If we’re going to get into a debate about what money is and represents, you might have an argument. If we accept that we use currency to exchange for goods, services, and labor, it is real money.
The stock market is a way to publicly trade partial ownership of companies. The value of a stock is whatever people are willing to pay for it. That’s based on speculation but at least somewhat anchored in the companies’ revenues and profits/losses.
The revenues and profits/losses are real values reported quarterly. Projected revenues are just that - estimated future predictions. Of course there can be fraud, but that’s unlikely from a company as large as Microsoft.
Event DJT, which has a valuation based on nothing but speculation and political loyalties still reports that they are losing money hand over fist.
The stock market is a way to publicly trade partial ownership of companies. The value of a stock is whatever people are willing to pay for it. That’s based on speculation but at least somewhat anchored in the companies’ revenues and profits/losses.
Sometimes it is but no the stock market is often very unanchored from any real sense of value and as a result all of the money involved becomes a part of something unreal that will catastrophically collapse at a later point.
Exhibit A) See Uber, it isn’t even a business in any pure capitalist sense since it has never or almost never turned a profit.
No, the macro-economic function of the stock market is to determine the capitalist value of things, the stock market IS the hallucination at the center of the value of currencies like the US dollar.
You clearly believe in some magical power of rationality to the stock market like people believe in God, I can only debate you so far before your rhetorical defenses become purely emotional and based on feelings not facts.
The only one making irrational arguments is you. I think you have some ideological points you want to score and are therefore not looking at what is being commented or grasping the reality of financial reporting.
How do you know Uber isn’t profitable? Because Uber is reporting it is not profitable. The question that started this thread is whether Microsoft is accurately reporting its profits. It is. So is Uber.
Whether the stock prices are irrational is irrelevant to the question.
If we’re going to get into a debate about what money is and represents, you might have an argument. If we accept that we use currency to exchange for goods, services, and labor, it is real money.
Then what is the function of the stock market for the economy?
You are arguing for an extremely simplistic vision of money that does not exist.
The stock market is a way to publicly trade partial ownership of companies. The value of a stock is whatever people are willing to pay for it. That’s based on speculation but at least somewhat anchored in the companies’ revenues and profits/losses.
The revenues and profits/losses are real values reported quarterly. Projected revenues are just that - estimated future predictions. Of course there can be fraud, but that’s unlikely from a company as large as Microsoft.
Event DJT, which has a valuation based on nothing but speculation and political loyalties still reports that they are losing money hand over fist.
Sometimes it is but no the stock market is often very unanchored from any real sense of value and as a result all of the money involved becomes a part of something unreal that will catastrophically collapse at a later point.
Exhibit A) See Uber, it isn’t even a business in any pure capitalist sense since it has never or almost never turned a profit.
No, the macro-economic function of the stock market is to determine the capitalist value of things, the stock market IS the hallucination at the center of the value of currencies like the US dollar.
You clearly believe in some magical power of rationality to the stock market like people believe in God, I can only debate you so far before your rhetorical defenses become purely emotional and based on feelings not facts.
The only one making irrational arguments is you. I think you have some ideological points you want to score and are therefore not looking at what is being commented or grasping the reality of financial reporting.
How do you know Uber isn’t profitable? Because Uber is reporting it is not profitable. The question that started this thread is whether Microsoft is accurately reporting its profits. It is. So is Uber.
Whether the stock prices are irrational is irrelevant to the question.