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A comment on Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of the on-demand economy. Parent comment

Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ... by rhizome on Friday September 16, 2016 @05:42PM (#12517574)
No, you don't need low interest rates for stupid investments, but it makes them a lot cheaper.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ... by hx87 on Friday September 16, 2016 @06:09PM (#12517735)
It also makes non-stupid investments cheaper, so all else being equal cheap money shouldn't increase the proportion of stupid investments.
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Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ... by hughw on Friday September 16, 2016 @09:19PM (#12518588)
But it makes ordinary safe investments like bonds return unappetizing, even negative rates. So you can't put your billions in bonds. You look for high yield on something like Uber.
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Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ... by rhizome on Saturday September 17, 2016 @03:09PM (#12521909)
so all else being equal cheap money shouldn't increase the proportion of stupid investments

All else isn't equal because it's not a free market. You can't just say "Oh, Uber looks good, I think I'll invest in them." It's not even rivalrous, it's simply private.

So, cheap investor money has to find an outlet some other way.

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Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ... by kmonsen on Saturday September 17, 2016 @12:27AM (#12519113)
Not entirely true, with low rates bonds and banks are loosing to inflation so you "need" to invest in something.
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