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This is what happens when policy after policy is passed to shift GDP from the poor and middle class to the ULTRA RICH. The ultra rich literally can't spend all of their money so things like CDO's and SPACS are created to take the money in the pocket of the rich, put it in the pocket of other rich people and then when the idea BLOWS UP like CDO's did in 2008 the government will borrow money to make sure the RICH keep their money and the people that took it from them don't pay any costs.

The solution to the problem with the rich getting more money than they can rationally spend is to shift it to the poor and middle class who have seen their income decline for 40yrs now. $15 min wage, Universal Health Care, Breaking up Oligopolies (Banks, Tech, Farming Supplies, Food, Telco etc...).... Shifting GDP across a broader set of people will GROW the economy faster, like it did from 1950 to 1980 and improve the lives of the majority of Americans. But we will have to live wither fewer SPACS and CDO's

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Finally, an explanation of the Biden Administration's energy policy. It works precisely like a SPAC: First, you spend a bunch of other people's money without a clue as to what it will be used for and who will profit. Next you get rid of whatever value you might already have had, then promise people jobs in industries that don't yet exist, located anywhere but where the people whose jobs you've destroyed, doing work no one can explain, and being financed with fairy farts. Finally, you create the opportunity for a hostile takeover by OPEC and blame the stupid American population for not having been sufficiently devoted to the Holy Sepulchre of Wokeness.

Come to think of it, the education policy is a SPAC. First, you ask the teachers' unions how much money they want, give it to them, then ask them again how much money they want and give them that much, and finally ask which of six or seven things that do not exist and cannot be accomplished within the next decade is their next demand, and tell the stockholders (school children) to be patient.

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If anyone wants to make a ton of money, they can just give me a few million. I'm sure I can come up with something worthwhile to do with it that will turn huge profits sooner or later. I don't know what that would be yet, and honestly I haven't put much thought into it, but the potential is limitless!

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Admittedly, I don't know much about it - but isn't the purpose of the SPAC to avoid doing the normal disclosures when taking a company public? The SPAC does it on themselves, buys/merges the private company and voila - it's now public without doing the full IPO process. The article mostly focuses on the giant piles of cash being put up for TBD businesses, which is indeed a depressing sign of the times... but maybe not the most significant issue with SPACs.

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We can poke holes in every capital raising vehicle, including SPAC's, and I don't know anyone who can/would argue that. Take a step or two back and we can find a similar, if not dead on exact, storyline for maybe every financial mechanism that has ever been concocted. I mean, 'they' made my house a vehicle of gross and fraudulent financial speculation that nobody really saw coming. I like my house, but if someone from Bear Sterns knocked on my door in 2005 and said, "my firm is going to take the mortgage on your house along with a bunch of your neighbors houses and get inordinately rich by running them through a bunch of machinations that even we don't really understand and, by the way, we're cheating here and there's a possibility that it's not going to end well for anyone," I'd have laughed in his/her face and called them misguided. Because I didn't know better back then. But then I would have invited that person in for coffee because who doesn't like a good laugh.

What I think would be helpful is to document some practical insight on the SPAC so we can understand it better. What is the intended use case for it? Why do some investors prefer it over 'traditional' VC? Is it as blatantly nefarious as this article suggests? And so on. That way, we can possibly get ahead of the potential bubble that has recently and repeatedly been associated with SPAC's.

Call me an optimist, but I assume there is a positive use for these things and, in the right hands, they are efficient. I would suggest interviewing a name that has appeared in this thread and in a few other TK finance thread - Chamath Palihapitiya. As mentioned below, he does seem to be one of the leaders in this effort and, when I hear him talk about it, he states that it allows him to control who he's investing with and to define the long term direction of the company, among other things, which sounds like a good idea. If it's BS, or if it's suspect, maybe we can calibrate our radar to see the trouble coming. I know, I'm way too naïve to be talking about anything financial, but I can't help it.

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I'll more than likely take a crap tomorrow, isn't that a safer bet than this ? For a few million I can mail you your return.

Does anyone remember the classified ads that used to be in the back of the Rolling Stone ? I remember one that read something like : Send me a dollar and I will send you absolutely nothing in return. I wonder how much money that made ?

Matt, was that you ?

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Anybody who tries to justify SPAC as a legitimate business venture might as well just fuck all the way off. Seriously, what the fuck is a SPAC, besides,”Gimme money now for nothing and I might turn it into something for you eventually. But maybe not.”? The grift never ends. This sounds, to me, more like,”I have a couple mortgages and ridiculously expensive cars to pay for, so give me money to pay for that now and I could maybe make you some money later. Maybe.” Fuck all of these people. Seriously, fuck them all. “This guys rich! So maybe he’ll include me in his money-making scheme!” all the while never realizing that the dude they’re giving money to is wealthy because he’s taking THEIR money. Fuck. Off.

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The Low SPAC of the well-heeled Boys. Surely this bamboozle lalapaloosa grift will work out perfectly fine for all involved.

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And people are saying crypto is a bubble. LOL Wall Street isn't to be outdone.

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I do not have a very sophisticated financial mind and end up having to read things over and over to have it make sense. I do however know the art of a hustle. This unfolds much like a financial fairy tale that people buy into because there is a celebrity anchored to the plot. Is it really that different from buying a product because it is endorsed by someone branded as an influencer?

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Skepticism is healthy and we should encourage it to be used as much as possible when assessing situations and opportunities. What you’re expressing is more than than that, it’s bias. Not all SPACs or the companies that offer these opportunities are the same. This is a marketplace. As with any market and its products, there is wide variability across all forms of measurement. No one is forcing anyone to invest in SPACs. But just because you think they all suck doesn’t mean they do and doesn’t mean we should enlist the government to outlaw or restrict them to the point of obsolescence.

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I tried to write this as a Devil’s Dictionary candidate, but it’s better as a story on great quips. Financial journalist Allan Sloan loved to recount what he called his best introduction ever. He was presented once as “the middle finger of Adam Smith’s invisible hand.” I thought this crowd would appreciate it. Cheers.

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This is just like derivatives and credit default swaps. These are not investments, they belong in Las Vegas, not on Wall Street. Back when these “investments” were popular, people couldn’t explain what they were. They said “Oh they are like futures”. They were nothing like futures. Futures are investments in real things. If you buy pork bellies and make money, good for you. If you lose money, you still have the pork bellies.

These fake “investments” can easily leave you with nothing, like ponzi schemes.

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In somewhat older olden days this was called a blind pool. I've always wanted one.

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It’s another angle on the celebrit-ization of everything. If your favorite celeb thinks it’s grand, it must be, no?

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So much more worthy things to write about. This is private money going to private financial vehicles. Banks arent (cant be?) involved so there's no systemic risk (unlike 2008). Just personal, 'fool and his money' sort of thing.

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