Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:48:05 -0500 From: Jerry <freebsd.user@seibercom.net> To: FreeBSD <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Apple & FreeBSD relationship Message-ID: <20110310134805.05e4408a@scorpio> In-Reply-To: <20110310163904.GA79028@comcast.net> References: <3633432D-06EA-4AB0-B72A-9967F09D3704@olivent.com> <C99E357A.F900%fsb@thefsb.org> <20110310163904.GA79028@comcast.net>
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On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:39:04 -0800 Charlie Kester <corky1951@comcast.net> articulated: > On Thu 10 Mar 2011 at 05:51:06 PST Tom Worster wrote: > >and as far as investing in corporate stock is concerned, oss virtue > >(like environmental virtue or sweat shop virtue) is just so much > >marketing blather. a corporation's responsibility is to make money > >for its investors. business ethics is and always will be purely > >utilitarian. apple has good marketing but don't kid yourself. > > Unless you're buying newly-minted stock, you aren't giving any money > to Apple when you buy shares of AAPL. You're giving money to some > other person, who bought the shares a while ago and now wants to cash > in. In turn, he might have bought them from another investor. In > many cases, you have to go a long way back, sometimes all the way to > the IPO, before the money goes to the company. They get money when > they issue stock, not when it's traded. > > What you're doing when you buy stock -- especially stock that pays > little or no dividends -- is placing a bet that sometime in the future > you'll be able to find someone willing to buy it from you at a higher > price than you paid. > > Moreover, the price of most stocks is determined solely by what people > are willing to pay for them. Forget all that noise about sales > forecasts, P/E, etc. There is no direct, causal connection between > those "fundamentals" and the stock price. They're as pertinent as a > baseball player's batting average is to the price of the bubblegum > card with his picture on it. You're trading collectibles, and > they're subject to the whims of fashion. > > In summary, I agree with what has been said about contributing to the > FreeBSD Foundation if you really want to help the project. It's a > much better use of your money. But if you'd rather trade baseball > cards, no one's stopping you. Actually, if the individual buys stock, and there are different types, the purchaser has a possibility of making a profit on his investment. If the stock loses money, there is a real possibility of a tax write off. However, if he donates it to a properly certified organization for a tax write off, then that is all that they will ever receive. If the investor has no use for his money other than creating a tax write off, then that is fine. Of course, we have to keep in mind that the OP did not disclose a specific figure for his investment nor his income bracket, so everything is basically speculation as to what monetary help investing or donating would have on his financial health. He would probably be well advise to see a professional tax consultant prior to following either avenue. Personally, I donate to the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. I find donating money to help find a cure for a disease or aid those that have all ready contracted it far more satisfying that giving it away to a foundation in the hopes that someday, perhaps they will write a functioning driver for a wireless N device. -- Jerry ✌ FreeBSD.user@seibercom.net Disclaimer: off-list followups get on-list replies or get ignored. Please do not ignore the Reply-To header. __________________________________________________________________ It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar. Jerome K. Jerome
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