On Oct 27, 2008, at 9:24 AM, John Williams wrote: >> the financial industry is made up of mature adults who know what >> they're doing so we should trust them and not get in their way > > The financial industry is made up of a bunch of greedy people who > think > they know more than they actually do. So is the political industry. I > prefer the former -- at least they can't force me to waste my money.
I'm glad we at least agree that the financial industry is made up of a bunch of greedy people who think they know more than they actually do. And I would tend to agree also, to some extent, that the political industry has a fair number of such people in it as well. I'm not convinced that the financial industry can't force me to waste my money, though, because there are ways to get involved in the securities market that aren't exactly obvious to most people, and I *am* involved in the securities market in a few ways that would, pre-crash, have been considered very sound places to put my money. And I'm pretty sure that when I steel myself to look at the statements for those accounts, I'm going to find they pretty much tracked the Dow during its free-fall. But even if I wasn't appreciably long or short in any stock-based securities or complex derivatives or anything along those lines, this mess is still going to have a fairly significant impact on my life. I may not have *wasted* money, but I'm going to *lose* money in the long run until the repercussions of this event are over, if only in terms of day to day living expenses. I'm reasonably certain my employer will be able to keep operating without laying me off, but there are no guarantees there -- and if I fall on the down side of that, I'm going to have a tough several years ahead because it will be next to impossible to get a job that doesn't involve a fairly substantial pay cut and giving up on a career that I have a lot of experience and training invested in. And it may come down to me becoming one of those people who -- OMGZ!!1! -- might need to depend on government assistance for a while to avoid starving to death or living hand to mouth in a homeless camp somewhere. I'd kind of like for those programs to still be in existence if my survival depends on qualifying for them, if this thing turns out to be as bad as the direst assessments. "When you mention that we want five debates, say what they are: one on the economy, one on foreign policy, with another on global threats and national security, one on the environment, and one on strengthening family life, which would include health care, education, and retirement. I also think there should be one on parts of speech and sentence structure. And one on fractions." -- Toby Ziegler _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
