BEWARE of geeks bearing formulas.

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  1. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by KnowItAll:
    however if you compare this to say cocaine addiction more blame is put in the dealer and product manufacturing side then the consumption side.
    I'm not sure I would compare this to cocaine addiction (although the US consumer is dangerously addicted to Credit). Although in the world where gun manufacturers are being sued for murder, I suppose anything is possible.

    I'm off to Macau to claim my refund from the Venetian....I guess I didn't fully understand the odds and turns out the Blackjack is much more of a risk than I thought! I just thought you follow the basic strategy and you win some or worst case break even...but the BASTARDS re-shuffle the cards after every hand! Who wants to come with me and protest??? If we get bored there is a casino there.....and bars...

  2. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by KnowItAll:
    I agree that investors are to be blamed ... look art the accumulator mess. how ever if you compare this to say coccaine addiction more blame is put in the dealer and product manufacturing side then the consumption side.
    So should we be blaming bankers or government for lack of regulation? Bankers were simply doing their job, extracting maximum return. Why should they have been the only people on the planet to say enough is enough?

    Personally, I don't think any one group of people is to blame. I blame an overwhelmingly consumption driven society always wanting, nay expecting more and more. Investors demand ever increasing profits, staff want pay rises every year etc etc. Things are not helped when government doesn't believe in regulation and when the political system is flawed. Politicians simply don't have the luxury of thinking long term, its all about here and now and winning votes. What do people want more than anything? More money in their pocket.

    KIA - I don't think you can compare putting together and selling financial products with selling cocaine.

  3. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by aussiegal:
    Things are not helped when government doesn't believe in regulation
    Oha. Never deduced such a position from your previous comments. Fully agree with you, though.

  4. #34

    Agree with previous recent statements. You can’t really divorce Joe Sixpack from what’s happening right now because the whole cycle of boom and bust stems from one collective mindset: we all want more than what we have.

    As individuals or collective entities we overreach our ambitions and expectations. The banks, in their quest for ever greater profits, dreamed up ever more exotic loans and loosened lending criteria for sure…but…only to feed the latent demand out there from people who want the biggest and best they can or cannot afford. Financial collapse is a projection of and culmination of the unreal collective expectation.

    We vote for politicians who promise the earth, with the outcome that politicians abandon sound economic management. There would be none of this turmoil if for example, there was a gold standard, which forces govts to only spend money held in reserve, instead of recklessly borrowing (printing money) to fund Big Brother projects and please the voter.

    So it’s not a simple question of the Big Bad Bankers. We’re all in on it. As they say, it takes two to tango.


  5. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by er2:
    Oha. Never deduced such a position from your previous comments. Fully agree with you, though.
    I've talked about regulation in quite a few posts. I don't see any world possible in which it doesn't exist. People are not created equal, some have good motives, many don't. Some have superior intellect and capacity for understanding complex theories and equations. I don't! People like me need to be protected. And more than anything, nearly all of us want more, need more!

    There are rules that we abide by in everyday life, enforced by the police and there should be rules in the financial world.

    Am reading a great book called Affluenza. I recommend it to everyone. It doesn't touch on the financial crisis because it was published last year but it does touch on how bogged down by greed most people have become and how unhappy that makes us. It's not surprising that countries like the US, Australia and the UK have the highest incidences of depression. These are the countries that fully embrace the lie that we can all have it all and have it now.
    Last edited by aussiegal; 15-10-2008 at 07:19 PM.

  6. #36

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    >> Who wants to come with me and protest?

    I will wholeheartedly join you in the protest, if AFTER taking your winnings the Venetian folds and needs funds from the Macau Govt to pay its employees AND leaves anyone who ever invested in them without a penny.

    Anyways, time for me to go watch Tom and Jerry with the son .... we'll discuss this one day over a few shots of premium single malt and cigars.


  7. #37

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    >> We vote for politicians who promise the earth

    Do they really need to promise the earth? I really do think the time has come (perhaps in 2012 when Hillary ascends to The Throne) where all a politician has to do is promise food, shelter, education and the safety of their electorate.


  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by KnowItAll:
    >> We vote for politicians who promise the earth

    Do they really need to promise the earth?
    They don't need to promise the earth to people like you and me and most of the people on here who see through them anyway but superlatives and dreams are what make the masses tingle. Obama couldn't be a better example of this. Clinton would have been a much better choice. But I'm not getting into that here
    Last edited by aussiegal; 15-10-2008 at 07:45 PM.

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