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To: paulmcg0 who wrote (4824)	8/10/1999 11:30:00 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7772

"I think your average investor is a sheep waiting to be shorn or slaughtered if they think Wall Street is an honest place." Well, I'll wager that "your average investor" today is person pretty much like you and me -- a John/Jane Doe who trades over the web through a Fidelity, NDB, e-trade, etc., who navigates fairly well through DD resources as good as any available to a broker, who is well-informed about the scoundrels and scammers who operate wherever money is involved, and who makes his/her own thoughtful investment decisions and takes responsibility for them. A pretty representative sample of "your average investor" are the guys and gals who hang out right here on SI. To be an "investor" in the first place requires that you have accumulated--somehow--at least a modest amount of wealth; not likely in the case of sheep, greater fools, or persons who are clueless. I would further wager that "your average investor" has done pretty damn well in the stock market this year. However, it seems to give you comfort to believe that there is an amorphous mass of humanity out there who (unlike yourself) are losing their shirts because of their stupidity and gullibility. It reminds me of a quotation that goes something like, "I fear that everyone is mad save for thee and me ... and sometimes I wonder about thee."

To: paulmcg0 who wrote (4824)	8/11/1999 1:39:00 AM
From: geoffrey Wren	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7772

Old Wall Street Saying: "Our goal is to make money for the brokerage, for the broker, and for the customer. Two out of three ain't bad." And I remember my professor once relating how when he worked for Merrill Lynch why back when, they were selling an IPO at $20 or so. Well, some of those who subscribed were selling right away, so Merrill Lynch stepped in and bought all the stock to keep the price at $20, all the while their salesmen are pushing the stock. when Merrill Lynch had sold their own stock, they stopped supporting the stock price, and the price promptly plummeted. So, yes, it is quite true that the brokerages will screw the customers if they have to do so to protect their own interests. I'm short EBAY, first time ever short. So far, an expensive lesson. But long term, I don't see EBAY being worth any $10B plus. My reservations: I've known two people to have used it. Both don't use it anymore. One got a computer that did not work. By the time he got that straightened out, he could have bought the same computer for less in the stores. THe other brought some semi-precious jewelry, felt the product was not as advertised. Very few products naturally fit for such a structure. The rest, the buyer is taking a chance on quality. I suspect we will find that a large percentage of people shopping a lot on EBAY have a problem, akin to gambling, or subscribing to a lot of magazines to get into the sweepstakes, or who spend a lot of time in chatrooms. I don't understand why, once the novelty is gone, why people would buy many things at EBAY. Why people would sell, sure that's easy. They can use cohorts to make sure no sale goes through at a good price to the buyer. Won't EBAY have to start collecting sales tax in the near future? THere's a large use of their computing capacity, and a cost the customers won't like. Especially when the flea market does not charge sales tax. Oh, yeah, Y2K. Actually, I would think EBAY would be okay here, having new systems, but who knows. If EBAY ever starts to make real money, there will be all sorts of competition. That's all I have for now. No flaming please. Geoff Wren