Quote from: dyask on November 18, 2014, 08:34:26 AM

So where did the $48,000 USD come from if it is a zero sum game?

It came from someone buying your shares. Your profit is all "on-paper" until you cash out. Someone/people spent an extra $48,000 buying out your position, either with their fiat or "on-paper" money. I didn't say you couldn't make "money" at this stock market game. But... your sell positions are at the expense of someone with a buy position.

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You can't explain that with your logic. That money has simply just been created by the stock market.

This is where we will have to just disagree. The money you cashed out for was paid for by someone else with their fiat or "on-paper" money from the market. Don't you find it a little suspicious that when people slow down their investing in the market that stock values overall tend to decrease, and of course, vice-versa? The market needs fresh fiat to keep the illusion of value propped up.

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There is a very simple concept here that many don't get and it is the reason why we need something like bitcoin. Fiat currency is just numbers, the money in your bank account is just numbers and the money in your paychecks is just numbers. It only has value because we believe a government that it has value. Stock markets change the numbers and the governments of the world back up those numbers and say they have value.

Ok, I'll play. Take your exact same statement substitute in bitcoin, and explain to me why this isn't true:

Bitcoin currency is just numbers, the money in your bitcoin wallet is just numbers and the bitcoin in your miners generate is just numbers. It only has value because we believe someone/thing says that it has value. Bitcoin Exchanges change the numbers and the bitcoin-holders of the world back up those numbers and say they have value.

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There are zero sum games, stocks markets aren't one of them.

Disagreed.