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Gullible Dot Com Investors Not Getting Their Money Back
from the nor-should-they dept
As has been mentioned before, no matter how bad and misleading the various analysts were during the boom years, I have little to no sympathy for the investors who believed them. Investing is a risky sport, and if you're not willing to do the due diligence yourself, you shouldn't be in the game. No one forced people to make these trades, and we're not talking about cases where brokers were running off with someone's money. These are cases where greedy individual investors kept on throwing their money into lame dot coms because they wanted to get rich quick. They'd also have a hard time proving that they made the investments solely on the basis of an analyst's recommendations. So, I think it's a good thing that an arbitration panel has been awarding upset investors $0 for their troubles. Anyone who doesn't realize the money they've invested in the stock market can go away shouldn't be investing. If these investors were being rewarded for not doing their own due diligence, it would set a terrible precedent. It would be rewarding those who didn't do their research, while punishing those who kept their money in wiser investments.
Reader Comments
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Everything is faith, though.
Banks can and do go bankrupt. Anyone who doesn't realize this shouldn't keep their money in banks. It is assumed that FDIC has enough money to bail banks out, but with the kind of deficits we've been having, is that a safe assumption? The US treasury is held up by foreign investors; without them, we are nothing.
We buy homes based on the faith that forest fires won't vaporize it, storms won't sink it, earthquakes won't pulverize it, riots won't torch it. How many people give their self-righteous advice about how buying homes is "good" for you? We know home insurance companies don't cover "acts of God", which means just about any event that can destroy your home.
Most people seek to get married and have kids because they have been told throughout life that they should. In today's world though, marriage and kids is a huge economic liability; not only does it impoverish us, it makes us less flexible and thus reduces opportunities for advancement.
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Re: Everything is faith, though.
Umm .... what does my fat wife and lazy kids have to do with VC's not getting their money back for making poor business decisions ?
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Re: Everything is faith, though.
When people make any kind of investment, be it equities, bank accounts, homes, families, whatever, they are taking a risk. The government already has many laws in place to reward people for taking risks, in the form of FDIC, FEMA, alimony laws. The pro-capitalism crowd has preached the virtues of everyone investing in equities; if they want to protect against catastrophic loss of wealth, then the government should also have protective mechanisms in place.
The alternative is having no bank insurance, no home protection, wives and children being "laid off" when times are tough. For those that prefer such "freedoms", there are places like Afghanistan or Rwanda.
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Re: Everything is faith, though.
Oh what a bunch of bullshit ...
First off, the FDIC only insures accounts up to $ 100,000.00.
You write: " For those that prefer such " freedoms ", there are places like Afghanistan ...
I bet you're the kind of consumer who willing trades all your perceived " freedoms " for a loyalty card, A WallyWorld sticker and 10% off your next purchase @ McSatan ...
If it were not for Americans that stood up for " freedom " you nor I would have a place to spout off our beliefs ...
Explain 1 good reason why the government should be involved in protecting anyone from loss of wealth ?
What your proposing is Socialism
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Re: Everything is faith, though.
"Oh what a bunch of bullshit ...
First off, the FDIC only insures accounts up to $ 100,000.00."
Yes, so bank accounts for those of us with more than $100k is risky.
"I bet you're the kind of consumer who willing trades all your perceived " freedoms " for a loyalty card, A WallyWorld sticker and 10% off your next purchase @ McSatan ..."
Whatever that means. Where are these cards you describe?
"If it were not for Americans that stood up for "freedom " you nor I would have a place to spout off our beliefs ..."
That's the standard indoctrination we receive. In reality, we live in a highly regulated society with consumer protection laws and such. We do not have the freedom to eat dogs or own slaves here. If we want true freedom in the sense of anarchy, there are places like Angola.
>Explain 1 good reason why the government should be involved in protecting anyone from loss of wealth ?
They already do in many ways, via medicare, social security, unemployment benefits, FEMA, FDIC, etc.
>What your proposing is Socialism
Actually, the people who call themselves capitalists are often the same ones who demand this sort of protection. The developing world has truer forms of laissez-faire capitalism, the kind in which the law offers no protection for the masses.
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