Sometimes when I look at the stock market, I get awed and repulsed at the same time. Awed sometimes by the fact of pure capitalism at work. Tremendous amounts of money literally flowing between financial and corporate entities. Deals, trades, etc. The business of America is business, indeed.
Repulsed sometimes by the fact of pure capitalism at work. Tremendous amounts of money literally flowing between financial and corporate entities. Deals, trades, etc. The business of America is business, indeed yet knowing that if you aren’t a player, your just a unit of value being shuffled to and fro. The average American’s income is just a little chip in the stock market stack. And the players are going to play. Maybe Joe Six Pack gets shafted. Maybe not. But hey, who cares? Wheelin’ and dealin’ for the win! There’s always more chips in the stack. And the real business-folk keep on winning and keeping the chip stack high.
Alex Epstein, a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, CA, said the following in an op-ed about Enron and business-folk in general:
..Enron’s problem was not that it was “too concerned” about profit, but that it believed money does not have to be made: it can be had simply by following one’s whims. The solution to prevent future Enrons, then, is not to teach (or force) CEOs to curb their profit-seeking; the desire to produce and trade valuable products is the essence of business–and of successful life.
Instead, we must teach businessmen the profound virtues money-making requires. Above all, we must teach them that one cannot profit by evading facts.
Very true words. And that is what scares me about the stock market: not greed but irrationality (look at the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis and credit crunch). Money has to be made not materialized out of the ether. The stakes are too high to play an irrational hand.
I’m not complex. Don’t have time for all that. And all that complex stuff bad for the stomach. Just color me simple and plain with a twist.