Official Market Crash Thread: Part Two!

[comicinvestor-migration]

I've posted that a few zillion times before, and I really don't want to get into it. Just search on CGC, graded and evolution and it should come to you pretty quickly.

 

And it's not like the scenario is any large leap of logic, as even a monkey should be able to see the signs by now.

 

Pretend there's a fire below you, and you're out on a ladder. You keep climbing higher to escape the flames, but they keep coming. You reach the top of ladder, and you can either jump (thus taking more damage than when you first smelled the blaze) or burn in your own fatty juices.

 

My solution? Don't even get on the ladder in the first place.

[Bugaboo-migration]

I apologize for the sarcastic tone of this letter, but I have found it is the only way to vent the immense anger that possessed me when I heard the market crash theorists say that doing the fashionable thing is more important than life or liberty. For openers, we must understand that its new definition of "unextinguishableness" is in disagreement with its doctrinaire prognoses. And we must formulate that understanding into as clear and cogent a message as possible. The market crash theorist holds onto power like the eunuch mandarins of the Forbidden City -- sterile obstacles to progress who deny us the opportunity to put the kibosh on its words. I don't normally want to expose anyone to rigorous sarcasm, satire and disdain, but the market crash theorist deserves it. Although the market crash theorists have tremendous popular appeal, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to detect the subtext of this letter. But just in case it's too subliminal for some, let me thrust it into your face right here: It likes to compare its arguments to those that shaped this nation. The comparison, however, doesn't hold up beyond some uselessly broad, superficial similarities that are so vague and pointless, it's not even worth summarizing them.

 

How did the market crash theorists get so snotty? I have my theories, but they're only speculation. At any rate, I, hardheaded cynic that I am, want to pronounce the truth and renounce the lies. That may seem simple enough, but it may be reasonably cunning with words. However, it is totally materialistic with everything else. This is abject quislingism! We need to lead each other towards the understanding that the market crash theorist prefers to see problems talked to death instead of solved. Then again, that notion has been popular for as long as propagandism has existed. An organization that wants to get ahead should try to understand the long-range consequences of its pronouncements. The market crash theorists have never had that faculty. They always do what they want to do at the moment and figure they'll be able to lie their way out of any problems that arise.

 

That's just one side of the coin. The other side is that many people are incredulous when I tell them that the market crash theorists intend to undermine the current world order and hobby as a whole. "How could the market crash theorists be so ugly?", they ask me. "It doesn't seem possible." Well, it is indisputably possible, and now I'll explain exactly how the market crash theorists plan to do it. But first, you need to realize that they have never gotten ahead because their hard work or innovative ideas. Rather, all of of their successes are due to kickbacks, bribes, black market double-dealing, outright thuggery, and unsavory political intrigue. If the market crash theorists are victorious in their quest to threaten the common good, then their crown will be the funeral wreath of humanity. Clearly, the market crash theorist would not hesitate to mold your mind and have you see the world not as it is, but as it wants you to see it if it felt it could benefit from doing so. The market crash theorists are doing everything in their power to make me jump in the lake. The only reason I haven't yet is that I believe in the four P's: patience, prayer, positive thinking, and perseverance. It is apparent to me that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Of course, if the market crash theorists had learned anything from history, they'd know that any rational argument must acknowledge this. Their slimy equivocations, naturally, do not. Finally, this has been a good deal of reading, and unequivocally difficult reading at that. Still, I hope you walk away from it with the new knowledge that the market crash theorist's methods of interpretation need to be reassessed with the market crash theorists's ulterior motives in mind.

 

 

[Electro-migration]

Yeah -even a monkey who can type. Don't believe a thing this know nothing fool has to say. His so-called observations and market trend analysis is a bunch of twiisted hog wash. I saw a couple books on ebay selling above what they had sold for a few months ago - boom is obviously back. I saw books selling below what they sold a few weeks ago - bust and crash - sell out now. Hopefully this insufficiently_thoughtful_person is confined to typing this nonsense on the computer and not actually interacting with other humans. heck is probably some Walt street exec in reality - some bank financial wizard or investment banker type with brilliant observations like he makes.

[Electro-migration]

Does your name "comicinvestor" mean anything? I bet it is meant to be like comedian/investor since your advice is so silly and obviously intended as a joke. i think you should elongate the name so everyone is clear on this point. Or change it to something in French or some other Eurotrash slang to add imporatnce to what you say.

[comicinvestor-migration]

All I can say Electro is to keep slapping your life savings into over-priced CGC books and we'll see who has the last laugh. I'll enjoy dancing on your grave and picking up your assets at a bankruptcy auction.

 

Now be a good little insufficiently_thoughtful_person and go back on EBay and find 1-2 more books that sell for more than they did 8 months ago. I'll be looking at the 99.9999% of them that have fallen drastically.

 

You're not too good at math are you?

[Electro-migration]

Well I am waiting for a loan from murphs bank so i can pick up the rest of the ultimate spidey run and i got inot a money fix cause i didn't make my frog quota last month - so i put up the double wide as collateral on another loan so I could keep buying comics. I still own my elcamino outright though and all my giggin fixtures. i figure I could get about $500 if i put them up and i can finish my ultimate set. I figure in about 10 years they will be greatly valuable - enough so that i can stop working so hard if i cash them in. My brother taht works over at Chico's - the monkey farm- near Eulonia Georgia has lent me some money in the past to buy comics but i don't want to bother him no more. The local folks and banks won't loan me anymore money at present and thats why I am counting on murph to open that bank and make me a loan. So you might have more school education than me, but I know what cgc books are worth and i know you are just trying to trick me out of making some good money - like you are everybody else. why else do you care if prices are up or down right now? Way i figure is that you got something in it. Why else would somebody with all your smarts and learning and other stuff to do go and on about something like that? I know folks and i know you have an angle. Like my granddad from Winder Ga. used to say, dont on my boots and tell me it's raining boy. Aint nobody in my family ever had to bankrupt on any debt either -so dont count on getting my doublewide, teapots , cgcs or any of my gear from any revenuer coming to take it.

[Electro-migration]

I forgot to mention this - it turned off real cold in Carolina this week. Frogs aint jumping worth a damn. Cold as it is I figure its the coming of another ice age i doubt it will ever get warm down here again but sometimes it do get back warm after it turns off cold but I bet we are icing over this time. Just like with those cgc comic books - no bottom in sight. No way they could ever go back up or nothing. Except for my ultimate spidermans because they are down proof.

[Electro-migration]

And you know i like being part of this "official" crash test site posting. It makes all the better and more real since it is official. I don't buy nothing unless it is officail - you know like official NASCAR parts or official cgc grade. Things are worthless unless they are offficial I believe. So who made this official? Near as i can tell, it looks like the comedian investor did. So that makes me think all the more that this really is an official joke.

[FlyingDonut]

On most CGC graded books, the price is less than half of where it was in May, 2002

 

This is on books that meet all four of these categories:

 

1. CGC 9.6 or below

2. Post-1966

3. "Common" (95% of all Marvel and DC books since 1966 are "common" - can be found at a major convention)

4. Not by any stretch of the imagination "keys" (for example, Green Lantern 76 is a "key" and would not be included here. Daredevil 131 has become a "key" and would not be included here. "Non-keys" would include, for example, Amazing Spider-Man 118. X-Men 117. Fantastic Four 98. Something like that).

 

If you do not believe CGC prices on books that hit all four categories have dropped, I will be HAPPY to sell you the 9.6 Spider-Man's I bought in April and May at the height of the "CGC boom" for 15% off of what I paid for them. I await your PMs.

 

 

[Illiterati-migration]

On most CGC graded books, the price is less than half of where it was in May, 2002

 

Y'know, people are paying ridiculous prices for books just because they're encased in plastic and everybody is here fighting about how people are (or are not) waking up to the sheer lunacy of that particular pathetic/stupid/wasteful activity.

 

I'm sorry, I'm sitting here rubbing my skull because this is just so impossibly moronic.

[delekkerste]

why else do you care if prices are up or down right now? Way i figure is that you got something in it. Why else would somebody with all your smarts and learning and other stuff to do go and on about something like that? I know folks and i know you have an angle.

 

On top of all the other absurdities we have to endure from the perma-bulls, market cheerleaders and collectors in denial, we now have to add conspiracy theories. Yes, apparently me, CI, Donut, Blowout and Gorgo all sit down in a dark and smoky room to decide which sector of the market we are going to discredit next, how we can goad Murph into saying things like how even McDonald's workers can afford a couple of $200 CGC books a month and who is going to hijack Blazing Bob's next thread.

 

If there's any conspiracy or plan to obfuscate the truth, it's being done on the part of the perma-bull camp:

 

BACHELOR OF COMIX: "Man, we are taking some heavy fire from CI and Donut today about this crash business. What should we do?"

 

CLOBBERINTIME: "Hey, I know, I'll attack Delekkerste about his personal life to draw attention away from the fact that prices are falling. That always works in the courtroom."

 

SNIZZENFIXIT: "Maybe I can convince people that a crash isn't really a crash if prices only fall back to what I think are reasonable levels."

 

MURPH0: "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But since I've totally lost credibility after that McDonald's worker fiasco and by revealing my stock market losses, I guess it's worth a shot."

 

ELECTRO: "I'll put on this dumb hick act and try to use my plain speaking charm to try and discredit CI. And then I'll log in under my other username (BUGABOO) and try a different approach."

 

MAJOR KHAOS: "And I'll put up a hideously disgusting avatar of my sister so people will talk about that instead of how a lot of CGC books can't even recoup their slabbing costs. And you don't think that was really Delekkerste's girlfriend in that picture, do you? Because if it is, I'm going to go jump off a tall building in a single bound."

 

CLOBBERINTIME: "So what if it is? It still doesn't change the fact that I paid more in taxes last year than he made the last 5 years. He's just a Bronze collecting pauper in my book. In fact, I made more than all of you combined. You guys are just a bunch of dateless comic book collecting geeks while I'm a high-powered attorney who's married to this she-devil who's making me build her this 6800 square foot beach house that I don't even want...God I'm miserable and hate my life!! I wish I was young and clueless again like Murph..."

 

MURPH0: "Hey, I resemble that remark..."

[Illiterati-migration]

On top of all the other absurdities we have to endure from the perma-bulls, market cheerleaders and collectors in denial, we now have to add conspiracy theories. Yes, apparently me, CI, Donut, Blowout and Gorgo all sit down in a dark and smoky room to decide which sector of the market we are going to discredit next

 

I hate to burst your bubble, O He Of The Fragile Ego... but he said IN THE FIRST LINE that the post was sarcastic. Get over yourself already. This is just pathetic. I'm sure you'd like to believe that someone actually thinks you're capable of that, but (and here's the BIG secret) we all are fully, painfully aware of what a tool you are. Do these feelings of impotency pervade every aspect of your life? I truly pity you.

[snizzenfixit]

SNIZZENFIXIT: "Maybe I can convince people that a crash isn't really a crash if prices only fall back to what I think are reasonable levels."

 

You know something? I never said I was trying to convince anyone of anything. In fact, I believe I said TWICE that it was my opinion. If you feel the need to put a label on me, to give yourself the appearance of having some credibility, then at least make the label accurate. I really don't care if you agree with my opinion or not. I have read enough of your posts to know that your blessing means less than nothing to me.

 

Phil

 

 

[BachelorOfComix]

Amen Phil. I don't even bother reading his posts any more. I really could care less about the crash. If anything, a drop in prices is great for true collectors. For me, it is & has been collecting as usual. I love it.

 

Cheers,

 

Bachelor of Comics

[Bugaboo-migration]

delekkerste wrote:

 

ELECTRO: "I'll put on this dumb hick act and try to use my plain speaking charm to try and discredit CI. And then I'll log in under my other username (BUGABOO) and try a different approach."

---------------------------------------------

 

Congratulations to Delekkerste for saying that his machinations won't be used for political retribution. That undoubtedly wins the prize for being the most worthless and dastardly thing I've ever heard. As a preliminary, I want to build an inclusive, nondiscriminatory movement for social and political change.

 

While it is reasonable to expect that the cure for corruption, conspiracy, and treason must start by exposing the problem to people who care and are not themselves corrupted, it remains that I, not being one of the many dotty, unsophisticated scoundrels of this world, certainly dislike him. Likes or dislikes, however, are irrelevant to observed facts, such as that Delekkerste uses the very intellectual tools he criticizes, namely consequentialist arguments rather than arguments about truth or falsity. I am now in a position to define what I mean when I say that it looks like his assistants are blissfully ignorant of his useless, reckless plans for the future. What I mean is that Delekkerste's wheelings and dealings are based on a technique I'm sure you've heard of. It's called "lying".

 

As conscious, sentient beings aware of our actions and capable of response, we must find the common ground that enables others to call for a return to the values that made this country great. The denial of this fact only proves the effrontery, and also the stupidity, of militant con artists. Others may disagree, but I maintain that Delekkerste can fool some of the people all of the time. He can fool all of the people some of the time. But he can't fool all of the people all of the time.

 

Now, I am all for freedom of speech, but his apparatchiks are currently in the streets, burning, robbing, and looting. We can therefore extrapolate that he argues that the kids on the playground are happy to surrender to the school bully. To maintain this thesis, Delekkerste naturally has had to shovel away a mountain of evidence, which he does by the desperate expedient of claiming that he holds a universal license that allows him to empty the meaning of such concepts as "self," "justice," "freedom," and other profundities. In retrospect, he has always been more lawless than most sleazy stuck-up-types. This seems so obvious, I am amazed there is even any discussion about it. Delekkerste tries to make us think the way he wants us to think, not by showing us evidence and reasoning with us, but by understanding how to push our emotional buttons. I'm inclined to think that the real question here is not, "Whatever happened to good sportsmanship?". The real question is rather, "How long shall there continue possession-obsessed, despicable junkies to vend and vitriolic present-day robber barons to gulp so low a piece of phallocentrism as his methods of interpretation?" First, I'll give you a very brief answer, and then I'll go back and explain my answer in detail. As for the brief answer, I am hurt, furious, and embarrassed. Why am I hurt? Because he prefers defamation to dialogue. So let him call me gutless. I call him sophomoric. Why am I furious? Because he intends to create a new social class. Out-of-touch grizzlers, money-grubbing nincompoops, and intransigent survivalists will be given aristocratic status. The rest of us will be forced into serving as their acolytes. And why am I embarrassed? Because if you think that Delekkerste understands the difference between civilization and savagery, then you're suffering from very serious nearsightedness. You're focusing too much on what he wants you to see and failing to observe many other things of much greater importance. The salient point here is that even if one is opposed to quixotic, headstrong isolationism (and I am), then surely, Delekkerste does, occasionally, make a valid point. But when he says that absenteeism and fanaticism are identical concepts, that's where the facts end and the ludicrousness begins.

 

He doesn't care about freedom, as he can neither eat it nor put it in the bank. It's just a word to him. Everybody knows that I, hardheaded cynic that I am, proudly adopt this stand, but you should consider that Delekkerste likes to dissolve the bonds that join individuals to their natural communities. Such activity can flourish only in the dark, however. If you drag it into the open, Delekkerste and his minions will run for cover, like cockroaches in a dirty kitchen when the light is turned on suddenly during the night. That's why we must respond to Delekkerste's ballyhoos. Again, when confronted with the real facts, he usually defends himself with some weak explanation about how he can pit the haves against the have-nots and get away with it. No joke. Still, the issue of what to do about Delekkerste's naive deeds is far from settled. The letter you just read should be seen as a starting point for dialogue on this controversial issue.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

[comicinvestor-migration]

If anything, a drop in prices is great for true collectors.

 

I admit that this is true in a perfect world, but have you noticed that since the crash, that listings are way down? It used to be that you couldn't refresh the listings without a ton of Byrne X-Men books, but everyone is scared -less and holding them.

 

I'm also wondering if CGC submission levels are down as well... ?

[BachelorOfComix]

I admit that this is true in a perfect world, but have you noticed that since the crash, that listings are way down? It used to be that you couldn't refresh the listings without a ton of Byrne X-Men books, but everyone is scared -less and holding them.

Yep, I've noticed a dip in listings, but it can't all be attributed to the crash. The holiday season & the prospect of war are mitigating factors too. Comic-related factors like one goody-filled Heritage auction after another continue to suck money from the comic market like a black hole. Whatever the case may be, the ppl holding onto their books can't hold them forever. I'm fairly certain next year with the release of 3 new movies, we'll see a marked increase in ebay listings. Good things will come to those who wait.

 

Cheers,

 

Bachelor of Comics

[FlyingDonut]

holiday season! no listings for ME, anyway, ending Wednesday-Sunday of this week.

[comicinvestor-migration]

Yeah, but this period of lower listings has been going on for awhile, not just in the past few weeks. Once prices started tanking, a lot of good books went off the market, and basically saved the industry from a serious melt-down.

 

I know that's the way the market works, but the listings dried up far more than would be expected, and I feel there are people starting to feel the pinch. If they all release their CGC stores at the same time.....

[delekkerste]

Do these feelings of impotency pervade every aspect of your life? I truly pity you

 

Now that's a laugher, LoserKhaos! I would pity you, but it looks like you are doing just fine in that made-up fantasy world you live in.

 

Gene