Five Thousand Dollars and the Future

So, you have five thousand dollars. A small pile of hope in a world determined to disappoint. It’s enough, though. Enough to buy a few shares in companies that, for the moment, seem to be winning. Alphabet and Meta. They sell attention, mostly. Which is a funny business, when you think about it. People paying to be looked at. So it goes.

The Size of Things

Alphabet and Meta have a lot of users. Billions. Six products at Alphabet, each with over two billion people staring at screens. Meta’s various platforms combined? Even more. It’s a staggering number. Enough to make you feel small, and a little bit sad. They’ve built these vast networks, these echo chambers of shared experience. And what do people do with them? Mostly, they look at pictures of cats. So it goes.

These companies benefit from what they call “network effects.” More users make the platform more valuable. It’s a virtuous cycle, they say. It’s also a trap. The more connected we are, the more dependent we become. And dependency, my friend, is rarely a good thing. But the stock goes up. So it goes.

The Money They Have

They’re flush with cash, these companies. Alphabet has $127 billion sitting around. Meta has $78 billion. It’s obscene, really. Enough money to solve a lot of problems. But they won’t. They’ll use it to buy more servers, to show you more ads, to collect more data. It’s the way of things. They report operating margins of 32% and 41% respectively. Impressive. But what does it all mean? So it goes.

They have debt, of course. Everyone does. But their cash reserves are significantly higher. A safety net, they call it. A cushion against the inevitable downturn. As if a pile of money can protect you from the fundamental absurdity of existence. But it might. For a little while, at least. So it goes.

A Reasonable Price to Pay

The stock market is a fickle beast. But right now, Alphabet trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 30. Meta’s is around 28. Not outrageous, not exactly cheap. But reasonable. If they continue to grow their profits – a big if – it might be worth a look.

With five thousand dollars, you can buy about seven shares of Alphabet and four of Meta. A small investment, in the grand scheme of things. But every little bit helps. Or doesn’t. It’s hard to say. The future is always uncertain.

So, you buy the shares. You watch the price go up and down. You try not to think about the implications. And you wait. Because what else is there to do? So it goes.

2026-02-09 18:03

The Size of Things

The Money They Have

A Reasonable Price to Pay

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