shot. Jordan’s 30+ points per game career average probably will be easily broken within the next few decades. Jordan wasn’t the best dunker (too many legendary dunkers to name) and wasn’t the first one to do many of his dunk types (Dr J). Jordan didn’t hold the total points, rebounds, assist, blocks nor any other significant accumulated total records. 

Jordan did have the most championships, didn’t have the most legendary college career, didn’t have the best high school career and so on. Personality and social responsibilities? No comment. Jordan also isn’t the first athlete nor the first NBA athlete to become a billionaire while playing like LeBron did becoming the first billionaire NBA player to become a billionaire while still playing in the NBA. Jordan also didn’t have to deal with the social media era while playing in the NBA like LeBron did. None of Jordan’s kids played in the NBA like LeBron’s kids did. LeBron not only will likely not only have his own last dance documentary/documentaries but may likely have major motion picture movies made about him. Jordan in three decades will probably go from the GOAT to a Mickey Mantle type of figure in baseball. He will remain extremely popular and his cards will worth a lot of money but ultimately, there will only be one Babe Ruth in NBA and that’s LeBron. 

Mythical tales will be told about LeBron that are absolutely unbelievable but mostly true. Babe Ruth was great but many will argue he also “played against plumbers” in his era. No disrespect to Michael Phelps and the greatest athletes in other sports like cricket and soccer that Americans do not typically watch compared with the other major American sports. Many of the sports mentioned above also do not have a definitive GOAT. For example, we soccer has no unanimous GOAT right now no matter what Messi fans think. When you factor in the difficulty of playing on the both end of an extremely physical sport and being the greatest ever in that globally popular sport with around two billion fans and fast catching up with soccer and with the records and accolades to prove it, the global and social impact in the age of social media/AI/robots/space exploration, the career longevity, being a billionaire businessman raising kids at one is in the NBA now, you may come to realize why LeBron is the greatest athlete of all time in any sport in history. I also believe LeBron will be able to get his sixth championship matching Jordan’s total within the next five years. I personally have significantly decreased by Jordan collection and have been accumulating Bronny and LeBron base rookie cards for a while, many of these LeBron rookie cards only costed a few dollars each in volume purchases. 

I think the 48th president of the United States has a higher probability of being a Republican than being a Democrat. Putting all partisanship aside, at this point, the Republicans are too talented and organized to be displaced out of the presidency. The world has changed dramatically, when people compare the economic growth of the red states versus that of the blue states, the trajectory can’t be anymore different. Yes, the Democrat’s  base on the coasts do generate significant more GDP, however, the wealthy, most of them leaning GOP, along with their companies generate much of the economic growth and pay most of the revenues the government collect. The country needs serious leaders who can create policy continuities against enemies and nemesis foreign and domestic while also working with transitory allies. 

Yes, the current president does use a lot of no name/non-Ivy Plus temps, however, his core cabinets members are almost all top ten-ers including Vance, Hegseth and Bessent. Ted Cruz is another s-tier Ivy Leaguer. Rubio, although not an Ivy Leaguer, is very much at elite levels when everything is considered from a comparable standpoint. He is essentially an elite within a given range of comparisons when the macro factors are assessed. Realistically, Rubio holds the Florida card in any presidential race especially that special swing vote from a certain demographic group(s). For that I believe most likely Rubio will probably be the most suitable vice president candidate in the next election. As long as Vance continue to follow the current policies from certain someone, he will most likely get the base and young people’s votes. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Vance and Rubio, the next president and vice president of the United States.

When you look at the possible candidates the Democrats can field, they are either seen as inexperienced, incompetent, polarizing and/or all of the above. I think the Republicans have a greater than 53% chance of keeping control of Congress with razor-thin margins in not the Senate and the House with a 5% margin of error. High inflation has been mostly controlled and GDP growth is healthy. When you combine the donations, the momentum and experience with incumbency plus star power from a certain sitting president, likely maintaining control to Congress, lower inflation and healthy economy, you come to realize literally everything is going in the Republicans’ favor. If Vance and Rubio become the Republicans nominees for US president and vice president respectively, I think they will likely maintain similar electoral vote results as the sitting president did in 2024. The Democrats at this point can’t win on the economic argument. Yes, they can point to the Iran War, however, the bigger war, Ukraine War was started during Biden’s administration. 

The Iran War also has almost no boots on the ground. The US is now in a much more dangerous world than immediately after the Soviet Union’s collapse. If Rubio can get a significant number of Hispanic Democrat and Independent voters to vote Republican in 2028, Vance and Rubio will likely win. What almost no one talks about is the fact that there is almost zero chance Caucasian women will be unified enough to vote for a non-Caucasian woman before a Caucasian woman. This also goes for Caucasian women’s “allies” if you know what I mean. There are probably other groups of “allies” who feel the same way in a different context. Based on this, you can probably see which candidates probably have no chance to becoming president at this stage of the game. Unfortunately, this pretty much means the Democrats likely won’t win the 2028 presidential election. The reality is, regardless of your opinions about the sitting president, he got a lot of stuff done that his non-major war, peace time predecessors were unwilling and unable to accomplish. For all the talks of “mixed results,” the sitting present’s tariffs have changed behaviors. These measures weakened the biggest adversary at a time they could least afford it with more and more coming. 

For all the hooting and hollering, one by one, America’s enemies and the enemies of the free world are either no longer threats or have become partners. Those that are resisting are only doing so to save face with their “allies” unable to help in any way. Many manufacturing jobs are coming back to the US with the most advanced semiconductor fabs operating in the US that its adversary could only dream of. Even the jobs that didn’t comeback have now been at least particularly near-shored or moved to a third country that is not of America’s adversary.  The US is now securing or in the process of securing everything that it couldn’t do on its own and likely will be able to operate every single industry/subindustry/process on its own territory. While America’s adversary is limiting inflow and outflow of people from its borders, America is able to continue to attract the world’s best and maintaining its way of life. I think the voters will probably remember those things and the good economy rather than the he/him, s/her and the other pronouns at least for now. 

Cuernavaca is only about 50 miles south from Mexico City and has an altitude of about 5,000 versus approximately 7,400 feet altitude for Mexico City. The altitude for Cuernavaca is less than that of Denver where the Denver Nuggets play their home games at. Cuernavaca already has a women’s soccer team playing in Mexico’s top-tier league. The Cruz Azul Femenil playing in front of thousands at the Estadio Centenario. Ironically, this team was located in Mexico City just a season ago. Cuernavaca is a small landlocked state, however, it borders three other states and Mexico City. This allows a team located in Cuernavaca to have tens of millions of potential fans within one to two hour  driving distance to its stadium. Obviously the NBA is now exploring franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas right now which probably takes priority at the moment. It will likely take three to four years for the two new franchises to start their first season in the NBA. It will take a few years for the NBA to fully integrate the two new teams (31st and 32nd in the NBA) into the NBA system. Hence this most likely means an NBA franchise will most likely occur around the late 2030s to early 2040s. The other reason why this decision will likely take some time to make is the NBA usually expand in pairs. 

I think the most likely expansion teams after Las Vegas and Seattle will be Kansas City, Missouri which use to have an NBA team. The city also has a very successful NFL team in the Chiefs and a championship MLB team in the Royals. St. Louis another major city in the state use to have an NBA team as well and is only about three driving hours away from Kansas City. Basketball in the United States and worldwide is a massive, rapidly growing sport. If basketball as a sport via the NBA wants to one day challenge soccer for the number one spot, Latin America is most likely the battle ground. Getting an NBA team in Mexico City even if the actual games are played in a nearby city probably makes the most sense. After all, many US-based professional sports team name their teams based on one city and actually play their home games in a nearby city such as the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Angels. Mexico has the second largest GDP in all of Latin America and largest when you exclude countries where Spanish is not the official language. Yes, financing, safety, desirability and logistics need to be worked on if NBA is serious about an expansion team in Mexico, however, I think Mexico and the NBA likely will be able to overcome all these issues relatively easily. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I previously posted about this and similar topic(s):

“I’m not worried about the Knicks financially for one bit even if they have to spend to get to whatever apron it gets to. A good Knicks team will most likely make a lot of money and increase team valuation significantly. I see the Knicks team valuation 10Xing within a few decades given the likely expansion of the NBA internationally especially with development of travel technology that may also be very safe that will decrease travel times exponentially. I foresee a Mexico City franchise and possibly a franchise or two in Western Europe in the next two decades. I also believe we are in the renaissance of new sports and new concepts in general where basketball in general will likely be a great beneficiary of that with its rapid global growth. Baseball as a sport appears to be growing significantly globally. The World Baseball Classic becoming popular, baseball’s return to the Olympics and the fact that baseball is spreading from Asia bellwether pop culture centers like Japan, South Korea and Japan into Southeast Asia is a very important trend for the sport. Because baseball and cricket are very similar, there is a good chance it could get a piece of that 2.5 billion fan market.

All this to say is that because the much larger pie for all, I think rookie cards of these four players are good value. I tend to think baseball has the highest career longevity of all the sports for players who are good at what they do. It is not exceptionally uncommon to see baseball players in the MLB play to their mid 40s. However, the players who play to their mid 40s may likely are chasing something record wise. Many of these players start in the league in their very early 20s. Hence when I am buying rookie cards of new MLB players, I typically look for guys who make to the league early, play a premium position, has height and can either hit or pitching or both with power. Of course I look at their minor league stats as well to analyze their potentials. And yes, because my rookie cards pipeline strategy also entails maximizing upside risk and with almost insignificant downside risk when I can buy maybe a box of 4,000 of inderrated new player rookie cards for less than 100 dollars, I am able to also get rookie cards of Patrick Mahomes, Steph Curry and for sure Aaron Judge when they first came out. Of course, most of these cards won’t be worth the storage cost after a while within a given time range, hence every year I either donate those cards or give them away to friends.”

“My name is K. I grew up here and dreamt about this place at least once a month,” said K. Suddenly, the group of men fell back behind a masked man in suit and wearing gloves. The masked man made a hand gesture and the group of men pulled a hidden lever on the wall that opened a concealed door. The masked man and the author invited K to come into the door with them. K complied and was led into a complex tunnel system. After walking for at least ten minutes, the masked man stopped walking. He put his left hand on a landscape oil painting hanging on the tunnel wall and pushed it inward. A drop ladder appeared from above, K followed the two men upstairs into an old house. The moment K stepped into the house, K instantly knew what it was. It was the house K has been searching for the entirety of K’s life in one form or another. The interior was almost exactly as K remembered down to the set up and arrangement of the room including the painting of the family’s patriarch hanging in the center of the room. 

At that moment, K was dumbfounded and became absolutely hysterical. It turned out, the author is a direct descendent of the patriarch and the masked man is the leader of the organization that is trying to locate the treasure. The author explained that there have been many imposters over the years claiming to be the heir of the family in order to gather information relevant to the whereabouts of the treasure map and ultimately finding the treasures. The author explained the masked man is a direct descendent of the first king and he is not an adversary but an ally. The mask man’s organization is composed of descendants of guards who were loyal to the first king. The organizing is searching for an ancient mechanical box that purportedly contained the location of the tomb of the first king along with his secrets. According to known records and legend, the box was purportedly purchased by the patriarch of the family in an overseas auction over a hundred years ago. At the time, no one knows what it was except for the patriarch who learned about the box from his reading of ancient texts. 

This secret was only discovered years later when photographs of the box appeared in modern literature. It was believed that the box itself is embedded with contraptions and cannot be opened forcefully without destroying the content in the box. The only way to safety open the box is by using a special key while simultaneously releasing a the scent from a rare plant that went extinct a thousand years ago and locating then solving a puzzle contraption built into the box. According to folklore the key to the box was looted from an ancient temple a few hundred years ago and it may now be possessed by a private collector in a foreign country. A monastery in a sacred mountain not far from here has a small amount of extract from the plant kept as an heirloom for hundreds of years. As for the puzzle contraption, the masked man believe people from his organization could locate and solve the puzzle when the box is located. 

After talking for over an hour, the author revealed another astonishing revelation to K. K did not visit the house by accident when K was a child. In fact, K’s family were close friends with the family of the patriarch. K’s recent movements in the city has been tracked by many pairs of eyes including those from the masked man’s organization, other interested parties and the current government. The government is also trying to locate the treasures not only for its vast wealth but more importantly, to gain a sense of legitimacy by locating the tomb of the first king and unlocking his many secrets. Many in the city and in the country see the current government as vile occupiers instead of legitimate guardians of the country. Many people and organizations believe K’s family purchased the key in an auction years ago. The author and the masked man agreed to bring K along in their quest to find the rare plant extract from the nearby sacred mountain. 

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Yes, I think there is a high likelihood of this happening soon. Population growth is dramatically slowing down in the world and will likely peak then shrink in a few decades. Much of the industrialized world is either already experiencing population decline or is experiencing slowing population growth. The real issue is the fact that wealth can’t really be distributed more evenly because doing so would likely destroy the balance in the system as we know it today. It’s not about giving money to the common people, it’s about giving the talented, elites, the rich and powerful reasons to continue to innovate and push society forward. If the common people were to be just handed money undeservingly, systematically for long periods of time, not only will you see high inflations negating the whole distribution, the uncommons will likely rebel against the very same system that made that a non-poor in the first place. 

Being an uncommon is not just about having money, it’s about having attributes that runs contrary to most lottery winners. In other words, it’s not just about having money, it’s the whole force multiplier of being born into an uncommon ecosystem, material wealth or not, that allow one to pick up things like manners, worldview, elite confidence with rechargeable whenever it’s low, world class education, mentors, success ambiance, elite education, elite networks, elite historical pedigree from thousands of years ago and so on. But you know what will work and has been tested? A form of economic crutches like being on food stamps that not only helps people but make the uncommon still feel superior due to the label. I think many uncommons may even fundraise for those who need these types of crutches. This is why the UBI will likely work in the West on a small scale and supplemental basis to unemployment insurance, welfare and other social safety nets. In fact, it will likely serve as a replacement for unemployment insurance because do many people will see their roles being reduced by technology advances. The government could also create provisions around the UBI that will maintain social order while a large number of people are unemployed and have nothing else to keep them metaphorically chained up. Obviously these people will likely be even more dependent on society than ever due to lack of practical experience working on the job. They may not even know how to communicate persuasively and convincingly or have the skills to survive a hypothetical apocalypse anymore but that’s beside the point. Tradeoffs at the end of the day are all about what benefits one could gain by doing something even if it’s just to mitigate risk. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

This is what I posted previously regarding this and similar topic(s):

“This is an era of rapid changes and self-preservation. We are talking about potential migration to other planets, space exploration, AI that could change our world, humanoid robotics and more. In this day of inflationary pressure and ever increasing changes, the regular person needs a way to invest their money safely and easily. Once that occurs through a 401(k) or IRA, the next step is try to find something that you are passionate about and can make money from. I will say it again, based on my experience working in many of these fields and knowing the speed of mass technological deployment, adaptation and integration numerous changes into daily lives, it will literally take decades. Even when they are fully implemented, in most democracies and market-oriented economies, there will be at least a decade where the holdouts from such technological advancements can still live reasonably comfortable without adaptation of such as advancements. Realistically, anyone who has already reached adulthood and is currently in the workforce will not be severely impact by any of this. 

Yes, you will likely need to learn to use some of these tools. Yes, your field may lose jobs from these advancements. Yes, you may even lose your job from such advancements. However, at this stage, you will likely get away with learning only surface level/superficial knowledge about these tools and do just fine. Yes, your field may be lose jobs and you may need to find a new job at some point, however, due to the lack of uniformity globally regarding protocol, ethics and direction among other issues, the schools are not training their students well enough to really replace you in that regard. You will likely have more advantage in the field learning these things than the students in the career pipeline. There are just too many kinks to be worked out. Humans have yet to master many of the more critical issues like the human brain, equitably distribute wealth and work in light of major technological advances, creating unlimited energy and water, creating unlimited amount of food, artificial womb births among other things to really teach the AI/robots/whatever to replace humans never mind colonize other planets in most people’s lifetimes at this moment. 

At this point, learning the basics of coding and a major AI application likely will be enough of a basis to adapt further if one chooses to and need to. Economic priorities in this day and age often dictation the direction and speed of technological deployments. Based on the current economic model, people need to be gainfully employed in order to spend. If no one can afford to buy anything, what is the point of making a whole bunch of stuff that no one can afford to buy? Conversely if everyone gets a universal basic income distribution, what motivation do people have to contribute to society? When the majority of people have too much time on their hands, they may self-actualize to a degree that some people may not like……I doubt that is what everyone wants to see when the infrastructure to defuse such social contract related pressures can not be easily, systematically defused.”

From a cash flow standpoint, both are horrible as scalable strategies without cash inflows. The only way to make this work is if there is a continuous streamline of cash inflows that can support the outflows. The only way to build a steady cash inflow is by tapping into a liquid market. The liquid market has to be able to help you match the duration aka matching the inflows and outflows based on a volatility/risk-adjusted methodology measured by average time it takes to recover cash outflows. For example, if you horde a large sum of old wheat pennies, while the overall margin of old wheat Pennies when sold as collectibles might be good, it might take years to sell them all. When you perform a net present value analysis taking into account your opportunity costs, it might still look good on paper, however, you will soon realize adequate cash flow does not grow on trees. 

Most people and organizations are only willing to finance you for what you are capable of paying back in reasonable increments within a time range. Hoarding can constrain cash flow while active investing frequently rack up the transaction fees. A lot of things in life take time to materialize. Frequently transactions take a lot of daily monitoring and efforts yet it might hinder one from uncovering the intrinsic future value of an asset. Active investing shouldn’t be day trading or speculation in my opinion. If there is no long-term investing value that attracted you to a certain investment, you probably shouldn’t be investing in the first place. I think both strategies do have their optimal uses but both require complementary strategies to make them work. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote previously regarding this and similar topic(s): 

“Making money is all about cash flow. Think about it this way. Can you bring the money you didn’t mange to spend with you when it’s all over? Conversely, will they chase your debts when it’s all over?  The perspective is important in this regard. It takes investments in something to make money. That initial capital come from somewhere hence your financial health is mostly about managing cash flows. You typically need FU money/resources before you can do whatever you want but that doesn’t mean you should tolerate exploitation just because you don’t have FU money. Starting out without FU money just means you to be smart about certain things and stay low-key. If I were you, I would try to save and invest via 401(k) as much as possible. This era is not the time to get tied down by anything. Decrease as much liabilities as possible and don’t get pressured to establish a family if you are not ready for it whether mentally, physically or financially. This is an era of rapid changes and self-preservation. We are talking about potential migration to other planets, space exploration, AI that could change our world, humanoid robotics and more. In this day of inflationary pressure and ever increasing changes, the regular person needs a way to invest their money safely and easily. Once that occurs through a 401(k) or IRA, the next step is try to find something that you are passionate about and can make money from. 

You don’t have to do everything at once since you can get by with income from a regular job. Do this incrementally so eventually you will have something to fall back on. The truth is getting a job is not the hard part, it’s usually keeping a job that’s the hardest. When you are desperate, you will have no choice but to do things that sometimes are contrary to your best interests. To prevent this from happening, make sure you save enough and have an abundant and ready to use self-funded cash flow line so you can get by while you can find a new job if your current or previous job wasn’t right for you. When you have the leverage and is willing to and is able to defend yourself through legally compliant actions like quitting a job without training anyone else, you realistically just have your current or former employer the biggest FU finger. There is usually a 50-50 chance that either your boss compromises and work out how to make your work environment better for you or your boss may let you go. Either way, when you are financially able and have the necessary skills to find other employment opportunities, you really don’t need to worry at all. Even if your boss compromises, be sure to start looking for jobs anyway because you know compromising is not what bosses usually do for their subordinates eventually they will try to get what they want from you. To prevent that from happening, leave on your terms as soon as you are ready to do so. 

What I learned over the years is that you will almost never be 100% right on everything. In terms of investing, you can still make money if you are 50% right all the time. At the end of the day, it’s really all about managing risks, reaping returns and managing cash flow. If you are new to the financial market or if you just want stable growth, stick with index funds  that track large US indices like S&P 500 or one of those major non-index fund mutual funds offered by one of the big three US asset manager/brokerage firms. In fact, I believe everyone should have some of these as their portfolio baseline. Picking individual stocks/ETF as well as dabbling in derivatives like options and futures, OTC/Pink Sheets penny stocks and playing with margins etc should be left to the professionals. For one thing, the information gap is huge let alone knowledge and experience gap. You might not even have access to level 2 and level 3 data never mind a certain “terminal.” Heck you might not even have access or know how to do ALCO interest rate sensitivity, duration and gap analysis. You also may not know about the Money Desk to manage cash flow by matching borrowing and invest/loan while keeping a safe amount of liquidity. The US has the best and most stable financial system bar none. At a relatively low-risk return of approximately 10%+ annual returns on equity, which I personally consider it as risk-free plus and too big to fail, I am not a big fan of expend money to buy treasury/debt versus large/mega cap investments via mutual funds. All the extracurricular activities around beating the market to get an extra 5% or whatever like a blank comparing contest is meaningless for the regular person who gets maybe max $100 a year extra minus the fees that is if his or her portfolio is even large enough to participate in that fund/program and having to put up with all the potential snobby bulls*** and p****** scams. Even it reverses to the mean or way below due to aggressive tactics from these funds/programs or can’t get money out, that could create a huge issue for the regular person.”

I always tell people this. There are no such thing as useless skills. There are such things as underutilized skills however. When you are able to, learn as much as you can but do spend more time focusing on skills that are complementary to your overall strategy in life. For example, if you like collectible cards, there is a good chance that you are already learning valuable business lessons like buying and selling, supply and demand concepts, opportunity costs, metrics, macro and micro cyclical trends, analytics, etc. If you already had business acumen would you have spent all your money buying ultra-modern Pokemon cards that are experiencing a significant correction knowing everyone was doing that as well? Would you have spent all your money buying cards instead of investing a portion of your money somewhere else or saving some for rainy days? These types of cash flow management skills you don’t just innately have without having acquired them somewhere else first. 

The framework is important but so are the contents and structures within the framework. If you like collectibles, you probably need to understand the market, the demographics, it’s cyclical nature and skills such as an eye for aesthetics, knowledge of history, knowing how to authenticate and grade these assets, etc. I think the best side hustles are legally compliant activities that you can do passionately and relatively easily that have a large potential market for. Nowadays no matter what you do it’s all about marketing a brand that will accumulate brand equity. Brand equity at its very core is basically market trust. People who trust your brand will have a basic comfort of everything you do within a given industry range. This trust will eventually translate into lower customer acquisition cost, higher margins via premium pricing and higher sell volumes lowering average cost. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Best sustainable side hustles businesses that build transferable skills and brand equity. 

All things being equal and presuming you have very little in capital to start a sustainable side hustle, I think the best thing you could do are of the following:

1. Brainstorm about things that you could be good at and is passionate about.
2. Know what resources and how much resources are needed to start the business as well as future resource needed to expand the business. Resources are both financial like cash flow and non-financial like prior skills and experiences.
3. Take inventory of how much of the required resources you either have or can get and their opportunity costs. 
4. Once you have decided to start that side hustle business, take incremental, compartmentized steps to  achieve your goals such as developing a business plan, register a domain and create a website, get financing, tap into your network, marketing, file for intellectual property protection if necessary, register as a company etc. 
5. Start small before you scale. Your business model might change over time or several times in a month. 
6. Once you have laid the fundamentals and have a steady stream of business, then take your time to scale and secure whatever resources needed in whatever legally compliant manner to achieve that scale. 

If you understand business, you know cash flow and risk management are super important. The most successful business groups are usually well-diversified even if they don’t appear to be on the surface. There are cycles in every industry hence it’s important to protect your cash flow from both downside and upside risks. Diversification, arbitrage and hedging could be effective tools to do so. Contrary to popular belief, I think the best business models are the ones that anyone can do. I know there are many billionaires and possible trillion(s) in high-tech, oil and gas, real estate, hedge funds, banking and whatever. What is the problem here for most people? Most people don’t or/and can’t get that kind of cash flow to do any of that and even if they can probably can’t do it in scale. Most of the world’s businesses are small businesses and small businesses employ nearly 50% of the US workforce and over 70% of the global workforce. Apparently, low or lower barrier to entry didn’t stop small businesses from doing business, making payroll nor generating income for its owners. 

The Index is valued at $1,205 USD on August 9, 2026, a gain of +20.5% since its inception in July 2026 at $1,000 USD. 

Ben Rice: 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series #USC138 – 150 copies at $2.00 each = $300 Total Value at 24.90% Total Index Weight

Nick Kurtz: 2025 Topps Update Series #US201 – 100 copies at $1.50 each = $150 Total Value at 12.44% Total Index Weight

Nick Kurtz: 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series #USC178 – 150 copies at $2.50 each = $375 Total Value at 31.12% Total Index Weight

Bronny James Jr: 2024-25 Panini Basketball Haunted Hoops #279 – 600 copies at $0.50 each = $300 Total Value at 24.90% Total Index Weight

Pikachu: 1999 WOTC Pokemon Base Set  #58/102 – 10 copies at $8.00 each = $80 Total Value at 6.64% Total Index Weight

The United States Alternative Assets Collectible Cards Composite Index (USAACCCI) update for August 9, 2026.

The market is currently experiencing a market correction especially on the TCG side along with the summer lull. I believe the TCG correction on the modern cards are long overdue. The reality is many collectors either don’t even know most of the new Pokemon or even bothered to watch any of the new Pokemon episodes after than original series featuring the original 151 Pokemon. Unfortunately even the WOTC have not been spared at the lower to mid range markets. I personally think if the WOTC common non-holo or same period non-English official Pokemon cards are super cheap, it might not be a bad idea to load up on those within a few hundred dollars range. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

When you close your eyes forever, you probably won’t be able to take any of whatever you earned or owed to wherever you go next.  It basically comedown to two main scenarios in terms of cash management. You have enough money to spend or you don’t have enough money to spend. Whether any of that money “belongs” to you is basically irreverent from a life management standpoint. Put it this way, every second you are alive you will likely be incurring some type of cost one way or another that means you need cash inflows to offset you cash outflows. Western-aligned people frequently demonize credit cards because they are not disciplined with their money but not realizing in much of the world not only do they not have what essentially amounts to interest-free, short-term financing such as the function performed by credit cards, they also don’t have property rights or even the concept of private property ownership and protections. Please don’t get me started on the lack of any social welfare or safety nets whatsoever less a 401(K) program investing into a financial system that has over 200 years of history and has been growing about 10% plus every year. Yes, I know the difference between APR, APY, compound interest and whatever. In short, when there are safety nets like personal bankruptcy which much of the world are not civilized enough to have, people won’t be locked up in debtor’s prison, disappear suddenly or if they wake up they won’t find out they are missing organ(s) or something. Whatever your definition of an evil corporation or the cancel culture is, you probably haven’t travelled well enough to understand what true evil is. Credit cards are also streamlined enough for you to progress through levels of social trust worthiness. 

Social credits on the other hand probably will not. Even if you only AAFRL and not WAFRL, the American system allows everyone the opportunity to become trillionaires or whatever they want to be. Truthfully, saving alone is not the answer to living a good life. If all you do is deferring enjoyment of your youth so you can enjoy resources when you are at an age that diminishes your maximum enjoyment, what kind of living standards are we talking about here. You have to find a balance between securing a future and enjoying life to the maximum. A lot of the time this seems to be mental than physically but in reality, it’s both. If you don’t have FU money to say FU to anyone who wants to FU contrary to your best interests, you will be overcome with pressure and your desperation probably will make your situation worse. The way I like to think about this is, calculate how much FU capital you have. The goal is never about being the most liked person, in fact, I think the methodology should be based on calculating the probability of milking the hate resources by being as selfish and getting away with it.  This is basically the whole scheme with insurance and reinsurance risk calculations from an actuarial standpoint. There are literally thousands of US publicly-traded companies, around ten thousand publicly-traded companies in the world and over one thousand granular/detailed  level industries. In a work-life of maybe 50 years, there is probably no way in whatever world one could possibly work in every one of these companies and/or industries. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why credit cards are mostly great, cash rewards are somewhat good and rewards points are mostly terrible.

We are just talking about publicly-listed companies here. We are literally talking about hundreds of millions of companies when inclusive of non-publicly listed companies. Thinking like a capitalist, I would argue it’s the government and the biggest single beneficiaries from the system being functional’s job to ensure high morality and performance of social responsibilities. Why are we pretending NBA players don’t deserve millions and be seen as divinity for their god blessed natural gifts? Why are we pretending Ivy Leaguers are not blessed with whatever gifts depending on how they got their offer letters and how they graduated? Why are we pretending there aren’t tension, disgruntlement, unhappiness (due to social contract I can’t use a much stronger word) and begrudgement towards certain groups of people, certain people and certain entities? However the aggression is released in a legally permissible way be it through microaggressions, passive aggressions, “tears of special empowerment”, “be an ally” or whatever way, that may be an individual choice. Yes, all actions may result in some type of reaction, hence load balancing such anger from one place to another without creating or destroying it may be the temporary bubble relief that hold the system together. I think the beef between the top ten-ers and non-top ten-era are forever beefs that likely will never end because of limited resources that prompts all kinds of vices like a huge ego.  Frankly speaking, every single freedom that Americans have that other people don’t have are due to Americans’ strong yearning for freedom and generations of Americans fighting for their freedom even when it’s too difficult to do so. Many people who don’t have such freedoms know about this yet they still want to cry about their own cowardice and unwillingness to sacrifice. Hence one of the biggest forever beefs between different people and entities based on meritocracy and the freedom to transfer meritocratic passthroughs to offsprings and family members which typically exist in naturally in nature through evolution. 

At the end of the day, if you qualify for social security and has some kind of 401(k), it’s probably enough for a crutch of FU money for you to protect your rights. If you just keep $10K  in a 401(k) in your twenties, you will probably have $500K to $1 million by the time your retire on top of the social security money that has a COLA adjustment protection against inflation plus some cash in the bank and potentially some other assets. There may probably statistics out there regarding the correlation between working for a longer period of time and life expectancy. I digress. Do whatever you legally are permissible to do while enjoying whatever you can enjoy while you still can enjoy it on a balanced basis may be the best way to live one’s life. Whatever your opinions on reincarnation, legacy, spoiling your potentially undeserving offsprings/family members or giving it all back to the state, that’s your opinions. Let’s be honest, you are losing something every second when you lose every second when you are alive. Credit cards are not inherently evil, they are actually godsend under an economic model that protects personal property rights and human dignity. I think picking the right credit card(s) is all about utility and scalability, not necessarily about cost but more about value. The phone that much of the American population uses may or may not be the cheapest from an overall price standpoint, however, if you are able to compare feature for feature/hardware and software against competitors you will probably understand that the scale probably made a huge difference in terms of offering the best possible products within a certain price point that most people can accept. Ecosystem, reliability, residual value and the trust to only needing one at a time may also be selling points.

Significant cash rewards are pretty good if from certain two big credit cards organizations that are accepted by all not just by some hence likely limiting your choices. Though there may be a difference in tax treatment between spending-related cash/points rewards and other forms of cash/points rewards. I just think the more you spend the more you save is kind of logically flawed though if you are going to spend money on something anyway might as well get cash reward for it if possible and make overall sense. The issues with rewards points are not necessarily inherently embedded in its value proposition but it’s more about degrees of freedom and opportunity cost. It’s also an oxymoron to think the people who would really care about international traveling and lifestyle are not at least moderately bourgeois making decent money but are relatively time poor hence will probably be affected more by blackout dates than the people who are not worried about this type of lifestyle. These bourgeois are also frequently too mentally exhausted to be thinking about the best utilization of their points. They often have higher opportunity cost than the non-bourgeois level people. 

First of all, all five nations are part of the European Union so you know it’s relatively safe and stable to visit. Round trip from a major US city to the area is around $600 USD if you plan it ahead. These countries are also all part of Schengen Area so you can spend $100 to apply for a visa that will allow you to visit 29 countries in the zone. What I like about this route is its uniqueness, ease of traveling for tourists and its cost-to-value ratio. I think summertime is the best time to visit but I think spring and fall can be good times to visit too. 

Do not bring any luggage except a small backpack with one pair of stocks, one inner wear of each required type, a light jacket, an upper and lower body garment and bring sufficient amount of airplane/customs compliant non-liquid snacks as well as first aid kit and basic cold and flu medicine. In general, when you travel light during your vacation, you will have so much less stress, save so much time and money on everything you do. If you want to do some work you can use your smart phone to check emails. You don’t need to bring your laptop because people will probably understand you are on vacation. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

3-day US to Northern, Central, Eastern Europe and the Baltics (Finland, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) vacation under $1K USD. 

This is the route I recommend. Land in Helsinki, Finland in the morning. Walk around the city to enjoy its food and culture. On the same day take the approximately $40 USD, two-hour (offered multiple times a day) ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia. Next day, visit the Tallinn Old Town to enjoy its food and culture then take an approximately $30, five-hour bus ride (offered multiple times a time) to Riga, Latvia on the same day. Walk around the Old Town to enjoy its food and culture then hit one of the famous Latvia white sandy beaches. On the same day, take an approximately $40, four-hour train or bus ride to Vilnius, Lithuania (offered multiple times a day). Once arrived, visit some of its attractions and enjoy its culture and food. On the same day, go from Vilnius to Warsaw, Poland by train. There are two daily trains, one in the early morning and one at noon. The whole trip takes about eight-hours and cost about $30. You can also take the seven-hour bus for about $25 (offered multiple times a day). Visit the Warsaw Old Town and take a flight back to the US on the same day. 

The key here is you do not get a hotel room since you will take advantage of the long travel time to rest up and on your way from the US to Finland you slept well. We are really just talking about a little over two days of visiting Europe and about 20-hours of round trip flight hours. Of the approximately two days visiting Europe, a total of 18 hours of riding in a transportation which means more than enough sleep time if planned right. To save on budget and time, make sure you get an international phone plan while you are in the US and schedule an appointment with your bank if necessary and available to exchange Euro and some Polish zloty at decent rates. The other key here is bring snacks to eat if still hungry from outside dining, drink the free bottled water provided during the airplane ride when possible and don’t spend unnecessarily. Restaurant food per day for all five of these countries on average is probably going to be around $40 a day. It’s about $120 for three days. So round trip $600 airfare, $100 for visa, $150 for long-distance and intracity transportation cost, $120 for restaurant food and a few dollars for some inexpensive souvenirs can keep the budget below $1K USD. Obviously make sure you do ample research before you go. Make sure you take legally compliant safety measures and let your family and friends know where you are as frequently as possible while you are on the trip. 

This holds true for sports cards, TCGs and many other types of cards and collectibles. Sure many people collect some TCGs like Pokemon cards for their in-game functionalities. The vast majority of the people who do collect Pokemon cards do not play the tabletop game at all, most probably don’t even know how to play. Many of these people are not even the kids who follow-up with the animation. Why is this important? For one, if you take away the functional value of the card, what is left of the intrinsic value? I will let you think about that one. Do people who collect sports cards use the cards to play any games with it? What is exactly people collecting these cards for? Granted there are TCG franchises like Yu-Gi-Oh! And One Piece where a comparatively higher percentage of their card collectors actually play the TCG. This is why I don’t bother actively investing in these cards because at the end of the day these franchises will have more reasons to help the TCG players than TCG franchises that have a larger percentage of pure collectors. If you look at Yu-Gi-Oh!’s historical high-end appreciation trends along with its historical sets releases and compare that against equivalent levels of Pokemon sets/cards, you will know what I’m talking about. Then there are there are the different variations of the F***F*** cards, the flip bird card, 1990 baseball player shirtless with a bat card, the tobacco score board card, the Knicks card with notable audience members card, the Grizzlies musician card, the Love dunk card etc. Look at Brady’s Bowman rookie card versus his Fleer and Skybox rookie cards? 

The price difference is around at least 30X or more for similar conditioned cards. But did you know when those boxes/packed were released in 2000 they were all around three dollars? Bowman’s prestigious reputation did not always translate into being a higher priced card set, but many consumers may associate Bowman with GOAT cards like the 1952 Bowman Mantle card especially for cards of GOATs even if the 2000 Bowman football set were not mostly dumped into the ocean like what happened to the 1952 Bowman set. The 1952 Bowman Mantle card was actually not even Mantle’s true rookie card like the 1951 Topps card is. Before the 1990s, there were very few numbered or rare insert cards. Many of the cards described above were literally worthless when they were first released. To sum it all up, most people are buying cards at the early stages when certain cards were super cheap not to chase or speculate those cards, they likely bought these cards perhaps chasing other cards and not knowing what some of the non-chase cards will be worth in the future. They kept those cards for years because those cards were part of their memories/history and/or something appealed about the cards were appealing to them. Yes, some people now do factor in the appeal factor when investing in cards, but that’s only a small percentage of the collectors out there. Realistically, most of today’s hit cards are probably going to be relatively duds in the future just because of the nature of the card game of revering GOATs. This is also why I am not accumulating any Ohtani cards. It’s true Ohtani is one of the all-time greats. However, realistically and without talking about this in details, Ohtani might be a lot like Rose, Jordan, Shoeless and Bonds in certain aspects. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why you should not ignore the aesthetic, branding, backstory and history behind a collectible card.

If we are going to be honest, Trout might be a lot like Bonds too in certain aspect(s). A 1986-1987 Fleer #57 Jordan rookie card in graded “8” condition was around $1K in 2000, it’s about $15K in 2026. The issue here is when you bought it for around $1K in 2000 you probably only paid $1K but when you sold the card slab in 2026, you will probably get $13K after the transaction fees, shipping fees and potential best offer discounts. On paper that’s a really good ROI. The issue here is of course inflation and comparables. If that same amount was put into some type of mutual fund that track the S&P 500 it would probably be about $9K by now. There is also S&P 500 at that time and likely now was/is probably seen as a much safer/much more liquid investment benchmark/index than investing in cards by a lot of people hence from an investment standpoint, once a significant risk premium discount is considered for the sports card, the ROI from the sports card is probably not all that attractive. There is also the issue that in 2000, there were so many good investments opportunities few people know about due to information asymmetry that could have yield a much larger return like a 1999 1st Edition/Shadowless/Base Set Charizard. Plus $1K spent on a single card in 2000 was probably seen as a crazy at the time. The bigger issue I see is GOATs in sports change all the time because perception change, game rules change, society change, standards for GOATs metrics change, the world changes and recency bias may apply. With TCG it’s all about cultural relevance and franchises growth. The one unescapable issue that will follow a lot of alternative assets is the fungibility issue. When you talk about stocks, bonds and securities, you are able to talk about one share of the same class of stock in money terms and know exactly how much is issued, in float, earnings per share and thereby calculate market cap, beta, alpha, quick ratio, cost of debt and equity, risk free rate and compare against almost all similar and dissimilar investment grade financial instruments. 

Basically what dictate the growth of a securities asset is typically the potential of generating more money in the future whether due to appreciate or dividends and everyone participate in the market somehow in the Western world including governments, banks and the regular person. With alternative assets like cards, there is no true/transparent way to actually measure how much of the card of an athlete or TCG is intrinsically worth or should be worth. Compound this issue with different grading companies grading companies assigning different card grades without any resemblance of fungibility while not knowing how many cards are produced and no easy way to know if it’s real or fake without significant additional opportunity and financial costs. Plus the ecosystem, infrastructure, regulations, monitoring and enforcement of rules are just not there yet. In quite a few countries buying packs to rip may be seen as a form of gambling and requires the card companies to label the odds of finding various cards in the set. In reality, the odds of getting a card of significant value from an expected value standpoint may probably be similar or even worse than winning a significant lottery prize or winning something significant from legal compliant activities similar to the lottery. With no exaggeration, there are literally tens of thousands of publicly listed companies that have larger market capitalization than the value of the entire global collectible cards market. There are also companies that are over a trillion dollars in market capitalization. I think the cards market may get over $1 trillion in market size some time in the future with such high CAGR growth. I just don’t think it’s there just yet. All I’m trying to say is, right now, I believe the collectible cards market is still in a state of information asymmetry and illiquidity. It’s still somewhat of a wild, wild West. That being said, the smart investors with a pipeline investment strategy probably is going to win out in the long run. All the iconic cards that are worth a lot of money started being worth almost nothing. It’s really the early stage aspect of lower-end cards that may likely make the big bucks and have the highest ROI. You don’t need to spend big money in collectible cards to win big. It’s actually pretty smart to spend just marginally on collectible cards and invest in else where. Think about it this way, the global equity market is a multiple hundred trillion dollar market while the global sports cards market is a tens of billions dollars market. There is not enough liquidity for the market to be a true mainstream investment vehicle right now. How much something will worth in the future in the collectible cards market may have very little correlation with their current prices except for the multiplier factors on some of the chase cards, even then its appreciation value depends on the performance of the “underlying asset.”

K looked through the peephole, no one was on the other side. K figured someone probably accidentally knocked on the wrong door. K sat down on the hotel bed and ran some image and text searches on the internet. That inscription was apparently inscribed on many finely crafted items back in the old days. Upon further research, K was able to locate the physical location of the local shop that made the items only to be disappointed that the shop closed down several decades ago. After K had visited the ill family member in the hospital that  morning, K went to see the old legacy address of the shop. The shop had long been torn apart and was replaced by a small museum showcasing its history. According to the museum’s docent, the shop was famous for producing handcrafted premium household durable goods for nobles, elites and wealthy merchants living in the local area.  While browsing the museum, K noticed pages from the book with all the old houses were on display in every exhibition hall that featured various items the shop made that were used by these households in everyday life. At this point, K had gotten all the information that could be gathered from the museum and decided to leave. 

As K was casually walking out while still glancing at some of the old photographs, something that K saw had subliminally intrigued K. K stopped, looked closely at the old photograph then realized, the man in the old photograph appears to be the same old man in the painting K had visited in that old house from K’s childhood. The only difference was the man in the picture appeared to be much younger at the time when the photograph was taken. K took a photograph of the picture then proceeded to ask the docent who the man was. According to the docent, the man in the photograph was a government official who later became a successful seafaring merchant. When K returned back to the hotel, K began to do more research on the life of the merchant in the photograph as well as looking through the book with the old buildings in detail. The next morning, K woke up early for a stroll on the beach. After the walk K stopped at an old cafe shop for some breakfast. 

The owner of the cafe was hospitable even telling K stories about the neighborhood where the old house is located. K then told the owner about the book and the owner gave K a big surprise by pointing to the counter wall where stacks of the same book is for sale then stating the author of the book is the co-owner of the cafe. The owner made a call and the author of the book agreed to meet K that same night. That evening, K and the author chatted for hours about life and the book with ample amount of newly gained respect for each other. The author revealed a secret about the old house and the man in the portrait not known to the general public. Nearly hundred years ago the family simply vanished from public views with their house left completely intact like they never left at all. No one knew for sure where they went. Over the next several decades there were speculations about their whereabouts. Some believe they perished during the turbulent wartime periods while others believe they lived a hermit life on one of the many islands hundreds of nautical miles off the coast. Their indirect descendants, several times removed, who live overseas occasional come back to visit and engage in philanthropy. The biggest mystery of them all is what happened to the family’s vast wealth. The man in the portrait was purported to be the richest person in the region owning large sums of land, buildings, money and some of the rarest items from the ancient world. 

The word in the elite small circles are that over the years there were countless secretive organizations looking for a treasure map created by the patriarch of the family so that the family’s descendants could find their treasures. After a few drinks, the author brought K to a small room to show K a picture album filled with photos showing the inside of the house and the family that once owned it. The author told K that the book was financed by a company that doesn’t seem to know anything about the book publishing world. The author suspect the book publisher is just a front for an organization or a group of organizations looking for the book to be published so they can lure the direct descendants of the family to lead them to the treasures. Out of the blue, a group of men rushed into the room and the author went from an amicable friend to a hostile enemy. The author asked K, who are you and why are you here……

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

K froze. A few seconds later, K felt another light tap on the right shoulder. K suppressed the anticipatory fear then bravely turned around only to find nothing there. The eeriness had K shook. Just when K was about to walk back to civilization, K saw something moving in one of the old houses through the corner of the left eye. K moved closer to look through the crack between the two sides of the closed gate only to find a squirrel running around inside. Just when K was about to leave and instinctively pushed against one of the gate doors, the gate door opened. As K hesitated in deciding whether to step inside of the gated area or not as every gate at other houses that K checked earlier were all locked, K saw a dated sign at least decades old at the corner of the building that said “cafe on the basement floor.” 

The building, like all the other surrounding buildings in the complex, appears to have been built a century or two ago. K was scared yet at the same time seeing the sign piqued K’s interest. The inside of the building was reasonably spacious, slightly dim and dusty but was not pitch black because sunlight shone through its many windows. K turned on the cellphone flashlight temporarily to get better visibility of the building knowing at the current phone battery power levels the phone will only be on for a few more minutes and that this will be the last place that will be visited during this trip. The inside of the first floor basically had nothing else but empty bookshelves around its walls and sconces. Although everything were cleared out, the style of the inner decorations along and the sconces were clearly from a time long ago. As K walked downstairs to the basement, only a faint light can be seen derived from emitting sunlight via a small basement window. There were literally nothing inside besides some bookshelves and sconces. There were no sign of a cafe anywhere in sight. Just as K was about to leave, K spotted a small inscription casted on one of the sconces. 

K took a picture of that and went back to the first floor. The building also had a second floor and another house within the same yard right behind it. K tried to go upstairs only to find the stairs were completely removed hence no easy way to walk up. The house behind it appears to be unlocked. K wanted to explore further, however, when K noticed the cellphone battery level was at 5% and the sun is about to set, K quickly left the complex and walked back to civilization. When K arrived back to the hotel, K ate some food, took a shower, hit the bed and fell asleep. K had a very long yet profound dream that same night. When K woke up in the morning, K still vividly remember the dream. It was then that K finally remembered details about the house that K kept dreaming about for years. 

When K was just a child, K wandered into an empty house in that neighborhood. The door was locked but K managed to squeeze under the space between the bottom of the gate door and the dirt floor. Once the young K traversed through the yard and got inside of the building, young K was shocked by the room’s grandeur. There were bookshelves stacked full of old books, a table that had letters and old money and coins on it, and many fascinating news things that bewildered K at the time. K did not take anything from the house but sort of remember a portrait of a man that K does not recognize hanging on the wall. Because this had happened to K at a very young age, K only vaguely remember this event may have happened but could not definitively recall whether this happened in a dream or in real life. Just when K was about to leave for the hospital to visit the ill family remember, someone knocked the hotel room door…..

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Because most companies in North America and Europe are the busiest toward the end of the year holiday season due to increases in business activities during that period of time. Also, budgets for the year is typically on a use it or lose it basis. Combined with the holiday season and compliance requirements, a lot of hiring and business activities happen during that time. Then the beginning of next year starts with all kinds of business objectives and regulatory requirements that need to be fulfilled by all departments within the company. This means the white-collar workers will be extremely busy and no time to train new people. This is when bosses are the most vulnerable and locked in on short-term sunk cost. Unless you are super terrible, many bosses will probably not fire you at that moment and if they do want to fire you, they probably wait until the end of Q2 around summer time closer to the end of the summer. They likely will be on vacation so they want someone to do the work then when people start to look for work again in late August and early September, they feel more confident about finding a qualified candidate to replace you in the position. Why is this important? 

Well, if you remember my RAAALTE formula with the WAFRL and AAFRL components, the busy times are probably the best time to experiment with AAFRLing if your heart desires because you will be at a position of strength. By the time they figure out your semi-quiet quitting, you will have move on to find another job if it comes to that. Remember working for people won’t make you rich and probably will worsen your overall health versus doing what you like to do. Making money is all about cash flow. Think about it this way. Can you bring the money you didn’t mange to spend with you when it’s all over? Conversely, will they chase your debts when it’s all over?  The perspective is important in this regard. It takes investments in something to make money. That initial capital come from somewhere hence your financial health is mostly about managing cash flows. You typically need FU money/resources before you can do whatever you want but that doesn’t mean you should tolerate exploitation just because you don’t have FU money. Starting out without FU money just means you to be smart about certain things and stay low-key. You probably need to take BS from people but gauge the level of BS to ensure it is tolerable. The good thing about just starting out is, because your workplace stature is so low and you are probably being paid so little, people will probably feel more sorry or superior than you to view you as a threat. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Why getting hired in August or September for an office position is the best from a short-term job security standpoint.

This is an important distinct as many white-collar people who bully people in the workplace tend to be of certain demographic group which I will not elaborate further. But the common denominator of their motivation is usually job security or job advancement in pursuit of job security. Most of these people will not view a lowly entry level person as an obstacle to their pursuits hence if they do bully low level workers, they will likely resort to using low-level busy work punishment or resort to nasty/rude languages. They usually won’t use their upper level “tears” arsenal against you in the workplace. It’s when you become a threat to them do they start really giving you a hard time. Listen in this day and age, no one is sure what the next day will be like even the potentially bully probably doesn’t know. Therefore it’s important that you have options. There are over a hundred industry and/or sub-industries and literally tens of millions of companies in the US alone and tens of thousands of super large US employers spread out in every US state and/or territories. That means it’s almost impossible for you to not get a job in some form or another even if you are one of those people who change jobs every few months. As you gain more experience, you will learn how to interview and write legally compliant resumes and cover letters that also allow you to get a job as a frequent job hopper. 99.9999999% of all jobs are basically akin to hand-to-mouth sharecropping/subsistence farming because even if you are the statistical few who make above 100K dollars a year, you are only paid a small trickle amount of that every two weeks that is if you are working. This means it will always be hard to save as employers control your cash flow and not giving you sufficient cash flows in advance to generate passive income. Plus if you WAFRL, you won’t even have enough free time nor energy to invest in yourself/your future. 

Most employers expect you to devote your full and undivided attention to work and they frequently put pressure on you when you don’t. The issue is, you won’t have the cash flow, time, skills nor experience to start your own ventures. Many employers also make you sign agreements/clauses to prevent you from doing something that may be “adverse to their best interests.” This is precisely why you may want/need to manage your career like a short race rather than a marathon. Even if you only invest 10K dollars into your 401(k) when you start out in your young career, after 40 to 50 years that 10K dollars can become over one million dollars. Coupled that with Social Security and some basic savings, it will probably be enough for a modest retirement at the very least. What I am trying to say is there are enough safety net the government have built a structure for you to take calculated risks. In essence, your biggest issue will not even be debt as there are generous bankruptcy laws in the US that protect the bankrupted not every country have. These social safety nets obvious encourage taking calculated risks that have benefited the US economy greatly. To be honest, it’s difficult to starve nor be shelterless in most US jurisdictions as there are attentive daily necessity safety nets too. I think the real issue for you is to figure out what kind of life you want to live. That’s where I think strategize and compartmentalize your career become super important. Personally I think higher education is the low hanging fruit. Getting that higher education is like having a transferable skill in all industries. It will open a lot of doors and networks. You will meet the most diverse groups of people that you can develop into long-lasting relationships with in higher learning. Because once you go into the workforce, your circle will get smaller and smaller. 

Of course, not everyone can get into global top ten US-based universities but that’s another story. I think the more important point is spending money wisely. Enhancing your accredited educational level is probably one of the best investments anywhere. Knowledge is frequently a medium to gain power/influence and/or money. Whatever way you decide to live life, remember to do what you love to do and reasonably respect the rules that allow you to survive and strive. Most important, within a reasonable range, don’t take BS from anyone. Taking in the BS baggage may severally hurt your own health and decrease your standard of living/happiness. Once you have FU money, either call out the BS immediately or within a reasonable amount of time or leave for somewhere else if possible when legally compliant to do so. Remember, you are managing your career like a hospice manage a patient or a coach manage an end of the game scenario because everyone has an expiration data at least most likely in this life-time. You are not trying to win forever or stay at a place forever or make everyone like you/happy with you, you are simply trying to live the best life possible within a limited amount of time you have while you are here. 

Listen, you know I won’t talk about this in detail due to social contract reasons but I think baseball style cards subtle valuation criterions are coming to basketball cards as well. The Eastern Europeans or Western European cousins of Eastern Europeans players were the first step to this process starting in the late 1980s. This evolution has morphed into a suburb state pipeline into the NCAA and finally into the NBA. There are more and more American Caucasian players who may have their confidence depressed for years due to certain basketball related movie(s) which I shall not name and name calling/insinuations from certain demographic groups who may have entrenched interests to keep Caucasian and other groups of people from excelling in the sport. These actions potentially kept a certain demographic group only chasing roles in a few industry through superficial get rich schemes that the industry professionals themselves know it’s literally a lottery of a chance of succeeding. Not only other people who may be more talented are prevented from entering these industries, it also may have prevented societal and economic progress which America’s adversaries may be exploring. 

Jaylen Brown and Lebron James should be lauded as social movement leaders for their insightful observations on social events and likely should serve as the model celebrities in certain communities. This is why Lebron and not Jordan is the GOAT. The West Coast especially the Hollywood region is known for setting trends. The success of a certain team located in that area may be emulate throughout the league and in other sports leagues regardless of the attributes of the leagues. Over 60% of all NCAA active athletes in recent history are white, nearly 30% of all NCAA men’s D1 basketball players are white yet only around 15% of NBA players are white. The women’s basketball side is even more skewed in this regard in terms of the pipeline to the professional level. Not only can white basketball players shoot the ball well, they can also become multiple time NBA Slam Dunk champions. If more white players are in the NBA and other leagues in the Western world and if white players are not figuratively emasculated, belittled, degraded and/or minoritized, perhaps the majority population of America will embrace it like baseball and the majority of the Western world will embrace it like the English Premier League. Imagine how much additional value this one act could unlock? Being an economic lightweight demographic group should not be a victimization card for blaming others for your potential issues. There are literally demographic group(s) in the US with single-digit composition of the population with higher or close being equal aggregate GDP power, double median income and much higher percentage of higher educational attainment than a certain demographic group with double-digit composition of the US population. It may be time to stop making selective excuse on why you are not succeeding in most things. America can no longer afford to welfare state these potential people with resource allocations needed in more critical areas like domestic talent development, high tech manufacturing, R&D, space exploration etc. Wasting resources on AI and chatbots to provide political correction answers on the other hand may be a prime example of resources misallocation.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

The rise of White American Caucasian basketball players in the NBA and the baseball-cardification of basketball card valuation.

The Western world is the most powerful and richest entity in the history of the world. It’s just strange that the majority is minoritized by the minority in a league that is mostly owned by the majority. This never happens in any potentially authoritarian or undemocratic countries where many of America’s domestic detractors may frequently points to as the beacon of their fantasies and where they claim they want to move to. This will also likely force the decision makers to stop giving people crutches and give them the incentives to diversify into other fields that the Western world could benefit from. It may also help a certain group people get over their victimization and possibly become more grateful. In many of the countries the domestic detractors point to as advanced civilizations, they would make these people work for food with no private property ownership nor any resemblance of long-term future to speak of. While people from certain demographic group(s) denounce certain West Coast team for utilizing a starting five made up of predominately white players, your favorite TPC think this is the beginning to more white representation in America where MEI models are utilized. They utilizing America’s own freedoms trying to obstruct the progress of more white empowerment in professional basketball sports, on both the men’s and women’s side. Future economists will be baffled how the authorities allow this imbalance to continue to happen that may potentially hurt America’s own future. 

A certain West Coast team is showing the world how things should likely be. They are probably taking heat for this but in return, they are turning out to be either true patriots or accidental patriots powered by capitalism. The Knicks should also be lauded for being an organization with Villanova style class and character that instill value into the next generation of Americans. In the future, there likely will be a time when white players from the past will be given the merit-based recognition they deserve. Many great white players in the NBA are almost never talked about or are belittled. The legacy system in the NBA is extremely severe where kids of athletes from certain demographic group overwhelming take away draft/two-way/roster spots from deserving white players who were never given a chance to shine and have to constantly live in the belittling cycle of insults from the industry who lean in a direction against their progress. It is just ironic how the same people may constantly talk about being treated unfairly yet when it comes to their own interests, they want an unfair system in place where only their own people are involved in the sport despite the majority of the population are white. Any business knows tailoring a product that the majority of your customer base may like is a wise decision. Many white players are derided for just being themselves and that West Coast NBA may also be unfairly labeled as Sxxwtime ______ a clearly insulting, disrespectful and socially unacceptable term. From a basketball cards investing standpoint, I think this is the age of white superstars in the NBA. C_____ C_____ on the women’s basketball side is only the beginning. I can think of numerous emerging white American superstars in the making besides the Eastern Europeans in the NBA right now. This is not just because of the transition toward more skill, IQ and EQ MEI type of shift, this is actually just regression toward the mean. From a physical standpoint, the average white American is taller than all other types of American or foreign group of people in America. This means white Americans are more physically gifted and statically speaking better suited to play basketball and other organized sports where height is important. 

Height can’t be taught either. While people also tend to have bigger palms which possess a much bigger advantage in terms of palming the ball than a slightly longer finger that are likely slimmer. Many lies may have been perpetuated, increase sizes of certain things when it is simply scientifically proven not true, by certain people who may have entranced interests themselves or are the force behind these entrances interests to keep America from being a MEI based nation that made it a superpower. If one is not worth the salt, then one may probably not deserve to have the salt. Those new rookie cards of white players you thought are never going to be good might be worth a lot more in the future when they are given equal chance to shine and to prove themselves like everyone else. America needs AI, manufacturing, space technology, will to succeed, scientific researchers, semiconductors and educated well-to-do people who aspire to do more. The drive that made America into a superpower cannot be impeded by distractions and useless daily complaints about why things are so hard from America’s internal detractor(s), figurative handout panhandlers who may do more harm than good potentially aided in some way by America’s existential number one archenemy. It’s ironic America’s archenemy would never welcome immigrants in scale of any kind especially people of certain demographics massively into their country yet they have no issues causing disease and suffering in the world and through propaganda, polluting the minds of the most vulnerable. As America transition through admitting more MEI policies especially in the education sector, more focus will likely be put into transiting skills into the hands and minds of true Americans who love America with a mono-allegiance to the flag without any potential prior/present/future poly commitments elsewhere even if it’s just potentially. 

The biggest issue with cryptocurrency is transparency. I’m not talking transparency in the sense that you must give up protecting your personal privacy and your financial transactions. I’m talking about calling a spade a spade. Would you be comfortable literally put most or all your savings into a class of assets that was basically invented by a mystery person with the value of the assets protected by almost nothing, no regulation in the market and valuation may frequently based on the actions of a few “whales.” I’m not just talking about Bitcoin and Ethereum, I’m talking about the other hundreds of billions in whatever possible pump and dump crypto coins that probably fluctuates more than most penny stocks. I’m not talking about stablecoins which are basically just a medium of exchange, I’m talking about the people who made their money by buying these coins when they were almost worthless now getting other people to buy these at extraordinary prices when none of the fundamentals with these coins really changed that much. You need to look no further than looking at what happened to the NFTs. How did that turn out? 

The only thing I think is innovative regarding crypto is the blockchain technology. I think from an investmentability standpoint, if you want to invest in digital assets, domain names might be a better investment if you know what you are doing. Domains are basically something every entity on this planet might need if they plan to operate digital door front to the world. There are over 400 million domains already registered with an annual registration growth of about 7%.  With AI, IOT, metaverse, punycode domains and virtualization of everything, demand for domain names will likely continue to grow in the near future. Although domain investing is probably not for everyone, domains have been around for nearly half a century and most people take domain investing as a serious type of activity because domains as an asset class actually have a lot of use cases. Cryptocurrency trading volume has declined significantly. With the vast majority of Bitcoin mining already complete hence less hype around it, likely more stringent regulations coming regarding, potential crime concerns, cryptocurrency speculations, possible liquidity crunch, possible global economic pressures and with many governments likely having their own digital currency soon, I think the financial pressure will be too much for the retail cryptocurrency “investors” to not think about selling and getting away from the asset class. When the retail investors are struggling, the whales probably will try to get out before all the retail investors leave. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities. 

Digital assets investing: cryptocurrency (Bitcoin/Ethereum/stablecoins) or website domain names.

No one wants to catch a falling knife. You know what the scariest part is? The collateralization that have been happening for years. When the collateral is worth a lot less than the amount borrowed, margin calls and liquidation most likely will happen causing event more downward pressure in the crypto market. The other issue with crypto is valuation. When Bitcoin was only a few cents and few dollars it was just like a lottery ticket most people who were interested in it didn’t even bat an eye when buying it. Now that Bitcoin is literally in the high tens of thousands and previously was in the low hundred thousand dollar range, valuation become more important. There are no mainstream, consensus and concrete evaluation method for bitcoin and all cryptocurrency. People will frequently try to link valuable assets to cryptocurrency or make the scarcity argument, again, look at no further than what happened to NFT, a similar type of asset class. 

Valuation typically requires some type of intrinsic value or a use case. In the case of cryptocurrency the intrinsic value is quintessentially none and the use case is marginal at best. Many of the biggest fans of cryptocurrency are usually the ones who have entrenched interests in the asset class. This is also a lesson to why you should try to avoid speculation. When you are so entrenched into something even if it’s sunk cost, human emotions rather than rationale and reasoning take over. Speculating is probably one of the worse things that a common person could do because even if they initially made money, they don’t have the discipline nor experience to know how to stop. Digital assets are definitely the future, it’s just the future is probably not in cryptocurrency in the current form as it stands. Literally having the “face” of the asset class as some anonymous person that owns a large amount of the asset class but almost never shows up is probably quite concerning to most reasonable, experienced investors. 

I get that there is also stablecoins that sort of peg to some sort of valuable asset or currency. To me that functions more of a medium of exchange to allow one to transact in crypto payment than actual “investing” in it. As I have mentioned in a previous post, “most governments now either have or are exploring their own digital currencies. When you think about it, a decentralized currency won’t really work in the long-term without the backing of the centralized authorities for very rudimentary reasons. Almost everything that are considered highly liquid like gold and silver are essentially heavily regulated by the central authorities. Cryptocurrency might be a useful tool for those who care about their privacy for whatever reasons. I believe regulations are coming for crypto and it will likely require more streamlined tax reporting which will essentially limit the privacy aspect of the asset class. I personally would not bet on the cryptocurrency market to appreciate greatly in the long-term.”

The low-income and the working class make up the majority of the society and the world. If they had the kind of money and financing options to dish out that much money to buy and/or flip houses, at that very moment, housing prices will be super low as a flood of supplies will flood the market and money will be worth a lot less because everyone now somehow have money. I’m not talking about a primary residence which yields a lot of tax benefits when owning. I’m talking about investment properties and/or flipping houses. The whole system works the way it works now because only a selected few are wealthy enough to do this. Even if a regular person can take out large loans to get financing for a few houses for long-term investment or flipping, one wrong move or one unfortuitous event will derail all of it. Buying houses and maintaining houses including its land cost money  to maintain. Plus all you need is one bad renter to make you think twice about renting. The thing regarding real estate deals is you typically need a large sum of starting capital to get thing moving in this business. All the cycles in real estate can be long and cumbersome. 

The cyclical nature of real estate means cash flow is king. If you are not able to be sufficient in cash flow, this is probably not the business for you especially you can’t dedicate at least a decade working in this business. When people realize how much property tax they have to pay just to own a property even if they don’t live there, all the potential maintenance costs, mortgage interests, government mandated property upkeep costs, potential decrease in property value, opportunity cost just on the time value of money tied up in down payments and all the energy they have to exert into the well-being of the property, they might think it’s the best investment for them. As for flipping houses, I doubt someone who just started out could do this as most of the time cash is needed to buy the property outright. Plus who you think will be responsible to fix the properties? You think renting out numerous rooms do not take much effort? What about dealing with unfriendly neighbors or a changing neighborhood? How about dealing with the HOA? 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote about this and similar topic(s) previously: 

“When you own a home and have a mortgage most of the cash flow you get as a common person go to the mortgage with little to invest into anything else. Sure you can rent our rooms or the whole house but regardless you will have maintenance cost to home ownership and a lot of other cost like your time and standard of living. The housing market also have these cycles and is highly linked to the economy, neighborhood well-being, interest rates and treasury. I just think you should only buy a house for non-money reasons as there are much better investments that such up less cash. Real estate is more of a heirloom thing for the mega rich not really how the common person get mega rich. If you think fixing up TLC houses will make you rich because you are a handyman, you may need to think twice because repairing is only a small part of the business. This business requires knowing people and being a people person, lead generation, cash flow financing management, knowing the law and regulations and a very calculating business sense. Most people are mistaken when they say buying is cheaper than renting. Without wasting all of our times with item by item calculations, I will just say most couples do not need four bed rooms and 2,000 square feet and front and back yards to live comfortably. If you are single or in a relationship and do not have kid(s), depending where you are, likely you can get a room for less than $1,000 USD. 

Owning a house include a lot of additional costs renting do not have such as property tax, mortgage interest, trash fees, mowing lawn fees, repair fees and much higher utility fees. Put it this way, a $300K USD mortgage for 30 years at 6% will cost about over $300K in interest alone in addition to the principal. All the closing cost plus the loan origination fee is probably at least a few thousand extra. Property tax for a $500K house at 2% is about $10K a year. Some people will argue that this amount is actually an investment into the local system that spurs additional investments into the local economy in term increase housing value. There are also special assessments. The average historical house price is about 4.5% compounded in the US and even more recent appreciate rates which are significantly lower than this which is significantly lower than the average compound return of US stock market at 10%. Yes, there are tax exclusion benefits (250K and 500K on profit exclusion for single and jointly tax filers respectively when you sell your primary residence), however, when you figure the intangible and tangible net benefits versus 401(k) (even considering SDIRA, Solo 401K or borrowing/withdrawal from 401(k)), I think overall is just not worth it. I mean if you significant other pressure you to buy a house even though you don’t want one because you think rationally and not emotionally, perhaps you should reconsider your life’s choices. Plus tying people down with more sink cost and increase their switching cost are mostly tactics used by those who are trying to depose of depreciating asset which you know I for sure won’t elaborate on. 

I think this generation of people have made a different life choice with increasingly more DINKing, staying single and prenups. You got to learn that anything unpopular is typically due to vested interested preventing it from being popular. Over time, the proof is in the pudding. As long as you don’t feel embarrassed by your own decision making, the clown is the OPP. Being a permanent contrarian will always yield a higher return because all higher returns are made by those who venture into something that no one else is doing that yield huge margins and set them apart. Of course to be a permanent contrarian you have to constantly adapt to changes. Though I consider myself as a third wave vanguard permanent contrarian who contra others actions just before a new industrial revolution. This lowers my cost of contrasting without spending on R&D while seeing the clinical trials of others and study the results. All great revolutionaries rode on the backs of the pioneers. I’m the permanent contrarian equivalent of buying the house just at the edge of Beverly Hills near South Central and Skid Row right after I hear the word regentrification, NIMBY and zoning change but just before everyone else hear those words and can process those words into information and taking investment actions.”

I recently created the United States Alternative Assets Collectible Cards Composite Index, Alternative Assets Collectible Cards Composite Index, Alternative Assets Collectibles Composite Index and the United States Alternative Assets Collectibles Composite Index for my own entertainment so I can track the growth of a select number of high potential collectible cards and potentially other types of collectibles in the future that I personally own. The current index value is at exactly $1,000 USD as of the commencement of this index on July 26, 2026. To be included in this index, a card must be readily, liquidly and abundantly tradable on the open markets across the world in large volume, estimated production quantity of 100,000 or more of that particular card at the time of issuance. This means cards in the index cannot be scarce or hard to find, must have global popularity and must be fungible, basically have to be base cards. Translations, a massively produced base card. Open markets can include various online and offline marketplaces as well as conventions and trading between collectors such as during trade nights. Any card included on this index must be produced by one of the major collectible cards producing companies that have a continuous history of producing cards. Card fractionalization are not included in the composite. No single card value at the point of inclusion should exceed 20% of the updated value of the index. In addition, the aggregate value of multiple copies of the same card at the point of inclusion cannot exceed 30% of the index’s updated value as a grouped asset class. At any given point, the index cannot contain less than 5 unique cards and cards of 3 different athlete/charter/entity/thing. No card(s) of any one athlete/charter/entity/thing even when on the same card with other athlete/charter/entity/thing can be more than 50% of the index updated value. Updated value meaning total value of the index after making inclusion and/or exclusion decisions for a certain index transaction activity. No more than 50 unique cards can be included in the index. All cards in the index are ungraded, raw cards presumed to be at near mint condition. Index value is calculated based on US dollars serving as its functioning currency and not based on points. The index time zone is US Eastern Time. The index value based on a particular date is calculated based on the approximate value at the end of the night of the date in question. 

Inclusion or exclusion decisions are based on a cocktail of factors but the ultimate goal is to simulate a risk-adjusted return, taking into account concepts such as alpha and beta, that is on par or exceed mainstream large cap+ US equity index returns such as S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average index. Obviously the collectible cards space is a ten plus billion market which is dwarfed by the nearly $100 trillion dollar US equity market alone and the nearly $200 trillion global equity market. When a card that was previously included in the index and is now excluded from the index, card(s) of equal dollar value to the card being replaced is added to the index. Current value, inclusion value and exclusion value are all based on market data I computed while making numerous adjustments to reflect discounts required to price in risk adjustments and priced in transaction fees, average global retail market value, wholesale value and liquidating value. All of these take into account of online e-commerce sold transactions and listings, OEM to distributor transaction trends and offline pricing such as the ones from big box retail, LCS, conventions and trade value among collectors. This means I am not simply using my acquisition cost as the inclusion value but rather a “standard cost” using the above mentioned data points as reference to form a basis for “market value” that covers both inclusion value, exclusion value and current value. Index value reporting will occur once a month around mid-month. To prevent window dressing, any inclusions and/or exclusions after the month of the index’s founding will occur at once on the same calendar day in the month and no later than the 10th calendar day of the month. This index has no divisor of any kind and no reinvestments of any kind is conducted as cards don’t pay dividends nor does it split into two or more identical cards. No new investment money into the fund occurs, no payout of any kind occurs and no compounded interest occurs. Index is not adjusted for inflation, deflation nor purchasing power. Basically, the whole point of this index is to see how much $1,000 in initial cards investment can generate on an average annual basis and how much it will grow into over time. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

The United States Alternative Assets Collectible Cards Composite Index (USAACCC) valued at $1,000 USD and its constituents as of the end of the night on July 26, 2026.

Ben Rice: 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series #USC138 – 150 copies at $2.00 each = $300 Total Value at 30% Total Index Weight

Nick Kurtz: 2025 Topps Update Series #US201 – 100 copies at $1.50 each = $150 Total Value at 15%Total Index Weight

Nick Kurtz: 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series #USC178 – 150 copies at $2.00 each = $300 Total Value at 30% Total Index Weight

Bronny James Jr: 2024-25 Panini Basketball Haunted Hoops #279 – 600 copies at $0.25 each = $150 Total Value at 15% Total Index Weight

Pikachu: 1999 WOTC Pokemon Base Set  #58/102 – 10 copies at $10.00 each = $100 Total Value at 10%Total Index Weight

The kind of fear that typically produce the most stress for a prolonged period of time is usually anticipatory fear. Most terrible, unanticipated events in life that could potentially happen to oneself, while cannot be completely stopped, their risks can usually be lowered through minimizing daily risky behaviors and performing active daily preventions. People fear negative consequences from unanticipated events and/or how they executed certain actions in various real-life scenarios that could bring negative consequences to them. Most people think their work-life is horrible due to one or two people at their workplaces especially how “bad” their boss is. This could not be any further from the truth. If you ever worked for “good” a boss or workplaces where everyone was nice to each other and work-life was great, you will come to realize these are also likely the same kind of people who could be terrible coworkers or a horrendous boss if they were placed into a bad environment. The ecosystem often changes people’s pattern of behaviors. Listen, when your boss is “bad”, if you already done an introspective of yourself and also talked to many other people who say they feel the same way, I think it’s probably time for you to start looking for a new job as soon as possible. Not because of your bad boss, it’s because the organization you work for is probably quite toxic and the industry may or may not be as well. Do you know why people commit fraud in the workplace? It’s not because they were born evil or corrupt, most likely the organization that they work for foster a culture that places tremendous pressure on its workforce to potentially conduct such behaviors. Whatever their policies and training videos say are irrelevant to what is actually happening. When the whole industry is experiencing a decline and the organization fails to make the type of sagacious investments that run contra to the current economic reality yet still expect extraordinary growth, what do you actually think may happen from a probability standpoint? Yes many will elect to just quit or get fired because they do not want to be pressured into doing what they believe are the wrong thing to do but from a probability standpoint there probably will be at least person who may cave under pressure and end up making the some of the biggest mistakes of their lives. In these kinds of situations, if you don’t leave on your own terms, most likely, you will leave on their terms. Taking advantage of desperation is something that was long engraved into capitalism. That is why it is so important to fight desperation with FU money. FU money serves as the gold reserve of moral compass by power projecting once’s capability to unleash personal MAD in a legally compliant way. This serves not only as a super effective buffer/deterrence but it also create a power multiplier effect where those who are trying to encroach on your best interests may have to give you more respect and/or more consideration than before they pressured you. Because now it’s no longer about where you will do what they ask you to do or now. Now it’s about ensuring you do not execute MAD in a legally compliant manner where you report them to legally compliant various channels. Despite organizations forcing employees to sign NDAs and all kinds of agreements, unfortunately for them, none of these will do jack s*** when there are clear laws written on prohibiting retaliations, courts frequently make these or clauses within these in these kinds of situations unenforceable and/or there are legally permissible carve out exemptions for whistleblowing frequently anonymously to certain channel(s). Many organizations especially the publicly-traded ones also have policies for reporting such things to management channels. Beyond that, what these people are most afraid of is once the general public and their shareholder/investors/bankers/financiers/regulators get their hands on such information, there is almost zero chance they could stop the negative consequences. The artificial person of an organization might still exist though it’s reputation greatly tarnish and might even want to change their name or merge with another company, the people who help it to conduct these actions will most likely be scapegoated. This is precisely having FU money and strong skills with top ten-er educational and corporate pedigree/experience is basically a game-changer every time. The best companies will always needs the best talents regardless the double edge sword issue therefore they will have a strong need for compliance, not out of the goodness of the artificial corporation’s heartless organs but because they want to continue to get paid a premium by the markets for being trustworthy and reliable. This is precisely why most of these people who commit these kinds of things for less than a few billion are usually not top ten-ers. When top ten-ers do this kind of thing they usually do it because the upside stakes are extremely high. 

If management are not from these schools, I might not even recommend working for them because they might not know any better. You know what the problem is? No, it’s not you, it’s not the so called bad boss, it’s not any one person or entity’s issue. You are working for a bad boss because the organization you work for most likely is experiencing issues. Think about it. If your boss is that bad and everyone complains about that boss yet he or she is still managing people in the long-term. What does that say about the organization that hired this individual? I take that back. It might not just be an issue with the organization but rather an industry-wide issue. Someone hired your boss, someone is doing periodic performance reviews of your boss and someone is paying your boss to be your boss. You see where the problem is? Some people claim bosses of certain ethnicity, age, religion and/or gender is better than others. Whether they are true or not, I will let you decide as I can’t really talk about these things due to social contract. I will say this much. If you believe certain demographic groups have certain tendencies that are somewhat unique to a certain degree versus other demographic groups, this belief may or may not be true. I think what is more interesting is if these were to be true, wouldn’t organizations that hire people of certain demographic groups above a certain government- mandated demographic hiring policy an indication of certain facts or factoids that one can safely extrapolate from without thinking out loud? Though this trend is changing as enemies both foreign and domestic may be trying to take away the core competency of the West leaving the necessity to utilize potentially distrusted groups to attend Ivy Leagues in large numbers and having them run important high tech industry though this could just be a stalling tactic as the West slowly but surely onshore or nearshore its capabilities while utilizing these people but eventually will develop its own native breed loyal talent pool who only potentially love one country with effective concentrated peer pressure due to their cultural immersion into the system. People leave bad bosses all the time. A lot of people believe they are just leaving a bad boss like a bad boss exist within an organization in a vacuum. What they don’t realize is that they are actually leaving the company that may be empowering these bad bosses due to certain business needs.  Don’t be fooled. Many of these companies have decades of finding out how to run a business. They know how to spot certain things. If a bad boss been bad for a long time in their role at the organization, you don’t think these profit oriented capitalist would know about it? Why didn’t they do something about it? You think you sending them an email or telling HR how bad your boss is going to change the situation? If a bad boss were to be fired, it most likely is a business decision made by the decision makers within the company. Don’t worry about your sunk cost. It already happened. Ensure you are able to convert your sunk cost into transferable skills.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Conquer your fears of working for a bad boss by learning Spanish.

I hate to tell you this but your bad boss is probably not “bad” in front of everyone. And the upper and lower bounds of your boss’ lousiness was already predetermined the moment you started your job application process with the organization that now or previously employed you. I think some of these questions below are important questions you may want to ask yourself to better understand your current work situation. Did you actually interview with your boss’ boss? Is your boss a middle manager or the head of that specialized department that you are employed under within the company? Did you get an office or a cubical? Did the company give you a higher offer than what than what the salary range listed on the original job description? Did everyone who interview you respond back to the email thank you letter you sent them? How long did you have to wait to get an offer letter? Did personnel within your department change shortly after you joined the company? Is your position a new position or a backfill for someone who quit or was let go? You are hired because they think you are able to produce significant value to their organization than what they are paying you, typically you would generate at least 3-5 times in average per worker revenue than what they pay out in salary and benefits. Believe it or not, your bad boss might be a very good person outside of work. Your boss may even think his or her boss is a bad boss. Bad bosses are usually a symptom of a toxic organization or industry not just a bad person running the department. Your bad boss is probably being put under a lot of pressure to be a “bad boss” in your eyes but that’s the only way he or she can be “a good employee” in the eyes of his or her bosses. Most people are not born evil even if this has been a forever debate among the various schools of philosophical thoughts on human goodness and evilness. Know why you are doing something, be good at what you do and having a backup plan usually break through fear even though fear will probably never go away completely as it is both physiological and physiological. You have to learn to plan big but execute in small steps. Making too much noise or waves may create situations where unexpected elements getting involved in various scenarios. Knowing tactically things will always change and adapt to overcome the negative affects of changes and embrace its opportunities will allow you to have a higher probability of achieving your grand plans. 

I think some of the most important things when choosing a company to work for is 1. Will you receive institutional support and on the job training that will allow you to gain meaningful, transferable skills? Your probability of having that is greatly increased when the big boss above your own boss interviewed you and approved your hiring. 2. Will you be treated fairly and relatively well? If this a highly profitable, well-established and heavily regulated industry, congrats, most likely you will have a decent work-life balance provided you are not toxic yourself. 3. Will you be promoted or be receiving substantial raises? That’s not something you really need to care about. Because in reality, if you don’t switch jobs every few years, either you will get grossly underpaid for your experiences or you will be eventually let go. Your next job will be much harder to find commiserate of your previous pay if you are let go or having skill stagnation. Switching jobs every two years is the new norm therefore there is no such thing as stability nor job security anymore. Don’t worry about becoming a manager because management positions especially middle management positions are not what they use to be. Update your skills and education to give yourself the best chances to be prepared for whatever challenges coming your way. A job is just a job. There is no such thing as careers anymore because skills need to be consistently updated and industry changes and converges ever increasingly so. Many so called careers have now become interdisciplinary fields requiring skills from different professions.   By the time you spent a decade in the industry, the entire industry and your job may completely change in front of your eyes. Whatever your chosen field is, just focus on updating your skills. The rat race is not humane, it’s usually necessary to start your own thing on the side.

Learning Spanish is super important in North America. Let’s be real, these people may seem useless to you, but a single cockroach dropping could cause diseases that could cause a global pandemic. While you may not care about or for these people at all and they may even greatly annoy you, but knowing what 30-50% of the future population thinks may just save your life. When you are able to do that, your unique thinking style plus your language skills and culture understanding of them will allow you to pick up a very strong FU skill that can help you build a deeper FU moat that could potentially allow you to live a relatively stress-free life. I wrote the below regarding learning Spanish in a previous post. “If you are a fluent English speaker, I believe Spanish is the absolute most important and easiest language to learn. Spanish speaking population segment will continue to grow rapidly worldwide and in North America Latinx/Hispanic descendants will likely account for over 30% of the population within 40 years. Spanish is a no brainer pick over French, despite its growth in usage in Africa, when choosing a second language for fluent English speakers for many reasons that I will not discuss here mostly due to social contract reasons. The hype over learning the supposed superpower East Asian country’s language in your life time is probably over and will likely yield little benefit as it struggles during its de-globalize/de-westernize phase during at the very least the better part of your career. That country realistically need to gain unfettered access to the Pacific Ocean to be on equal playing fields with the combined core Western Alliance aligned nations. It most likely won’t expand eastward into the Pacific due to impediments that they likely do not want to confront in the next decade at the very least and instead will likely explore northern and/or westward inland expansions, basically cannibalizing its own semi-alliances.”

Listen, as I have posted numerous times previously, nothing elude the economic patterns that have been tried and tested for millenniums. Supply and demand dictate macroeconomics. You can rationalize why there are increases or decreases in demand. Heck, you can even prophesying future trends. But when the torrential landslide occurs, regardless where you live in that geographical zone, you will be somewhat affected if not directly due to bad air, potential disease, surging prices, long lines, closure of everything everywhere and who knows what else. When everyone and their dogs like Pikachu and when Pikachu always says Pika Pika then the franchise proceed to sell as much products as possible within a given range for whatever reason,  you know a correction might be coming. I have some bad news for you if you are one of those people who is holding all those modern Pokemon cards and the sealed stuff and/or if you are one of those people who believe certain foreign language Pokemon cards will explode in value without understanding how the world works from a top ten-er standpoint, you are probably going to lose a lot of money. As I have said before and with the greatest respect for these fools, the Wall Street people in this game don’t care about cards nor educating the card loving people about the business world and are mostly in it to for pump and dump for the card people to hold the worthless falling knife bag. 

The cards people are mostly semi-educated and definitely don’t know finance, accounting nor economics. When you combine these people together…..actually, you can’t, but hypothetically speaking if you could, it’s an even bigger disaster waiting to happen. Frankly this is not even about buying at retail or not and this is not even about price gauging or scalpers. This is about everyone and their dogs got boxes of potentially future junk wax that they thought it would be worth a fortune not realizing why the vintage people made a fortune in the first place. The truth is back then only a very small number of people actually cares about or even collected Pokemon cards and many of these people were kids. Pokemon cards were considered child’s play and toys that was literally sold at the toy section. Also, many people and their parents treated their Pokemon cards like trash like putting the cards in bicycle spokes or dumping them into the dumpster and actually played with the cards. In the early days of Pokemon, some religious organizations went as far as calling Pokemon satanic, propagated occult culture or was the instrument of the devil. Then there were the comparison of Pokemon battles with “dog fighting.” For all these reasons and possibly more, the retention rate of Pokemon cards was not all that high and many of the base set 2 boxes and packs did not sell all that well due to mass production, perception issues and many of the issues mentioned above.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Hedging strategies for upside and downside risk protection in the Pokemon and sports cards markets. 

No one in their right mind in the late 1990s locked these things up in vaults or put these behind the customer service counters at big box retailers. These cards were massively produced in the late 1990s but it’s only a very small fraction of the around 10 billion Pokemon cards are being printed per annum. The WOTC Pokemon cards, in comparison to the current annual print volume, is extremely scarce, many people are too hyped up over the modern stuff to realize that. Unfortunately for them, when they do understand this, it will be too late for them to acquire these as most of the available cards are in the hands of the people who value them who silently started stealthily hoarding these in large numbers when everything was all about modern. These people are a very very very very small segment of the collecting world who control all the cards, yes it’s a pun. Many of these people were either the original dealers who sold these vintage cards when they were first released in the late 1990s and are now just holding on to old inventory or the people who got into the hobby as a kid and had boxes upon boxes of these and started buying when Pokemon market was extremely depressed for all those years when the 10,000 dollar vintage cards were only worth a few dollars. Then there are the big boys investors some of them transitioned from coins and banknotes and others were investors of other things who sensed an opportunity in the sports cards then later went into the TCG card markets in within the last two decades.  

This coming correction may be very brutal for many who treated this as a mainstream investment when the market is not mature enough to handle mainstream investment responsibilities. The biggest issue now is the regular people’s kids who can’t afford cable or Netflix won’t be able to be part of the new generation of Pokemon. I don’t think this very cause short term issues as most of the people who buy Pokemon cards are the big kids who passed their puberty years ago and most of these people don’t even watch the anime anyway and couldn’t tell you whether an artwork has eye appeal or not. I think this move won’t cause short-term issue nor medium-term issues for the Pokemon card market per se, however, it will cause a long-term issue where the market may price in slowing growth in potential fan base. I digress. I think the immediate downward pricing pressure is from the “everybody and their dogs” affect. Too many places are selling Pokemon cards giving vibes of the junk wax era and the unregulated double gambling element of getting a big hit and getting a high grade. The myth now is “sealed almost appreciate over time.” Which like a ticking clock where the dial points to the same 12 numbers at least twice a day, if you don’t care about inflation, purchasing power, time value of money or how many centuries it might take for that statement to be true, then yes, they are right. If you are rational though, you might need a new strategy. If I was holding many sealed and I know even the dealers might be selling them at discounts, I might take some calculated risks here depending on whether you bought a case or not. 

Right now, there are zero ethical and labeling mandates for x-raying card boxes or cases. Yes there maybe potential ethical and legal concerns about resealed products or even calling loose packs that were “searched” as “unsearched” if it was actually searched. But x-raying card boxes and card box cases seem to be completely legal without the ethical questions per the above in the United States. The surprising thing is these x-raying services are actually quite cheap. I personally think one could get an accurate grading score estimate of a card by using free AI grading tools/services but for some reason certain popular grading service still get tons of grading volume a sign that shows there are severe disconnects between the card collecting community and reality…..There is a low probability that these free card grading AI tools/services could even help you anticipate the potential grade of the potential grail card(s) in the sealed box/case to maximize potentials. Instead of keeping everything sealed and risk a bigger correction later, one could possibly use x-ray services to understand what’s actually in the sealed boxes/cases and open up the boxes and cases that contains the grails and sell the sealed boxes and cases that don’t contain the good super stuff. This practice though seems quite unethical and probably should be somewhat illegal or regulated but since it’s probably not right now, one could decide to do this to avoid a bigger loss now and ensure this advantage can be utilized before this behavior becomes either unethical, illegal, regulated or all of the above. 

The reality is most of the value and speculation in these sealed are the hope of finding a the perfectly conditioned grail card in the set. At the current moment, no one ask if a box/case has been scanned or not therefore not disclosing this fact likely is not considered even unethical at this point because there is no such wide recognition of such behavior being unethical. Obviously there may be radiation from x-raying but the potential safety concerned of x-raying sealed boxes/cases seems to be already adequately addressed online. Please do not jump from one hell hole into another. When everyone is selling and buying vintage, it might not be the best time to buy vintage right now due to higher prices.  In time of crisis, protect your wealth and everything else you care about first then worry about the rest. Stop the hemorrhaging first before you start your next move, that will give you the best chance for survival when you are no expert in survival. Dubbing your hands everywhere for a novice is likely going to make your situation ever worse. I also think the correction of the modern Pokemon set prices may also negative affect the prices of the vintages if this correction deepens into a potential crash or mini-crash. When a crash or a severe economic slowdown occurs or in the process of occurring in an economy, the central banks/governments usually take prompt and swift actions to save the economy (frequently these are coordinated actions taken by the entire world’s central authorities even between nemesis or enemies because everyone are negatively affected when the economy is suffering in any major market). Should someone or some/certain organizations/entities do something about this? I don’t really care as I am deeply diversified and cards collecting/investing at its core is basically just a hobby for me. I think even for those with large holding of vintages, selling now may be a good hedge against future demand induced liquidity sequences in the market where all cards will be hard to sell and it may be a race to the bottom. If it was me, I would probably sell most of my non-personal collection  cards now at its high point within the current given potential near peak levels and retain the vintage cards that are of lower value at the moment. I anticipate a further slide in prices soon. I don’t think this is the best time to buy Pokemon cards right now even for vintages. As for sports card, there almost seem to be a reciprocal pricing relationship between Pokemon cards (and other TCGs) and sports cards. Even though they are two similar asset classes, if you ever been to a cards show, you will notice the dynamic right away in that many large predominately sports cards shows have few Pokemon vendors and predominate Pokemon card shows have even smaller sports cards vendors. Basically while everyone is still hot on Pokemon, certain sports cards may be severely undervalued. 

As many modern Pokemon cards have declined in value, the hot sports cards market is not evenly spread out in terms of heat distribution. The blue chip legends’ cards are doing well but the non-Ohtani superstars and young future superstars’ cards are not doing all that well. Granted since I last discussed some of the undervalued relatively recent issued rookie cards that are worth buying, many of these young stars have either made to their first all-star games or are statistically all-star worthy and their rookie cards have 1 to 2X’d. I think many of these young superstar rookies with their rookie cards in 2025 are no brainer investments at a dollar or two per card. On the other hand, I am not so sure if a base Ohtani rookie is intrinsically really worth over 100 dollars per card. The real issue is, just like in the Western and especially American society, for reasons I won’t elaborate, after all the hype and potentially institutionalized hype dissipate when Ohtani past his career prime or retires, any number of things that people may link with Ohtani’s legacy will likely revert his card value to the mean of all the other players who experienced this kind of hype but ultimately we’re measures by how many steps down they are from the legacy of Babe Ruth and the other greats in the eyes of the large demographic of people in this hobby that actually determine the supply and demand and ultimately the baseline price they are willing to pay for the rookie cards of a certain player. 

Years after a life-time ago, K woke up in the morning and drove to work. It was just another daily grind of meaningless work and dumbfounding actions by K’s coworkers. It’s not fun living life like this but it pays the bills and keep life running.  By now, K is fully integrated into this mundane world of everyday monotony. While on a business trip, K discovered a tabletop book that was placed on a random counter in a country far away from where K lives. The book contained a comprehensive list of old buildings accompanied by various black and white photographs from centuries earlier of K’s homeland. One of these buildings resembled a house K had been to but could never whether it was in a dream or in real-life nor when, where and why. This particular house, located near an enigmatic wharf and sealed-off from the general public for decades. The wharf seems so minuscule in front of the vast ocean that it camouflaged into the environment like it never existed. The house and its extensive network of nearby buildings were built centuries ago earlier in a world that was once full of conflicts and opportunities. Now they are mostly abandoned due to decades of grand gentrification projects around them yet for some reason they were able to withstand the turmoils of history and become timeless edifices that traveled to the modern world. 

K couldn’t help but to reminisce the childhood days when almost everyday was an adventure of some sort. Back then life was much simpler when the only objective people had was to survive and strive, everything else were just ephemeral. Unfortunately for K, life still need to go on so K quickly read through the book and went on his day. A few months went by and life went on as usually. One day one of K’s close family members became terminally ill. K was able to get two weeks of PTO approved to fly home to see his family member. The trip was hectic but smooth, a life of traveling K had already gotten use to. After arriving home and visiting the hospital where K’s family member is staying, K went back to the hotel, was so exhausted and fell asleep soon after. 

The next morning, K noticed the same book that K had read months early appeared in front of him again, this time in the hotel room K was staying. When K opened the window of the hotel room, it then dawned on K that the group of old buildings were only yards away from the hotel room that could literally see through the windows. Though no recollections of when nor why K was there, that building had been part of K’s psyche for most of K’s life. K decided then and there it was absolutely necessary to locate that house and explore its mysterious once and for all even if it was a foggy day. After going through a maze of houses for which most of them remain locked, K could see through the door crack that none of them resembled the house K was searching for. As K traversed deeper and deeper into the narrow alleyways of the old buildings network and sunlight, the only source of emitting light became more and more dim as the streets became very quiet. 

With no human beings anywhere in sight, the only sounds K could hear were the crashing waves of the ocean and crows cawing. At that moment, K was completely disoriented by the seemingly ever growing sprawl complex. Out of the blue, K’s cellphone rang. It was just the alarm K had set earlier in the day to keep track of time. It was already in the afternoon, the phone’s battery was only at 30% and no phone signal. K was thirsty, hungry, exhausted and a little rattled, with no restaurants nor shops anywhere in sight, K took out the prepackaged snacks bought near the hotel and water out the backpack then gulped the water from the bottle while consuming the snacks. At this point, K badly wanted to leave the place but there was a small part of K that wanted to explore everything in the complex as K knows there won’t be a second visit. Just when K wanted to give up, K saw a shadow from the periphery of his eyes that went into one of the abandoned buildings. When K turned to the other direction to look, K felt a light tap on the left shoulder…..

The Legend of Ocekay novel series is based on a true, original story written by The Permanent Contrarian. The Legend of Ocekay novel series will be updated weekly on this site until the conclusion of the first part of the multi-part series. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

The answer is yes, but only when you buy bulk that include the chase cards and buy it super cheap. The biggest issue you will encounter when trying to sell these cards are most these cards are not eligible for grading by major grading companies which put significant downward pressure on the upside for these cards as investor of these cards will not get an optimal return from their investments. The other issue is liquidity. The franchise might be popular but the trading card might not be. The real play here is the long tail leverage strategy. For one, these cards are sold cheap mostly due to two reason. When the licensed manufacturer issued these cards, they likely overestimated the market demand and produced too many of these or the distributor and down channel merchants overestimated the market demand by ordering too many from the manufacturer of these cards. Secondly, the secondary market for these cards tanked and tons of these flooded the market and unable to move causing illiquidity. Prices will naturally be depressed and people will hesitate to buy these. The long tail leverage strategy will work best for these type of cards when they are cheaply sourced with abundant variety and in low quantities. The demand for these will not be very high so overtime many people will either discard these or store these somewhere and never list them again due to transaction fees and opportunity cost. This means few people will be selling these in the long-run. If you have a large quantity of different varieties of these types of chase cards, many of these will end up being sold just because the scarcity creates a desire to own. Why not buy as many as possible to sell if it’s so cheap to buy? The real issue here is the cash flow and intangible cost. 

When you sell something on a platform or just selling in general, you want to maintain a scenario where the market see the products you sell are high in demand which may help lift all products’ sales. If you have a few dollars here and a few dollars they’re tied up in many different things, you will not have efficient cash flow. If some of your items are in high quantity but not moving, it may let the platform’s algorithm know you are not doing well and may not be on the top section of the search bar. So who buy these cards anyway? Besides a small number of speculators and investors, the kind of people who typically buy these. As you might have already expected, are the franchise’s fan base. Many of these people may also somewhat like similar franchises in the same genre. Hence when you buy these cards, you may also be able to sell these cards to fans of similar franchises. If a franchise has been long running like the Simpsons, and if you can buy these chase cards cheaply in plenty of variety, it’s probably a solid deal. When you know a remake or a continuation of the franchise is happening, that’s typically when the cards of franchises that haven’t had any updates or new contents for years see increase in demand and likely increase in price. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Per my previous post, these are the franchises I believe will yield value when the long tail leverage strategy is implemented. 

Harry Potter – 2001 base set booster box, basically its first edition box, are undervalued at the $1,000 to $2,000 USD range considering its cultural impact and continued franchise successes. Considering how impactful the franchise is, I believe this is one of the best values in the history of TCGs at its current price levels. 

The Simpsons – Its first official TCG box released in 2003 by WOTC is probably a really good deal at around $100. The Simpsons, being one of the longest running animated series in the world has the kind of popular culture and historical relevance that will likely ensure some of its collectibles will have appreciable value over time. 

Garbage Pail Kids – I think the 1985 non-American Series 1 and all other versions of the 1985 box sets from that franchise are good value at a few hundred to a few thousand USD are good value. GPK is crossing genres now and I believe is doing quite well as a franchise. 

Fortnite – 2019 series 1 Fortnite card boxes are probably extremely underproduced. At the lower hundreds, if you are in the market for these, I believe these are probably some of the best values. Fortnite the game although no longer at its playing peak, is still extremely popular worldwide.

Ne Zha 2 – However you perceived the franchise and its country of origin, the movie is in the top five in terms of non-inflation adjusted box office revenue, regardless of how it got there…..Many of these boxes are so inexpensive at less than $10 for a full box (and they are mostly official cards from a country where knock-offs are frequently originate from, in this case, selective enforcement of copyrights from a certain entity works in the favor of collectors), they are just too good to pass up on if you are in the market for these items. The artwork, print quality and variety are quite good. One of the main versions is also printed by one of the biggest card companies in the world with collaboration with other top cards companies in the world. The original Ne Zha or the Ne Zha 1 movie from the same franchise set was not a global phenomenon at the level of Ne Zha 2 even though it did have cards from that movie as well. Due to Ne Zha 3 coming out purportedly some time in 2030, Ne Zha 2 cards may do well in the future. 

MetaZoo – I believe the MetaZoo story is not over. Meta Zoo, with new ownership and likely more stable financially, could possibly see its cards worth a lot more in the future. Meta Zoo is unique in that it has innovation like “fourth-wall effects” and the utilization of cryptids in their TCG. The art on these cards are also quite good to be honest. However bloated the hype was, I think at the bottom price levels and with its unique innovations, its mythical themes and akin to Dungeons & Dragons except it is more Western and American individualistic centric versus collaboration centric will have a strong market in the future. I think if you can get MetaZoo Cryptid Nation 1st Edition booster box for around $100 or the Kickstarter version (I believe these are the so called true 1st Editions because MetaZoo were first released via Kickstarter campaign) for about $1000. Technically the non-Kickstarter Edition came out in 2001 versus 2000 for the Kickstarter Edition, however, due to the huge price differences and the fact that they have almost the same name, I think the price difference is too big to not consider the non-Kickstarter version if you are in the market for these cards.

Obviously many other long-running franchises such as Dragon Ball Z, My Little Pony, One Piece, Power Rangers, Star Wars, Disney Lorcana and Ultraman are great too. TPC focuses on value for the common person to beat the odds in terms of ROI. That means many factors such as cash flow constraints, lack of leverage over high-end buyers regardless of market conditions, limitations on basic access to infrastructure such as to grading services and numerous are considers to increase the probability of the success of the underdog. Sometimes an underdog is not a dog because it takes finesse to win against the big dogs. For sustainability and social responsibility purposes, perhaps the winning “underdog” doesn’t always have to be become the “big dog” to remain the “top dog.”

If you work as a white-collar worker, the answer is you won’t be able to in the long-run. Basically what happens in many competitive workplaces is that you and your co-workers who do similar work are in an ecosystem designed to achieve maximum optimization. What that ultimately means is eventually either you leave or your co-worker leave via promotion to a higher position, a transfer or basically just quit or get fired. This is especially true with the highly educated who are high performers. Most of the time high performers end up working countless overtime to meet increasingly higher expectation due to performance punishment which causes burnout and their eventual departure. Low performance employees won’t last much longer either as when the economy goes bad or profits dip, these people will likely be the first ones asked to leave. I would say there is no point to get intentionally get along with anyone in a workplace if everyone are respectful to each other and work as a team because it will come natural. I think the reality is almost no one ever get rich working for someone else. Many workers I know suffer a lot of mental stress due to the daily work grind and all the politics. My honest take on this is don’t think of work as everything, think of it as transitory. Don’t even think about working for a company for years. At the end of the day, you will sacrifice a lot more than just your time. Your health will likely greatly deteriorate when you have to act and speak in a way that is not nature to you just for money unless it’s truly something you want to do. Even so use it as a platform to gain experience so you can eventually be your own boss. What is the point of living life and working hard if you never have the time nor the healthiness to enjoy the fruits of your labor? 

If I were you, I would try to save and invest via 401(k) as much as possible. This era is not the time to get tied down by anything. Decrease as much liabilities as possible and don’t get pressured to establish a family if you are not ready for it whether mentally, physically or financially. This is an era of rapid changes and self-preservation. We are talking about potential migration to other planets, space exploration, AI that could change our world, humanoid robotics and more. In this day of inflationary pressure and ever increasing changes, the regular person needs a way to invest their money safely and easily. Once that occurs through a 401(k) or IRA, the next step is try to find something that you are passionate about and can make money from. You don’t have to do everything at once since you can get by with income from a regular job. Do this incrementally so eventually you will have something to fall back on. The truth is getting a job is not the hard part, it’s usually keeping a job that’s the hardest. When you are desperate, you will have no choice but to do things that sometimes are contrary to your best interests. To prevent this from happening, make sure you save enough and have an abundant and ready to use self-funded cash flow line so you can get by while you can find a new job if your current or previous job wasn’t right for you. When you have the leverage and is willing to and is able to defend yourself through legally compliant actions like quitting a job without training anyone else, you realistically just have your current or former employer the biggest FU finger. There is usually a 50-50 chance that either your boss compromises and work out how to make your work environment better for you or your boss may let you go. Either way, when you are financially able and have the necessary skills to find other employment opportunities, you really don’t need to worry at all. Even if your boss compromises, be sure to start looking for jobs anyway because you know compromising is not what bosses usually do for their subordinates eventually they will try to get what they want from you. To prevent that from happening, leave on your terms as soon as you are ready to do so. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to get along with coworkers.

Your colleagues are not your friends and probably will never be your friends. They are literally competing for the same promotion you are or trying to keep their job at your expense. Teamwork and all of that nonsense is basically for the birds. Even though you are at your job to make money for the shareholders but you from your own interest is to make money for yourself and maximize your net worth. What you should be doing is learn everything you can learn, try to not sign any BS agreements they usually make you sign and find an independent, self-sufficient way to support yourself. Your personal IP is very important for your future success. If all you did in life was working for others kind of like a subsistence farmer, you won’t ever get out of the rats race nor the rats trap. Don’t let these people to tell you any different. There is no such thing as job security because almost everywhere is at-will employment in the US meaning they can let you go immediately if you do not provide the value they want to see. Trust me, if they are paying you XYZ, they probably need to get a few times of value from the XYZ amount they are paying you. If you had the cash flow and experience, why the heck would any sane person cheapen their efforts like that if they can help it. Why would anyone be satisfied to make 1/3 or whatever amount less than what they could make if they are able to cut out of the middleman? 

What is the meaning of living life if you are hand to mouth and don’t even have the time nor the resources to enjoy the modern world? There has to be some kind of balance between hard work and enjoying life. That equalizer should be work smart and not just hard. Finding arbitrage opportunities where your hard work is fully rewarded. Don’t just do busy work, try to do the type of work that will actually be highly valued. If a place can’t offer you that type of experience, look for it somewhere else. Don’t waste more than two to three years working at one place without significant growing and promotion. When you change a job the first impression when they review your resume won’t see what you learned but will probably focus on your career title change trajectory. If your title have not changed, explaining to someone you can do the type of work that is typically done by someone with a higher title will be difficult, even if you somehow get the position, you likely won’t be valued that much and won’t receive pay commiserate to that higher titles position. I think the most straightforward way for someone to give you your first few employment opportunities is through going to school and getting grades. Once you degreed up, gain the experience you need the try to get your field’s top licenses/certificates. Your money should be spent improving yourself and then you should think about saving. I know the conventional wisdom is to save especially into a 401(k) asap. While I do not think this conventional wisdom is wrong, I think the priority should be degree, experience then license in that order before you are overly concerned with how much you contribute into your 401(k). 

When you first start out without an education and without significant experience and without top licenses/certificates in your field, even if you save, you won’t be able to save that much because you don’t make that much in the first place. How much you can save kind of depend on how much you can make from the market. So this is a balancing act. The earlier you start making more, the more aggregate amount of money you can save and invest into your 401(k). This is a delicate balance you have to know where the balance is. While the guiding principles may hold true for most people, how you execute based on these guiding principles will determine how well you do in life. The reality is retiring with five million versus ten million probably makes no difference for your lifestyle. The only difference is how much you can probably leave for your kid, your family and probably the government….Let’s be honest here, you sure you would feel good leaving that money to them if your kids and family don’t share the same hard work principles that you do? Should you even care what happens to the world when you are no longer here and do you even know if this world is a mirage or not? I think the bottomline is, you don’t have to be nice to anyone. Many people see extraordinary niceness from people as a sign of weakness or easy picking. You don’t need to be at any workplace for more than two to three years, when you have FU money, you actually should let people know you are unsatisfied the first second someone tries to encroach upon your rights at work. Small transgressions or micro-aggressions lead to more stress, bullying and ultimately burnout that cause you to quit or be fired anyway. Improve your own capabilities and increase your leverages by having the ability to leave at anytime at your choosing by making yourself strong enough to withstand turbulence. 

As I had mentioned before Lebron made his decision on his next team, I though the Pistons was the best balance between money and championship for Lebron. I also mentioned the Sixers was the second best option for him because it had the best team out of all his top choices but they could probably only offer him a veteran minimum which I felt like if Lebron accept would have devalued the imputed value of his business empire. With that being said, I believe Lebron’s championship aspirations will give him the best chance to win one or two championships. If he does win one or two more, he will likely become the undisputed GOAT in the eyes of many who knows basketball which will for sure likely increase the valuation of his business empire. Although Lebron signed for two years, however, his superstar and near superstar teammates are all likely to stay until the end of the 2028-2029 season. This means that Lebron realistic could stay a season or two longer if things go right given the super team won’t likely breakup for at least three more years. This means Lebron will most likely play in the 2030 decade matching Vince Carter’s record for playing in four different decades. 

Before Lebron retires, at his current pace, he will likely be top 2 in assists and top 10 in rebounds in addition to being the all-time leader in points. I think Lebron is physically capable of playing at least five more years at an all-star level and can probably play a few more years as a solid bench player if he so choose to. When you look at the NBA landscape today, the NBA desperately need Lebron to play a few more years as there are no apparent new generation GOAT anywhere emerging at the moment. If Lebron can play a few more years to allow time for some of the current young superstars to develop into generational GOATs, it will help the sport tremendously. As long as Lebron is still in the league, the Lebron’s NBA era have not ended which is a very important physiological threshold for fans and the league. Lebron essentially represent the last great one at the moment with no new great ones anywhere in sight. Plus Lebron playing in the NBA with or against his kids in NBA games will probably be something that would start interest from the new generation of fans. I also think Bryce will likely grow to around 6 foot 8 which will allow him to play any position in this relatively positionless basketball area. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Lebron and the Sixers winning an NBA championship.

I think the Sixers will win at least one championship in the next five years and I think if Lebron does well with the team this coming season, he will likely play up to five years for the team. Five years will likely be enough for Lebron to reach 50,000 points and get his fifth or sixth championship if everything goes well. Plus if Lebron has momentum, even if he come up a bit short of the 50,000 points milestone, he will likely still get an opportunity somewhere in the NBA to get his 50,000 points if he wanted to. I think the Knicks, Celtics or any team in the East will not be able to defeat the Sixers in the next few seasons in a playoff series. I think the more realistic scenario is certain stars will want to join the Sixers even for veteran minimum or slightly higher salaries just to win a championship or two. There are a lot of players in the NBA now in this fragmented era of no dynasties and power parity that need certainty to secure their legacy. I think the Sixers current roster is as certain as it comes in terms of high probability of winning a championship. This roster in terms of talent is probably a historical level team. If they add another star or superstar, the team is literally one of, if not the greatest NBA team ever in terms of talents. 

I think what will end up happening is the Sixers will dominate the East and edge out the eventual champion in the West. Embiid will probably have the overall upper hand against Wemby in the Finals. I foresee the Sixers going deep in the 2026-2027 playoffs and probably will end up with the trophy. What many people don’t realize is Lebron is going to help bring stability, leadership and most likely superstar free agents who want to play for the team he plays on especially with how strong of a roster the Sixers have now and its high championship winning probabilities. I think what will eventually happen is the Sixers will win one championship and will attract more players to join them for another championship or more. With the current contract structure and roster of the Sixers they can probably trade many of their near period draft picks away outright or draft then trade players to other teams to acquire another superstar, probably a superstar power forward who can also play center and small forward. I think the Sixers window to win a championship or two is probably five to six years which is actually a lot of time considering the low expectations of the Sixers fan base to win a championship after this point after a 40 plus year drought. Lebron is pretty much all about championships at this point as he know if he can equate Jordan’s championship numbers Lebron will most likely edge Jordan out for the GOAT status immediately and will likely become the undisputed GOAT in a decade or two. Lebron is also on track to become the first NBA player with 10 billion dollars or more and the richest African-American in history. When people realize who is the real GOAT, the GOAT money from sneakers and other among other things will start to follow towards Lebron’s way. I also believe despite what the detractors say, Lebron’s reputation as a transparent, hard working, Legendary GOAT, family man and a role model for many especially for many parents, likely have more aspirations after retirement and likely his second act will be just as great if not better than his first act as a basketball GOAT. 

I have been accumulating Lebron’s lower-end under 10 dollars rookie cards for years and have been accumulating Bronny’s base rookie cards, numbered RPAs and his other rookie chase cards that are under under 100 USD for about two years. I stopped accumulating Bronny’s rookie cards because I believe his cards are now overvalued due to all the hype surrounding Lebron. Even though Bryce James is probably more physically gifted than Bronny, I think Bronny will probably have the better NBA than his brother. By the time Bryce play in the NBA, Bronny would have already played in the league for three years. I also think Lebron was pivotal in Bronny’s early NBA development which I think is critical to his future success. Lebron at that time already had maximum leverage with the Lakers which I think really gave Bronny’s career a boost. Bronny’s efficient on the court has improved immensely and basically just need more minutes to prove himself at this time in his career. With a guaranteed contract and a depleted Lakers team, he will probably get that opportunity next season. When Bryce comes to the league, if and when he does, will likely have to navigate a league environment without Lebron’s sway that he use to have around the league. This will probably not going to increase his chance of success if he wants to play in the Lebron alongside his father after playing in the NCAA for only one year on a competitive team that will likely have very few minutes for him. He will probably need at least three years in NCAA to be a legitimate NBA prospect if he wants to get into the league become a good player and play in the NBA the same time his father is in the league when Lebron’s powers in the league will have declined tremendously. I don’t recommend buying Bryce James’ future rookie cards if your sole intention is to get upside exposure to Lebron James’ potential future GOAT status crowning.

I think realistically Lebron can still play another five years at a high-level as a starter. If Lebron really wanted to, he could even play until he is 50 which I don’t think will happen. I believe Lebron will play at maximum five more years in earnest. I think he really want and need another two championships. Very few people in the world can play for this long in one of the most competitive league in the world so I complete understand his motivation to become the best he could be which is in essence becoming the undisputed GOAT in the sport. My assessment on his legacy is this. If he get 50,000 regular season points and play with and/or against his two kids on the same team or a different team and he also play in four different decades in the NBA, he will be the GOAT within two decades of his retirement as the younger generation become the vocal voices of the sport. At the same time, he is a billionaire businessman with multiple influential companies and a business empire that needs to maintain a certain high-level of perceived valuation. If the King play for a team on a veteran minimum contract or something similar, this may decrease the perceived value of his business empire and which is more or less predicated on his good image and legacy. 

I think from a business perspective, an employer will pay for value when they know need it. I think from that perspective, Lebron should at the very least play for a team that is willing to at least pay him a 15 million dollars non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception. It’s probably not even about the money as much as it is about imputed value. Just like many legends do not want to be on the bench for the last few years of their career and rather retire, from a legacy standpoint, Lebron probably shouldn’t devalue his brand’s own worth by getting paid way below his worth even on a championship contender team. I understand there are rules that trigger hard caps regarding the use of certain exception and methods of signing players, however, has that ever stopped a team from figuring things out in the past trying to get Lebron to sign with them during free agency? I think the current situation is one regarding value and worth. I believe Lebron is worth the most right now to teams he never played for before that has a winning legacy as a franchise. These teams should see Lebron not only as a GOATesque player who is still playing at superstar levels but as someone whose mere association with the team can increase the team’s overall prestige, revenue and net worth. Lebron may have probably spent as much as hundred million dollars including opportunity cost on the conditioning of his body. That’s capital improvement right there which should help him extend his high-level playing career for another few years. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Heat and Cavaliers. I also believe he will likely end his career with the Cavs though I suspect it will probably be a one-day contract or something more symbolic. I also do not believe the Cavs are not one Lebron away from a championship within the next two years. I don’t think Lebron needs a superstar big man or superstar big men to win a championship and Lebron probably does not necessarily want to play with Andrew Wiggins. I think at the current moment, the Heat are out of Lebron sweepstakes unless they make a lot of moves which I don’t think will happen and I don’t think the 15 million non-taxpayer MLE alone will persuade Lebron to join. Lebron’s value to the Heat might be still substantial at this point given they are trying to win, but compared to the value Lebron could bring to teams that he never played for before, it’s probably insignificant. 

Warriors. I think the Warriors make sense from a championship standpoint but doesn’t make sense from a money standpoint as they have to make a lot of moves to even pay Lebron the non-taxpayer MLE. Also even though Draymond and Lebron are supposedly close friends and are signed with the same agent, however, besides what KD went through, the ego may not allow the superstars to play well together.

Sixers. Out of all the teams in the Lebron sweepstake, I think the Sixers with Lebron have the absolute best chance to win at least one championship. Frankly speaking, an NBA championship to Philly probably means the world to them. Unfortunately they are hard capped and can only pay him the veteran minimum. 

Timberwolves. I don’t think the Wolves are in the running due to their hard cap plus the Wolves do not have a championship pedigree. 

Pistons. I think the Pistons actually offer the best balance between money and championship probability. The Pistons can offer Lebron the Max and can probably easily bring another superstar in by working with Jalen Duren and probably make some trades. Most people forget the Pistons have won three NBA championships. The owner is a private equity guy, Lebron respect the Piston coach and the front office is run by a former NBA player and seems to have no prior beef of any kind with Lebron. Isaiah Stewart is also no longer on the Pistons. Detroit is a large enough city with a pretty large economy. I actually believe Detroit is Lebron’s best landing spot. 

I think Lebron and his team probably will and should consider Pistons as a top destination. If Lebron has to choose between the other teams just purely to pursue championships and not anything else, I think out of his viable options, the Sixers is his best choice followed by the Warriors. I think there are two many potential ego issues if he joins the Heat or the Cavs right now. I still think buying Bronny James’ rookie cards and especially his chase rookie cards will get exposure to and is a good ROI play serving as somewhat of a derivative to Lebron’s rookie and chase cards upside when he becomes the undisputed GOAT in a few years if he can achieve some of the things I discussed above. 

The best type of chase cards are the ones no one is currently chasing and you have good reasons based on reliable data and analysis that these cards will increase in value in the future. There are tons of reasons why this could occur and there are mega tons of examples of this happening every single second in the collecting world. Why? Because most people don’t have the capabilities, interest and/or the time to keep up with everything at everywhere and at every second. AI will likely not be able to make this valuation process any more efficient due to ethical and privacy reasons for at least a decade or so. Until there comes a day when the US have super apps, AI will likely not be allowed to go this far. You know what cards I like to chase? Yes, I sure do like RPAs but that’s only my second favorite type of card to chase. My favorite are serendipity error base rookie cards that does not distort the aesthetics of the card, are likely unrepeatable due to cost restraints and lack of intentions and no one initially cares about or even know it exists. In terms of error cards, I believe the combination of crimp error, miscut, crimp, an error that later get corrected, miscut to the player’s name section of the card, inclusion of another player’s name on the card and printer ink/coloration error make a base rookie a very valuable chase card. Wait what? Why? And why only base rookie cards. 

Some thing that is desirable and generate tangible values usually need to be well-known and accessible to the common person, sort of. Yes, simple errors like a miscut, a crimp, an error that later get corrected or a printer ink/coloration error on their own are probably not that rare. But for all these things to happen at once plus some do you know how rare that is? Besides the probability of this many mistakes to occur concurrently in the first place and whether it get caught or not by the quality control before it get put into a product and ship out, think about what typically could happen to a card that does not confirm in a product. Due to the lack of conformity in a pack let’s say, the crimp itself could possibly rub against other cards the whole time it is being moved around during shipment. There are also many people who see these errors as simply “defects” rather than valuable error cards and just throw it away or put it into the common card pile. Even if someone realize it’s an error and might be worth something, because the concurrent non-informed way of valuing error cards and the small market for these collectibles, these cards frequently are sold at enormous discounts. Back to the question, why do I like collecting this types of errors on base rookie cards? Most people like to own something very exclusive and things that are exclusive are usually purchased by the wealthy relatively quickly. Yeah? But rookie base cards are so common. True, but do you know what makes something exclusive? Hmmm…yeap. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Best type of chase card.

At the end of the day we are still social animals who needs recognition to feel good about ourselves. If this was an error on an extensive card that the mass couldn’t afford anyway, there will likely be less visibility, collectibility and desirability for most common people as they never had the opportunity to even experience it or see it for themselves. Yes, there are also luxurious things that are highly desirable that most people probably never heard of that are highly desirable too. Almost no one who is opening up a pack is chase an error card and card companies almost never market an error card as the primary chase card. Even when you think about some of the most notable error cards like a particular baseball card from the late 1980s that had to have multiple versions of corrections, that card by my standard is still massively printed and I wouldn’t necessarily classify that error as an unintentional error as someone may have intentional write something on the baseball bat knob and someone either intentionally or unintentionally took a picture of that and released it to the public. What I am talking about here are errors no one in their right mind wanted to make and may actually be contrary to their best interests. They say necessity is the mother of all invention which ironically helped a lot of people but as time go on it loses its initial value as new things are build upon it. 

These error cards were never necessary to begin with and in all honesty could jeopardize a company’s expensive printing equipments, increase cost, decrease customer satisfaction and ultimately hurt their brand equity which could translate into less sales, lower margins and being perceived as a not so premium brand/product. This is precisely why card companies and any company really does not want to market any “errors” as something valuable as it tarnished their image. Their image is actually one of their biggest moats to survive and strive. If these errors happened to a super rare or even semi rare card it would not bring the type of ROI I believe this may yield in the future when more people recognize this and when this industry become more analytic and more mainstream investable. Almost everyone who like cards or seen cards probably seen some of the most iconic cards, frequently a ubiquitous rookie card of a GOAT or a GOAT of GOAT. That’s hundreds of millions of people including its peripheral societal impact which includes their annoyed family members and friends. All jokes aside, that’s a lot of people who know of a particular rookie card but would probably be in awe of an unique 1/1 RPA of that card that has never been seen before or even been reported about ever. You can probably imagine how big of a flex that is and it might be one of the most smooth, genuine and legit flex ever as at that point it’s not even about the money, it’s literally newsworthy and a historical moment. That kind is an important part of some kind of history. Can you imagine bypassing spending millions on a 1/1 Logoman RPA altogether and just find a legally compliant yet inexpensive way for the athlete to just sign and put the signing date on the card and put a 1/1 next to it? That’s an expensive 1/1 RPA. But wait, where is the patch at? 

Here is the thing, the patch doesn’t actually have to be a patch, it can be a memorabilia. I can’t think of a better memorabilia for a given card when the featured athlete touches the card and leaves a sweat stain on the card after their first game in the league or when they achieved some kind of important milestone. Yes, certain grading companies will give a lower grade for that but do you really need to grade a 1/1? Maybe just authenticate it? Those combination of errors will always be 1/1 because the printing machine typically move very slightly for each printed sheet anyway and coloration may also be slightly different each print. Adding that to the fact that the player wrote all those things on that card during their rookie year plus their real rookie year sweat memorabilia, that’s a 1/1 no one can possibly predict. Of course, not every athlete will agree to do this just like even if every athlete did this there is usually only one consensus GOAT when there is a consensus GOAT in a given sport which means if all those combination of things happened in which quite a few things in that sequence are literally unpredictable and time sensitive, that translates in economic terms if such a card like that does exist of the GOAT possibly GOAT of all GOATs, it will probably innately be worth a lot of money not just because it is exclusive and expensive, but it’s historical significance makes it priceless. We as collectors do not just collect things for its aesthetics or value, we are at the core of it curators of history by preserving important relics that rewrite history. 

I know there are a lot of different sports out there. The ones I mentioned below are ones that are quite popular with a lot of people. Ultimately, the popularity of a sport serves as a baseline when estimating how many people of that fan base may collect cards hence creating an active market for the cards of that sport. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Basketball: Lebron James. For all the reasons I had posted previously and numerously about how he is likely the future GOST of the sport, at a few dollars for his rookie insert card, I think it is worth the investment.

Baseball: Tai Peete. You probably never heard of him before but I think he has the physical tools and the pedigree to succeed in the big league. He is estimated to make his debut at around 22 or 23. His 1/1 numbered RPAs are quite cheap if you can find one probably in the low double-digits. 

Football: Jalen Hurts. Mahomes will likely not be the GOAT and no one else in this era will likely beat Brady to become the GOAT. Jalen Hurts rookie cards are very much undervalued. He is turning 28 during 2026 season, yet he already has a Super Bowl ring, Super Bowl MVP, three Pro Bowls plus he probably could end up with superstar level total stat lines and an MVP before he retires as most elite quarterbacks can now play to their late 30s early 40s now. He also won a national championship in college for Alabama. For two to three dollars you can buy his base rookie cards. I think that’s a solid deal. 

Soccer: Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. I already mentioned this in a previous post. I think for a few dollars for his rookie card it’s an excellent deal especially him possibly playing with his dad on the same team in 2030 FIFA World Cup in Portugal and 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia. 

NASCAR Racing: Jeff Gordon. I don’t think he is the GOAT but then again there seems to be no consensus on who is the GOAT in this sport anyway. His culture impact and his contributions in elevating the sport was GOAT like. Few dollars for his 1991 rookie cards is probably somewhat worth it if you are a racing fan.

Cricket: Joe Root. Without going into details, I think he will be the GOAT. If you can get his rookie card for less than 30 dollars, I think that will be a good deal. 

Hockey: Alexander Ovechkin. You can buy his Upper Deck rookie cards for a few dollars. I think this is an incredible deal considering he plays in one of the toughest eras to score a goal and he hold the all-time goals record and will likely exceed 1,000. I think this is an excellent deal.

Golf: Tiger Woods. You can literally buy his 2001 rookie or rookie insert cards from Upper Deck for a dollar or less. I am pretty sure it’s an excellent deal considering he is tied for all-time PGA tour wins with Sam Snead and has a chance break the record. He is also a billionaire athlete. Yes, I know he might not be perfect, but being widely recognized as one of the GOAT if not the GOAT, I think a dollar for one or two of his rookie card(s) is probably a no-brainer choice. 

Tennis: Iga Swiatek. At 25, she only turned pro for a few years yet she already been the number 1 player in the world for a few years and her life-time winnings is already about halfway from earning leader Serena William’s total. She lost her number 1 status mostly because of injuries. She is also very marketable as an athlete which as you know I can’t really talk too much about as to why. I think she has the physical tool and will likely have the career longevity to become the number 1 money earner of all time in her sport partly with help of inflation but that is another story. 

Table Tennis: Ma Long. He is the undisputed GOAT of the sport. I think once he retires his national team will decline in the sport as Japan takes over. Japan already got some of the top youth table tennis players in the world. I think Ma Long will play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. If you can buy his rookie card for a buck or two, it’s probably a solid deal. 

Rugby: Dan Carter. I think if you can get his rookie card at around 20 it would be a decent deal though I don’t think Rugby at this stage has a consensus GOAT.

Pickleball: Ben Johns. I was going to say Anna Leigh Waters and I actually own a large quantity of her rookie cards. However, I believe her rookie cards’ value have somewhat peaked at the current given range. I think if you can get Johns’ rookie card at around $20, it’s probably a good deal. 

Formula One Racing: Lewis Hamilton. I think he will be in the sport for a few more years and get his all-time record then retire. I think if you can buy his rookie card for under 50 dollars it would be a good deal.

Cycling: Lance Armstrong. Yes, no one is perfect. He is the American GOAT in the sport and his 1992 Impel Olympic Hopefuls rookie card is only a buck or two which is very reasonable. 

Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya. His 1992 Impel Olympic Hopefuls rookie card at a buck or two is a good deal. 

UFC: Jon Jones. I think the GOAT will eventually become very popular as well. If you can find his rookie card for 25 dollars it’s probably a good deal.

Bowling: Walter Ray Williams Jr. He is probably the GOAT in the sports. If you can get his 1990 rookie card for around 10 dollars that would probably be a good deal.

BMX: Mat Hoffman. He is probably not the consensus GOAT but if you can find his rookie card for a dollar or two, it’s probably a decent deal.

Motorcross/Supercross: Ricky Carmichael. As the undisputed GOAT, I think finding his rookie card for under 20 dollars is a good deal. 

Skating: Tony Hawk. He is probably the GOAT in the eyes of many people. I think if you buy his 1990 Sports Illustrated for Kids rookie card for around 20 dollars it’s probably a pretty good deal.

Swimming: Michael Phelps. He is the GOAT and the greatest Olympian of all-time. If you can find his rookie card under 20 dollars, it’s probably a good deal. 

Surfing: Kelly Slater. He is the GOAT in the sport. If you can find his 1993 Sports Illustrated for Kids rookie card for around 30 dollars it’s probably a good deal.

Lacross: Gary Gait. If you can find his rookie card for around 20 dollars it’s probably a solid deal. 

Water polo: Maggie Steffens. If you can find her rookie card for a few dollars it’s probably a solid deal. 

Volleyball: Karch Kiraly. If you can find his rookie card for a few dollars it’s probably a solid deal. 

Snowboarding: Shaun White. If you can find his rookie card for around 20 dollars it’s probably a solid deal. 

Track and Field: Quincy Wilson. He already won an Olympic gold at 16. He broke a lot of important records for his age group. I think he has a chance to be the GOAT. If you can find his rookie card for a dollar or two, it’s likely an excellent deal.

Gymnastics: Simone Biles. If you can get her rookie card at around 10 dollars I think it’s a solid deal.

Figure Skating: Alysa Liu. I think she has a chance to become the GOAT due to her current age and potential to win more Olympics medals. Not only is she popular and transcendent in the cultural sense but is also a potential geopolitical icon. I personally believe at a dollar or two for her rookie card, it’s beyond an excellent deal. 

Wrestling: The Rock. I think if you can find his rookie card for around 10 dollars it would be a good deal. 

Horse Racing: Victor Espinoza. I don’t think he is the GOAT but I think if you can find his rookie card for a dollar or two it’s probably a decent deal.

I believe the winning strategy for the US in the Iran War is by enforcing a de facto no-fly zone around the Strait of Hormuz (SOH) by incrementally and eventually taking all seven of the islands Iran controls in the SOH. This will allow the US to control the entire strait and allow allies to over time contract a defensive barrier around Iran’s side of the strait. SOH is reasonable deep but not that deep around 60 to 100 meters this means artificial island can be built without too much technical difficulties. Realistically, creating a canal across the UAE is likely in the hundreds of billions because it requires going through the Hajar Mountains. However I think a combined river flow, pipeline and some other changes may be able to cut the cost to less than $100 billion which in my opinion when you consider the strategic importance of such a move, is probably very much worth it. Once Iran is softened up, it may provide an access to the Caspian Sea to those who soften it up which will likely have huge geopolitical consequences specifically impede the Arctic Bear with a water beltway and constrict the Giant Lizard with a road that leads to no where. Historically the Persians played the Giant Lizard like an animal impeding them from contacting the Europeans and new lands which held them back for millenniums. Small potatoes in geopolitics sense like Cuba will likely not be able to withstand the turmoil much longer especially once the last Castro of influence is no longer there. 

The US has more than enough nature resources it ever can use and it is also in an increasingly more strategic relationship not just with other resource rich nations like Venezuela but also throughout the developing world.  The biggest piece of myth regarding the Giant Lizard is it is not particularly superpower level resource rich and much of its infrastructures are on the coastlines which are very susceptible to mishaps if it goes that far. The Giant Lizard’s best path to development was to stay quite for the next few decades and copy/reverse engineer the best technology over time without much R&D cost to them while utilizing its massive consumer market to incubate ideas into successes. However, that was not what happened. Instead, its consumers have downgraded so much on their personal economics that most innovative ideas can not be viably tested over there and foreign markets are flooded with its cheap goods to the point that many advanced nations are not only accusing it of dumping but are actively doing something about it through various punitive trade measures. There are two very strategic waterways potentially up for grabs the West have yet to control: Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The Black Sea is relatively not in play due to the Thanksgiving Bird. This bird has annoyed pretty much everyone throughout history yet it is currently at one of its most vulnerable times in its history. Both the Arctic Bear and the Giant Lizard are suffering from real economic, inner issues and geopolitical issues.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How will the Iran and Ukraine Wars end.

The Arctic Bear has its seemingly never ending war that is likely going to devastate its economy while the Giant Lizard despite its positive yet questionable GDP growth numbers have structural issues that it likely cannot fix within its current regime system. What many pundits do not talk about is while it is not fighting major wars and also haven’t fought one for nearly five decades, haven’t won’t a world-class level warfare for over seven decades and literally never fought a warfare with advanced modern weapons, it’s biggest issue is its enormous internal securities spendings via the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and People’s Armed Police (PAP). The cost of these two expenditures have increased exponentially in the next decade. The downward economic deflation, stagnant private investments and foreign direct investments, fixed assets price declines and capital flight spiraling out of control also means significantly more required funding for PSB and PAP. It also needs to devote much of its resources to monitoring its own people even more tightly to ensure “harmony” within its realms. The other major issue most Western media fails to talk about is the decline of the Giant Lizard Land’s population flight from the far Northeastern in Manchuria to the south. This means it will likely need to spend more on guarding its border which ironically is what the Arctic Bear use to worry about its Far East being occupied by the people of the Giant Lizard. 

Unfortunately for the Giant Lizard, its cost of technological acquisition has significantly increased but due to Sanctions and export control measures, they will still lag behind the West for some time despite what others may be saying. There is a decent chance that not only will much of its industries will be strategically banned by the West, those that may produce in the West that utilized the acquisition shell then build model will likely come under intense scrutiny as well. The most fatal mistake the Giant Lizard made was showing its hands too early and now it realizes it still need the West for almost everything including its financial systems, its markets and its technology. This is not something some international ranking system that give its institutions possibly injuries high rankings based on potentially dubious metrics can change. High quality pipelines of every sort takes time, effort, resources and a conducive environment to develop. Being Iran’s two biggest supporters, the issues these two powers are experiencing will likely mean Iran will most likely be alone for at the very least the next five years as neither of the above-mentioned powers have the bandwidth to start a regional war at this time. Both players are also quite suspicious of each other especially due to historical mistrusts and territory disputes currently kept under wrap in the Arctic Bear’s Far East. 

The Giant Lizard also has exposure to Middle East in its West, India to its South and its vulnerabilities to the first island chain and the Taiwan issue to its East which leave much of its biggest metropolitans exposed. It’s biggest potential issues right now are potential more economic sanctions on some of its Southern Eastern coast cities and the growing economic balance between the North and the South which will likely created ethnic tensions as its predominate ethnic group is a mishmash of loosely connected people who speak their own distinct dialects whom the Giant Lizard grouped them together as one people based on “cultural affinity.” In reality, the Southern people are genetically and culturally Vietnamese while its Northern “compatriots” are true East Asians. Many of the Central Plains people living on the Giant Lizard Land literally still live in caves. When you think about it the war in Afghanistan last for around twenty years and achieved almost nothing except securing the Giant Lizard’s borders and giving it stability to grow its economics. That war costed the US trillions of dollars. The current war with Iran is much more economical considering its potential returns in economics and geopolitics. I think less than $40 billion USD was a very efficient spend considering the devastation it caused Iran and its allies and the potential reward for winning.  The battle with the Giant Lizard is an existential battle for ideals and decency as well as technology, economics and geopolitical leadership.

As for the Ukraine war, drones have become the game changer. If the Arctic Bear is not able to hang on to its naval fleet which only has one aircraft carrier that is conventional and is mostly not serviceable for the last decade or so and is probably near decommission age, it will most likely lose control of Crimea. The Soviets lost due to their failing economy, the Arctic Bear will likely suffer the same fate if it loses the war or fight to a stalemate which will likely mean a win for a Ukraine and NATO’s expansion deeper into the East. This will be the most unwelcome sign for both Iran and the Giant Lizard as the attention and resources of the free world will be laser focused on them very soon. I think the Giant Lizard’s issues will exacerbate as it focus more on the discontent of its own people and will not be able to fully focus on external affairs. The outside forces especially those on Taiwan will likely go even further on its pursuit of independence during this time. It will be interesting to see how the KMT will end up, merged with one of the fake KMT parties created in the Giant Lizard land or possibly exile themselves back to the Giant Lizard land. The Arctic Bear was created by gobbling lands no one else really wanted but it is a declining power holding the world’s largest landmass by far with lots of resources yet it has an economy the size of three Taiwan except Taiwan is growing nearly 10% a year and the Arctic Bear’s GDP is barely growing at all when Russia is nearly 500 times bigger in landmass and about five times bigger in population….As for Iran, I foresee it one day forging an amicable relationship with a certain state sitting next to the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle East that it currently and previously despised dearly. Its spring with the West will also mean possible return of the Dynasty and an end of the Giant Lizard’s significant influence in the nearby regions, a significant blow to its power projection capabilities. As for Ukraine, it has already sign many resource deals with Western capital and will likely fully integrate into NATO and join the European Union after it wins the war via defeat of the Arctic Bear outright, fight the Arctic Bear to a stalemate or sign an agreement that allow it to achieve status quo ante Crimea bellum. When that happens, the Arctic Bear may disintegrate into a shell of itself.

Many people think non-legal tenders and/or obsolete currency that were once legal tenders should be measured based on its popularity as a collectible. While this assertion is partly true, one should not negate the time value money principles that partly determine the value of such collectibles. All money issued by governing authorities had some type of value as the issuing government controlled the economic resources that made such currency hold value. What I find frequently more valuable are denominations that had so much purchasing power at the time when it was in full circulation that hardly anyone used them because they were usually instruments of the rich. These were the days when people actually transacted with paper money without the convenience of computerized banking. While a large number of retail collectors focus on collectible cards, the banknotes and coins market have grown tremendously over the last ten years. 

For example, many World War I and World War II banknotes that used to be bought in bundles of 100 for five to ten dollars are now selling for a few hundred each. The Japanese invasion money that use to be dirt cheap now are commanding high premiums due to their historical value. They also had high time value of money value as they were once “legal tenders” on Japanese occupied territories. Goods and services were literally siphoned out of the occupied economies through the printing of these notes. Although they are viewed as worthless from a value retention standpoint at the time of issue by the occupied locals, they were nevertheless the authoritative medium of exchange for at least a few years. People who like currency tend to be older and typically with more disposable income. Many of these people are history buffs. The prototypical younger generation of collectors who are adults usually have graduated from post-secondary institutions and likely have obtained advanced degrees. Most people at banknotes and coin shows are much more affluent than the average card collector who does not also collect banknotes and coins. It is very routine that thousands of dollars are spent by a single person who attends these shows. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Best ROI in collectible coins and banknotes/paper money right now.

The other side of this is banknotes and coins are in essence money hence liquidity is usually not an issue. Unlike other collectibles, many US old currencies regardless whether they are coins or banknotes are actually still legal tenders. Many banks also exchange old currencies at stated exchange rates set by the issuing authorities when it is legal to do so. The thing with money is, even the obsolete ones, they had some type of value point in time and for this banknote or coin to be in the hands of a collector, someone had to defer enjoyment of the purchasing power which usually need to be compensated for by the market. Hence this is exactly why the value of obsolete currency are based on deferred economic value. This logic is in line with business professors getting some of the highest salaries in academia because if they took their talents to the industry they can make XYZ amount therefore to ensure these talents stay in academia, institutions had to provide a compensation that take into account the opportunity costs these individuals forgo by taking years to obtain a PhD and another few years to be fully tenured etc. I believe the next big wave in collectibles will likely happen in the banknotes and coins industry as AI help the previously education deficient individuals obtain knowledge on the cheap equalizing whatever inequality they believe they were dealt with by the system. 

This market is also not very comp oriented with almost little technological development in this field. All the pricing apps and listing apps either do not really exist or barely exist in this industry right now. People still use catalogs to price items. Basically there are very little speculation in this market right now. I believe this will change within the next decade or so especially when physical money will be issued less and less by the issuing authorities and people rarely see paper money in an increasingly cashless society. Cash won’t go away completely as it has its purpose, however, physically money will likely be used less and less. What this simply means from a supply and demand side is less and less paper money will be in circulation, financial institutions will likely increase the cost of providing cash to customers upon request and cash will slowly but surely be hoarded by collectors and opportunists as well as various institutions. The end result of all of this is less cash for the collectors, higher rates of circulated currency versus brand new currency in mint condition and higher demand for paper money as a collector item. There will also be a large number of privacy conscious people who will want to hold their own stash of cash for their own convenience. Governments may also be phasing out or discontinuing certain denomination of currency as inflation catch up with the production cost. All in all, the more people are pushed to use something, the limited supply of something else that is both collectible and functional will likely significantly rise in value due to higher demand. I personally believe right now the best values are in the fractional currencies that are over 150 years old selling like they are toilet paper right now at a few dollars each at wholesale. 

Think about it this way, 25 cents in 1862 worth in purchasing power is worth near $10 dollars today just based on inflation. If someone had invested 25 cents in 1862 into the stock market or bought a fraction of an acre of land with it, that investment on average is probably worth tens of thousands of dollars today. What is more ridiculous is that many of these fractional notes can be bought at wholesale for a few dollars depending on condition. This valuation is in total conflict and very disrespectful of time value of money. I believe this market is currently not very market m-oriented and present many arbitrage opportunities. Fractionals are technically still legal tender. The blue seal silver certificates are grossly undervalued too often only cost marginally more than the face value of a dollar bill. Many of these bills are consecutive, radar numbered and/or star notes. These also do not seem to go for much of a premium which is quite baffling. What is also to know is many US states have passed laws that repealed sales taxes on coins, currency and investment-grade precious metals that are purchased at the retail level which will lower the transaction cost for collectors and investors on these asset classes.

As I had mentioned before the FIFA 2026 tournament started that I believe Ronaldo, not Messi will be the GOAT or at least a Co-GOAT. If you follow sports you know most fans love the underdog story especially when that underdog becomes the GOAT. Ronaldo, coming from absolute abject poverty whereas Messi was born into a relatively well-off family. Ronaldo single handler turned Portugal into a football superpower. Messi and Argentina not winning the 2026 World Cup despite all the controversy will likely diminish Messi’s GOAT myth for good especially because the 2030 World Cup will be at least partly hosted by Portugal and there is likely little to no chance Ronaldo is going to miss the opportunity to play on the same national team as his son in his home country where he is the undisputed greatest Portugal player of all time and most likely the most famous Portuguese person in modern times. Ronaldo scored in each of the consecutive six World Cups that he lead Portugal finishing no less than the 20th place achieving 4th place in 2006. Before Ronaldo, Portugal had never play in more than one World Cup in a row, failed to qualify for 14 World Cups and played in only three World Cups before Ronaldo was part of its senior national team. The crazy thing is Ronaldo could actually play in eight World Cups because Portugal automatically qualify for the 2030 World Cup as a co-host country and the 2034 World Cup is held in Saudi Arabia which Ronaldo played years of football at and still plays there to this day. 

I have high confidence Ronaldo will have at least a more than outside chance of playing in that World Cup given his conditioning, discipline and the fact that he will still be in his forties which for Ronaldo is definitely possible even at a reduced role as a reserve or a player-manager. If he does play in that World Cup, he will be breaking many records that will likely not be broken for years to come. Unfortunately for Messi, once he and Argentina lost this World with all the controversies involving them and given where the next two World Cups will be held, there really isn’t that much motivating Messi to attend anymore World Cups though I think he may attend the 2030 World Cup. Also, in most sports, the most important record is typically the ones revolving around offense. And out of all the offensive records, the most desirable and most watched over record in almost every single sports is the total points record be it home runs, hits, points in basketball, goals in hockey or touchdowns in American gridiron football. At this point, Ronaldo’s points record is basically untouchable. Frankly speaking, Ronaldo is a physical specimen who can physically play competitive football at the highest levels for at least one more decade. I can’t say the same about Messi.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the new GOAT.

When Messi was born in the last 1980s, Argentina’s economy in terms of GDP was ranked 16th largest in the world with 30+ million in population. Conversely, when Ronaldo was born the mid 1980s, Portugal’s GDP was ranked 117th in the world with 10+ million in population. Argentina now has nearly 50 million in population now whereas Portugal stayed at around 10+ million population. Argentina still have about 40% higher GDP numbers than Portugal at the moment. Before Messi became the face of Argentina football, there was Maradona and other legends who won two World Cups before Messi. While Portugal has great legends as well, Ronaldo is the greatest player from Portugal ever. Under Ronaldo, Portugal has consistently became a top five to ten team in the world with its highest ranking being number three. Argentina is thirty times larger than Portugal in landmass and one of the most resource rich countries in the world while Portugal is one of the poorest countries in the OECD and the Eurozone. A country that was colonized and subjugated by Africans, Middle Easterns and European powers for centuries. Although Portugal is in Europe and Argentina is in South America, Portugal appears to be much more tolerable of minorities than the historical policies of Argentina and its predominately Caucasian population on a continent that are predominately Hispanics of mixed descendent. I think the bottomline is Messi has almost zero chance being the GOAT now given his recent performance and the fact that in at least a large number of people’s minds Maradona is the GOAT of Argentina football. 

Many people still believe Pele is the GOAT of South American football which also means Messi is not universally deemed the best player on his own continent. Ronaldo on the other hand is the unquestionable GOAT of Portugal football by the widest possible margin and the undisputed GOAT of European football, literally where all the best players play at the club level and where the best leagues are located. I genuinely thought if Messi and Argentina had won this World Cup, however controversial, would give Messi the GOAT lead. The funny thing is Argentina was actually ranked the number one team in the world just before the 2026 World Cup championship game. Considering Messi plays in the US MLS league and he is generally much more popular than Ronaldo in the US may have greatly diminished his greatness. Messi is definitely a GOATesque player, however, he really did not have much World Cup championship success until winning in the 2022 World Cup against his own teammates from France. I think the history book may question his Pandemic era win and win over a very close match against his teammates as a possible fluke at best. Given Messi’s current age and the locations of the next two World Cup, I think most likely Messi will be a strong and one of the leading candidates in the GOAT conversation but will most definitely not be the definitive GOAT. Not winning more than one World Cup and not getting the most important records like the goals basically will make his GOAT status almost indefensible plus his cultural impact was not greater than Pele nor Maradona. Ronaldo on the other hand is a legitimate folk hero who also happens to be extremely GOAT like. In ten years from now, who you think will get the GOAT treatment? I personally think Ronaldo’s rookie cards are between somewhat and slightly undervalued. I think the better play from a collectible cards standpoint while acting on this trend is buying Ronaldo Jr’s rookie base and rookie chase cards. These cards are extremely undervalued at the moment. 

The 2030 World Cup will be the Centenary of the World Cup tournament, likely with special celebrations. Ronaldo Jr. will turn 20 within days of the start of the tournament in Portugal and around 24 when it is hosted in Saudi Arabia a football system that he is part of. He will also likely be on the same team as his father in Saudi Arabia very soon. Per credible report, he is quite skillful  and is already six feet tall barely turning 16. His father is six foot two and his mother is five foot six. I think there is a very high probability that he grow another one to three inches even with intense athletics training at a young age. If he play against Messi’s kid(s) later in his career at the highest professional football level, that will just make him more marketable and more legendary as a player. Thiago, Messi’s oldest kid who is 13 and plays football is currently around five feet tall. Given Messi is around five foot seven and his wife is around five foot two, it is not very likely that Thiago will grow to six feet tall. This will be very problematic in this situation as the kids of GOATesque players usually do not do that well especially if they are not relatively physically gifted. Boys’ growth spurt typically happen between 13 to 16. Growth spurts usually occur during summer time and if the information is accurate, summer is almost over and he is around 5 feet tall right now. Per reports he is more skills oriented, he will likely even be more disadvantaged as many of the second generation athletes usually have parent(s) who are able to dedicate much of their time training their kid(s) on athletics if they so choose to on both sides. It is also highly unlikely that Thiago will play with Messi in the 2030 World Cup given he will only be 17 at the time. It will also may be unrealistic for him to play in 2034 World Cup with Messi as he will likely not be ready at that time and Messi will have a high likelihood of retiring before then. Ronaldo and Ronaldo Jr. on the other hand will likely be headliners of the event if they both play in 2030 and 2034 World Cup due to where the matches will be played at. For these reasons, I believe Ronaldo Jr. base rookie cards at a few USD per card and rookie chase cards such as numbered RPAs if at less than $100 USD are possibly some of the best investments in collectible cards now when looking at this situation years from now in hindsight. I view buying Ronaldo Jr. cards at this stage the same way I view buying Bronny James rookie cards at this stage except I think Ronaldo Jr. actually have a realistic opportunity of becoming a superstar or possibly more than a superstar. 

People ask me this all the time and I tell them straight up, can you chip in 10,000 USD a year for 30 years into your employer sponsored 401(k) plan? If you start doing so at your early twenties and your employer do some kind of significant match of your contributions, based on current and historical returns data, you should have somewhere near a million USD in your mid to late 30s. The best part about all of this is, if you do contribute, your adjusted gross income (AGI) will be lower hence you will likely be able to lower your tax base by the $10,000 USD you contributed during that particular tax year. The government literally designed all this for you. I’m not saying the US stock market is risk-free, but I believe based on historical data the US stock market is comparative risk-free when compared with certain other stock markets. Remember, at the time of 401(k) contribution you are in your earnings golden years reaching prime in your late 30s and early 40s, you will likely be at a higher tax bracket. The 401(k) withdrawal tax rate is based on the tax rate of your actual withdrawal period not when you made the contributions. This means when you retire there is a chance you could withdrawal your 401(k) funds with little to no tax. In essence, a completely legal tax arbitrage opportunity in line with social contract rules and likely a retirement tax planning method encourage by the government. 

One caveat many FIRE participants have a  hard time with us balancing between being too frugal and enjoying life. Remember, the contributions are happening during your young and prime years. This is a time when you are able to enjoy life to the fullest. My suggestion is to do all that you want to do but learn how to get discounts on things you want to do. When you realize entertainment and enjoyment of life is fuel for more success and a great mental and physical state which are capital for even more success, you will see how important being able to enjoy life is. What do you mean by that? If you want to travel to Europe, instead going there during the peak season which likely will be too hot anyway with Europe’s lack of air conditioner issues, why not go there off peak season and make prudent plans such as save enough PTO to visit all the countries in the Schengen 29-country area on one trip saving tons on fixed costs like multiple airfares, hotel charges, train/transportation fees etc. Plus Euro FX rate fluctuate and Europe go through a lot of these regional tensions, basically the Middle East of the Western world, you can wait when these countries economies go through some type of austere measure so you can exploit the best they have to offer when they become less snobby and arrogant and literally on their knees begging for high-class American travelers who have the dispensable income to spend. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to achieve FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). 

I would absolute avoid certain Western European anti-American snobby iron tower places with all of its no-go zones, pickpocketers and the smell of pee during the summer time with a significant number of its population transplanted there due to its colonial past which may pose an ideological and physical threat to Americans’ minds and bodies especially on specific venerable populations who are historically inclined toward such ideological beliefs and are potentially easy converts. It’s one thing to DEI and subsidize with valuable resources, it’s another to do the above and also have enemies within that potentially do un-American things. Anyway, I digress. To be honest, having travelled around the world, I have yet to find one place better than America overall. The point of traveling the world as an American aligned person is not so much about being in awe of what other people have to offer, it should be more about being grateful of what you already have in America which is in essence extrapolating everything that is good in the world and moving it to America to form a melting pot. 

Certain groups of people claim racism and lack of opportunities here in America but once they visit other parts of the world especially what they call their brothers and sisters, they start to realize how good they have it here. I hope these people will realize by sympathizing with foreign powers and foreign beliefs either directly, indirectly or just due to straight up ignorance are in direct conflict with that of America’s and will not do themselves any good. I believe the MEI movement and demographic shifts in the best universities of the world is helping true patriots whose family backgrounds are aligned with the Western ideals. Many of these people’s ancestors also seen, escaped from and fought against tyranny and knows why they live America. America must keep its advantage of having no natural enemies near its borders and two oceans to protect itself. America should not be educating whose nearshore rise could create enemies near its borders. A buffer zone that is relatively undeveloped and used for triaging with uncertainty factors laid in massive numbers on the physical grounds of buffer zones that will increase cost to any current, future and potential enemies are very important priorities. 

I think for any America aligned travelers out there, it is also very important to check whether the country of destination, transit location or airspace crossing area have extradition agreements with certain archenemy of the United States. If such country, one of the 60 or so, does have such agreement, that most likely mean that country may not be that friendly to American interests or cares much about democratic ideas. Use your disposal income to do other things you may like such as dinning out and buying collectibles. Activities such as buying collectible cards is likely both fun and an investment opportunity. I think the bigger piece to this should be to get a prestigious education and top level license(s) in your field. Once you have those things plus experiences working for large companies. You will have enough FU clout and money to choose what you want to do and to not do what you don’t want to do.

Remember, careers and jobs are usually dead-ends. Any equity you build for the entity typically does not belong to you. You could spend years working for a company and be let go at any moment without any significant equity in the entity. The whole point of getting a job is to get compensated for your skill, efforts and time. What the company can not usually take away from you is the skills and experiences you learned on the job and any additional education obtainment you achieved on your own dime. This is super critical to understand as you do not want your everything during your work-life be devoted to a company that you do not own and to which you do not receive commiserate benefits for the incremental equity you create for them. Hence you have to decide whether you want to WAFRL or AAFRL. The important factor to keep in mind and to impute is what is the at-above-fire-replacement-level is. Basically, the level at which you could significantly develop yourself while still get paid at your job without getting fired. The important thing to know there is when you are calculating AAFRL and you are not a DEI rather than a MEI or a non-DEI hire, what is the minimum effort required to keep your job while also learning the requisite skills to succeed. Also, keep in mind you may be able to tolerate a certain level of attrition risk as the new generation typically now trend closer to two years of average employment length at one employer (industry dependent) than the previous at least three to five years. Non-DEI related AAFRLing is typically more sensitive to risk fluctuations versus more compliance implicit quota-oriented formal/informal systems where employers will view AAFRLing as a cost to doing business in certain part(s) of the West. 

My perspective on this is quite simple. As a global top ten-er in education received from US institution(s) with numerous commiserate low double to single-digit Fortune 500 experiences, I believe WAFRL only really works when you are in a prestigious firm that cares about MEI related results and that your educational institution give you the type of coated-prestige institutionalized and empowered upon you that everyone from these types of MEI, high prestigious firms will see and understand and that will prevail over any low to no bargaining power you came in with due to your familial background from birth. An elite education is the typically an equalizer to a low-bargaining power birth background when you know how to leverage it. You don’t sell gold in markets with lots of fakes and when much of the customer-base is looking for trinkets. You network to gain a foot into the door with an opening that others will see value in and will persuade them to allow both of your foot into the door and clean the filth and dirt from your shoes from whichever world you came from with a nice shoe rubbing on the door mat and a deep cleanse once you are bridged into such societies. Always remember where you came from not to celebrate your sorrowing provenance rather remember how hard it was for you to get in so you can motivate yourself to never go back and sail into the sunset. You didn’t choose where you were born into but you have ever right to steer your life how you want to granted you comply with certain legal, social/moral and societal rules. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to choose the right career and/or job. 

The number one rule I believe any person should do starting out in the professional world is to build up their own credibility. This requires frequently requires at least in the initial stage of utilizing prestige gained through association be it through education, networking, affiliation with non-work related organizations such as student clubs and/or through employers.  People who don’t have something will frequently tell you why not having that thing is no big deal, however, if they had that thing their tone likely will change. I think one should go to the best possible school(s) within a given ability range and work for the absolute best companies they could get into through legally compliant means. It is typically much easier to downgrade in prestige than upgrade. Once you have something, even for a few second, you can say you had something without qualifiers because it’s actually true. If you played in an official NBA game for less than a minute, are you not an NBA player? Whether you were undrafted, signed a two-way contract, got your opportunity through an exhibit 10 contract or nepotism, do any of these things make you not an NBA player? Don’t assign meaningful weight to opinions of the lay-clowns who can’t even think through their own thoughts dictate your own ambitions. The bottomline is, get that prestige on your resume. 

You are going to need peak prestige followed by a certain level of quantity as you need to prove to the key detractors who matters in your life that your achievement was not a fluke. An increasingly more prestigious trend at a given range is probably the best way to prove your worthiness to these people at your “prestige prime” and peaking to the highest prime level before normalizing to a regression to the mean which many people experience after they proven themselves and no longer give an F and actually have FU money to don’t give an F anymore in a professional, elite mannered way that frequent still excite the lay-people and lay-entities to get that lucrative second tier money without having to expend much effort, a breeding ground for AAFRLing or WAFRLing to get into partnership level(s). Something that prestigious is rare air and scare resource. No one cares if you were paid minimum wage playing that one second in the NBA since just getting the chance playing in the NBA or any professional sports league in history is basically almost impossible for everyone except maybe 5,000 people who played in the NBA and 300,000 maximum estimate of people who played in any professional sporting league in the history of this world out of the over 100 billions of people who were alive during that period of time. The top global 100 firms in the world may employ 30 million people which is less than 1% of those who active participate in the workforce. When you exclude the non-white-collar, lower skilled and the semi-white-collar employees from the companies that hire the most employees such as the e-commerce, fast food, retail banking, logistics, manufacturing and retailing companies on the global top 100 list, you will find that maybe there are a million or two at the most of employees with near six-figure salary corporate jobs. All that to say is, these companies are like the professional leagues for the non-professional athletes who can get into these companies through  hard work and not solely based on gifted talents at birth.  

Devoting all your time to a rental project which a job basically is, probably is not the wisest move. The smarter move is to learn all the transferable skills possible from your current job, use the prestige you gained to metaphorically erase any possible doubt in the minds of the decision makers on the hiring side that you can perform the job for future opportunities. Yes, you may need to stay at a job for a minimum amount of time to appease the “are you stable” crowd but other than that,  your associates prestige likely could carry you when you at at trajectory GOAT level especially when you can produce results even when the process of how you got there is not always transparent to the hiring decision makers. Ultimately the process will likely only be replicated on a massive level if the result is actually desirable and intrigues the decision makers. A lot of people who could afford it pay for the best of everything even when the best is only marginally better than the second best. Being called the best is prestigious on its own. The purported the stingiest groups of people actually are smart enough to pierce through the price and pay for the value.

Starting a business is almost never about starting a business. Starting a business is about fulfilling a societal needs that you have the interest and resources such as capital and skills to fulfill. Without understanding this concept, your business will likely not be very optimal and sustainable in the long-run. Put it this way, let other people DEI you or harbor guilts about what their ancestor may have done to your ancestor when you know it was your ancestor’s incompetence and your ancestor’s neighbors and peers who actually in the long-run gave your ancestor a much better life than the current descendants of your ancestor’s neighbors and peers could ever have while continuing to perpetuate you are the victim when there are model minorities who had worse than you who do better than you and the person who harbor the guilt. This is not about DEI or MEI, this about how you internalize an internal ledger that knows what you are truly worth and build upon that and work the system in a legally compliant manner and in accordance with the current social contract schema in the West.

Whether you use the RAAALTE method or not and regardless whether you WAFRL or AAFRL in life, you do whatever you have to do in a legally compliant manner to ensure your own success. Don’t let the manifestation of victimhood of any kind that were created to fulfill a need just like why most business are created (to fulfill a societal need) fool you for you to think you actually belong or deserve to sit on a pedestal. As a global top ten-er backgrounded individual, I have seen how this all end up not working well and studied history and know despite the rules humans places the political correct filter on chat bots or clauses on the social contract, 50 years from now the same demographic group may even be in a worse place. The cynical might say hey, that time period is nothing compared to the people in those middle places with a large amount of liquid resources with the resource curse. Business valuation is knowing what it is worse to everyone and knowing what it is worth it to you net of everything in the long-run. Certain things you can acquire but may not be able to hold on to for very realistic reasons. When you start a business, do what you actually can do that you love doing and have more advantages than the rest.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to start a business the right way. 

To succeed when other people fails, frequently requires knowing thyself and others very well. In the West where there are high moral social contract rules in addition to legal compliance requirements, to set one apart one must learn how to dissect the fluff to pierce through the BS that runs consumerism that ultimately feed the economy. To do so, it is important to understand there are many who will try to use time pressure tactics to legally and social contractually press, aka rim protection, you doing something you don’t want to do (affect your decision for choosing the optimal desired shot) and making it sound like you just made a voluntary decision due to your own competence (poor shot selection). Due to privacy laws and democratic ideas, stone cold calculations of actual MEI competency of a person is not being done to determine the person’s true societal contribution value (SCV, akin to the contribution margin in business, kind of like WAR in baseball or RAAALTE in TPC world). The dark side of this is almost everyone in this whole chain of oppressed and oppressors are basically predetermined before the game even started based on certain set of attributes that are already weight-averaged into a “rating” score to determine the value or worth of someone and whether that someone will receive the necessary support and resources needed to live a good life or even survive kind of like what happened in the Hungry Games. 

I think the bottomline is, when you are already at the top of your game and your game is not being recognized, then you probably are not being seen by those who knows the game. This is precisely why I personally believe continuing to improve yourself and know where you should make improvements is probably the wisest decision one could make. You want to expand your market for everyone to see your greatness when it is optimal to do so. Hence when you already are GOAT your greatness is felt everywhere and it transcends beyond everything. Game recognizes game. The right person with the right skills and resources could turn sand into gold or whatever is equivalent or more valuable than gold. To do that, given there could be an infinite amount of variables that could occur in real life, one should have the best general skills with strategic and tactical key transferable skills that can learn and adapt to any situation in a timely and relevant manner. That is exactly why even a supposed underwater basket waving degree from a certain university in Massachusetts may allow one to work in the best investment banks or wherever one may choose to bring his or her talents to. Let us recap. Regardless of your background, if you are being fetished as a group of people who needs a savior of some sort or is being fetished as a victim who needs support due to historical reasons and for the needs of certain other group(s) for whatever ulterior motives or lack of them, use that to your advantage in a legally and social/morally compliant way but don’t actually believe that BS. These people will likely be the first or one of the first to bail on you as soon as the alliance is broken or they have achieved obtained needs and you and your people will likely continue to struggle half century after half century until they push you into the ocean through completely legal, economic methods. At that time what they claim you and your people have suffered might come true and you might be ready, softened up and submissive enough for them to harvest you in every possible, metaphorical and literal way. This is an important lesson in starting a business. You have to vicarious think like you are the lowest denominator, most disadvantaged so you can prepare well when you will actually be squeezed. The key here is to remember you have no leverage. Whatever rights you think you have is only enforceable if you have the means and ability to do so. If you don’t, there will be people and entities that will likely exploit your weaknesses. Hence, when you start a business or any kind of endeavor, initially stick with what you have the absolute advantage in. Don’t worry about all the fragmental noises. No one cares more about your best interest, most of the time, more than you do. For your endeavor to sustain, you need to ensure it actually fulfill the long-term need of society and then you can expand your offering to satisfy that need eventually if you are able to. Your endeavor’s worth should be calculated based on the value-added services you can provide to each chain of the process and ultimately to the end-user. 

You can only do this in the long-term if you are motivated and have easy access to resources to do so especially when the first few years may yield little results to your benefit and that’s when many people quit such endeavors. Most businesses start with an idea that fulfill a need after observing some type of inefficiency or a lack of fulfillment of a need. And most businesses started with one person, the initiator, who may quickly or slowly being other people on board to join forces with them on acting in the idea. Therefore due to limited resources, whatever need you decide to fulfill has to be one that you have an absolute or at least a strong comparative advantage in which will boost the success rate during the most difficult and critical few years at the start. Obviously scaling is another stage that will be difficult to transition into but hopefully you thought about that beforehand and created the infrastructure to easily scale eventually. If you have to spend any significant amount of money to start an endeavor, let’s say more than $1,000 USD in cash or cash equivalent funding, it most likely mean you probably shouldn’t start the endeavor because you will have less than a 99.99% chance of success in the long-run. The most successful legally and social/morally compliant endeavors in my opinion are the ones that requires you to spend nothing to start because you already have everything you need to start it. Of course scaling will take some money and getting the government documents might also take some money but shouldn’t be cost prohibitive in my mind at least not in the Democratic West. If you have to rely on a middle/go between person/entity at any given point, I feel like the business probably is not successful because being successful means whatever you produce should be desired by the market as is. That is the power of an absolute or a strong comparative advantage. Obviously, to get to that point of having such powers, it might take you years of hard work and dedication to get there by learning you you felt was absolutely irrelevant to anything of anything. But hey, who said being successful was easy. Then again, if you became a GOAT which frequently is transferable and transcending, you probably can do anything that is legally, moral/socially compliant that you want. One other thing you probably will never be verifiably be told is the road to success starting an endeavor is to not hire any one. You can still obtain services randomly but you don’t need to have anyone working for you. Once you scale big enough, you can sell that endeavor and passively invest into publicly listed companies until you have saved enough and at the right moment take an influential stake in the said company. At that point, you just created generational wealth. Once again, this is why you need to be at GOAT level to either already substantially know everything or have the transferable knowledge to readily learn everything. The best businesses now are the ones that avoid human-beings all together from the hiring side.

It is clear that most people have accepted cards as a medium of expression. I think in the medium to the long-term the global collectible cards market will breach the annual $100 billion dollar mark. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote previously regarding this and similar topic(s):

“Pokemon and Pokemon cards of course are relatively new compared to some other brands/franchises and other classes. This may be why the price premium multiplier between newer more modern Pokemon cards and the older vintage WOTC era cards are not as significant as other types of certain types of vintage sports cards. I think the complete human history can not be fully told without the inclusion of the collectibles phenomenon therefore I view Pokemon cards as potential major human artifacts. The collectible cards industry may reach $100 billion dollars within a decade or two due to likely high CAGR which will be a major milestone in human history and have broad impacts on society. A likely large, critical mass  percentage level of the world’s population are already collecting cards. This trend may continue to grow at the current or a more rapid pace in the near future. When one Pikachu card can increase by $10+ million and more than double its worth in a matter of a few years, cards that may share certain attributes may also be positive affected, the rest are just multipliers. There may be many examples of this phenomenon happening in recent times, one of which is how the popularity of Gengar cards are affect its “downstream/evolutionary downstream lineage” Pokemon cards like Haunter and Gastly. 

With sports cards, because there are millions of athletes in all different kinds of sports who played in different eras, in different leagues and who played with different levels of completion, investing in these is more like buying a house with each having distinct characteristics like its location, neighborhood median income level, local economy etc and all these things constant evolve over time.  This is precisely why English Pokemon holographic cards, especially the vintage ones cost more. Not just because of the language or potential market size difference, but mostly due to pull rate of holographic cards where the Japanese vintage packs essentially guaranteed one holo card per pack whereas the English version packs did not. Hence because the GOAT of a sport is literally just one person or a handful of people at the most, a title that take frequently decades of work to achieve and is often only publicly recognized and granted with consensus years later. 

One would argue identifying a potential GOAT who likely had to be benchmarked against hundreds of thousands of contemporaries and predecessors in the few popular sports that actually have a large sports cards collecting fan base, the premium for the massive amount of effort and resources that are poured into this search is akin to finding a specific atom with just the right amount of electrons, protons and neutrons in whatever its required final form be it ionization, fusion or whatever else in a forest in the dark racing against time and with a copious amount of other hunters now that they smelled the money from  a potentially $100 billion dollar future industry,  have to be huge for all this expenditure to be worth it. Most people like winners and matters with certain desirable attributes, some people are actually willing to pay for these features. 

The animation and TCG aspect of the Pokemon franchise will likely prevent it from issuing true rookie cards, numbered cards, memorabilia cards including autographed cards any time soon, things that are highly valued in sports cards collecting. One thing that could be a Pokemon card trend in the future is collecting the cards of a Pokemon’s first introduction or appearance in the TCG. This concept is currently not valued in the Pokemon TCG world with the first edition labels on certain Wizards of the Coast sets being the closest concept. This concept could take off some time in the future, however, given most of the super popular Pokemon’s were introduced during the WOTC era and they had 1st edition labels back then, the ceiling on this concept taking off is probably mild at best. Yes, timing is more important in sports cards investing and it requires up to date information and data to make the most optimal decisions, kind of like what a short term investor or a day trader need to do to be successful in their craft. 

Wait, investing in sports cards sounds like a lot of work, why don’t I just stick with Pokemon cards since they are way more stable and also grows pretty fast! There is a reason why investors prefer to diversify their portfolios. Sports cards have higher alphas but also have higher betas, translation, higher risk and higher returns. With Pokemon cards, you mostly only have to worry about systemic or market risk once you come up with a prudent collecting strategy. In some sense, the cards of desirable Pokemon characters like Pikachu and Charizard, mostly introduced in the mid to late 1990s and the early 2000 during the Wizards of the Coast era are kind of fungible in that you mostly can’t go wrong buying them because the storylines are already fundamentally set and its future storyline is not too difficult to predict ballpark wise. Hence regardless of the cards of the sets you buy for some of these Pokemon characters, the baseline values will likely be perceived as the same by bellwether investors, attribute differences like artworks are just multipliers to the equation. 

With sports cards, because there are millions of athletes in all different kinds of sports who played in different eras, in different leagues and who played with different levels of completion, investing in these is more like buying a house with each having distinct characteristics like its location, neighborhood median income level, local economy etc and all these things constant evolve over time.  This is precisely why English Pokemon holographic cards, especially the vintage ones cost more. Not just because of the language or potential market size difference, but mostly due to pull rate of holographic cards where the Japanese vintage packs essentially guaranteed one holo card per pack whereas the English version packs did not. Hence because the GOAT of a sport is literally just one person or a handful of people at the most, a title that take frequently decades of work to achieve and is often only publicly recognized and granted with consensus years later.”

The valuation for a near GOAT chase card versus a non-GOAT HOFer chase card is huge. The lists are not based on absolute appreciation in value but rather based on comparative appreciation in value. We are not talking about 1,000% or 10,000% increases. We are talking about exponential and quantum jump type of growth that 1000X or more over a few decades with little initial investment threshold, little no maintenance and transaction fees and almost no barrier to investment entry. Most of these types have a few things in common. They are very or relatively new at the time, have growth potentials but very few people understand its potentials and future applications and very few people heard about the company nor its industry. They were relatively small start-up endeavors and were considered risky investments. They were also usually not the first to do what they did in their broad category as they learned from the experiences of their predecessors and created their own sub-niches. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Collectible sports base rookie cards to sell list for July of 2026.

Aaron Judge (Baseball): Unfortunately he is too injury prone to be considered the GOATesque. With a prime Ben rice and Jasson Dominguez rising up, Aaron Judge likely won’t be seen as the greatest Yankees in his era for too long especially give his championship record. I don’t believe his terminal base rookie value is above $20 wholesale at this point of his career. I believe his base rookie cards will likely be around the same range as Jeter’s which is around a few dollars after he retires. 

Mike Trout (Baseball): Unfortunately he is too injury prone to be considered the GOATesque. The advanced metrics and the playoff lack of success will probably not be seen too favorably in the future. He also has some other potential issue(s) that once MLB stops protecting his reputation, these things will likely decrease his card values significantly. I don’t believe his terminal base rookie value is above $10 wholesale at this point of his career. I believe his base rookie cards will likely be around the same range as Cabrera’s which is around a few dollars after he retires. 

Shohei Ohtani (Baseball): He is definitely a GOATesque level player now. His biggest issue is his marketability and starting out too late in the MLB. Durability will likely also be a major concern. He also has some other potential issue(s) that once MLB stops protecting his reputation, these things will likely decrease his card values significantly. I think his rookie cards will probably grow by a few hundred by the time he retires but in terms of relative appreciation against the base cards with the best ROIs, I think there are better ROIs elsewhere. 

Michael Jordan (Basketball): Jordan’s GOAT will continue to be diluted as many players will establish records he never accomplished. His rookie cards are way over priced given how much more of rookie cards are available versus that of Mantle and Ruth. Jordan was also never 20 times greater than Kareem and therefore Jordan’s cards are way overvalued even given Kareem’s rookie cards came out of a time that was not the junk wax era and Kareem is strongly in the GOAT conversation. Also, Nevermind Jordan’s endless controversies regarding topics that are rarely discussed in glaring negative lights. I believe once people give Lebron his flowers and he achieve even more, Jordan’s base rookie cards will likely hoover back to the low thousands of USD in higher grades. 

Lionel Messi (Soccer/Football): History will likely view Ronaldo and Pele differently than they do now due to various reasons for reasons that are super obvious now but no one dare to really talk about in the perspective that should revolve around these conversations. His rookie cards are maybe a hundred dollars which is decent, however, I believe there will be good reasons to why his base rookie cards will likely stay in the upper hundreds to lower thousands for years to come. I believe there are better ROIs out there.

Muhammad Ali (Boxing): As the country shift in its ideology on definition of love for thy country and shore up its religious system, Ali and the likes of Kareem, Hakeem and Tyson will likely be marginalized. I think Western Europe will essentially no longer tolerate blatant display of certain behavior which frequently result in overreacts. I believe Tyson can defeat Ali in his prime. I also believe boxing fans generally do not buy a lot of boxing cards and I also believe Ali’s rookie cards are relatively illiquid. I also believe Ali’s rookie cards is probably really only worth a few hundred USD now but are currently over priced. 

Trinity Rodman (Soccer/Football): Marketability and durability will be big concerns. And of course, the topic that will always follow when discussing Trinity Rodman is Dennis Rodman who is great player but most people are just not too sure about the role model part. I think Trinity Rodman rookie cards will stabilize around less than $100 over time. I think these rookie cards will probably not appreciate by much, I think there are better ROIs elsewhere. 

Patrick Mahomes (American Gridiron Football): Unfortunately the GOAT QB conversation will only have room for one GOAT. Quarterbacks are frequently defined by championships which most people see the QB as the in the field general and leader who orchestrates and lead a team to a championship. Mahomes plays for a small market team, not extremely marketable and is injury prone. He will also likely not obtain the passing yards, TD and Super Bowl by a QB records. I think he will need at least eight Super Bowls to be considered as the GOAT which I highly doubt will happen given his age, career trajectory and foreseeable team roster. I think his base rookie cards will likely have a terminal value of around $20. I think there are better ROIs elsewhere. 

I know this list is not exhaustive and doesn’t include many other players like Tom Brady, Bryce Harper, Jalen Hurts, Kareem, Russell, Chamberlain and many others but then again, I don’t think people really view them as true GOATs and I think their base rookie cards prices are not that unreasonable at the moment. 

Collectible sports base rookie cards to buy list for July of 2026.

Lance Armstrong (Cycling): Without talking about his controversial past, his on the track performance as an American GOAT and a near GOAT in his sport, I think $3 USD at wholesale for his true rookie card is almost hard to believe considering how much they were a decade or two back. I think with increasing openness to legalization of certain things, people in the future will view these kinds of controversies much different than how they view these things now. I foresee a 10X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Barry Bonds (Baseball): Without talking about his controversial past, his on the field performance as one of the GOATs in his sport, I think $1 USD at wholesale for some of his rookie cards is almost hard to believe considering how much they were a decade or two back. To date, no one is even close to his single season and career home run records. I foresee a 30X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Lebron James (Basketball): Phenomenal Beginnings from 2003-2024 is selling for about $5 each at retail, probably less at whole sale. Lebron 2003-2024 Fleer Ultra H2 Hummer card plus model Hummer car set for around the same retail cost 20 plus years ago around $35-$40 USD. Lebron lives in the age of social media hence he get hated on a lot. The truth is his life is probably no more controversial or perhaps less controversial than many of the so called GOATs and GOATesque players of his era and near his era. Your TPC believe Lebron is the GOAT or at the very least one of the GOATs. Depending on his next move, I believe he will likely play another three to five years and will either be very close or exceed the 50,000 regular season points mark. I also think he might win a championship or two while playing on the same team as one or both of his sons in the NBA. I also believe he will likely become a $10 billionaire. Lebron appears to be investing very well into very promising ventures. More importantly, Lebron has capable and loyal people around him and a loving family. I foresee a 10X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

The rest of the list and its discussions are from my previous post(s).

Ben Rice (Baseball): Reaching prime with the right statistics while playing for a world-class icon of a team. Higher multipliers due to reasons that I cannot fully disclosed due to social contract reasons. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 30X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Nick Kurtz (Baseball): Higher elite professional average expectancy remaining. Higher multipliers due to reasons that I cannot fully disclosed due to social contract reasons. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 30X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Drake Baldwin (Baseball): Hit the right indicators at the right age. Followed up with good second year trends on a good and storied franchise with recent championship. Many GOATs are rookie of the year winners. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 15X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Jasson Dominguez (Baseball): Plays for a marquee franchise, still young, been talked about for years, probably just need to learn to field better which is likely not difficult if he becomes a designed hitter. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 15X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Chet Holmgren (Basketball): His potentially generational beef with Wemby may work out like Bill Russell versus Wilt Chamberlain comparisons. One has too many rings for ten fingered to each wear one and the other is not primarily known as a winner but has significantly more on the personal career statistics and may have lots of stories some of which I don’t think would be appropriate to discuss here. With or without film, historically speaking after both retires many years later, if it were the case, the distinction between a top 40 player versus a top 50 player or whatever will come down to what first comes to mind to people who remember them. Chet’s cards value will likely be pegged to a ratio of whatever Wemby is at whether that’s plus or minus. I don’t waste money on buying Wemby cards just like I don’t buy David Robinson or Tim Duncan’s cards anymore even though many of their rookie cards are around a dollar or two each now. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 15X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Cade Cunningham (Basketball): Pistons are frequently perceived as a tough team for whatever historical reasons. As a guard, his height alone is relatable for many people. I think he is a regional story who may become a national or international story once he starts to win in the playoffs more consistently. I am not particularly attracted to his playing style or anything else. I just think from a statistical standpoint, his cards are very undervalued right now. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 15X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Bronny James (Basketball): If I think as the same way as other people, I wouldn’t be the permanent contrarian. There are really a few intriguing things about him that will resonate with people despite the hate he sometimes may get. His story of perseverance health wise and humbleness for someone who is in his situation is quite rare. He is pretty mentally tough and is quite wise for his age. People will look his stats and say all kinds of things. I don’t need to repeat it here. However, you have to see the forest for its guano not just s*** that one needs to spend money to clean up. This is a liability to asset double swing if one gets this valuation correctly. The father-son due is a combined story not just a singular story. That means stats can also be split among two players as in first father son duo reach xxxxx of points, assists, steals, regular season games, playoff games etc. Lebron is a historical figure of significant importance hence his scions who are part of this story will be as well. It is an inspirational tale about life and not just about sports. Lebron has at least a few more records to chase (tie for playing in most decades in the NBA, 50,000 regular season points, playing with his two sons in the NBA and in an NBA game on the same team). At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 10X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Dalton Rushing (Baseball): Plays for a marquee team. Higher multipliers due to reasons that I cannot fully disclosed due to social contract reasons. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 10X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

Paolo Banchero (Basketball): I am not particularly attracted to his playing style or anything else. I just think from a statistical standpoint, his cards are very undervalued right now. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 10X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

James Wood (Baseball): Higher elite professional average expectancy remaining. Hit the right indicators at the right age. Followed up with good second year trends. At around $1 USD wholesale for his rookie cards, I foresee a 10X increase in the next two decades for his base rookie cards. 

I will simplify the answer here. As a regular person who may not have much disposable income and probably do not have an Ivy Plus or prestigious work experience background, you really do not have a lot of margins for errors. I highly recommend you utilize the excellent safety net already created for you and tested to work very well via the Western consumerism social contract and get most of your financial exposures and likely will be exposed to stocks, mutual funds and possibly ETFs through the 401(k) or some type of tax advantaged IRA. 401(k) will mostly limit you to large and mega caps not not the penny stocks which I think is ideal for the common, non-Ivy Plus person. To be honest, I would say the 401(k) is probably the most logical case for the regular person. Of course the whole design was for you to work for someone, stay out of trouble and spend. I don’t necessarily think deviating away from the formula will do the common person any good. If you are a student of history, you will probably know what group of people created that system and will choose to live in the geographical locations that will actually honor this system by benefitting those who the system was actually designed for. Of course, I won’t elaborate on this in order to comply with the social contract. I see the 401(k) as almost risk-free as you are entrusting the good faith and capabilities of a certain entity that lead an alliance of entities. In reality, there is no other stabilizing force capable of making this statement for the next half century at minimum. I would not touch the derivatives such as options and futures if I were a common person and especially not the leverages and the margins. I see cryptocurrency currency more as a medium of exchange technology featuring blockchain than an actual viable medium of exchange. 

Most governments now either have or are exploring their own digital currencies. When you think about it, a decentralized currency won’t really work in the long-term without the backing of the centralized authorities for very rudimentary reasons. Almost everything that are considered highly liquid like gold and silver are essentially heavily regulated by the central authorities. Cryptocurrency might be a useful tool for those who care about their privacy for whatever reasons. I believe regulations are coming for crypto and it will likely require more streamlined tax reporting which will essentially limit the privacy aspect of the asset class. I personally would not bet on the cryptocurrency market to appreciate greatly in the long-term. Real estate is typically a good investment though many people give too much credit to the tax benefits from paying interest on mortgages. Basically if you have to forgo taking the standard deduction which is approximately 16K for a single filer if you are to deduct mortgage interest. The issue here is a $300K mortgage at approximately 6% for 30 years is less than $20k in interest initially. But interest payment included in the mortgage payment get smaller and smaller over time where more principle payment is made. Of course, itemization can also include certain medical bills, charity donation and property taxes among some other item(s). However, when you realize most people who own real estate also file joint which means they can get 32k in deductions. Property tax is about 1-2% a year based on appraised value of the property. All I’m trying to say is the tax benefits from home ownership is probably overblown versus standard deduction. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Invest in real estate, collectibles (sports cards, coins, stamps, antiques, arts, Pokemon and other TCG), precious metals like gold and silver, securities (stocks, bonds, mutual fund, ETF, options, futures and other derivatives), cryptocurrency or other alternative assets.

When you own a home and have a mortgage most of the cash flow you get as a common person go to the mortgage with little to invest into anything else. Sure you can rent our rooms or the whole house but regardless you will have maintenance cost to home ownership and a lot of other cost like your time and standard of living. The housing market also have these cycles and is highly linked to the economy, neighborhood well-being, interest rates and treasury. I just think you should only buy a house for non-money reasons as there are much better investments that such up less cash. Real estate is more of a heirloom thing for the mega rich not really how the common person get mega rich. If you think fixing up TLC houses will make you rich because you are a handyman, you may need to think twice because repairing is only a small part of the business. This business requires knowing people and being a people person, lead generation, cash flow financing management, knowing the law and regulations and a very calculating business sense. Most people are mistaken when they say buying is cheaper than renting. Without wasting all of our times with item by item calculations, I will just say most couples do not need four bed rooms and 2,000 square feet and front and back yards to live comfortably. If you are single or in a relationship and do not have kid(s), depending where you are, likely you can get a room for less than $1,000 USD. Owning a house include a lot of additional costs renting do not have such as property tax, mortgage interest, trash fees, mowing lawn fees, repair fees and much higher utility fees. Put it this way, a $300K USD mortgage for 30 years at 6% will cost about over $300K in interest alone in addition to the principal. All the closing cost plus the loan origination fee is probably at least a few thousand extra. Property tax for a $500K house at 2% is about $10K a year. Some people will argue that this amount is actually an investment into the local system that spurs additional investments into the local economy in term increase housing value. There are also special assessments. 

The average historical house price is about 4.5% compounded in the US and even more recent appreciate rates which are significantly lower than this which is significantly lower than the average compound return of US stock market at 10%. Yes, there are tax exclusion benefits (250K and 500K on profit exclusion for single and jointly tax filers respectively when you sell your primary residence), however, when you figure the intangible and tangible net benefits versus 401(k) (even considering SDIRA, Solo 401K or borrowing/withdrawal from 401(k)), I think overall is just not worth it. I mean if you significant other pressure you to buy a house even though you don’t want one because you think rationally and not emotionally, perhaps you should reconsider your life’s choices. Plus tying people down with more sink cost and increase their switching cost are mostly tactics used by those who are trying to depose of depreciating asset which you know I for sure won’t elaborate on. I think this generation of people have made a different life choice with increasingly more DINKing, staying single and prenups. You got to learn that anything unpopular is typically due to vested interested preventing it from being popular. Over time, the proof is in the pudding. As long as you don’t feel embarrassed by your own decision making, the clown is the OPP. Being a permanent contrarian will always yield a higher return because all higher returns are made by those who venture into something that no one else is doing that yield huge margins and set them apart. Of course to be a permanent contrarian you have to constantly adapt to changes. Though I consider myself as a third wave vanguard permanent contrarian who contra others actions just before a new industrial revolution. This lowers my cost of contrasting without spending on R&D while seeing the clinical trials of others and study the results. All great revolutionaries rode on the backs of the pioneers. I’m the permanent contrarian equivalent of buying the house just at the edge of Beverly Hills near South Central and Skid Row right after I hear the word regentrification, NIMBY and zoning change but just before everyone else hear those words and can process those words into information and taking investment actions. 

I’m a last inning permanent contrarian but a permanent contrarian nonetheless. Is albacore not tuna? When bluefins are effectively off the dinner table, is albacore not the new mainstream tuna? I think this is probably the best balance between risk and reward. Taking calculated risks yes but also earn above average risk per reward. Collectibles when they are easy to store and inexpensive per individual units, to me, are eligible for my alternative assets investment consideration. As I mentioned before, cash flow is very important for the average person because the average person does not have inexpensive ways to obtain a large amount of cheap credit for the medium to long-term. Stamps as a collectible are pretty much out fad and coins, paper money, arts, antiques, gold and silver will cost you a lot of money and takes a lot of expertise to invest right. At this most, the simplest investment to understand for the average Western person to understand are collectible cards. Western people have a lot of free time and many use those free time to watch sports, play sports, watch cartoons/tv shows/movies and play various games including TCGs. Without having to repeat what I have mentioned already in numerous previous posts, collectible cards are probably the best lottery level investments one could make besides 401(k). Most people don’t know how the investments within 401(k) actually work in details including its valuation, however, that doesn’t matter because the system was designed to make the 401(k) system almost risk-free for the average person otherwise the whole full faith system will likely collapse which will destroy the innovation market and wanton consumerism. 

Here is the truth. Nearly 100% of the people will never become rich in their careers regardless whether they work for themselves or for other people even if their career earnings are a million plus. The issue is economies of scale, cash flow limitations, experience gap and more or any combination of these. Borrowing or raising money often requires a reputation of continuing success, significant amount of collateral assets or a network of entities who are willing to co-sign. As per my previous post on the RAAALTE method, realistically, the only way to get ahead is to take calculated risks that you have a high probable chance of success while you also have a day job that can pay the bills and provide a safety net for your physiological and psychological benefits. Most jobs lead to dead-ends because their purpose is to facilitate employment so consumers can afford to buy from the companies that employ them as employees. Some investment in oneself yield better returns than others because they translate and transfer very well to everywhere. For example, an Ivy Plus education typically will mean significantly better life-time employment prospects than a non-Ivy Plus and non-near-peer Ivy Plus education. 

Surprisingly with scholarships, many Ivy Plus schools can be just as inexpensive if not more inexpensive than state school. Even without scholarships, many Ivy Plus schools are frequently no more expensive than non-near-peer Ivy Plus private schools. Attitude is everything in life. Most people can be trained to do a job well. If you are generally pleasant to work with, in Western societies, you will do just fine even if you perform AAFRL, a terminology I discussed in a previous post. Certain language skills are also very transferable. If you are a fluent English speaker, I believe Spanish is the absolute most important and easiest language to learn. Spanish speaking population segment will continue to grow rapidly worldwide and in North America Latinx/Hispanic descendants will likely account for over 30% of the population within 40 years. Spanish is a no brainer pick over French, despite its growth in usage in Africa, when choosing a second language for fluent English speakers for many reasons that I will not discuss here mostly due to social contract reasons. The hype over learning the supposed superpower East Asian country’s language in your life time is probably over and will likely yield little benefit as it struggles during its de-globalize/de-westernize phase during at the very least the better part of your career. That country realistically need to gain unfettered access to the Pacific Ocean to be on equal playing fields with the combined core Western Alliance aligned nations. It most likely won’t expand eastward into the Pacific due to impediments that they likely do not want to confront in the next decade at the very least and instead will likely explore northern and/or westward inland expansions, basically cannibalizing its own semi-alliances.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to maximize your career potential.

In terms of majors or career choices, I believe one should pursue his or her passion. When people pursue their dreams, they will ultimately be more motivated and eager in their careers. However, I think in general, if one does not have a particular strong passion for anything, choosing a career that will allow one to find jobs easy due to demand and be closer to money, as it is the medium of exchange that will allow one to acquire various things, might be the smarter move. Besides experience, getting a top license/certificate in a chosen field is probably also very important and likely at least somewhat transferable given it at least represent the cream of the crop in a given occupation which at the very least says a lot about one’s work ethics. And of course, having sufficient FU money, which frequently operate in similar logic as MAD in the geopolitics context, is almost always important as it gives one assurance and time to pick and choose on one’s own terms without being pressured to make disadvantageous decisions due to financial desperation. 

In any work place and in life, there will always be people who you don’t like or who don’t like you for various reasons and many times for no fault of yours or the other person’s. Bosses and coworkers come and go just like you in your career. I think what is important is to stay in a workplace for a stable amount of time, learn the important skills in that job then move on to a new position or a new job within a given or related field. Obvious the opportunities you get will likely depend on your skills, experience, degrees and licenses/certificates as well as your personal traits such as likability and attitude. You don’t need to be liked by all, you will have to be reasonably easy to work with while at the same time protect yourself from encroachment to your lane, continuously to grow and avoid being exploited. If you plan to AAFRL, you need to first scale to a point where you can take risks while also have the kind of stability to fall back on. The all-in-mentality at the unprepared stage usually have an extremely low probability of a good outcome. 

I think the key word is balance. Even when at work, you need to figure out what you can delegate/train other people on so you have the bandwidth to learn new skills at your job while at the same time maintain your value to your employer by not appear to be comparative less useful when compared against your newly trained colleague(s). That balancing act requires timing things correctly and gauging your value to the company properly. After all, every exit is an entry and every entry is an exit. I do however believe when you are well-established as a capable and reliable employee due to your experience level, skills, educational background and professional certifications, you probably already gained enough trust equity from all that you are valuable to the company regardless how you will be utilized at work in a legally compliant manner. I think successfully leveraging transferable skills increase career success rate by a wide margin. I also believe the more transferable skills one have, if they are reasonably attained from a resource expenditure standpoint, the more valuable one becomes in the job market and in society which will likely yield significant benefit for that person.

There is no such thing as a dead-end to anything in life because…..see, you get it. Anyway, the whole point of getting a job is to get paid. The whole point of career advancement, you guessed it, is to get paid. If the end goal has always been to get paid, isn’t the job just a medium of exchange for money? Let’s do some math. Hypothetically speaking, you do well in a good job, you get a 3% annual COLA adjustment and you also get a merit increase every few years. Compare that against you do a decent enough job so that you don’t get fired, you get a COLA increase and never get a merit increase. Yes, you will probably be stressed worrying about losing your job. I would argue the person who works way-above-firing-replacement-level (WAFRL) aka the high performer is not really efficient with his or her time and will stress equally if not more than someone who works at-above-firing-replacement-level (AAFRL) aka the low performer due to “performance punishment.” When you realize not leaving a skilled job after a few years for a higher paying one typically means you are leaving money on the table, you will realize  why the RAAALTE method I developed is important. 

First of all, no one person or entity will pay attention to you every second and especially not forever. This means bosses may leave, your company’s situation may change, the ecosystem may change and heck, you may change. This means there are a lot of wasted movements/efforts you are performing daily that will yield little or no actual financial returns. It’s not just your time you are exchanging money for. Most of the time you are giving up opportunity costs such as time away from doing things you like or need to do like enjoying life, taking better care of your health by being in a better physical and/or mental state, time with your family and friends and developing your other times etc. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

The Risk-Adjusted Above-Average Life-Time Earnings (RAAALTE) method for decision making.

The RAAALTE method, created by your favorite TPC, may help transition the Western world into a more MEI based society. In many of the non-democratic regions, they do not allow any deadweight to weight down their “common prosperity” initiatives with all kinds of “programs” and “incentives” to ensure its populace stay on the MEI side of the coin. WAFRL is basically the risk-free, default setting because with enough efforts and time, anyone who is decently intelligent and fully dedicate themselves to hone-in their craft will reach this level. AAFRL regards a lot of skills, balancing and slickness/finessment. The earnings differential between AAFRL and WAFRL is essentially the risk-adjusted upper bound incremental earnings above risk-free levels. If you can’t conformably side hustle, the job is probably dead-end.

Since I am just writing for fun and you are likely not a mathematician or a financier, I will make it easy for both of us. The RAAALTE method is simply taking the net present value calculation and modifying it. The NPV formula already takes into account compounding and opportunity cost expressed in money terms. The formula on the left-hand side will represent present value of future expected returns from performing at level that is AAFRL which translate into the English language as optimal side hustling which can include anything from moonlighting and entrepreneurship to learning a new skill or pursuing a degree/certificate, without getting fired with a safety margin of +10% extra effort above the expected getting fired level. The getting fired level can be gauged by “comping” the level of perform of the lowest performing active employee within your department. The net cash flow aka CF in this case will be what you make in your career at the AAFRL level including 401k, social security contribution and whatever other cash equivalent benefits you get plus what you will make once you receive the full payoff from your side hustle returns minus the calculatable cost you incurred maintaining AAFRL levels plus costs associated with pursuing your side hustle(s). Your “r” will be the rate in which you believe the discount rate will be. Given you are in control by doing something you actually feel comfortable in pursuing and likely have above-average control than most passive investments, I think the 10% ballpark average from US equity returns is a good rate to use for the discount count rate “r” representing the opportunity cost. The “t” or time period should be based on how many years you see yourself actively “working.” The “n” is the frequency of compound such as compounding once a month, once a quarter, once a year etc. Ra is the expect probability of the CF actually materializing. For example, if you expect there is only a 20% probability the CF will actually materialize, then take all the CF inputs and output as mentioned above, net it, then multiple it by the probability percentage of 20%.

Without any technical knowledge about finance, AI can probably help you calculation all of this based on frequency of compound, period..etc. The left and the right of the minus sign should be exactly the same. The difference is the one to the left of the minus sign represent the AAFRL level output and the one to the right of the minus sign represent WAFRL level output. I know money will grow money, since we are comparing apples here, we will ignore the money beget more money compounding impact beyond the number of years in this calculation. In essence, the RAAALTE formula modifies the NPV by replacing the “initial investment” calculation on the right side of the formula after the minus sign with the same calculation on the left hand side. RAAALTE tells the story of worthiness of extracurricular activities beyond the normal trajectory in financial terms whereas RAAALTE ratio tells the story of the portion of differential from the extracurricular activities compared with normal trajectory as a percentage. RAAALTE in principle combines the tangibles and the intangibles of everything  in life expressed in absolute and comparative formats taking into account opportunity costs and time value of money. 

Simply speaking the formulas should be thus:

Risk-Adjusted, Above-Average, Life-Time Earnings (RAAALTE) = AAFRL – WAFRL

Risk-Adjusted, Above-Average, Life-Time Earnings Ratio (RAAALTE Ratio) = RAAALTE/WAFRL

Whereas:

AAFRL = ((CF*Ra)/(1+r)^t compounding at “n” frequency 

WAFRL = (CF*Ra)/(1+r)^t compounding at “n” frequency 

To me, a RAAALTE ratio of above +500% is probably a no brainer decision. A percentage that is between 100% to 500% is probably a reasonable decision. Anything below a 100% is probably not worth the risk. For example if you expect to earn 1 million USD from AAFRL level and expect to earn 700K USD from WAFRL level which will derive a RAAALTE of 300K USD, at a ratio of about 43% (300K/700K), it might not be worth the risk.

I will say it again, based on my experience working in many of these fields and knowing the speed of mass technological deployment, adaptation and integration numerous changes into daily lives, it will literally take decades. Even when they are fully implemented, in most democracies and market-oriented economies, there will be at least a decade where the holdouts from such technological advancements can still live reasonably comfortable without adaptation of such as advancements. Realistically, anyone who has already reached adulthood and is currently in the workforce will not be severely impact by any of this. Yes, you will likely need to learn to use some of these tools. Yes, your field may lose jobs from these advancements. Yes, you may even lose your job from such advancements. However, at this stage, you will likely get away with learning only surface level/superficial knowledge about these tools and do just fine. Yes, your field may be lose jobs and you may need to find a new job at some point, however, due to the lack of uniformity globally regarding protocol, ethics and direction among other issues, the schools are not training their students well enough to really replace you in that regard. You will likely have more advantage in the field learning these things than the students in the career pipeline.

There are just too many kinks to be worked out. Humans have yet to master many of the more critical issues like the human brain, equitably distribute wealth and work in light of major technological advances, creating unlimited energy and water, creating unlimited amount of food, artificial womb births among other things to really teach the AI/robots/whatever to replace humans never mind colonize other planets in most people’s lifetimes at this moment. At this point, learning the basics of coding and a major AI application likely will be enough of a basis to adapt further if one chooses to and need to. Economic priorities in this day and age often dictation the direction and speed of technological deployments. Based on the current economic model, people need to be gainfully employed in order to spend. If no one can afford to buy anything, what is the point of making a whole bunch of stuff that no one can afford to buy? Conversely if everyone gets a universal basic income distribution, what motivation do people have to contribute to society? When the majority of people have too much time on their hands, they may self-actualize to a degree that some people may not like……I doubt that is what everyone wants to see when the infrastructure to defuse such social contract related pressures can not be easily, systematically defused.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I previously wrote regarding this and similar topic(s). 

“The biggest issue that will prevent any of that from truly replacing human beings is ethics. Yes, current technology has technological limitations on the human nuanced nitty gritty actions. Yes, decision makers need to ensure the transition stage is not sudden but rather gradual to prevent societal issues. The ethics issue is real because ethics is a code of conduct that make the human society rule based and not a free for all. That means in free, democratic societies it has to consider the interest of all equally or risk social upheaval while in less free and democratic societies it has to consider risks to the ruling class from the masses. There are many restrictions on AI today due to ethical reasons that can make asking AI to provide information from analyzed data on real statistics like life saving truth such as which neighborhood and demographics to avoid from a risk probability standpoint virtually impossible to find. Yet those are the things what AI can be the most useful: to provide heartless cold truth most humans are unable to say out loud due to social contract reasons living in Western societies. If such things are confronted face-on, like putting someone or a demographic group on a performance improvement plan (PIP), then true societal evolutionary stage will occur and those that don’t comply, like being on a PIP, will eventually be asked to leave. That is what MEI, meritocracy based diversity should be all about. Some people will say, it is a free country with no prevalent exit bans, if you don’t like it, you are welcome to move to the country mentioned in point number one. You may just end up enjoying the amount of freedom, common wealth/prosperity, mental hospital/jail stays where they tube feed you an unlimited amount of schizophrenic medicine while electro-shock your brains for saying “crazy things” while also “borrowing your organs” and the unlimited amount free speech and “exercise through labor and rehabilitation” they say you can exercise and enjoy over there while your family and friends frantically looking for you only to also be enjoying the same thing if they were looking for you if they lived there as well….XD

The humanoid robots, AI and automation trend will likely continue to progress rapidly in the coming years. It is however not as scary as it seems from a job security standpoint for most people in the workforce now at least for workers in the US. The US is a consumer oriented economy with consumer spending being one of its largest drivers of economic growth. If a large swath of workers lose their jobs, there would be no one to sell the products to. The rest of the world also heavily depend on the US for consumption due to its lucrative marketplace. Privacy, safety and other elements that affect the human experience is also important in America hence any technological advanced implemented at scale will likely have to clear those hurdles as well. Automation has been happening for years. What basically ended happening there was productivity per worker went up, prices per unit went down, worker wage went up, average per capita consumption went up, invention went up because people have more time to think and experiment and Americans are able to consume more than ever. I foresee humanoid robots, with the exception of ethics and safety concerns, will likely help fulfill the needs of people. AI is already helping people increase productivity, however, it is still years away from being sophisticated enough to AIoT (artificial intelligence if things) to control everything. 

Space exploration was likely the dream of everyone when they were little. Space doesn’t have to mean outer space, it could just mean discovering new places. The biggest mysteries for the human race are probably where are we really from, can we live forever, how we got here, are there other hospitable planets like Earth for humans and are there others like other in the universe. Many of these questions will probably take generations to answer, however, the age of space exploration will likely last for centuries. The biggest takeaway from that is we have to think about things from a galactical standpoint not just earthly. For example, are precious metals still worth hoarding when there are tons of that in other space locations or can we live longer on other planets. On the contrary, if more cultures are found, cultural relics like collectible cards may be worth a lot more due to curiosity and overall a bigger market for such items. Perspectives on life will likely also change which will cause consumption patterns to change due to influence of new cultures and state of being.”

I have been frequently right about my predictions. Even when I wasn’t 100% right, my logic was usually correct. Invariably people will ask me how I was able to make accurate predictions consistently. Listen, you probably heard the saying many times, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” You wouldn’t be picking the winners between something and something else if you didn’t think they were some what peers or at least deemed at somewhat as near peers. When all things being equal, the difference between “winner(s)” and “loser(s)” for a particular event are in the “operating system” and the ecosystem that support that operating system. Winning and losing are not permanent state(s) of beings but rather states of minds. There are simply no real good reasons for one of the competitors to be losing consistently and over time when the contests are between two peers or near peers except for the state of mind difference. The other thing is, after winning so many times, there is an extremely high probability that the winning competitor might get bored, sympathetic or just careless and making winning one against the said competitor much easier. 

The sad part is if the perennial contest loser, a peer or near peer of the consistent winner of the contests and all things being equal, still haven’t figured out why the said competitor continuously loses after losing so many times, it’s hard to explain the situation with a “hardware” issue, it’s most likely a “software” issue. Winners have the right attitude that is needed to win. They will frequently learn from their experiences, build up their own competencies, mitigate weaknesses and create the right ecosystem to support their sustainable success. It takes the right internal operating system that is frequently powered by the right attitude to seek the help and resources needed to succeed in the long-term. Yes, the most opportune opportunities do not come every day and not everyone is handed the best cards in a poker game. Ultimately it’s really the players in the game that have to adapt to the situation and environment they are in. Whether the person is prepared for it or not will easy show through results. Winners usually are magnanimous. They are not doing this simply because they are kind. They are doing this because giving other people an opportunity and more specifically an option or pathway to fulfill their own desires make both of their goals intricately tied together. This is how you create an ecosystem around your operating system. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to consistently pick winners.

You want the developers in your ecosystem to develop around your operating system and a chain reaction of other Apps and APIs that develop based on the rules and protocols created by such refinements, so on and so forth. You have to continue to improve and be the better you in order to be the better you and better other people to better yourself even more. In this case, being magnanimous to others is simply developing your own core competencies. What are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with picking winners? Game recognizes game. For you to pick winners, you have to know the tendency of winners and how to win. Simply put it, you have to be a winner to know how to pick winners. Sometimes when you are a winner, you can directly influence perennial losers into evergreen winners. Perception sometimes is reality yet not all realities are perceived to be realities. But if you are a global Top Ten-er graduate with a lot of accolades, people will always perceive you for what your potential might be, a real winner. That self-fulfilling prophecy is a lot easier to fulfill when you get all kinds of “respect passes,” resources and accesses. As long as you are half worthy of it, you will probably be a winner. Vice versa, it might be a lot harder to succeed sustainably even when you succeed with a Pyrrhic victory initially, you are already set up for high probability of long-term failure. 

In summation, I know a winner when I see it because it takes a winner to know a winner. If you can’t see a winner when you see a winner, you probably is not a long-term winner. It sounds ridiculous and arrogant, however, it’s probably the truth. These are instincts are etched into the judgmental reflects for quick decision making. These judgment decisions are not always right, but they are right at a high clip that make everyone respect such decisions enough to alter their best interests in favor of your own which makes your best interests theirs too. Is a rim protector just a shot blocker or are they opponent’s shot selection alternators and possibly turn defensive stops into fast break points. Know who you are and who you aren’t before you make important decisions. This is precisely why I personally believe it is much wiser for the average person to buy a major US index fund rather than pick their own stocks. That extra 20% return that a hedge fund may earn over your 10% annual average return is a small price to pay to take advantage of a system that is designed for everyone to win within a certain range and for ample consumption to occur with relative freedom and contentment. This is precisely why I personally prefer the expected value method in investing in alternative assets by pipelining thereby taking into account the alphas and betas. Become a winner first, winners will gravitate toward you.

Just a forewarning, a large number of the sets mentioned on the list will be 2025 MLB baseball sets because these sets will likely contain a large number of some of the best rookie cards in MLB history. At this moment, this rookie class looks better than the 1995 Rodriguez, Jones and Rivera rookie class and could possibly be close to the 1951 Mantle and Mays rookie class. This class already has at the very least four all-stars making the 2026 MLB All-Stars team in Rice, Wood, Baldwin and Kurtz. The scary part about this rookie class is actually its depth. For example, Dalton Rushing, Cam Smith, Daylen Lile, Cam Smith, Colson Montgomery, Agustin Ramirez, Matt Shaw, Max Muncy (Athletics), Cade Horton, Jasson Dominguez (technically speaking he is still considered a rookie in 2025 even though Topps may not be putting the rookie label on his 2025 cards), Dylan Crews, Roki Sasaki and quite a few high potential pitchers all appear to be likely sure fire future all-stars making at least all-star game in MLB. Yes, this is Ohtani’s era, however, there are still near 50, often more, all-star spots to fill each season and on average every year at least a few players get elected to the hall of fame. Due to how deep 2025 rookie card year is, I recommend buying various versions of Topps Update Series instead of Series 1 and Series 2 to get possible full exposure to all MLB baseball cards for that year. As a bonus contents, I will say I have been accumulating a large number of bulk rookie card 5,000 count card boxes from the 2025 MLB baseball rookie year rapidly in the last few months for on average less than $100 USD per box. If you collect basketball cards, think of this year as the baseball equivalent of a 1986 rookie cards from Fleer or if you like football think of it as the 1983 draft year in the NFL. Don’t just look for the regular chase cards in this years, the 2025 Topps Update Series could possibly include rare, true miscut cards where part of the card include a portion of another card. I see these as bonuses that make the non-Chrome Update Series very interesting.

This is what I wrote previously on this topic, “I believe there are many hidden gems in the 2025 baseball rookie cards class. Personally, I have been accumulating Ben Rice and Nick Kurtz rookie cards for months. I been actively looking for these in dollar boxes regardless of condition, which are typically in decent condition given they are newer cards. Surprisingly, I am still able to find large lots of these probably for reasons that I describe below. I anticipate a targeted price of $50 for the average base Ben Rice rookie card and $40 for the average base Nick Kurtz rookie card in approximately five years. It typically requires a player seven years to show signs of GOATesque symptoms proven with upward trajectory in record pacing levels and postseason success. The bottom line is, only GOATesque and plus players will receive perennial public exposure in the long-term after the hype hence their cards are likely the only ones that will see post-inflation adjustment gains after they retire. Both players’ cards will have higher ROI multipliers due to their marketability. 

I believe Ben Rice will be a cultural icon in popular culture as an Ivy leaguer super athlete role model, a career long Mr. Yankees folks hero who will get 400 plus home runs, 2,000 plus hits and a few championships. I think Nick Kurtz will eventually make it to a major market team  where he will be a superstar. The issue here is his fan base will likely mostly be from a team that is not the team name on the jerseys of his rookie cards which might diminish the ROI multiplier a bit. The baseball rookie cards in the 2025 baseball card packs are probably one of the best in the last few decades. We are talking about at least five highly probable future hall of famers in Ben Rice, Nick Kurtz, James Woods, Drake Baldwin and Cade Horton. Daylen Lile and Dalton Rushing also have decent chances of being future hall of famers. I can also identify probably another five players with their rookie baseball cards in 2025 that also have the potential to be hall of famers. This class is top heavy and extensive deep. Some of these players mentioned above are already at record pacing levels. The best part of all this is while all the people are diverting their attention to basketball cards, soccer stickers and modern Pokemon cards, baseball cards are lagging behind its true market value for these cards. Even so, I’m baseball cards, people focus more on the Ohtanis, Judges and other players who are already superstars.”

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

2025 Topps MLB baseball Update Series Retail Blaster Box – MLB baseball rookie cards and rookies are a bit different from the definition of other sports due to its rookie status rules. 2025 will likely go down in MLB baseball cards history as one of the best rookie card years. If you can get this for around $25 to $30 USD, I think that would be a good deal. See the first few paragraphs of this post for reference. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Chrome Update Series Retail Blaster Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $35 to $40 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Chrome Update Series Retail Mega Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $50 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Update Series Retail Super Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $50 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Update Series Hobby Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $150 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Chrome Update Series Delight Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $500 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Chrome Update Series Hobby Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $200 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Chrome Update Series Jumbo Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $450 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 MLB baseball Topps Update Series Jumbo Hobby Box – See the above. If you can get this for around $250 USD, I think that would be a good deal. 

2025 – 2026 NBA basketball Topps Match Attax Power Pack – This box is exclusive only to certain East Asian so-called world’s number two economy. They are a collaboration between Topps and a certain company within the said country mentioned above. While I don’t think there are going to many, if any at all all-time-greats in the 2025 NBA draft rookie class, I do find the boxes to be quite good deals around $15 to $20 USD per box with a lot of potentially good inserts and massively available probably due to extremely degraded purchasing power of the so-called world’s second largest economy mentioned above when their people struggle to find jobs or make any resemblance of a living wage by Western standards after experiencing a gradual decline in their domestic economy.   The good thing about this set is these cards are almost exclusively in English and are unique just to that market alone as Topps didn’t even make that set for regions outside of that country. If this set was issued for the US market, I have strong reasons to believe these would be probably at least four times the initial retail issuing price (which was likely significantly cheaper than current online prices) in the said second largest economy. 

Right now, most of the TCG money are going to Pokemon and most of the big spend per unit in sports cards are going to basketball cards while baseball and football cards get more volume purchases.  Typically anything that is 25 years or older can qualify for the “classic” label though the cards communities use the word “vintage” to describe card eras based on significant events that separate vintage era with lower production versus modern era that saw much higher production with sub eras within modern era such as the junk wax era. Vintage cards typically are worth more on average, however, modern production typically include 1/1 RPAs and other numbered special insertions that are more valuable than any specific vintage cards as those sets typically did not include these special insertion and had less variety than modern high-end card sets. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Fortnite – 2019 series 1 Fortnite card boxes are probably extremely underproduced. At the lower hundreds, if you are in the market for these, I believe these are probably some of the best values. Fortnite the game although no longer at its playing peak, is still extremely popular worldwide.

Magic: The Gathering – This franchise is probably the OG of all TCGs created over 30 years ago. While its Alpha and Beta decks are probably out of reach for most people at this point, I think the best value is the 1995 release Ice Age. Despite what people say about its print run size and expected value of cards in pack/deck/box versus market value, I think  around $100 USD for a starter deck and about $1,000 USD for a box are still excellent deals for 30 year plus vintage sealed MTG products.

Garbage Pail Kids – I think the 1985 non-American Series 1 and all other versions of the 1985 box sets from that franchise are good value at a few hundred to a few thousand USD are good value. GPK is crossing genres now and I believe is doing quite well as a franchise. 

Harry Potter – 2001 base set booster box, basically its first edition box, are undervalued at the $1,000 to $2,000 USD range considering its cultural impact and continued franchise successes. Considering how impactful the franchise is, I believe this is one of the best values in the history of TCGs at its current price levels. 

The Simpsons – Its first official TCG box released in 2003 by WOTC is probably a really good deal at around $100. The Simpsons, being one of the longest running animated series in the world has the kind of popular culture and historical relevance that will likely ensure some of its collectibles will have appreciable value over time. 

Digimon – At around a few hundred dollars for the 1999 series 1 first English release, I think it’s an excellent deal. Digimon’s origin as a unique digital pet game and as an animation series that came out around the same time frame as Pokemon and One Piece has the kind of history and cultural relevance storyline to likely appreciate over time for some of its premium cards products.

Ne Zha 2 – However you perceived the franchise and its country of origin, the movie is in the top five in terms of non-inflation adjusted box office revenue, regardless of how it got there…..Many of these boxes are so inexpensive at less than $10 for a full box (and they are mostly official cards from a country where knock-offs are frequently originate from, in this case, selective enforcement of copyrights from a certain entity works in the favor of collectors), they are just too good to pass up on if you are in the market for these items. The artwork, print quality and variety are quite good. One of the main versions is also printed by one of the biggest card companies in the world with collaboration with other top cards companies in the world. The original Ne Zha or the Ne Zha 1 movie from the same franchise set was not a global phenomenon at the level of Ne Zha 2 even though it did have cards from that movie as well. Due to Ne Zha 3 coming out purportedly some time in 2030, Ne Zha 2 cards may do well in the future. 

Pokemon – I think right now the Pokemon card sets with the best value, ranging from less than a hundred USD to the lower thousands USD, are the non-official Pokemon TCG sets. 1999 Merlin Pokemon sticker set, 1999 Burger King Pokemon set, 1996 Carddas Pokemon set and 1995 Topsun Pokemon set. Yes, these are not Pokemon TCG official releases, however, they are officially licensed products associated with the Pokemon franchise. They are also some of the earliest Pokemon card/sticker releases. I think the modern, non-vintage Pokemon cards in terms of value are the 25th anniversary cards especially the ones from McDonald. They could be had for a few dollars per pack and has the Pikachu symbol on it which is quite unique. Overprinted or not, at that price range, it makes sense to acquire these in my opinion if you are in the market for these. 

Yu-Gi-Oh!– Yes, I am not a huge fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG due to reason(s) I previously stated in my earlier posts which is/are mostly due to printing strategy of the franchise/TCG. However, I am still a believer in the franchise and its TCG’s popularity. Its arguably most famous set is the Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon 1st Edition, created around 2002, are considered the first Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG English version releases. I believe the better value are in the non-English 1st Edition releases that were released later that can go between $1,000 to $3,000 per booster box. 

MetaZoo – I believe the MetaZoo story is not over. Meta Zoo, with new ownership and likely more stable financially, could possibly see its cards worth a lot more in the future. Meta Zoo is unique in that it has innovation like “fourth-wall effects” and the utilization of cryptids in their TCG. The art on these cards are also quite good to be honest. However bloated the hype was, I think at the bottom price levels and with its unique innovations, its mythical themes and akin to Dungeons & Dragons except it is more Western and American individualistic centric versus collaboration centric will have a strong market in the future. I think if you can get MetaZoo Cryptid Nation 1st Edition booster box for around $100 or the Kickstarter version (I believe these are the so called true 1st Editions because MetaZoo were first released via Kickstarter campaign) for about $1000. Technically the non-Kickstarter Edition came out in 2001 versus 2000 for the Kickstarter Edition, however, due to the huge price differences and the fact that they have almost the same name, I think the price difference is too big to not consider the non-Kickstarter version if you are in the market for these cards.

Obviously many other long-running franchises such as Dragon Ball Z, My Little Pony, One Piece, Power Rangers, Star Wars, Disney Lorcana and Ultraman are great too. TPC focuses on value for the common person to beat the odds in terms of ROI. That means many factors such as cash flow constraints, lack of leverage over high-end buyers regardless of market conditions, limitations on basic access to infrastructure such as to grading services and numerous are considers to increase the probability of the success of the underdog. Sometimes an underdog is not a dog because it takes finesse to win against the big dogs. For sustainability and social responsibility purposes, perhaps the winning “underdog” doesn’t always have to be become the “big dog” to remain the “top dog.”

Ever stressed out about money? Yep, many people have dealt with this. Manage cash flow is all about balances. Cash flow does not flow at any one direction. To make money and live happy, you not only have to make money but will also have to spend and/or invest. Some expenditures are no brainers like paying for necessities such as food, transportation, rent/mortgage and some form of entertainment etc. Other expenditures like investments, academics degree pursuits and learning new skills are not so clear cut. These frequently require careful balance between one’s life goals and objectives and the cash flow levels needed to achieve such goals and objectives. Obvious money/cash flow is only one of the many resources required to complete these goals. However, it can not be emphasized enough that money or cash flow give one the option to pursue such endeavors if one is determined to do so. 

I know people frequently talk about how to reduce credit card debts and debts in general by matching interest rates and duration etc. I won’t discuss this topic in this post as that is an after the fact matter. Frankly speaking, once you are able to balance your cash flow properly and set your life’s priorities straight, the resolution methods for those debts will likely become very clear to you. What I want to talk about in this post is the ratio between maintaining a healthy cash flow and pursuing your ambitions. As the old saying goes, it takes money to make money. At the end of the day, it’s just a multiplier game though it can also be a negative multiplier. Do you think it is better to be living paycheck to paycheck if you spend much of your disposable income on travel and entertainment versus you maximizing out your 401(k) or IRA? I think some people might say it depends on the person’s goals and objectives in life which I agree. However, how do you think that person will continuously finance the lifestyle once the person is out of the prime money earning age or run out of money? To put it simply, figurative speaking, to splurge you might just have to first take the plunge. That means you might have to defer your desires to spend initially when you generate little cash flow and gradually splurge more as your cash flow can sustain your lifestyle comfortably.   The other piece to this is “betting/investing” on your self. Do you know Lebron James and other GOATesque athletes spend tens of millions on their bodies to ensure they are in the best athletic shape for their professional athletics career? In a similar vein, many families, including the not so wealthy ones, spend a significant amount of their savings on the education of their children?  Why are they doing that? There are many reasons for this some involve non-financial considerations like trying to be the best they can be in the case of top athletes in the point mentioned above and in the case of the families mentioned above, they want to make sure their children have the best tools to succeed in the modern world.   The financial results are clear. Many of these top athletes can play until their 40s while still making hundreds of millions of dollars per contract. Many of the children who receive the best education have a higher probability of being more financially successful. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to manage cash flow when starting from nothing.

Regardless of how much you make or how much you save, in my opinion, the best way to save now is through a 401(k) because your employer will likely contribute a portion of that plus you will most likely defer taxes on the eligible contributions within the states limited of the program. The 401(k) can also be liquid, granted there might be a penalty for early withdrawal. Given the US stock market on average has grown 10%+ annual for nearly 100 years. Per my previous posts, I highly recommend buying index funds that track certain major US indices rather than individual stocks. The stock market is usually top heavy and all relatively. That means over time it usually are a small number of publicly traded companies that appreciate the most. Think about it this way, only around 50 or so of the 500 companies on the Fortune 500 companies list from 70 years ago still exist today. Granted many of these companies might have merged or were acquired, this still give a sense of the reality of the business world. Yes, buying average versus finding the fastest growing  company ever sounds like a big compromise, the reality is the choice is actually between the average versus likely over 50% probability of losing it all and that’s stating this point extremely gently.  The market is full of extremely bright professionals and extremely bright professed professionals. Even many of them have a hard time of “beating” the market average on a sustained basis. Let’s be honest, does having five million versus ten million dollars when you are at your retirement age really make that much of a difference to your lifestyle? I know having almost nothing because you eventually lost it all because you continue to gamble on your savings versus five million dollars probably make a much much more difference to your lifestyle. Don’t take this for granted. In much of the remaining parts of the world, their people can only dream of this type of safety net for the average person. They are frequently mad and sour because they get almost nothing when they retire not to mention little to no social securities benefits like the ones received by many of the population in the US. 

I think the tougher decision is between investment in third parties like index funds via 401(k) versus investment in yourself. Let’s say you are already doing well in your career but is looking to gain additional certification or degrees to make yourself more promotable or learn new skills to make yourself more promotable thereby eventually and hopefully make more money. Fun fact, if you contribute to the 401(k) max annually, usually low five figures plus a small but welcomed additional contribution from your employer for 40 years at 10% average returns, you will have 10+ million in the account at the end of the 40 years although the reality is it will likely continue to grow significantly on its own without any further contributions. On the contrary, if you take 100k out of your cash flow at some point to get a masters at, let’s say, your dream school, is it worth? I don’t have to even calculate this and I think the answer is a resounding yes. With a higher education level hopefully at a great school with a degree in a relevant major to your career, you will probably get a promotion at your current company which likely mean higher pay and possibly higher 401(k) contributions or jump ship to somewhere else that pay you significantly more. The additional cash flow from future benefits of a master’s degree versus putting it into the 401(k) may be more or less, but let’s be honest here, that master’s degree probably mean more to you than another million dollars when you already have like 20 million already. Money will likely grow more money in a dynamic capital market like the one the US has, but not everyone will have the energy nor time to complete a master’s degree when they work a full-time job even if they can afford the tuition.

What I learned over the years is that you will almost never be 100% right on everything. In terms of investing, you can still make money if you are 50% right all the time. At the end of the day, it’s really all about managing risks, reaping returns and managing cash flow. If you are new to the financial market or if you just want stable growth, stick with index funds  that track large US indices like S&P 500 or one of those major non-index fund mutual funds offered by one of the big three US asset manager/brokerage firms. In fact, I believe everyone should have some of these as their portfolio baseline. Picking individual stocks/ETF as well as dabbling in derivatives like options and futures, OTC/Pink Sheets penny stocks and playing with margins etc should be left to the professionals. For one thing, the information gap is huge let alone knowledge and experience gap. You might not even have access to level 2 and level 3 data never mind a certain “terminal.” Heck you might not even have access or know how to do ALCO interest rate sensitivity, duration and gap analysis. You also may not know about the Money Desk to manage cash flow by matching borrowing and invest/loan while keeping a safe amount of liquidity. The US has the best and most stable financial system bar none. At a relatively low-risk return of approximately 10%+ annual returns on equity, which I personally consider it as risk-free plus and too big to fail, I am not a big fan of expend money to buy treasury/debt versus large/mega cap investments via mutual funds. All the extracurricular activities around beating the market to get an extra 5% or whatever like a blank comparing contest is meaningless for the regular person who gets maybe max $100 a year extra minus the fees that is if his or her portfolio is even large enough to participate in that fund/program and having to put up with all the potential snobby bulls*** and p****** scams. Even it reverses to the mean or way below due to aggressive tactics from these funds/programs or can’t get money out, that could create a huge issue for the regular person. 

I personally would just stick with the index funds or non-index funds offered by the big three US asset management/brokerage firms via Roth IRA or 401(k) where the government already designed these tax advantages for everyone who qualify. Look, I get it. In the US there is no debtors’ prison and people can declare personal bankruptcies and could recover a few years later. There are also plenty of social safety nets. Americans also view these people at the most relatively neutral or an antihero while a large number of people actually admire these people’s boldness and believe they will eventually succeed through trials and tribulations. The flip side is opportunity cost and whether these kind of risks are actually commiserate with its potential returns. Moral of the story, keep it simple especially when this game is knee-deep. If you work marginally hard with marginally ambitions and follow the beaten path in investment strategy like 401(k) and Roth IRA via mutual funds from a US-based big three asset management/broker, the safety net and the financial system will ensure you have at least a modest life with a decent retirement nest egg. It’s usually the simple things that if one does consistently well that provide the meat and butter in the long-run. You know what the funny thing is. Even when you are picking stocks that may grow faster than the market returns, your returns in the short-term will likely be based on whether the expectations which are somewhat based on whether earnings guidance from management meets the expectation of the influential institutional investors who are usually the bellwether with dedicated analysts covering that equity recommending a buy, sell or hold pacing market sentiments/expectations for the rest. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote previously regarding this and similar topic(s).

“I am going to provide a piece of strategy that very few people in the history of this world likely will ever be able to verify. When you have multiple degrees from top ten global universities, worked for nearly 100 Fortune 500 companies in one capacity or another, have numerous professional certificates and licenses, have leadership experience, an internationalist who have seen it all, you rarely have to prove to anyone at all your abilities. For the regular person, it’s all about managing expectation of everyone around you. What is important here is, keep in mind, you will likely only work for around 40 years in your life. This sounds a lot but it really isn’t. Make sure you always have FU money to say no to things that will not be advantageous to you. I think the easiest way to accumulate savings for a regular employee is not through savings in the traditional sense, it’s actually through 401K. Many employers will match a percentage of employee contributions and there are quite a bit of tax benefit with contributions for the contributing employee. In today’s day and age, jumping around a bit is one of the best ways to get career advancement if you are good at controlling the length of employment just long enough to not be considered a job hopper and not long enough to be considered an overstayer. In this day and age, an employment length of six months or a year is not that frowned upon anymore if you have a good reason for it and you don’t do this for every single job. Most people escape bad managers or dead-end jobs but obviously that is not what many future potential employers want to hear. 

Most people don’t get rich from working for other people. Some people will point to the highest paying major professionals like doctors And to say medical doctors are rich. While doctors on average make a great salary on average at around $400K a year, most doctors also have to go through 10+ years of post high school education and become doctors if they qualify after meeting various rigorous criteria in their 30s. Most doctors also have 300K or more in debt before they even become doctors. If one were able to work the approximate ten years during or after college and save that money in a 401(k), just based on market appreciation, an annual total 20K contribution (including contribution from the employer) at average calculated market growth of around 10% growth in 15 years will be $600K+. It also comes with tax advantages which I will not discuss at this time. An HSA for those who qualify in addition to a 401(k) for those who qualify could potentially be even more tax advantaged. Anyway, by the time the doctor pays off his or her debt, the non-doctor already has likely $600K+ in retirement account savings than the doctor has. Because there is a limit in tax advantages 401(k) annual contributions by a person while working for an employer, the doctor can not simply catch-up in 401(k) savings the regular way (unless we are talking about catch-ups exceptions at certain age) by throwing money at it. What this means is even if the non-doctor does not contribute anymore to a 401(k) plan after they saved $600K+ in 401(k) their money will grow to at least a few millions after 30 years more than enough to live comfortably in retirement. Ultimately, neither of these above methods will help one get truly do whatever you want wealthy.”

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

1. Ancient forests with secrets.

When you dream about these places, they usually have some key similarities. They are usually in some remote area with little modernity. They usually have some kind of linkage to some ancient civilizations that no longer exist or suddenly disappeared. The storyline typical also involves some kind of temple, old building, treasures and/or artifacts. Let’s not forget feeling eerily like something or somebody is watching you and monitoring your every move. For starters, the human civilization has been around for around 6,000 years so there will be such places as a result of human activities in these areas. Most of these places will likely be found near significant natural, non-man made water sources like rivers and lakes to easily secure water supplies, food supplies and for irrigation. In rare instances, when the rainfall is extremely low or when the area is experiencing drought, the riverbed becomes visible. Areas next to large non-man made water sources will also frequently be brimming with human activities throughout history because everyone wants to live there and conflicts to secure the area were inevitable. Depending how deep the water source is, its underwater floor may hold secrets beyond imagination not to mention the caves that the underground water usually flow through. The forests themselves may also have secrets such as secret hidden facilities or sites of ancient buildings. 

2. Hidden islands. 

Due to the invention of satellites, most land masses of any kind have been discovered. The undiscovered ones are sandbars that are basically temporarily formed due to sediment deposits found near shore. There could be treasures hiding inside of it. There are likely also near shore islands where small groups of ancient people who wanted a life away from mundanity.

3. Quicksand that lead to a mysterious underground palace.

When heavy rain occurs, places that were hollowed out to construct ancient world underground sites often accompany a collapse of the ground above them. These sites were constructed for a variety of reasons including for defense, storage, dwelling and transportation etc. While many of these places are well-publicized, there are likely many more hidden in ancient manuscripts regarding their locations and whereabouts. It is also to note that many cultures utilized astrological knowledge when constructing sites hence knowing a general area where the site might be in conjunction with astrological knowledge the ancients may have used in constructing such sites may be very helpful in locating these places. 

4. Mysterious settlement on top of a mountain.

In ancient times, hermits, monks and those who were fleeing conflicts often lived in secluded, far flung areas of the world to avoid human contact. In those days, there were no man-made path to go up to the mountain tops. Those that were able to get up worked extraordinary hard to achieve this goal. In areas that rained, these places provided ample water and food sources to feed groups of people. Because many of these people lived there for years, they likely had much of their everyday items and valuable stored in the mountains. Hermits and monks may have left important manuscripts there. Many hermits and monks may have built small monasteries and temples or lived in caves when residing on the mountain tops.

5. Treasures in the attic. 

What if you intentionally do this? Set a side a little amount of money and once in a while buy something you think that will go up in the value then ultimately put into a designed space in your storage room and just forget about it for a long while. When you think about it, aren’t a lot of stories about how someone obtained valuable collectibles either inherited or found in an attic/storage space?

6. Ancient shipwrecks.

See point number two. Those diving equipments are expensive. What if there was a better way to be near a shipwreck location, at shore and still able to scavenge some of the potential treasures that was carried to shore hidden inside of the sentiments on the sandbar?

7. Treasure map. 

When something is already identified as value even if it’s just a conduit to finding something valuable, that derivative will likely be valuable too. However, there are also are a lot of treasure maps that are probably forgeries that lead to no where. The best bang for the buck treasure hunting methodology is probably finding clues in the media like books. Many ancient names and sites of even general areas are considered lost or ambiguous never mind finding the exact locations. Again, here is where knowledge and experience will allow you to see and interpret something different from others which may increase your success rate. 

8. Immortality.

In reality, this already exist in nature for a few organism including the flatworm which has a brain. With AI and advances in bio-technological advances, it is likely within one or two centuries the human brain with its billions of neurons will be mapped out and with cell reproduction fully controllable, the human conscience could likely be downloaded, uploaded and transferred. The flatworm literally could grow a brain when it is sliced into half and still keep its old memories in its new beak . 

9. Fountain of unlimited wealth.

Not trying to be funny or anything, but this one is probably the easiest to obtain. It is called compound growth. Any IRA may probably can do that nowadays with the right investment strategy. 

10. Time travel to change the past and impact the future.

Maybe this will happen in a few centuries though time travel backward is probably very difficult. The reality is, the past affect the future and the future is impacted by the past. The causality is almost undeniable. The best way to affect the past is to change the anticipated outcome to the desirable outcome in the future. Literally one of the biggest reasons why someone that want to change the past is because it created an undesirable outcome for the future that one may have regretted that it happened. By doing things right the first time whenever possible and making rectifications to one’s best abilities is probably the most realistic methodology to utilize in lieu of a time machine.

I will write extensively on each of these ten topics in upcoming posts. 

Listen to me very carefully. First thing first,  if you can, conceal your newly found wealth and your connections to such wealth as best as you can. Human nature is such that people will get jealous, enviously and/or both especially from those who are the closest to you who knows you and/or have access to your time. The next 72 hours will be critical to whether you can sail to the sunset or not. You will need every second of that. Don’t act any different just yet especially do not change your address, phone number or anything else that would give away that something is up with you in the eyes of your close ones. We are in the age of AI where many things can be resolved on your own without disclosing much information to others and especially not in an integrated manner where your motivations, movements and current situation can be decoded and translated into a coherent true story. In the Western world where there are rules and personal freedoms and rights, privacy itself is typically not difficult to obtain. To ensure your name and associated information are not disclosed to the public, it usually takes filling out form(s) to obtain an anonymity and if private information are necessary to be provided, you could always appeal through various legally compliant processes.

It does take time and money to obtain sometimes which I think in this case it likely will be worth it if the amount is reasonable, which usually are. Regardless the process time, starting the process sooner is usually better than later. Make sure you take care everything by yourself. You shouldn’t really need anyone’s help to get your own privacy in order. For cash or cash equivalent related assets, make sure you store these with the top three US-based financial institutions and/or asset management firms by asset under management (AUM) size. They will likely allow you to choose how you would like to allocate your funds. For large sums of cash in the millions, you probably don’t want these to be put into bank accounts as they will not offer FDIC protections of $250K is per depositor per the entire bank regardless of how many accounts are opened or how many branches of the same bank these amounts are allocated to. To keep up with inflation, putting these into financial institutions that allow investment accounts like the Roth IRA offering certain tax advantages are probably the way to go if legally compliant to do so. For non-cash related assets, the wisest thing to do if you are not in the investment or that particular assets’ space, it’s probably to sell it. But before you do, make sure you have enough FU money to not sell it if the price is not right based on your extensive research. I recommend to safeguard the cash and cash equivalents first then manage the non-cash related assets. That way, you won’t be in such a hurry to sell everything and take huge, probably unreasonable haircut. Remember, however legally you obtained those assets, the assets have an intrinsic value that someone/some organization probably worked hard to create. Just because you now own it with relative easy, does not mean it was obtained or created in ease by the original owner(s). 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote previously on this and similar topic(s).

“I am going to provide a piece of strategy that very few people in the history of this world likely will ever be able to verify. When you have multiple degrees from top ten global universities, worked for nearly 100 Fortune 500 companies in one capacity or another, have numerous professional certificates and licenses, have leadership experience, an internationalist who have seen it all, you rarely have to prove to anyone at all your abilities. For the regular person, it’s all about managing expectation of everyone around you. What is important here is, keep in mind, you will likely only work for around 40 years in your life. This sounds a lot but it really isn’t. Make sure you always have FU money to say no to things that will not be advantageous to you. I think the easiest way to accumulate savings for a regular employee is not through savings in the traditional sense, it’s actually through 401K. Many employers will match a percentage of employee contributions and there are quite a bit of tax benefit with contributions for the contributing employee. In today’s day and age, jumping around a bit is one of the best ways to get career advancement if you are good at controlling the length of employment just long enough to not be considered a job hopper and not long enough to be considered an overstayer. In this day and age, an employment length of six months or a year is not that frowned upon anymore if you have a good reason for it and you don’t do this for every single job. Most people escape bad managers or dead-end jobs but obviously that is not what many future potential employers want to hear. 

Most people don’t get rich from working for other people. Some people will point to the highest paying major professionals like doctors And to say medical doctors are rich. While doctors on average make a great salary on average at around $400K a year, most doctors also have to go through 10+ years of post high school education and become doctors if they qualify after meeting various rigorous criteria in their 30s. Most doctors also have 300K or more in debt before they even become doctors. If one were able to work the approximate ten years during or after college and save that money in a 401(k), just based on market appreciation, an annual total 20K contribution (including contribution from the employer) at average calculated market growth of around 10% growth in 15 years will be $600K+. It also comes with tax advantages which I will not discuss at this time. An HSA for those who qualify in addition to a 401(k) for those who qualify could potentially be even more tax advantaged. Anyway, by the time the doctor pays off his or her debt, the non-doctor already has likely $600K+ in retirement account savings than the doctor has. Because there is a limit in tax advantages 401(k) annual contributions by a person while working for an employer, the doctor can not simply catch-up in 401(k) savings the regular way (unless we are talking about catch-ups exceptions at certain age) by throwing money at it. What this means is even if the non-doctor does not contribute anymore to a 401(k) plan after they saved $600K+ in 401(k) their money will grow to at least a few millions after 30 years more than enough to live comfortably in retirement. Ultimately, neither of these above methods will help one get truly do whatever you want wealthy.”

Yes, yes and yes. Ohtani will likely also break Barry Bonds’ fourth consecutive MVPs record as well. Bonds will likely not be considered a GOAT due to the main issue that prevented him from getting into the hall of fame and for not getting the magical MLB 3,000 hits number by a few dozens hits. Ohtani is probably one of the if not the most liked baseball statistical superstars in the history of the sports. Ohtani always never played in Bonds’ era. If we compare Ohtani with Aaron Judge, yes, Judge is probably the more powerful hitter with higher home run peaks, however, Judge at 34 years old has similar injury trajectory as Mike Trout except Trout had already hit nearly MLB 300 home runs before the injury issues essentially slowed his career down and Trout was only around 27 years old at the time. At the same age, Judge barely hit MLB 100 home runs in the majors. Trout already at around 420 home runs and only around 34 years old and has four more contract years with the Angels after this year will likely reach 500 plus home runs by the end of his career. The real on the field related issue with Judge in terms of breaking the home run record is age. He will likely return to the field in September of this year missing most if not all of the post season. He also is an elite defender which means the Yankees can’t afford to make him the DH which means increased injury risks. Oblivious he is not like Ohtani who also pitches which means for Judge to be the GOAT he really need to earn it via offense only which he will likely not be able to do so. All this is to mean in Ohtani’s era there will be no one who is overall better than him perhaps not even offensively better than him. 

Ohtani is turning 32 this season, however, due to his baseball focused mindset and conditioning, he will likely play at elite levels for another 10 years and probably can play three to five years after that. He is likely getting 320 career home runs this season. If we expect an average of 35 home runs a season for the next ten seasons, we are talking about 350 additional home runs. If you count an additional five non-prime career years of 20 home runs a year, Ohtani can realistically break Bonds’s career home run record and likely the seven MVPs record. Given Ohtani is literally a prime money maker for the MLB, Ohtani will likely be able to get records by trying to achieve different things every season that means for one of these reasons he could also focus on just the single season home run record which he has a realistic chance of achieving if he only DH and nothing else. Unfortunately Judge will likely not be in the same position to do so. Ohtani will also likely get 3,000 hits as well. The more important thing is, Ohtani could realistically contend for the World Series championship every season and could probably win 5-7 in his career, Bonds didn’t even win one and Judge likely already near the end of his prime also has none while Ohtani already has two, one beating Judge’s Yankees the other one probably one of the greatest if not the greatest World Series win of all-time. When you add Ohtani’s WBC wins and its iconic moment plus his two-way hitting and pitching, it will be extremely difficult to argue Ohtani is any less GOAT than Babe Ruth when Ohtani played against professionals not against people who also had other jobs on the side. Ohtani also is a global superstar who is help MLB expand the game globally. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote about this and similar topics previously.

“The reality is they are unfortunately playing in the same era as prime Ohtani, Judge and arguably the most talented era in MLB history. Baseball just became super exciting again with all the rule changes, global stars, competitive teams and various intriguing storylines. Baseball as a sport appears to be growing significantly globally. The World Baseball Classic becoming popular, baseball’s return to the Olympics and the fact that baseball is spreading from Asia bellwether pop culture centers like Japan, South Korea and Japan into Southeast Asia is a very important trend for the sport. Because baseball and cricket are very similar, there is a good chance it could get a piece of that 2.5 billion fan market.

All this to say is that because the much larger pie for all, I think rookie cards of these four players are good value. I tend to think baseball has the highest career longevity of all the sports for players who are good at what they do. It is not exceptionally uncommon to see baseball players in the MLB play to their mid 40s. However, the players who play to their mid 40s may likely are chasing something record wise. Many of these players start in the league in their very early 20s. Hence when I am buying rookie cards of new MLB players, I typically look for guys who make to the league early, play a premium position, has height and can either hit or pitching or both with power. Of course I look at their minor league stats as well to analyze their potentials. And yes, because my rookie cards pipeline strategy also entails maximizing upside risk and with almost insignificant downside risk when I can buy maybe a box of 4,000 of inderrated new player rookie cards for less than 100 dollars, I am able to also get rookie cards of Patrick Mahomes, Steph Curry and for sure Aaron Judge when they first came out. Of course, most of these cards won’t be worth the storage cost after a while within a given time range, hence every year I either donate those cards or give them away to friends.

I think that within 30 years there will be a *clean new all-time home run record given progressively better training, conditioning and athletics nutrition programs. Many players are able to regularly hit 50 and occasionally 60 home runs a season at the moment already. I think it is doable currently for a power hitter comes into the league at 20, and starts hitting on average 50 home runs at 26 for 10 years and average around 23 home runs for the other 12 years in the league. I also tend to believe if the all-time home run record can be broken the single season home run record can also be broken likely by the same player. I also think that player will also be able to get 3,000 hits as well. As great as Shohei Ohtani is, I think there will likely be a better American version of him within the next 50 years given the high athlete percentage in total US population. I believe two-way players in the MLB will become much more common in the future hence traditional one-way pitchers may not be as valued by teams as before. The superstars who aspire to be GOATs in baseball and really in many major sports leagues, barring early career-ending injuries can play 20 plus years and typically is expected to play 15-20 years in order to chase records and greatness. That means at any point once they become established as at least a GOATesque trajectory player, their cards will be at somewhat peaked levels within a given range. Obviously if they become GOAT, their cards may very well appreciate even more from their cards’ peak values, however, if they don’t at least maintain GOATesque overall career level at the conclusion of their professional sports career, their cards’ values may drop from the peak value gradually.

I can’t say this enough. GOATs may change from time to time. Investing in a player because the player is the current GOAT is a losing proposition. The smarter move is to form a pipeline of inexpensive investments that may have high potentials on a periodic and continuously basis. Liquidity is king. You won’t have much bargaining powers if you are not liquid. You won’t be able to wait things out because they need cash flow. Being illiquid is an easy way to be taken advantage is. Even if someone is willing to buy something illiquid from you (smart investors will likely do research on your current financial and overall situation), you may have to sell your assets at heavy discounts. Part of having FU money is the ability to say no when saying no is advantageous to you. Not having the ability to do so may be detrimental to your financial well-being. This is precisely why I don’t recommend regular people to spend a large sum of money on illiquid assets that will hurt their cash flow significantly. What most people may not realize is momentum begets more momentum. When you are up and everyone sees it, people are likely to help you financially. When you are down, regular people will be hesitant to do so because their financial resources are limited and they can’t afford to gamble on you paying them back. The financial investors and institutions are likely even more stringent on the risk evaluation side.”

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

1. A certain East Asia country becoming number one in total GDP. 

For obvious reasons, I won’t name that country by name but I think everyone knows who that is. Current prevailing total GDP reporting for a give country is based on real GDP which on paper exclude inflation and deflation from base year. I see this real GDP reporting methodology as a lagging indicator as economies that are experiencing deflation may temporarily experience a rise in real GDP due to lower producer input prices/PPI and lower price pass through to consumers. When competition become cutthroat, wage decreases, foreign capital flight occurs in a lagging manner a few years later (due to switching cost mostly due to fixed investments, exit barriers and political reasons), the real GDP growth will be in big trouble regardless of selective it is being measure. The other issue is there are no weights assigned to the intangibles that actually drive a modern economy. Long-term deflations means uncertainty and uninvestability as the whole point of investing is to generate higher future returns. If something cost less tomorrow than today and producers are price takers with massive volume, consumers can afford to wait to buy the big ticket items at a significantly cost a while longer when they actually need it. 

The two most important pieces in GDP calculation should be consumption and private investments. Consumption and private investments in most normal economies private the most jobs and are the biggest piece by far in revenue generation. Whoever is building billions of un-dwelled living quarters that technically cannot be owned by private individuals for a population in significant decline and at a 1 to 3 human to house ratio and approximately 1 to 10 household members to house ratio obviously cannot be criticized. However, the aftermath will be what it is, no one will be able to cover up.

Massive government spending as one of the primary derives of GDP by certain unnamed country per the above usually come with gigantic amount of debts which raises questions about quality of GDP growth. Import and export ratio in terms of trade surplus or deficit calculations also yield strong signs of how the trade surpluses come about. In conjunction with calculation on the profitability of such exports and its source of profits be it geographical regions or governmental subsidies are additional telltale signs of the quality of its GDP growth. Not adjusting for debt fueled GDP growth when it should be taken into account is another indication certain unnamed country is exploiting loop holes again. Unsurprising as its trustworthy levels are at all-time lows. The real GDP calculations also do not account for the percentage of people who actually smile on the streets, are genuinely happy with their lives, buy mostly foreign goods, refuse to have children nor ambitions and its elite moving their wealth to Western nations. Everyone wants the best possible life. You can’t possibly tell me consumers ignore price-quality ratio for patriotism of their own country’s products in the long-term. Consumers in all countries are quite savvy when it comes to stuff like this. You will also have a hard time convincing me that Purchase Power Parity (PPP) or GDP is the right measure for your country’s economic situation when it is a relatively closed-off country/economy with lack of international competition in its domestic economy, products that are made come with a side of fraud/unethicalness/slave labor/populating/potential illness, lack of freedom, human rights and censorship where people literally go disappear forever, lose organs or appear in confinement without their families and friends even knowing for exercising simple freedoms that people in Western societies take for granted. No amount of bot comments or subsidized influencers gathering in some far-flung city of the abovementioned country can change what it is. PPP is particularly ridiculous as modern human beings don’t consume for survival, they consume for lifestyle. PPP and GDP current calculation methodology no longer reflect the survival to lifestyle shift in human societal evolution where sentiments are more important than manipulatable data from non-transparent, non-credible and non-ethical sources. 

Contrary to no-TPC popular belief, the most serious future issue the abovementioned country will experience will be disintegration of its made-up “ethics unity” no matter how hard it tries to force language and cultural unity. There are tens of thousands of distinct languages in that country. Most of the country is in reality made up of tens of thousands of different ethnicity groups packaged into one supposed majority ethnicity group to enhance ethics unity. Most of these languages are so incomprehensible to each other their linguistic difference are no smaller than the linguistic differences between various European languages. They also can’t censure these things because many of these ethnics groups have spiritual sanctuary in nearby sovereign countries where most of their compatriots are based. Their DNA bloodlines are also quite pure comparing with those in the West because of xenophobic tendacies in the said country throughout history. Most of these people also have a lot of beef with each other where racism and stereotypes are rampant. As soon the common prosperity and they can’t feed themselves again which have been a repeating theme throughout their history, they will start to rip each other’s throats again. For this to happen, it will only take a temporary collapse in their system, a few more month of unpaid wages for securities personnel and for them to be hungry for a while, for young male to not have jobs and for some kind of leader to emerge who also takes advantage of the complex external geopolitical situation. All of these things are already well under their way some of these are pretty much already completed.

2. A certain territory next to the said East Asia country in point number one will be occupied.

No, see point number one. Also read about the collapse of this country’s Northern, former superpower, big brother and how it collapse. Not exactly the same reasoning but similar enough to repeat again in the next few decades. If you have People or Socialism in the name of your country, perhaps you should consider making their lives happier as a top priority which doing the exact contrary and only benefiting the few who end up allocating their family and wealth in Western countries anyway, may probably won’t end too well for your country no manner how much you monitor your own people or try to ban them from leaving.

3. US will lose its sole super power status. 

No for all the reasons stated in points one and two. Probably not in this century and next century majority of human societies might not even be exclusively on Earth. Two oceans, no natural enemies, seemingly unlimited resources, lots of allies, significant immigration from foreign elites, strongest military and seemingly unlimited wealth generation all says it will be impossible for it to lose its sole superpower throne on Earth.

4. AI, robots, virtual reality and other  technological advances will virtually replace human beings.

The biggest issue that will prevent any of that from truly replacing human beings is ethics. Yes, current technology has technological limitations on the human nuanced nitty gritty actions. Yes, decision makers need to ensure the transition stage is not sudden but rather gradual to prevent societal issues. The ethics issue is real because ethics is a code of conduct that make the human society rule based and not a free for all. That means in free, democratic societies it has to consider the interest of all equally or risk social upheaval while in less free and democratic societies it has to consider risks to the ruling class from the masses. There are many restrictions on AI today due to ethical reasons that can make asking AI to provide information from analyzed data on real statistics like life saving truth such as which neighborhood and demographics to avoid from a risk probability standpoint virtually impossible to find. Yet those are the things what AI can be the most useful: to provide heartless cold truth most humans are unable to say out loud due to social contract reasons living in Western societies. If such things are confronted face-on, like putting someone or a demographic group on a performance improvement plan (PIP), then true societal evolutionary stage will occur and those that don’t comply, like being on a PIP, will eventually be asked to leave. That is what MEI, meritocracy based diversity should be all about. Some people will say, it is a free country with no prevalent exit bans, if you don’t like it, you are welcome to move to the country mentioned in point number one. You may just end up enjoying the amount of freedom, common wealth/prosperity, mental hospital/jail stays where they tube feed you an unlimited amount of schizophrenic medicine while electro-shock your brains for saying “crazy things” while also “borrowing your organs” and the unlimited amount free speech and “exercise through labor and rehabilitation” they say you can exercise and enjoy over there while your family and friends frantically looking for you only to also be enjoying the same thing if they were looking for you if they lived there as well….XD

5. Space exploration will peak.

Everything has stages. The pioneer stage is usually a small group of people. Due to technological and resource limitations as well as geopolitical divide on Earth, space exploration will take time for the first stage to be complete. Due to the same resource limitations on Earth, once the final significant geopolitical impediment is resolved on earth, that’s when the sole winner will like devote all of Earth’s resources through market force driven “voluntary international collaborations” to ensure the technological advancements and resources are there for full-throated, merit-based, natural selection based evolutionary migration into space. Earth could still contain the majority of the non-selected and be used as a dumping group for space garbage. Evolution and natural selection await for no one. Either you get on the PIP and improve or you will be left out by history. One of the reasons why certain demographics groups are so upset with the teachings of certain elite tertiary institutions that teach, promote and patronize human-made ethos contrary to evolutionary logics. 

6. A certain consensus number one university in the world will continue to be the consensus number one university in the world. 

I hate to say this but the school is no longer exclusive and pure (has been deflowered, no longer sacred nor sanctimonious) in the eyes of certain people due to diversity related past overcorrections and Supreme Court admission rulings. When other elite schools started to offer free tuition or are in the process of doing so and banned legacy admissions process, exclusivity probably got thrown out of the window all together. The biggest baggage is its origin of being a private, undergraduate liberal arts studies focused college for the colonial era, pre-industrial elites that frequently ruffled the feathers of the meritocracy in new world of STEMS and graduate level research that are often state funded. Granted liberal arts is a big money maker in Western societies and is a spiritual pillar to liberal freedoms, the weight of its importance will ultimately decline in this century however. And yes, the switching cost for others to no longer view it as the consensus number one is minimal to nothing and there are legitimately at least five S or S-tier schools in the US and two in the UK that is near its level and will exceed its level in a few years, already is at its level or had already exceeded its level.

Now the last barrier for that university to lose its consensus number one status is the barely standing facade of a gate. History will likely view their biggest failures to maintain its position as the mesh-mash strategy. Trying to be in the extremes of prestige and rigid social status gatekeeper while ultimately have its defenses broken yielding to social pressure of non-elite/purely merit and status based decision making. If one already anticipated this will be the ending, one probably could have prepared this occasion much better than the forced hands approach it is currently enduring. While the new billionaire is now the trillionaire, this university is still dabbling in the mid double-digit billion endowment range no where near close to exceed triple-digit billion endowment range in the next decade nearly three decades of being in this range. One could argue that it never had an absolute advantage over other schools as it might literally be a replica of a school from England and that even its comparative advantages have disappeared relative to other schools. Even those who may have graduated from the school likely don’t agree with many of its values. Its biggest challenge could be if in the future either a school decided to leave the Ivy League or if an invited member to the Ivy League publicly reject the invitation. The dangerous to the top and bottom of the schools within the league will be most significant while the middle of the pack will probably think about exiting themselves. The disdain for how stuck up this school is and its now perceived bandwagoning nature is stronger than ever will likely will not bode well for the future of the school. The day when the top US leader graduated from its neighboring STEMs focused school and a degree from a liberal arts school, the importance of science meritocracy will likely hit its peak and the US will likely near its win against its existential nemesis. 

7. The future majority recognized number one university in the world will  not be a US Ivy-Plus school.

Yes, see point number six. Most likely, it will be a STEMs focused school with world-class liberal arts studies as well. 

8. The collectible cards market will not exceed $100 billion dollars and collectibles in general will not exceed $1 trillion dollars. 

Yes, the key to this will be the market penetration rate of cards as an important media for conveying messages. When literally every marketing strategy also includes creating a cards product because people love cards. 

9. Crypto currency market will not permanently decline as centralization occurs.

The technology side from the crypto currency boom like block chain will probably still strive, the rest probably not. Sovereign governments who have currency issuing authorities within their jurisdiction will have every incentive to digitize their own currency in a centralized manner. The potential instability, criminal, moral and speculative/gambling aspects of crypto will likely be too much for authorities to ignore. I foresee regulations will not be enough to save crypto currency from eventually and mostly merging into digitized versions of the national currency system. 

10. There won’t be another world war.

In whatever forms, there likely will eventually be one that ultimately translate into a new paradigm to further human integration and allow the human race to reach its goals. 

I will write extensively on each of these ten topics in upcoming posts. 

I want you to remember this, you can master your own destiny. When you are down to nothing, some people might tell you to do whatever it takes to survive. While I agree to the survival part, I disagree on the whatever it takes part. If the whole notion of surviving is to see better days, the doing whatever it takes approve might bring on liabilities even imminent ones that could contradict the intended aim. On the contrary, I think the best way to survive is to actually minimize all liabilities through complete risk reduction or via risk mitigation. The bottomline is, match your current social-economic status with your risk and societal contribution profile. Which roughly translate to you don’t owe anyone anything and would be better served as an economic aid recipient than a net economic contributor. Society’s expectations of you is near zero at this point anyway and the US and many Western valued nations have strong safety nets for those in this exact situation. Granted the incentives for those who come from an incentivized background have strong inclinations to get out of this situation is also particularly strong hence those who are in this situation typically does so out of necessity. Obviously your favorite TPC can’t say much more beyond this point regarding demographic groups due to social contract reasons, but I think you get my point.

How do you cut down on the liabilities? While, for one, since you are starting from zero financial wise, you probably have a lot of time on your hands or is not pressured on time. Hence the car, the lifestyle and other things that you use to needed probably is no longer needed. Sell anything that belongs to your previous life as fast as you need to even if that meant to undersell your assets. Use this money to get a safe but economical place to stay immediately that matched with what you can afford for at least two months. Getting food and water legally for free when you are down to nothing usually are the easier parts to all of this because most people and organizations see allowing someone hungry to get fed as good karma in almost all Western societies. Shelter is different from a psychological and safety standpoint to most potential donors. Next, make sure you can get a prepaid smart phone and mobile plan that you can use legally. These two things are critical from an upward mobility standpoint. If you want a job, you will likely need to leave contact information for them to reach out to you if they are interested. With a smart phone with mobile services, you can potentially do everything you need from a job finding prospective. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to survive and thrive when you are down to almost nothing.

Yes, bank accounts, credit cards and mailboxes all seem to be important, but remember, you are matching cash flows at this point meaning you need to focus on things that will eventually yield positive cash flow. After that, you have stabilized your life some what and is progressively moving upwardly, you need to start think about why you are down to almost nothing. This is a critical step for you to resolve your inner demons whatever that maybe to be on the road to recovery. In Western societies, opportunities are almost everywhere and safety nets are there for those who know where to find them, the biggest priority is getting through the emergency and preventing that and similar issues from happening again. Whatever legally compliant job you ultimately secure, make sure it will allow you to save in the long-term such as being able to enroll into an employer sponsored 401K plan with potential contributions from employers and yielding tax advantages as well. Try to stay at the job for at least six months not so much because of stay less time could create a blemish on your resume, but rather, once you learn how to do a job well, you will have a much easier and less stressful life therefore can afford to achieve other things that can ultimately help you become more job market secure. Once your life becomes more stable in all aspects, use your experiences and fear of falling into that situation again for your own advantage. The biggest advantages gained from this ordeal are probably maturity, discipline, ambition and tenacity. These traits will probably increase the probability of future success. Whatever you believe in, make sure you have a way to channel optimism in life as there will be highs and lows throughout your lifetime. Make sure you have a way to conjure hope and desire to keep you going and make meaning out of life even though you likely know how it likely will end regardless. 

Having the bodaciousness to march toward a perilous path prudently brings you powers that you probably never imagined you have. This era right now is the age of swift changes which means the bold and ready will either fail spectacularly or strive out of no where. This is precisely why you don’t want to be on any of these outlier extremes because they leave gaping holes of opportunities for the value scrappers. In this age, the value scrapers won’t be celebrated nor noticed because of high opportunity cost of missing out on the extremes. Hence you will likely have an easy life of letting others take all the glory and risks while you stay relatively low keys while accumulating wealth in a relatively risk free manner. Chances all, the average person who is reading into this types of subject matters today from an average expected value standpoint will benefit significantly from the actual full-fledged commonplace implementation of AI, virtual reality, space exploration, time travel, conscious and cognitive reincarnation, immortality nor any of the other major fascinations throughout history humans have desired but now is closer to reality than ever before. If you understand this point, you will see technology for what it is, a way to get rich except as a common person you likely won’t directly benefit such as being able to get allocation for hyped imminent announced IPO stocks. What you can do in lieu of that is to simply get the good scraps that these people no longer desire therefore are cheap to buy. When these people start to like what they previously snubbed again, your assets probably will be worth much more. A lot of values in investments are based on future expectations anyway. Who is to say a well-educated and extensive experiences common person’s perception of reality is of lower quality than those who are likely similar but are wealthier? Most predictions are wrong, the ones that are right are usually the ones people talk about. 

The most important lesson here: keep calm, don’t try to solve everything at once and prioritize on obtaining necessities like food, shelter, health and safety then start thinking about next few moves. It’s only when you are able to think that life may start to get better. Pegging back on the same principles and applying these concepts to the investing world, to become sustainably good in the long-term, you will most likely need to build the foundations of your portfolio, whatever that maybe. To do so, you have to first know what you are doing including how to identify and evaluate investment opportunities however small it is. Pouring a large amount of resources into something you are not too familiar with usually don’t end too well. Opportunities can be positive life changing events for the prepared but can equally be a disaster for those who are not prepared yet still decide to gamble away their future. Seizing an amazing opportunity like closing a deal requires some luck no doubt, but to do so consistently may take years of fundamental preparations. Many people do win some times, but to win often and mitigating losses from defeats take real skills and experience. Typically, starting capital is required to do almost anything which reinforces the phrase “it takes money to make money.” However, in the TPC world, Money is medium of exchange for resources. Surprising enough, there are many other types of medium of exchanges besides money, like time hence the phrase time is money. Using time to substitute for money is basically investing in something that is so beyond “out of the money” range that there is almost no pressure in failure.

Like anything else in life, it takes time to become established. Not having ample disposable income to invest be it in mainstream investments, collectible cards or in other alternative assets just mean you will have to take it slowly but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in the long-run. In my opinion, the best cash flow and risk-adjusted ROI investments in collectible cards are the small dollar in aggregate yet large bulk purchases.  These are the kind of deals that allow you to buy with $50 for like 5,000 cards. Unsurprisingly, these deals are not that commonplace to find but they are also not that difficult. These deals can definitely be found in the wild once in a while, however, in order to save transaction cost including but not limited to driving to a bunch of places, these kinds of deals are typically offered on a consistent basis to those that the vendor have an established relationship with. Establishing a relationship with these vendors usually does not require much except being polite and showing some intention and abilities to buy something. Believe it or not, transaction costs will end up being one of the biggest costs and mental fatigues when you are implementing this type of buying strategy. With the popularity of case breaking, there will be a large sum of relatively undesirable cards that vendors that engage in these activities want to get out of their site ASAP. The mentality of many of these breakers is about getting that big chase card and some very good cards, many may not want to spend a large sum on shipping fees to get all the non-chase cards back which could be a lot of cards per day for a breaker to keep in a locale at any given time. There are scrap dealers that collect metal scrap from business for fractional of a penny on the dollar, sometimes for free and other times getting paid to haul it all away all together. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to make money in alternative assets when you have no dispensable income.

Think yourself as the card scrapper who actually is part of the card vendor’s supply chain. Obviously what you could get from doing so depend on what the vendor actually is willing to get rid of in bulk, I think the prize are not necessarily the common-common cards but rather the rookies and other non-common cards. Most likely, the rookies you get from implementing this strategy will be the non-hyped up players, however, remember this, the hyped up players, the high draft picks, the rookie of the years and the all-star rookies do not usually make up all of the future hall of famers in a rookie class. In fact, I estimate probably near half of the future hall of famers are the players that gets very little publicity. The issue is, these players typically take longer to develop professionally and their card values will only rise once they obliterate most if not all doubts with superstar like performances. 

I think in a 5,000 card count box of baseball rookie cards issued in the last three years of the acquisition date and after seven years of acquisition, that cost approximately $50-$100 dollars, you might get 30 future anniversary team level, 70 future hall of frame level, 100 future borderline hall of fame level and maybe 200 future outside chance hall of fame level rookie cards. The rest of the cards are probably are not going to be worth much. The superstars who aspire to be GOATs in baseball and really in many major sports leagues, barring early career-ending injuries can play 20 plus years and typically is expected to play 15-20 years in order to chase records and greatness. That means at any point once they become established as at least a GOATesque trajectory player, their cards will be at somewhat peaked levels within a given range. Obviously if they become GOAT, their cards may very well appreciate even more from their cards’ peak values, however, if they don’t at least maintain GOATesque overall career level at the conclusion of their professional sports career, their cards’ values may drop from the peak value gradually. All this to say is, based on the estimation provided in the above, and presuming a $20 average rookie card value for the anniversary team level player’s rookie cards, we are talking about $600 just for the those cards in the box and probably $1,000 of value for the whole box after approximately 10 years after acquisition. 

Yes, I really wrote 10 years. Unfortunately that’s the trade off for using time as the primary medium of exchange to invest. However, what if you bought multiple boxes a year every year for the next 20 years in addition to earnings from a regular job and potentially 401k? Now that wait really don’t seem that bad. An approximate 20X in 10 year period even if it’s only paper gains until it is sold with higher liquidity risks are probably not that bad given how small of an investment it is to the average working person. I think even heavily giving it a haircut of a discount rate for liquidity, maintain, storage and other costs, we are probably talking about a return level much much higher than the S&P in the same period. Plus, if you enough the hobby, you know this is actually pretty fun to do and pretty enjoyable to look at than showing people your securities investment’s stock charts. People who are in this hobby love cards. Having big cards at the shows is certainly a conversation starter, in that aspect, no different from collecting art pieces in front of the right crowd. Once you get some good rookie cards, you may consider upgrade by executing trades of your rookie cards for autograph cards. Autograph cards, specifically Numbered rookie-patch-autograph cards (numbered RPAs) of GOATs or GOATesque players have astronomical multipliers on the open market. The logic goes like this, every rookie card is a card and every numbered RPA is an RPA, a numbered card, a rookie card, a patch card and/or an autograph card and of course is also a card. 

Contrary to public opinions, due to the variation overprinting of number cards, I don’t believe a 1/1 RPA should be any more than 20X of a /5 or less non-1/1 RPA for a card of the same attributes except for the difference in variation and numbered to unit. Anything greater than that multiplier for the same attributes mentioned above may have significant arbitrage opportunities. I also believe autographs are inherently unique anyways. I would also probably gradually de-risk my portfolio unsystematic by diversifying my asset allocation while not diversify so much that creates significant variable transaction fees. People often say diversification doesn’t necessarily work for de-risking systematic risk. However true that is, I think the other way to think about this is what system are we talking about here? If the alphas and betas are vastly different across markets and your assets are global and not just regional with a wide spectrum of price ranges creating easy arbitrage opportunities, in that case, the issue here are not so much the system but rather the universal transaction fees that may need to be optimized while trading across diversified market places. In summation, Point being, everything is possible when you know what possible is and when you can take on the impossible whenever possible.

My number one rule for selecting institutions of higher learning is, when the rankings gap of the intended major of study between universities and/or colleges in consideration are not gigantic, choose the school that has the highest overall rankings. Why? In the real world, a highest prestigious school have the means and determination to be world-class at everything they do. For example, the Ivy League schools were originally heavily focused on the arts and humanities, not much different from many liberal arts colleges at the time. In the years since, they have poured in billions in funding to “catch up” with the public and the technological-focused schools which many would say they have mostly succeeded at. MIT which is one of those technological-focused schools I described above, have poured billions to catch-up on arts and humanities. Some Ivy League and Ivy Plus schools may even have cross-registration arrangements for their respective students to be able to take classes at each other’s schools. 

The major versus overall ranking debate can be visibly illustrated by looking at the status of new school divisions a decade or two after their creations. Take the brand new business school that was established by a certain Ivy League school in the 1970s. It took maybe two decades for the school to be considered a top 20 business school and about four decades for it to be firmly included into the top 10-15 business school lists. Many university and college ranking systems are based on reputation, selectivity metrics, employment prospects for graduates and research output with some also emphasizing on affordability, gradation rates and alumni giving rates. The schools with the most resources and established reputations will likely excel in most if not all of the criteria listed above. I see education as a long-term investment. The reality is, new graduates, regardless of which schools they attended, will need a few years to be firmly established in their professions if they do not change professions at all. The truth is many students at institutions of higher learning do sometimes change major and the major they studied may not even be the corresponding field of work that they engage in when they graduate or work in their entire career. That is another reason why overall reputation of a college or university usually take precedence over the rankings for a specific major in the eyes of many employers with some exceptions. In all honesty, most employers probably don’t look at the ranking of each school of the prospective job applicant as much as they rely on their previously conceived perception of the reputation of a said college and/or university.  In this day and age, interdisciplinary cooperation and applied use of technologies increasingly require employees to deepen their breadth of knowledge and experience with almost everything. There are probably many English majors from the Upper Ivies working in Wall Street. From a long-term perspective, the overall reputation of a university will usually mean more anyway. The employers that don’t hire Ivy Leaguers aren’t alway doing this because they don’t want to but some may be not doing this for more practical reasons like money and turnover rates. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

How to select the most suitable universities and colleges to attend.

Prestigious universities are actually no more expensive or frequently cheaper than the not so prestigious private schools because of scholarships and grants often given to the most gifted prospective students. Many prestigious universities are heading toward the tuition-free model. Ivy League admissions standards are quite high hence the vast majority of applicants will not get admitted, yes, even the ones from wealthy families may not get in. Legacies and other types of perceived loopholes in admissions standards at top colleges and universities are closing gradually. In the long-term, to get in and graduate from established colleges and universities regardless of rankings will take financial resources, time and effort. A well-functioning society needs the common person as much as it need the elites in various fields to innovate and create employment opportunities for society. A top-rated education is still by far one of the best ROIs in life especially in terms of upward mobility for the members of the non-wealthy class. Obviously, grade inflation may be a perceived issue at some top universities, however, regardless of that, working toward a high GPA along with student leadership experience and internships is still one of the best indicators for employers to find the most suitable employees for their organization. 

Should I attend an Ivy or an Ivy Plus school? That sounds like a title for a future posting. I will say that with the embracement of interdisciplinary and STEMS fields, a top school is a top school regardless of its “league.” Which college and universities ranking system/list should I use when selecting prospective schools and how do I use these lists to find the best schools for me? Again, a topic of discussion perhaps in a future post but here are some points regarding this topic. The best resources including attending the top universities will still be the best money could buy when one could afford it. The sticker total cost of attendance price increases for these elite schools, already expensive for many people, will likely greatly exceed the pace of inflation unless the prospective student is one of the few gifted students who will be the best among the best of the 5% or so self-preselected applicants who even dared to apply in the first place and who even got in. Probably only an extremely small percentage of the 5% if students who were actually admitted into these schools will get offered a significant scholarship or grant. That 5% already basically include inventors, scientists, geniuses and even smarter geniuses. I foresee resource constraints related consolidation will occur in the tertiary education system due to slowing in population growth in much of the world, a changing society especially demographic changes, technological and geopolitics shifts and with significant decreases in international students in the West. 

Significant private school consolidations will likely occur especially in the liberal arts segment. This will mean more applications to top schools, net reduction in the number of majors offered by colleges and fiercer competition for the top schools. The consolidation and reduction of majors may mean choosing colleges and/or colleges more carefully including what to major in while in school make a world of difference. Consolidation and reductions in the industry are happening with real root causes. There are four major colleges and universities ranking list that people frequently use. One in the US, one in East Asia and two in the UK. I may discuss this more in-depth in the future but I will say these rankings have their own unique attributes and are respected by different crowds though there may be some overlaps. Without going into the specifics, a balanced, weighted-average  approach is probably the most logical when one relies on the rankings as a significant element during the college selection process. Sometimes people will say this college is strong in this region or within a certain field, I think it is best to choose a school that has global appeal now if you are able to and in the future if you are not able to but is a believer in the process and can afford the wait. The tangible and intangible infrastructure requirements for schools with a global reputation is vastly different than that of the regional ones. Having a license to sell something but electing not to is vastly different than not having the license and not being able to have the option to perform a certain action even when doing so maybe advantage or even required for survival purposes. Getting a license and sometimes multiple licenses for something require a lot of resources and prep work sometimes decades in the making. That is all I will say on that. 

Remember, at the end of the day, no matter how much money you make, it’s all about cash flow. Money beget more money therefore more money will cost money. In investing as in life, everything is finite. Frequently it’s only a small percentage of something that achieve the majority of everything. Hence when it is important to understand that when you find something within your price range, buy everything at one go when you can afford it. Minimizing transaction cost and securing things in whole are important concepts in business. My price range is on average $100 or less for any given item and spend what I budgeted for that day. It’s almost never the price of something at the time of purchase that makes something a good value, it is rather the intrinsic value that others likely will see in the future that makes something worth investing into.

When an investment meet my criterion, I will  invest everything into it that falls within my guidelines. I don’t assume it will be there tomorrow because good things will not last. Best to Always maintain a healthy cash flow to deal with the unexpected. The good thing about diversifying and buying low dollar items is even they appreciate, they are still relatively liquid because the lower per unit price. To better financial health, try to match cash flow outflow with anticipated cash inflow. Remember, focus on buying assets, not liabilities. Investing in something that will require high maintenance or require efforts to upkeep is in essence may not generate ample ROI returns. Just like in life, don’t buy aimlessly. This is an important lesson because you need to do research before you invest. Investments have cycles, you need to know what you are doing or else you will end up doing things not according to schedule and/or just plainly wrong. People are people, those who you will potentially do transactions will respect counterparties who know what they are doing. It’s a business so be wise which also may entail being magnanimous. People like to deal with those who are willing and able to pay for value.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities. 

How to get the best deals when investing in sports cards and Pokemon TCG cards.

When people have resources, they will often seem to be more generous with their resources when they believe it is worth it in the end. Not buying aimless does not mean you pass up on good deals on things that you are familiar with that is within your budget or not buy something when the cash flow outlay is so low it is worth taking a chance on when certain conditions are met. Diversification is not the issue, the issue is lack of investing discipline. A big thing to remember is even when we are trying to make money, we also need to do our part to make the pie bigger for everyone so we all have the option to bigger portions and more variety when we want to exercise our options. This means giving away collectibles that we don’t want from bundles that we buy to those who we may know want them. I personally consider that as a win because it helps to grow the hobby and builds good karma. If you collect long enough, you will realize there are frequently people and organizations who are giving cards away by paying it forward. I been on the other end a few times myself.  It’s a win-win situation because what is given away are often things people don’t want anymore and the things I pick up for free from those giveaways are often things I want and believe will hold future value. Basically one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. 

When investing or trying to achieve anything, half of the battle is in the strategic overarching setup including identification, planning and preparation. Before you are shopping for investments, you likely should already know broadly what type of asset(s) you are looking for, their prices and values, what you plan to do with them etc. The other half of the battle is execution of plans from acquisition to exit and post-exit if any. While much of the methodologies for all investments are similar, ample customization may be needed from planning to execution in order to make it all work seamlessly. For example, the market for sports cards and TCGs like Pokemon cards may be vastly different never mind differences between subcategories within these general categories. Scarcity appear to be less of a concern of Pokemon card collectors than sports cards collectors. Pokemon cards are currently printed by a very well managed brand that crosses almost all genres hence the demand potential is certainly there. 

Sports cards are printed by numerous companies covering many different sports. Although they are likely also mass printed, but they also have numbered, memorabilia and autographed cards which are frequently limited in print size. Pokemon also does not have the concept of rookie cards whereas sports cards do. At the end of the day, the best way to minimize acquisition transaction cost is by dwindle the number of anticipated purchases instead increase the unit volume of single trip transactions. For newer investors in this field, I believe it is better to buy lower dollar items offline from reputable retailers to avoid higher probability of potential scams. In my opinion, in the dollar boxes, the best cards one could find in there are typically the rookie cards of potential future stars, rookie cards of superstars from non-major sports, misprints, inserts from non-major TCGs or a numbered card or two that was accidentally placed into the box because the owner misjudged the card not being a numbered card. Don’t go to the same store too frequently but do go once in a while to checkout new things they are selling, if any. Calling in advance while convenient is usually not a wise moved from a deal making standpoint as the surprise/impromptu element is a major transacting tactic. I usually stay away from buying cards from stores that do not put price tags to their cards for reasons I won’t specify here but may present potential issues when wanting to get a good deal. Like anything, don’t overly rely on someone or something but that doesn’t mean buying frequently from the same locale is not advantages at times. Honesty is one of the most important virtual sin doing business, which is contrary to maximizing thought I would argue repeat purchases frequently lower transaction and overall cost within a reasonable diversified range. 

I believe there are many hidden gems in the 2025 baseball rookie cards class. Personally, I have been accumulating Ben Rice and Nick Kurtz rookie cards for months. I been actively looking for these in dollar boxes regardless of condition, which are typically in decent condition given they are newer cards. Surprisingly, I am still able to find large lots of these probably for reasons that I describe below. I anticipate a targeted price of $50 for the average base Ben Rice rookie card and $40 for the average base Nick Kurtz rookie card in approximately five years. It typically requires a player seven years to show signs of GOATesque symptoms proven with upward trajectory in record pacing levels and postseason success. The bottom line is, only GOATesque and plus players will receive perennial public exposure in the long-term after the hype hence their cards are likely the only ones that will see post-inflation adjustment gains after they retire. Both players’ cards will have higher ROI multipliers due to their marketability. 

I believe Ben Rice will be a cultural icon in popular culture as an Ivy leaguer super athlete role model, a career long Mr. Yankees folks hero who will get 400 plus home runs, 2,000 plus hits and a few championships. I think Nick Kurtz will eventually make it to a major market team  where he will be a superstar. The issue here is his fan base will likely mostly be from a team that is not the team name on the jerseys of his rookie cards which might diminish the ROI multiplier a bit. The baseball rookie cards in the 2025 baseball card packs are probably one of the best in the last few decades. We are talking about at least five highly probable future hall of famers in Ben Rice, Nick Kurtz, James Woods, Drake Baldwin and Cade Horton. Daylen Lile and Dalton Rushing also have decent chances of being future hall of famers. I can also identify probably another five players with their rookie baseball cards in 2025 that also have the potential to be hall of famers. This class is top heavy and extensive deep. Some of these players mentioned above are already at record pacing levels. The best part of all this is while all the people are diverting their attention to basketball cards, soccer stickers and modern Pokemon cards, baseball cards are lagging behind its true market value for these cards. Even so, I’m baseball cards, people focus more on the Ohtanis, Judges and other players who are already superstars. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

July 2026 sports and Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards Buy List.

Prices are so ridiculous low at this point, I could buy two Ben Rice cards for around a dollar. Ben Rice is literally hitting better than Aaron Judge and is likely a top MVP candidate in the American League. In this year of low level offensive production due to stellar pitching and likely exhaustion from the recent few years of historical offensive performances, Ben Rice has a real opportunity to get an MVP award. He is not just hitting home runs and the best player on the Yankees now, he is very efficient per his hitting metrics. The Yankees are currently the winningest team in the American League that means Ben Rice could also win postseason awards and a championship. With Aaron Judge likely out for an extensive amount of time and no one else in the AL that is realistically better than Ben Rice, I think it’s safe to say Ben Rice will likely win the MVP. I know Vladimir Guerrero is getting more votes than Ben Rice with a grand total of four home runs this season, but let’s be honest….I think someone or some organization(s) important enough will reasonably make the all star starting situation right in Ben Rice’s favor. 

Many of the pundits see Ben Rice not as a historical level hitter but more of a Mr. Popular type. Even though I agree he came into the league a little late hence greatly lowering his probability of breaking records, however, I believe in momentum. I think Aaron Judge’s injury history and the older players on the team will mean more time for other hitters to develop. The Yankee appears to be win the next five years kind of team right now. Its farm system is practically depleted now. Even if the Yankees can get free agents, not every year is a blockbuster free agency year. All that to say is in Ben Rice’s prime baseball years, he will get help from a lot of big bats to lead the Yankees to postseason success. Nick Kurtz is young and has a lot of power in his hitting. I think at some point he will be traded or leaves for a big market team. I see Nick Kurtz winning an MVP at least and likely multiple MVPs. 

Regarding Pokemon cards, I said this few times and I will say it again. The best deals right now by far are the vintage 1999 cards especially the base set. This set contains the best value in Pokemon TCG cards history because it is the last set that can be considered as rookie cards of Pokemon. It was literally produced in the first year of the English language version of Pokemon cards. At a buck or less per card, this is literally the best deal one could get when people realize how insane it was to buy modern for more when they could by the OG rookie cards for almost nothing. Making money in the long-term is all about discipline and sustainability. These two players I believe have the highest potential to become GOATesque in the MLB out of all the players with their rookie cards in 2025 due to a combination of abilities, viability and marketability. In most valuable collections, it’s usually only a low double digit percentage of cards that makes up the vast amount of value of the collection. I am also buying up the undervalued baseball rookie cards namely Jordan Walker, Michael Harris II and Julio Rodriguez. In the next few posts I will discuss my buying strategies and analysis in details for many of the cards mentioned above. 

I am going to provide a piece of strategy that very few people in the history of this world likely will ever be able to verify. When you have multiple degrees from top ten global universities, worked for nearly 100 Fortune 500 companies in one capacity or another, have numerous professional certificates and licenses, have leadership experience, an internationalist who have seen it all, you rarely have to prove to anyone at all your abilities. For the regular person, it’s all about managing expectation of everyone around you. What is important here is, keep in mind, you will likely only work for around 40 years in your life. This sounds a lot but it really isn’t. Make sure you always have FU money to say no to things that will not be advantageous to you. I think the easiest way to accumulate savings for a regular employee is not through savings in the traditional sense, it’s actually through 401K. Many employers will match a percentage of employee contributions and there are quite a bit of tax benefit with contributions for the contributing employee. In today’s day and age, jumping around a bit is one of the best ways to get career advancement if you are good at controlling the length of employment just long enough to not be considered a job hopper and not long enough to be considered an overstayer. In this day and age, an employment length of six months or a year is not that frowned upon anymore if you have a good reason for it and you don’t do this for every single job. Most people escape bad managers or dead-end jobs but obviously that is not what many future potential employers want to hear. 

My best advice regarding work life balance is people and organization will likely take advantage of you by giving you more work if they can. If you can, get advanced degrees and professional licenses to boost your marketability on the job market hence making people and organizations think twice before pushing more work to you risking you quitting. If you can’t do any of that, learn as much as you can on the job when you can and try to get some easy to get, inexpensive to obtain and relevant certificates for your profession. Don’t try to achieve too much in your job, it will be significantly harder to do so than trying to piece meal achievements and learn the skill sets at multiple workplaces. The younger generation are switching jobs every 2+ years or so nowadays. I recommend two years max at a job that offers you no significant growth opportunities. Remember the biggest pay bump usually happens when you get hired by a new employer even for the same title you had before at your current company and not from the regular pay annual increases from your current employer. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I posted previously regarding this and similar topic(s).

I don’t think neither entrepreneurship nor working for others are the best options. Entrepreneurship typically takes a lot of skills, experience, effort and resources to succeed. From an average expected value standpoint, entrepreneurship is a losing game for the vast majority of people. Depending on your definition of a successful entrepreneur, I would argue there probably are more moderate to major jackpot prize winners in various contests in the US now than there are actually successful entrepreneurs. That’s probably not a coincidence. For every successful entrepreneur, there are probably thousands of less successful ones. Besides controllable factors, there are tons of uncontrollable market risks such as bad timing that can devastate a new entrepreneurial venture. The risk of failure are extremely high for a new venture. Working for others appears to provide a stable income, however, it usually comes with less flexibility, lower ceiling in potentials and doing something potentially one find meaningless. For these reasons, I like the Mezzanine approach. The difficult part about implementing the mezzanine career approach is the work-life balance part. How can one still remain desirable as an employee on the job market when one is looking for a job and keeping a desirable job after being hired for a position while at the same time also be successful in entrepreneurship activities. This may take a lot of navigating in many different aspects. 

Most people don’t get rich from working for other people. Some people will point to the highest paying major professionals like doctors And to say medical doctors are rich. While doctors on average make a great salary on average at around $400K a year, most doctors also have to go through 10+ years of post high school education and become doctors if they qualify after meeting various rigorous criteria in their 30s. Most doctors also have 300K or more in debt before they even become doctors. If one were able to work the approximate ten years during or after college and save that money in a 401(k), just based on market appreciation, an annual total 20K contribution (including contribution from the employer) at average calculated market growth of around 10% growth in 15 years will be $600K+. It also comes with tax advantages which I will not discuss at this time. An HSA for those who qualify in addition to a 401(k) for those who qualify could potentially be even more tax advantaged. Anyway, by the time the doctor pays off his or her debt, the non-doctor already has likely $600K+ in retirement account savings than the doctor has. Because there is a limit in tax advantages 401(k) annual contributions by a person while working for an employer, the doctor can not simply catch-up in 401(k) savings the regular way (unless we are talking about catch-ups exceptions at certain age) by throwing money at it. What this means is even if the non-doctor does not contribute anymore to a 401(k) plan after they saved $600K+ in 401(k) their money will grow to at least a few millions after 30 years more than enough to live comfortably in retirement. Ultimately, neither of these above methods will help one get truly do whatever you want wealthy.

Doctors will probably cave in social pressures to live a relatively expensive doctor lifestyle which due to political correct taboos I will not detail what this may entail here. It will likely not be a cheap lifestyle and likely not all being enjoyed by the doctor but rather by those who I also will not talk about due to political correct taboo reasons. Most doctors are not business professionals and while they are busy treating passions like professional athletes trying to be the best in their sport, there may possibility be people who may or may not be taking advantage of them financially for which I will not state due to social contract reasons. Point being, being wealthy may allow one to have the discretion of stop working and doing whatever they like, when whenever they like and however they like within a legally compliant manner within certain acceptable boundaries. That is what have FU money is all about. Being wealthy also means having the influence to exact changes to one’s advantage frequently utilizing other people’s and/or entities’ resources legally. The biggest issue with employees is they are essentially paycheck to paycheck without reasonable  certainty of their employment status from one day to another either due to controllable and/or uncontrollable factors. They are essentially exchanging one valuable resource which is their precious time for another valuable resource which is money. 

Employees only make what they earn when they use their own valuable time to own them, therefore they can not employ capital inefficiently in this endeavor without, you guessed it, expending more time. The whole time value of money concept is really meant for money to work for you passively without you intently expending your time. Money when managed right is the best, drama-free, salary-free and low-maintenance employee ever. I am not advocating for entrepreneurship alone. The reality is having a stable paycheck is great. Many successful entrepreneurs worked for other people before they became successful themselves. It is also important to have startup capital and experience which could be obtained by working for successful companies for a number of years. The social element is also important too as having coworkers to communicate everyday helps  keep one within mainstream society and (mostly) helps maintain a stable mental help and help stay away from depression due to loneliness. Many ideas are created by seeing things in action and realizing a problem and a solution through social interactions. Great ideas usually don’t get created in a vacuum.

Let’s put it this way, focus on the overarching direction not just the nuances. When the tide rises, it usually lifts all boats unless the boat itself is nonfunctional. This frequently happens in the stock market. When the market does well, many stocks do well, when it doesn’t, many stocks dips. The exceptions being companies that are viewed as having overwhelming unsystematic risks. What I am trying to say is, focus more on the substance behind the underlying asset and not just the form itself unless the form is abnormally broke like being a forgery or a fan-made set. Even the unlicensed products if from major brands, I think its not that bad if one is willing to accept the potential lower ROI multiplier. 

I can’t say this enough. GOATs may change from time to time. Investing in a player because the player is the current GOAT is a losing proposition. The smarter move is to form a pipeline of inexpensive investments that may have high potentials on a periodic and continuously basis. Liquidity is king. You won’t have much bargaining powers if you are not liquid. You won’t be able to wait things out because they need cash flow. Being illiquid is an easy way to be taken advantage is. Even if someone is willing to buy something illiquid from you (smart investors will likely do research on your current financial and overall situation), you may have to sell your assets at heavy discounts. Part of having FU money is the ability to say no when saying no is advantageous to you. Not having the ability to do so may be detrimental to your financial well-being. This is precisely why I don’t recommend regular people to spend a large sum of money on illiquid assets that will hurt their cash flow significantly. What most people may not realize is momentum begets more momentum. When you are up and everyone sees it, people are likely to help you financially. When you are down, regular people will be hesitant to do so because their financial resources are limited and they can’t afford to gamble on you paying them back. The financial investors and institutions are likely even more stringent on the risk evaluation side. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Which card sets should you buy?

Most regular people also do not know how to reduce risk through hedging or arbitraging. With alternative assets, it rarely is how much you spend, but rather, what is actually trending. There are so many high-end collector items that people paid for either never beat inflation nor opportunity costs or even lost nominal value. The other thing many people fail to grasp is there is no consensus definition of how much money one must have to be considered rich beyond certain common sense wealth ranges. For example, once reaching millionaire status, many regular people consider that as being either rich or well-to-do. Beyond that, most people couldn’t really objective say how much a difference a 10 millionairer is from a 50 millionairer. Why am I talking about this? Because investing frequently accompany risks. Some people go for the “home run” that has a high probability of failure because succeeding means creating “generational wealth.” The truth is generational wealth actually takes time to build some times in multiple generations. Going for the same home run that many others are going for frequently means a much higher failure rate. This is precisely why I almost never invest in anything over a 100 dollars for any single piece of item in the alternative assets market. 

You could have easily 100X’d your money if you bought a Mario Pikachu box for $100 dollars a few years back. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Pikachu and Mario are two of the hottest gaming/toy/entertainment related intellectual property/franchises in the world but obvious many people are far from geniuses hence many of these were likely hoarded by a select group of people and/or organizations. Look at Pikachu base set cards or any of the base set cards really. None of these cards are 1st Edition Base Set graded 10 Charizards but if you have many of these cards, chances are, they will likely appreciate within a given range over time with potential for even faster growth. Why? Because most of these were not retained in good conditions at high clips and the numbers are limited in the modern sense. No one will legally be able to make these cards ever again, even if they try, it will be extremely difficult to do so at scale. Mostly because WOTC likely can no longer have the license to make those WOTC Pokemon cards and neither The Pokemon Company nor Nintendo can likely make WOTC Pokemon cards. Put it this way, a 100 dollars worth of a 1st Edition Base Set Charizard might be hard to obtain for someone in 1999, but five shoe box full of common and uncommon non-holo cards from that set might have costed only 100 dollars in 1999. 

In all honesty, that 100 dollar deal composing of 10,000 cards in decent condition might be worth more than even a certain graded 10 1st Edition Base Set Charizard card. Consider there are less than 200 copies of graded 10 Charizards from that set graded by certain popular grading company, I think the 100 dollars investment as mentioned above for 10,000 of cards from that set in 1999 was in essence a near low-risk investment in today’s terms. Point being, you don’t need to hit a home run to actually hit a home run. Some home runs are inside the park. The home runs are just runs, the difference is just the multiplier, records and the reaction from people. To a team that just need runs, home run is just an equation that converts to run(s). At the end of the day, 10 million or 50 million dollars does not change the fact that the person is considered to being rich by many regular people. Somethings follow economic patterns. When desktop computers first came out for mass use, they were quite large and quite expensive. Computers today are not only technologically advanced but exponentially cheaper overall from its first mass commercial release. Based on this, some people may say the smarter move is to invest all the money to buy a computer into mainstream US stock market index funds. Obviously from a historical standpoint that might have been a great investment. However, if one buys the computer early on but use it to create an early internet startup or an e-commerce website, the story may be a bit different and so will potentially return rates from the purchase. The difference in return rate is in how capital is being deployed rather than a set in stone economic formula.

I think the three megatrends that will change life forever for the coming decades will be the following.

1. Humanoid robots, AI and automation
2. Space Exploration
3. Geopolitics

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Top three megatrends for the next decade.

The humanoid robots, AI and automation trend will likely continue to progress rapidly in the coming years. It is however not as scary as it seems from a job security standpoint for most people in the workforce now at least for workers in the US. The US is a consumer oriented economy with consumer spending being one of its largest drivers of economic growth. If a large swath of workers lose their jobs, there would be no one to sell the products to. The rest of the world also heavily depend on the US for consumption due to its lucrative marketplace. Privacy, safety and other elements that affect the human experience is also important in America hence any technological advanced implemented at scale will likely have to clear those hurdles as well. Automation has been happening for years. What basically ended happening there was productivity per worker went up, prices per unit went down, worker wage went up, average per capita consumption went up, invention went up because people have more time to think and experiment and Americans are able to consume more than ever. I foresee humanoid robots, with the exception of ethics and safety concerns, will likely help fulfill the needs of people. AI is already helping people increase productivity, however, it is still years away from being sophisticated enough to AIoT (artificial intelligence if things) to control everything. 

Space exploration was likely the dream of everyone when they were little. Space doesn’t have to mean outer space, it could just mean discovering new places. The biggest mysteries for the human race are probably where are we really from, can we live forever, how we got here, are there other hospitable planets like Earth for humans and are there others like other in the universe. Many of these questions will probably take generations to answer, however, the age of space exploration will likely last for centuries. The biggest takeaway from that is we have to think about things from a galactical standpoint not just earthly. For example, are precious metals still worth hoarding when there are tons of that in other space locations or can we live longer on other planets. On the contrary, if more cultures are found, cultural relics like collectible cards may be worth a lot more due to curiosity and overall a bigger market for such items. Perspectives on life will likely also change which will cause consumption patterns to change due to influence of new cultures and state of being. 

Regarding geopolitics, I think the US will ultimately prevail. This will be a prolonged battle for supremacy but ultimately the US has too many things going for it for it not to win. To consume and be productive, people need to be in a relatively satisfied emotional stage and have the time to be emotionally satisfied. Anyone who tasted free range chicken knows it generally taste better relative to the ones cooped up due to its environment and feed. People need meaning behind their lives. Living in a state of constant exhaustion, censorship and environmental pollution do not help. There is a difference between cost, price and value. Just because something is less to produce and priced in expensively, does not mean it has the same valuation as something else that appears to be similar. This is why I snicker every time experts talk about purchase power parity (PPP). What do you think the cooked food that was sold for 2 dollars on a regular basis is made from when the local air is polluted, much of the water are contaminated, wages have increased tremendously in the last twenty years and meat alone per market price in that jurisdiction cost more than what is being charged. I am pretty sure the said food is probably not made out of organic ingredients….What do you suppose the hidden cost in long-term consumption of such “food” will be? Who you think will actually consume all the overcapacity if the local workers are not paid a wage commiserate to living standards? Deflation is literally a man-made curse masked as progress. Winning long wars typically requires the backing of a strong economy and demographics. The US has this while its main adversar(ies) do/does not. 

I don’t think anyone who is alive now need to worry about it. This process will take time. The US is the center of the world and the home of aspirations. In this world, anyone who is worth their salts have at least once thought about being associated with America in some capacity in their life-time. The best of virtually any thing meaningful, has a large market value and with scale right now are in America. Unlike some places where deflation is rampant, the US usually can take care of inflation easily. US GDP won’t have trouble growing because it takes in the best from all worlds and the world helps it to grow. Yes, it may have issues that it may need to act upon now, the general trend appears to be that it is actively working in resolving those issues. Work life on average is only about 40 years, all these developments are still in its early commercial stages. It will take at least two decades for these developments to impact the regular person on a daily basis. 

As I have mentioned before, the Knicks has over 50% probability to win in five games. I have been able to accurate predicted numerous championships correctly because I look beyond the traditional factors that analysts frequently use to predicted wins and losses. In my prediction model, I lean on a conjoint analysis model where scenarios are run on various levels based on meta data with granular inputs like how many times a player blinks while looking at someone else while someone else eat their food not talking to teammate X when the owner is talking to no one but teammate B while the team mascot turns around 95 degrees toward the Southwest. Yes, there is a reason why I am the permanent contrarian, even then I am not the traditional so called permanent contrarian because I don’t argue for the sake of being different, I voice my opinions because my top ten-er profile, American aligned attitude, street OGability, a world creator mindset and other traits that allow me to affect outcomes when outcomes by limitations of sciences thus far will always mean there will be uncertainty. I simply taken the uncertainty out of the lack of science portion and create a model that substitute natural progression with real world predications. 

The thing is, many analysts look at the data sets that are already somewhere, compiles and aggregate that into an explanable story packaged as a prediction. What I do is simply take that data set and add all the various data sets that never existed and created a story from my own imaginations. Because I am one of the GOATs in certain circle(s), I have the confidence to make such predictions based on my global and historical experiences going against, frequently with prior intentions, the worst and the best in human nature. I am at a point where I am able to explain what luck is through dissecting its various components and imagining its evolutional journey from its synergetic bonding process. All this to say is, I combine the science and the arts into what I do in a dichotomy of languages that the top %ers, street sensibles and everyone in between can understand. I am frequently right because I don’t depend on being right to make a living. I’m a probability kind of a person. However, I am often right because I seen too much nuances to not understand the unknown number of variation to truth. 

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

New York Villanova Nova Knicks win the 2026 NBA Finals in 5 games against the San Antonio Spurs.

In terms of the Knicks, I think they will probably win a few more championships in the next few, the most meaningful ones would be a dynasty which unfortunately will likely be difficult to achieve because the Eastern conference will be quite good for the next decade unfortunately. The West is more too heavily but the East has more high ceiling teams overall and the top four teams are excellent. Shorter heighted guards like Brunson statistically depend on speed and agility. Even though Brunson has a nice post up game as well, the duration of his prime athletic years will likely be very similar to other similar attributed athletes. I think the Knicks will be willing to spend money for the next few years to maintain core of the roster even if they have to pay luxury tax. The real issue is not so much about money, it’s the fact that the Nova Knicks are basically like the Ivan Brothers from way back. They are mythical and likely unreplicable. For starters, the Jay Wright era has been over for four years now, there are zero players remaining from that era to draft straight out of Villanova. The NCAA has changed permanently due to NIL which means there likely won’t be that much time for that kind of bond to exist anymore at the elite levels. Villanova itself is no longer an underdog, they are now playing with the majors at all aspects. All this means that the perfect storm that created the Nova Knicks likely won’t exist for a long time. The Knicks at this point also won’t have much top draft picks left to draft the best players in the next few years which probably doesn’t really matter that much anyway given their picks based on current results likely will end up being late round 1st round picks any way. However, it also means the Knicks will have the incentives to keep the current core roster for a few more years. 

I’m not worried about the Knicks financially for one bit even if they have to spend to get to whatever apron it gets to. A good Knicks team will most likely make a lot of money and increase team valuation significantly. I see the Knicks team valuation 10Xing within a few decades given the likely expansion of the NBA internationally especially with development of travel technology that may also be very safe that will decrease travel times exponentially. I foresee a Mexico City franchise and possibly a franchise or two in Western Europe in the next two decades. I also believe we are in the renaissance of new sports and new concepts in general where basketball in general will likely be a great beneficiary of that with its rapid global growth. I will say it once more, the biggest beneficiary of all of this will actually not even be the Knicks, it is Villanova University. Villanova is expanding rapidly in academics, endowment and campuses. This university has so much going for it, I think they may break into top 20 US and top 100 globally in rankings within the next three decades. The analogy to this is simple, most people are awed by how much a first edition Charizard graded 10 by a certain popular cards grading company go for. Like people discussing how doing business can make one rich, what most people are unable to understand the survivor bias behind all of this. Very few 1st Edition Base Set Charizards actually get graded 10s from the said company, even so, people often differentiate between the ones graded earlier versus the ones graded later due to purposed differences in grading strictness over the years. 

What people also may forget is even though the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard cards were not all that expensive at around 100 dollars on the secondary market in 1999, acquiring large lots of these raw cards from willing sellers likely were not that easy given many people probably hanged on to that card because they thought correctly it might be more valuable in the future. One thing to keep in mind is the market has the incentive to ensure not too many copies of these in pristine conditions exist because of simple economic supply, demand and rarity reasons that significantly affect the value of the most valuable cards. If there were much more of these cards, unless demands can soak up the excess supplies at higher market prices, the prices of these cards will likely decrease. 1st Edition Base Set Pikachu cards when they first came out in 1999 were relatively common to find, obviously depends on whether its a red cheek or yellow cheek Pikachu. Remember, the odds of find a 1st Edition Base Set Charizard was one in 48 packs. The 1st Edition Base Set Pikachu was a common card, it literally was very easy to find within the packs. Without going into all the tangible and intangible calculations again, even though there likely were a lot more 1st Edition Base Set Pikachu printed versus the Charizard, the average person will have likely had a much better net transactional, inflation and time value of money adjusted ROI buying numerous number of Pikachu cards with the same amount of money it would have costed the person in buying the Charizard as a single on the secondary market from that same set in 1999.

I had acquired some non-English and non-Japanese Pokemon cards throughout the years. Of course, as I am one of the majors in this space, my notion of “some” just might be the size of what someone might describe as a “large collection.” The thing regarding collectibles and investments in general are they are worth what people are willing to pay for it. Much of that have to do with whether the potential demographics in that marketplace have the means to continuously to buy these items and drive up sustainable demand that may likely cause the asset(s) to grow in the long-term. The English and Japanese editions suck up most of the market demand because they are some of the richest. America is still and will likely continue to be for the next 50 years the richest and most powerful country in the world. Japan as a primary ally will greatly benefit from that. I understand there are unique artwork in some other Pokemon language editions, however, I view that as artificially helping those editions keep afloat. The reality is English is the lingua franca of the world anyone who does not speak it is frequently seen as unintelligent by those who do and they likely won’t say that out loud. Economics talks and those who do not speak English on average will not be as economically advantaged on the global stage. Japanese Pokemon cards are often considered the original hence it will likely always have significant overall value to other non-English Pokemon cards. People can hype the other social-economic-political entities up all they want. What is important is most of the wealthy and elite subsets from those entities are mostly all here and/or at their families and assets are. Why would any of them do that if their own social-economic-political entities were so great.  

It actually might be better if these champions of other social-economic-political entities from within this great country just move over there and enjoy their lives there. What is stopping them from doing so? Certainly not preferential treatment for self-deportation nor exit bans. In fact, I think many in this country would be gladly and generously help them move in a humane and dignified manner. In the international game, tic for tac is mostly for the weak because they for the most part are just grievance takers. They will vent a bit with orchestrated unified placards, narratives and lots of barks for their own people to see then they will quietly backdown like nothing happened. The top 10 Pokemon I choose are all from the original Pokemon series. I think the OG Pokemon will perform very well in the long-term. Art frequently imitate life. Regardless of Pokemon cards, other collectibles or just life in general, concepts that a lot of people can relate to will usually do well in the long-term. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I posted previously regarding this and similar topic(s).

“Here is my top ten list.

1. Pikachu – The irreplaceable mascot of Pokemon.
2. Charizard – The preeminent dragon/lizard within the franchise. 
3. Bulbasaur – Starter Pokemon will likely always be popular.
4. Charmander – Starter Pokemon will likely always be popular.
5. Squirtle  – Starter Pokemon will likely always be popular.
6. Psyduck – A cultural icon. 
7. Snorlax – A state of mind. 
8. Eevee – Evolve into so many popular Pokemon.
9. Slowpoke – Literally a meme.
10. Ditto – Being whoever you want to be, kind of inspirational.

Let’s make a few things clear. Yes, Japanese Pokemon cards likely came out a few years before the English versions, however, the English versions were likely the most important releases for the franchise. The 1st Edition Base Set, Shadowless and the Base Set Unlimited were all released in 1999 with various supposed print run duration. I consider all three the rookie cards of the original Pokemon. I also believe the print run size for all three releases in modern print run terms relatively small. I also believe the current premium on the 1st Edition and Shadowless Base Set prints are egregiously overvalued compared to the Base Set. I equate 1st Edition Base Set to the Bowman 1st set in baseball cards were probably only. select group of people bought and collected these hence worth they are worth a bit more in certain circles. The Shadowless is like a Bowman 1st inexpensive insert subset that’s likely not going to be worth as much as a regular Bowman 1st card of the same player in the long-run. The Base Set is like the regular rookie cards that many people purchased. 

English version of Pokemon cards were a kind of a novelty at the time of first release, the end-collectors of these cards were not adults and the cards themselves were meant to be played. No one probably thought the cards would be worth this much like it is now. The retention rate of these cards were likely extremely low for the Base Set Unlimited. The conditions on the retained cards likely were mostly in the lightly to moderately played conditions. I believe the secondary market was likely much stronger for 1st Edition Base Set and hence they were retained at a much higher rate and likely maintained in much better conditions on average. Despite the likely smaller print run, a very significant graded population for 1st Edition Base Set and Shadowless cards exist. Even if we presume the seemingly plausible rumor that 1st Edition Base Set was only printed for three days, I believe the 1st Edition Base Set to Base Set Unlimited print size ratio may be somewhere around 1:20. The difference is that I believe the 1st Edition Base Set were recognized for its potentials  at the time of release by those who bought them during release or shortly after release on the secondary markets therefore those sets were on average in much better conditions.

There likely was a much higher likelihood of these boxes being kept sealed versus Base Set Unlimited. While I still believe 1st Edition Base Set is much more rare, I believe the retention rate was significantly lower for the Base Set Unlimited Set and cards. Hence I believe the around 15X valuation of a 1st Edition versus an Unlimited Base Set may not be justified from a rarity standpoint. My guesstimate would be a 7.5X valuation is probably more reasonable at this time. I also believe in another 40 years or so, the valuation ratio will come down to around 2.5 to 4X. I believe people are opening the Base Set Unlimited boxes and packs at a much higher clip as it is more affordable to do so versus the 1st Edition Base Set. As many of the collectors today are not professional investors, many fail to grasp the premium some people are willing to pay to own an early set of something. Because all three of the above-mentioned sets came out in the same year with only likely superficial, non-core artwork or substantive playing differences and likely were designed by the same people using the same machines and sold in the same channels, I think in the long-run people will see this a multiplier issue rather than a classification issue. 

The multiplier issue will likely be mostly resolved by estimating supply and demand. What most people don’t realize yet is the original sets will continue to benefit from all future releases as they were the one and only originals. One of the frequently asked question in almost anything is the history of something. Which one do you think will get talked about more, the first few releases or the 72 release out of 100 plus releases? I believe Pokemon will likely have over 1,000 English set releases in the future and probably tens of thousands of sets releases when you count all languages. I believe there are over 2 billion Pokemon fans around the world approximately 30% of the world population. Pokémon’s ever increasing cross promotions allow it to add new fan bases and along with its various mediums including Pokemon Go, Anime, Cards, Toys, Tournaments and more, I believe the pipeline will continue to grow.

I think when cards related alternative assets become more mainstream with a large amount of mainstream investors investing into the field, more rational and less sentiments will be used in valuation. Aesthetic appeal of a card may be important, but how much more important is it over the fundamental economics? I believe one of the biggest arbitrage opportunities right now in investing in Pokemon cards is the concept of rookie cards. Many people in this space do not necessarily understand why that is important from a time value of money standpoint. Many collectors in this space are more on the nostalgic, artwork eye appeal and playability. In reality, a large population of the high-end investors or collectors do not play in any Pokemon tournaments nor even care about how it is being played. The divide between pure collectors/investors, the Anime watchers and the game players be it in electronic or physical card game format are huge. The cards are based on the games not the anime hence you almost never see Ash in any of the vintage cards except perhaps promos. I don’t mean to be condescending or anything. You may feel the same way that I feel if you were in almost everything in the very beginning. In terms of the cards hobby, I believe one’s perspective may change if one witness parents’ basement dwellers turn into nouveaux riches overnight with certain attributes akin to most lottery winners.”

I think the Knicks has a high likelihood of ending the series at Game 5 and securing their first championship in 50+ years. I think the Spurs caught a break when the NBA announced the decision to not suspend Wemby, however, if you watched enough sports you probably heard the phrase “ball don’t lie” and may have seen that happen in a sporting event either metaphorically, literally or both. Knicks having one of the greatest, arguably the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history is just amazing and probably demoralizing for the Spurs now. Lastly, inexperience may mean not knowing how to deal with huge amount of pressure in key moments. Like I said before, I think the Knicks has less than 50% probability to sweep the Spurs but has over 50% probability to win the series. To win a single game when two peer level teams are playing, the littlest differences matters. In my opinion, what separate a championship team who win a series and a runner-up are usually stamina, mental toughness at key moments and clutch events. In a series of many games, strengths and weaknesses are usually exposed and exploited. If you compare Knicks versus Spurs’ starting and overall roster, besides Wemby, you probably won’t find another real star on the Spurs. All five starters for the Knicks are all-star level players when the team they play on are championship level. I’m doubtful De’Aaron Fox will make the hall of fame. Some of Wemby’s on the court behavior can be generously described as questionable. 

The Villanova guys definitely were coached right, no pun intended. Villanova has the first North American pope and likely have an “associated” NBA championship team in the richest city in the world. And Villanova and Notre Dame may play in front of the Pope later this year with some of the Villanova Knicks champions also attending? Then the Pope may take an American Tour and make stop in the Catholic heavy Northeast and on Villanova campus? Villanova will have three campuses all nearby each other before or by 2028 with likely more students and movement to R1 research school category? Villanova’s basketball team got into the big dance in year one of a coaching change and is on the verge of possibly getting a superstar college basketball player? Forget about buying any of the cards based on this series, I think being degreed with Villanova might be the better play here for the contrarian who doesn’t fit their current campus main demographic group but might be the diversify the school is looking for in a student. I think this school has a good chance of moving into the top 30 range on a certain US-based mainstream ranking list within seven to ten years. I estimate this school probably gotten a few billion US dollars in additional publicity since the 2016s due to its many successes in the last ten years. 

Look I think Wemby will most likely be a hall of famer. However, given Wemby’s massive presence and he is playing in a small market team, though probably the best one in the category, I doubt the Spurs will be able to get another true superstar to play with him that will help him win a championship. Most likely, if he stays with the Spurs after his rookie contract is up and if he stays for the long-term, the Spurs will likely need to accumulate some top picks through trade or rebuild, which likely the same difference because trading away any a star or two is essentially a rebuild for the Spurs at this point. I highly doubt the Spurs will actually win a championship with its current roster. In this era of small ball and shooting big man who can stretch the floor, Wemby is pretty disadvantage given he is not an elite shooting big man and he is almost everything to the Spurs on both ends of the floor.

I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.

Here is what I wrote about this topic and related topics previously.

“Physiologically speaking, people are much more motivated and their best will come out when accomplishments are rewarded with positive reinforcements. In this case, a Knicks championship now is almost universally good for the world except for San Antonio Spurs linked entities. This version of the Spurs led by Wemby also have not had much playoff experience nor much playoff success. This is actually the Spurs’ first playoffs appearance in about seven years and the young core have no championship experience. The player one on the team who does is Harrison Barnes who is mostly a reserve player. Because of all this, the Spurs likely are mostly not expected by its fan base to win and likely have no pressure from anyone to win the championship. For the Spurs now, getting to the playoffs was already a huge success and making it to the finals was already a big surprise along with lucky breaks. In some sense, the Spurs may metaphorically have the imposter syndrome. Probably no one will be mad at the Spurs if they were swepted in the NBA Finals including their own fans, players, coaching/front office staff and ownership. I highly doubt a small market team like the Spurs for whatever its past glories were will be able to field another historical team in the next ten years which will essentially eat away all of Wemby’s prime NBA playing years. With the rise of prime market teams like the Knicks, the small market teams will become less attractive for premier free agents. Drafting top draft picks hoping to turn them into superstars will take a lot of work, time and high level development talents, which for these reasons I believe it will be a low probability event that the Spurs will be a dynasty in the next ten years.

One knock on Wemby’s cards are his best rookie cards, likely the ones that included his autographs, were unlicensed NBA cards which could indirectly affect his cards value going forward. I also think Wemby’s cards are over priced for his predicted historical value as an NBA player. I think there are two realistic ways to play this as someone who is looking to acquire new cards based on this year’s NBA Finals as of now. I think most likely both KAT and the Knicks will ink contracts to at least the 2030 season very soon. If KAT wins a championship this year as a Knicks and he maintain at around the same level of play as he exhibited during this playoff run, he will likely be a 10-time all star, earn more All-NBA honors, get at least 25,000 points, be named to All-NBA Defensive Team or two, contending for an MVP and Defensive Player of the Year and get rid of the “being soft” label for good. KAT being a high draft pick and winning the rookie of the year is simply fulfilling his potentials. Fulfilling full potentials through self-actualization of a society-professed prophecy is usually easier to achieve when it is already accepted by many as somewhat of a truth thereby will likely experience less systematic headwind when attempting to achieve such potentials.”