Thanks, Ray.
Glad you saw the tin-pot dictator paragraph for what it was: my taking the opportunity to yank your chain. And, yes, I remember reading Partnoy's "F.I.A.S.C.O." sometime ago, but truthfully, don't remember much of it. Maybe I'll read it again sometime, but a few years ago I promised myself that for every market related book I read, I'd consume two to three non-market books. Man does not live on bread alone, of course.
Most recently, I've been reading "Crash" by J.G Ballard and, ironically, "The Science of Conjecture" by James Franklin.
Anyway. As for what you call a "vanilla version" of what goes on in the equity markets, I'd hardly call Wall Street - or again, business in general - a vanilla environment. Once again, if you - or anyone - think that I'm saying, or ever have said, that one should trust everything you hear, believe that stock dealers are your friends, or otherwise lower your guard, well, you've missed the point entirely. If we were talking about ice cream, it'd be a pretty rancid scoop of, I dunno, Pork 'N Beans-flavored ice cream, perhaps...but not vanilla. But what it would not be is snow, compressed paper, or something else made to look like ice cream.
So leave the fantasy to the folks who get it right, guy: Andersen, Grimm, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Herbert, Lucas, et al. But don't lose the skepticism - it's often ones' best ally in the markets.
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