Thanks Pete, What do you think about investing Social Security in the Market?
REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "pete" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 10:49 PM Subject: Re: FWk: Re: NYTimes.com Article: Plutocracy and Politics > > On Thu, 18 Jul 2002, Ray Evans Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >Interesting. What I hear you saying is the same thing as Bush. That > >the fundamentals are OK, that it isn't a Casino and that it was just a > >bunch of bad guys cheating. Am I reading you right? > > Hmmm. I was answering in terms of considering those who had chosen > to participate in the market. Whether the market itself should > exist, in its present form, is another question, and I don't know > what I think about that. The market will seem like a casino to > those who aren't careful. And by its nature, the market attracts > the venal and deceitful, just like anywhere else where large > amounts of money are flowing. So it is reasonable to assume that > it is rife with scams, and needs a sharp and aggressive oversight > organization to keep ahead of the weasels and their latest schemes to > bilk the unwary. Here in Vancouver, we have, or had, until very > recently, a market which specialized in penny mines, which are > notorious for their high risk and big payoffs. This was the north > american centre for raising mining capital, and was more like a > casino than any other market, with a constant litany of little > scams and scandals. But as long as you understood that, and didn't > regard the VSE as sensible place to invest your retirement fund, > you could play the Vancouver market the way you might play the > horses (quite a few stock promoters at the VSE seemed to also > be found at the racetrack). It was common wisdom that though the > ordinary peasant could pull off a market coup, the promoters and > their friends always seemed to do much better, despite the insider > trading laws. So, as the Vancouver market was the first one I knew > and played with, I have this basic understanding that equities > are a risky business, by their nature, and playing the "blue chips" > for a relatively solid income is sort of a bonus. > > I guess I'm not really answering your question exactly, but this > ought to give you some idea of how I look at it. > > -Pete Vincent > >
