How many times have we seen the hard working guy who makes a fortune, leaves it to his kids, only to have them squander it and pursue leftists dreams? All the time. Plenty of high profile examples of that. That's why the left has all those foundations supporting it. Now, it's the same idea, collectively, with a nation. It's built on hard work, thrift, industry, and there has to be integrity there, too. And then the children get it, and they squander it, have no respect for what it took to build it, take it for granted, refuse to take responsibility for it or themselves, and piss it away. We are in the generation of the children.
General comments- Vermin is what I call a person who makes 100mil a year and whores his soul for 'shareholder value' in a negative-profit company while his employees make 25k and then get laid off for their trouble. Worse than vermin are the ignorant patsies who play along without saying a word until they finally untape their faces from the TV screen to find themselves on the short end of the stick too. I don't know about Russians, but one thing about Asian businessmen, politicians, crooks and even murderers- no matter what, they generally always keep some small shred of feelings of real loyalty and responsibility toward their families and societies. Watch Japanese or Korean TV- 90% of the time even the hardest psycho killers will hide their faces from the TV cameras to avoid shaming their family. Interestingly, the ones who don't are often guys who spent time in America studying or whatever. As far as Saudis and other Arabs go, even at their worst they blow Americans out of the water when it comes keeping a tight family and social structure going. The rich guys in Arab countries, while being what we would call corrupt, often pay for things like national public health care plans, or housing projects, or education programs out of their own pockets. What a concept! This is what is missing in the great American individualistic free-market for all society. We are a bunch of selfish pr**ks. You got MBA kooks in their a-hole suits, cel phones pasted to their empty heads, driving Beemers past their own mothers who are homeless on the sidewalk. Fat chance it's going to bother them to burn up a few 401ks here and there. Flying from Narita Japan, or even Seoul into LA is already a shock like entering the worst third world country, and there is still plenty of downside left for American society. Short it all into the ground. Spare me any knee-jerk post 911 police state patriotic crap- I am a blue-collar redneck ex-logger raised on budweiser, weaned on JD, and well trained in the ownership and use of the guns we will probably finally need to take the place back from the terrorists in Washington and on Wall Street.
And that is exactly the type of person (red neck) that the markets love.....fresh meat. BTW, how many Japanese businessmen have you cut deals with? If you feel that all MBAs are suit wearing assholes, and all million dollar making CEOs are vermin, then you definitely have no place at a trading forum. While there are some serious problems facing North American markets and corporations, to stereotype all into groups as you have indicates a level of naivety that is reminiscent of the uninformed investor, the Marxist, and someone who has recently lost a lot of money.
if they don't take your guns first. It was the last occupant of the White House who began offering people twenty bucks for them on the streets of various cities..(through his lackeys of course). Despots get their ways by the following means (usually in this order, as circumstances dictate): persuasion. coercion. force. There are, of course, various subtypes within each category. There is nothing wrong with persuasion. Coercion and force are sometimes necessary to effect a righteous end (protecting your family, for example). But in the hands of a despot, even good things are a pit full of vipers.
I do agree with you on certain issues and 'vermin' has no racist implications. (Note Russians were also added) Simply these are markets greatly unregulated and manipulated (remember the taiwanese stock bubble?) Asian businesses (mainly the Chinese have very bad reputation) and who cares if they great family people? Do they have rampant corruption? Yes. Do they practice free trade - Nope! are they very cut- throat? Yes, again. As for Japan, just see how well they are doing! And you don't see them coming out of their recession, do you? Whatever the problems are in Japan - most are self-inflicted (much like ours back home).
This cycle is nothing new. We've gone through the worst bear market in the post WW II era; it's inevitable that people will find scapegoats. The '29 crash may have been even worst on the American pysche and look at the scandals and reforms that happened in the 1930's (The S.E.C. took over, etc). Look at Japans "crony capitalism" that was laughed at after their bubble burst. In good times, people get greedy and think that the party will never end. I remember when the Nasdaq broke 5,000 like it was yesterday. CSCO was going to be a trillion dollar company. YHOO was worth more than all the major media companies combined. It was an orgy of greed, arrogance, "new economy" mumbo jumbo and a FED that stepped in too late to stop the party. The upside will be proportional to the downside. In the end though, people around the world will still look to us for leadership in the capital markets. Our economy is too big and our technology is too great for them to ignore it.
Chas, ok business is not done in the same you are right. What I meant was is that it has the same drivers behind it. Profit. I have dealt with Chinese, Russians, Koreans etc and I can attest from first hand knowledge that there are good and bad. The biggest rip off I ever encountered was dealing with a firm in NH US. I have also bought a container of machines from China and received 8 tons of rock instead. However, I have also had many very satisfactory dealings with people over there. Interstingly, the worse people to deal with in China seem to be the ones that have had exposure to western business practice. You can call a spade a spade sure, but grouping certain nationalities with vermin has got to be too much for anyone from those countries who is an ET member. Don't forget this is an international forum so I just advocate a bit of respect. Anyway, we don't need to get stuck on it, I certainly didn't mean to slap anyone in the face.
I think whats uncomfortable for some here is the fact that there are many many corrupt business people in the USA. There was some mention of dishonorable business people in foreign countries and now we find we have some of the homegrown varities. I was in russia for 15 days and found them to be hungry for business. Everyone seemed to be a businessperson, it could have been selling coca cola in the kremlin area to wood workers in siberia. I was amazed to find so many people literally HUNGRY for business. Yes I was ripped off by a taxi driver, he over charged me by $2.70. I feel that if Russia develops a good legal frame work for settling squabbles then the skies the limit. In the USA we are blessed beyond compare, if you dont believe that then grab your passport and take a look. We are in the process of redistributing capital in the stock market from companies that are old news to ones that are making money. Its a bear market and can last quite some time, we here on this board understand that and have our list of stocks we want to buy and the prices we want them at. Many here in 10-15 years will look back on these days and be grateful that we were here, payed attention, and had the capital to profit handsomely from it. And with a role model like SUPER EGO how can you not profit from it