JAMES HAMPTON wrote:


Just so some might appreciate the problem with "privatization", New York
State started a deal where you could invest money to be used for your kids'
education. Not a savings account; this had to be "invested". They had a
nice thing going.

That was a short sighted idea. With Education at constant double digit
inflation, there were no investment plans that could ever keep up, once
the investment people skimmed off their money. This means someone loses
at some point. Guess who?

A lot of ordinary folks jumped right on the bandwagon. After the company I
worked for stopped their "fund d" and everything became chance.

Wow! The stock market was really rising! (yep, like a pyramid, you get a
lot of folks to invest, stocks go up). Over time, of course, stock tends to
go up, but a lot of new accounts ... a few of the guys at work were bragging
how many grand they made "last month".

I knew a few millionaires. for a few months.


One guy (from Vietnam) took a hard
look and bailed out and moved it all into low producing accounts. Needless
to say, the tech stocks tanked, just about everyone investing in that New
York State thing lost a good portion of what they invested .... and if you
check, you find some folks (especially the folks that knew what was
happening) bailed.

Oh yeah, there is that. I confess I kept all my money in more
conservative investments for the whole duration. In retrospect, it was
quite wise.

Some did very well (perhaps illegally), some did well
just not to loose anything (like the guy at work I mentioned earlier). And
a lot more ordinary folk lost.

Coslo's rule of investment: Find out what investment is hot, and avoid
it like the plague. Mr. investment counselor is NOT your friend.


Why has gambling become the method of choice for making money? Everyone
around here wants more gambling. Creates jobs.

That one is easy. Gambling simply serves as a voluntary tax. The reason
that politicians love it is that it is accepted by the users. And the
gild on the lily is that the wealthy don't use lotteries anywhere near
the level that the poor do.

So you have a voluntary tax on the poor.

As to the stock market, it is like walking into a poker game. If you can't
spot the fish, guess what?

The stock market is a revenue generating mechanism. The thing is who is
it generating revenue for. You need an insider to make money.

cynically yours.....

- Mike KB3EIA -