I find it hard to put any stock in any PWCC or Probstein sales these days— or hardly any point of sale for that matter, because the bottom line is there is rampant shill bidding and fake sales.

Dude was and probably still is a total bad ass.

On January 26, New York City’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, warned, “It’s inevitable that we will have someone who is positive with coronavirus.” She also said, “We are encouraging New Yorkers to go about their everyday lives and suggest practicing everyday precautions that we do through the flu season.” She added that those “who had recently traveled from Wuhan were not being urged to self-quarantine or avoid large public gatherings.”


Thank goodness NY listened to this expert, right?.......and the Mayor too (yet it's Trumps fault right?):

My sports book has been hit so hard that they sent me an e-mail to let me know there is a pro floorball league still playing somewhere in Europe.

Just sold another card at full asking price. I must be pricing these too low.

HaHa, what the hell is Floorball, thought that was a typo until I Googled it.

If you need a gambling fix, most US Horse Racing Tracks are still running. Just no fans, but who cares about that for now.

Tonight there is racing in Oklahoma as well as California, also in Japan and Austrailia.

pm'd to me and I couldn't have said it any better so I'll just print it....
 

"The government cannot print enough money to pay for the carnage that will happen if the economy remains shut down. This isn’t about rich people and corporations losing what they can afford to lose, it’s about ordinary Americans whose well-being and existence and families depends on a job.We need to move to Plan B here. Plan A, this rolling series of soft lockdowns, doesn’t seem to be working anyway given how many people defy them.Ultimately we may need to be a little callous about lives lost, but it’s not like we don’t do that every single day in many many contexts that the press doesn’t cover.I looked it up. Half a million people in the US die from tobacco each year. Think about it."

There isn't enough money on the planet to keep the economy shut down for months. It is just math.

I live in Orlando and there are so many service jobs here. You can't keep them from getting a paycheck for months. The whole system will blow up.

If Disney goes south sure it hurts their stock holders but there are worker bees on the ground whose lives depend on that paycheck. If it doesn't come in their rent doesn't get paid. The apartment complex or landlord doesn't have cash flow coming in and next their debt doesn't get paid. Then the person holding that paper doesn't get paid. And on and on.

It isn't about propping up the stock market. It is about our economy is driven by cash flow and when that stops you start having problems immediately.

There is no choice at some point very soon to loosen things up and once it again it is just math and while this won't satisfy all it just is how things will have to be.

Awesome we have a thread for the wackadoodles. :rolleyes::D

I agree with Paul.

Yes, there's no way this could have been anticipated, or a plan could have been available for Trump to use.

Oh wait: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-...shelf-n1170276

Ted

Yes, the pediatrician and the politician were wrong. We can see the result with nearly 50,000 cases and over 650 deaths in the greater NYC area and the apex of the outbreak still a couple weeks ahead. That would seem to lend support to the advice of actual infectious disease experts to take drastic actions to halt the spread of the virus.

So, I guess I am not sure what your point is here other than since someone who should have known better was wrong once, we can now just ignore people with relevant expertise. Seems like a nice little piece of motivated reasoning.

from MSNBC enough said.


.....and I didn't see Congress (like they did for a bunch of pointless waste of time issues) go full steam for this either so blame both sides not 1, or 1 person.

Best you can say here is Obama, Trump, Democrats, Republicans, Activists, you, me, ALL to blame.

And at this point it's time to get past who is to blame. Pointless at this point. All attention and media coverage should be on fixing it and go forward plans.

My point here was the media and others have non-stop pounded Trump on this, when Health Officials and Politicians on both side are equal to blame.

You've got both sides throwing stones when everyone is to blame. Who cares? Fix it. Fix the economy. Now is a time all should be working together, put the stupid politics aside. And I'm not a nurse or a doctor so I can't help on that side, but I am healthy (so I can and I am working) and I can spend money, and believe me I don't have much, but I'll spend what I have on local businesses to help keep them afloat. I'm not gonna hide in my house for 6 months and just hope it all blows over.

The guy at the top takes responsibility. The buck stops here.

The guy at the top takes some of the responsibility and should not take all of the blame. There are many other people to blame and those other people should be held responsible.
Jason

Sure, there may be some people who share portions of the blame, but a leader is held accountable for the people he leads. I know it’s popular to pass blame in today’s culture, but the man at the top always takes responsibility for the mess. That’s what comes with being a leader.

Jason, is that just like the Astros? What happened to the owner?

From what I recall the Manager & GM are the 2 who took the blame and got the axe, not the guy at the top.

So Jason say you are at work and you mess up doing your job. So your Boss is only responsible for your mistake as he or she is the leader and not you?

Has the guy at the top taken any responsibility yet? Is that even in his playbook?

Let me answer this question as a person who has been a people manager for over 25 years.

Yes, I am responsible for my subordinates actions.

It is my responsibility to staff my organization with competent people, to make sure they understand what is considered a successful outcome, to make sure they have the tools and training needed to succeed, and to establish processes and metrics that allow me to ensure they are succeeding.

And get this: if I go to my boss and say "because of all we’ve done, the risk to the companies products remains very low. … When you have 15 defects, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done" but then, all of sudden, we have shipped over 122,000 products with defects and continue to ship more each day, I am not going to give myself a score of 10 out of 10. I may not be actually assembling the products, but I am responsible and I deserve to lose my job.

Against my better judgment I'm going to make a quick comment and ghost out. Folks can spend their time debating this as they wish.

As a physician, this is a really scary time for myself, for my family, and my 70-year old parents and in-laws. I have already been asked to do things that I am not trained for, and may not have proper protection while doing them.

We also know that the rest of the country is just days/a week or 2 behind NY. No area of the U.S. is going to be fully spared.

But the fact that "Blame" is even a word in people's vocabulary right now is so saddening.

There are going to be human experiences ahead which have typically only been reserved for wartime, but instead are going to be lived by everyone in our society.

This needs to be a time to come together, get our communities strong and united, and brace for what's to come.

There isn't anyone to blame for a Pandemic, no country or individual.

If there is willful ignorance that leads to people unnecessarily dying, then be sure that Blame should and will be handed out to those individuals. But please consider saving it for once the dust has settled.

We're going to find out what America is made of in the coming weeks, and I personally think and hope that it's better than what is reflected in our current politics.

.

If someone I hire makes a mistake large enough to kill Americans, yes. You better believe it.

I beg to differ...

In my example you are the employee. Learn to own your own mistakes.

"The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job." From President Truman's farewell address discussing the concept of "the buck stops here."

“I don’t take responsibility at all,” President Trump when if he took responsibility for the testing lag.

I guess some presidents are more presidential than others.

Yeah, same point. If a mistake I made kills thousands of Americans, you bet there would be hell to pay at the higher levels.

I agree.

I disagree. We are probably still near the beginning of this pandemic. Waiting to criticize and "blame" individuals until the end will be too late for those who die in the meantime because of ineptitude, incompetence, and ignorance. Ignorance or ineptitude or incompetence etc needs to be called out whether it's "willful" or not. Place blame now to hopefully get corrective action taken before the "dust settles." If you're sailing in the ocean and the ship is meandering aimlessly around, do you wait until you eventually hit some shore before you replace the navigator, helmsman, or whoever is responsible? No. You replace the responsible person so that you can set a straight course to the port you actually are trying to get to. It's not about "placing blame," it's about setting the proper course so people don't die who otherwise would live.

How do you blame Don Trump for a wordwide pandemic that originated in China?

Would you blame him for an earthquake in California, or a tornado in Nebraska?

I don’t blame him for the pandemic, I blame him for his response and his administration’s response. That’s obvious.

I really appreciate what you and all others in the health care sector are doing and preparing to do for the rest of us. I'd hope this is a universal sentiment, and that all others consider the risks you are or will be taking when making their own decisions.

However, I know some may not fully appreciate that by minimizing the feedback of experts like Fauci, they are likely putting people like you, then by default everyone else at greater risk if/when this truly peaks.

Just make sure to blame him if the economy bounces back too.

I doubt it’ll happen before the end of his term, but of course. If Trump is able to recover from these incredible gaffes, he deserves credit.

Since the center of the problem (ground zero in the US) is New York, how much of the responsibility lies with the mayor of that city, and the governor of that state? How prepared were they? What contingencies, and backup plans, did they have in place? Certainly New York is a wealthy state, and with high tax rates too. One would think they would have been well stocked with supplies and equipment, and with supply chains established in case of emergency.

New York, since September 2001, has known it was the prime target of terrorists. So they had the money, and the reason to expect the unexpected on a potentially massive scale. Bio-terrorism was always a possibility. How much responsibility lies with governor Cuomo?

And now that he has opposed quarantining his state, how much responsibility does he own, when frightened New Yorkers flee to other states, spreading this virus, and death, across the entire country?

Just curious as to your thoughts.

Thank you for the great post and what you are doing, stay safe!:)

Uh, the fact that you don't like MSNBC doesn't mean they're wrong. You can blame whoever you want, I'm going to blame the guy that is supposed to be in charge but explicitly refused to take responsibility.

Ted

I think plenty of blame should be passed to Coumo and DeBlasio. I live in Manhattan and my girlfriend is a doctor treating COVID cases at the VA downtown as I write this. Coumo bears some responsibility. But, Trump has the power and right to overrule them, he’s choosing not to. Trump has the power to quarantine New York, declare Marshall Law, bring in the national guard, etc. Trump is making the choice not to. The Trump Administration is allowing New Yorkers to leave New York.

Of course Cuomo doesn’t want to Quarantine New York, Coumo’s allegiances lie with New Yorkers, not with the people of New Jersey, PA, CT, etc. It’s 100% Trump’s responsibility to quarantine if he believes it would help.

So Cuomo doesn't need to care about his inaction spreading disease and death to NJ, PA, CT, etc? Wow, sounds like a real patriot.

Cuomo could do the right thing for the country, Trump could over-ride Cuomo's selfish decision, and I'm not interested in debating what percentage of blame each shares. What I object to is some people, perhaps not you, trying to lay blame purely across political lines. This thing is new to everyone. Mistakes will be made, and by a lot of people (including some of us, who don't isolate well, or take precautions, or don't test when we have symptoms.) It would be better if we could just pull together and pretend it isn't an election year.

It has nothing to do with politics. We send a man to the White House to make the tough decisions that Governors don’t want to make. If that person is too scared to lead, he should step aside

This is worth quoting again.

And will be admitted to and learned from by all but one, who shall go unnamed;), and who instead will continue to blame others, lie about the state of things, pout if people do not kiss his ring, ignore experts in favor of sycophants, and, most of all, make sure it is all about him being in front of a camera.

These Tyson's did great. The PSA 8 had 19 bidders and the PSA 9 20. Both are the UK back and not the actual rookie version with the Italian back.

So far in the stuff I collect prices are strong and in some cases even higher than a month ago.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/14355976533...torefresh=true


https://www.ebay.com/itm/40217252299...torefresh=true


Edit: A raw 1982 Wrestling All Stars Series A set with terrible presentation and not overly nice key cards just went for $900. Nice!!!

This. Which is absolutely pathetic for a purported "leader."

We can't stop people crossing the border with Mexico. Trying to close the borders of New York is impossible.

I know these are crazy times but isn't there a rule about no politics in this forum?

It is far too late for any kind of quarantine. By this time next week the virus will have made its way around the country attached to people who are already where they are.

Considering he took all the credit for the increases in the dow and SP 500 - which were on a 7 year bull run when he was sworn in - I think he needs to own those indexes now.

I think he also needs to take ownership of the debt he piled on the past 4 years. Close to 1 trillion per year deficits in the best of times - classic case of not saving for a rainy day - and because od that his 2020 debt is going to be epic, 2-4T.

So ya, he owns the economy good or bad. As of today his legacy is the indexes at same levels he was sworn in at, and 3 trillion in new debt. By end of year he is likely looking at worst spike of unemployment since the great depression and 4-6 trillion in new debt.

His legacy IMO is going to be brutal.

I find it hard to believe, as someone in finance, that you think that posts like these are persuasive. This is akin to someone claiming that equities are performing well because xyz microcap is up 8% YTD. You would be laughed off any finance blogs for making a case like that.

Listen I get that you collect and are completely vested in pumping wrestling cards, I and appreciate your collection, but I’d be surprised if there were more then 50 hardcore wrestling card collectors. It is niche of a niche, a microscopic piece of the overall card market that tells us literally nothing about card prices.

If anyone is looking for a better data point, Acuna updates are selling at close to half their pre virus price. $300 down to $160 with each recent sale going lower. This is a heavily traded card - 15k cards graded by PSA alone - with 12k PSA 10s. Owned by thousands of collectors and is considered an investment grade card. Cards like this tell the story on where the market is going / is currently. If anyone actually cares.

And VCP in April and May is going to be fascinating. No asset class - and I cringe labeling most sportscards as assets - is going to be immune to 2 trillion is GDP disappearing and 8-12% unemployment. I just don’t see the hobby’s widest traded cards holding up to what looks like an economic blood bath.

I am not trying to convince anyone that the market is going to be okay. For ten years on message boards most have taken the other side of my opinions so it is really irrelevant. I am just happy to see the results have been tremendous for what I own. I listed four lots on Sunday and three are sold and the fourth I countered an offer.

It isn't like any of us on here have any overall power to support the market. Loads of collectors have never even read a message board post.

You are correct I am fully vested in seeing positive results but I would certainly say damn these auctions did horrible had they. I watched them until the end and was very pleased how strong they finished.

There is no doubt my little segment is just that little but it has continued to climb the wall of worry for years. Daily when I check the completed sales I am thrilled to see consistent turnover. I sat through some major pullbacks in this area early on and so watching them zoom to new highs with a larger bidding list is encouraging.

Time will tell what happens to the overall market and if any of us truly had the crystal ball we probably wouldn't be posting here.

I got in so early on wrestling and Mike Tyson that if they drop I can't say I would be happy but the spread between my cost basis and current prices is so wide I wouldn't lose any sleep. If they collapse the good news is I don't need to sell and don't owe a dime to anyone so life will go on.

I not taking any side

but i would think if someone were to criticize Trump, they also are saying that Hillary and/or Biden would be great. If they are not saying that, then its pretty empty to just say how things are bad.

If all of them are bad, really no reason to bad mouth any of them. Whats the point of criticizing with no solution.