Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (14343)	2/3/2002 6:39:13 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Very interesting. I think it's fair to say that it's impossible to set up a system which gives people power and access to money without a certain percentage abusing it. Some places corruption is endemic, even expected. If you want to get things done, you have to pay bribes. My impression was that corruption was not uncommon in China. What you are saying suggests that being well-connected isn't going to make people look the other way. I wonder if we would have less corruption here if people were executed for it. Big disincentive.-g-

To: TobagoJack who wrote (14343)	2/3/2002 8:59:22 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Jay, that's an interesting commentary. I've seen similar stuff in the corporate world [where a bullet to the brain is not the final denouement]. People seem to confuse themselves with the companies they run, the company's money they have, the government they are in charge of, the client's funds a lawyer has, the people a politician claims to represent. The initial "We" becomes the royal "We" which becomes "Me". I think it's because being social animals we have a strong sense of need to belong and desire to be high up the pecking order and if possible, the alpha male/female. We also have strong egos, which is part of that environment and also a natural part of staying alive in a dog eat dog world [and that applies to all living things]. Because evolutionary history is that territoriality and possession is ten points of the law, relatively modern obscure, arcane and abstract ideas of property rights and associated legal jargon [where possession is only 9 points of the law] tends to leave people feeling as though they own and are in charge of something when it is really not theirs at all. They know it isn't, but their emotional drives, stemming from millions of years of evolutionary history is battling them and emotional drives are a good match for our thinking selves. Hence, the absurd spectacle of well-off actresses shop-lifting, wealthy people stealing more, well-off lawyers [in anyone else's book] stealing from clients' funds. I've seen people in my corporate life confusing the company's money and property with theirs. They live and breathe the company and it subsumes their lives, so it's understandable that they come to identify with it so strongly that they don't see a dividing line between themselves and the company. Hence the trauma many people feel when they are cut loose from a company. I know the feeling myself - a sense of loss having quit and gone my own way and I'm not too prone to such things, avariciousness etc. The whole business is amazing and drives stockmarket booms and busts, mass genocide and all sorts of human mayhem. I wonder whether millions of "little emperors" will be especially prone to such problems due to a spoiled upbringing giving them an excessive idea about their importance in the world. I have a theory [as always] that depression is a similar manifestation of frustrated identity where the external world won't match the internal identity of the person, leaving them disappointed, frustrated, angry and often suicidal as they live an eternal loop of failed expectations which they can't escape because they are trapped by their early childhood experiences which gave them expectations they've learned to believe are part of their identity. I don't believe it's a chemical imbalance or other nonsense like that, which is a way of moving 'the blame' from the person to an external agent, as though it's something that 'happens to' the person and an external agent can 'fix'. I do think an external agent can 'fix' the problem, but it's an environmental change which will probably conflict with the person's self-identity, so they'll resist the change anyway. Or something like that! I'd rather speculate on that than gold. Always optimistic, constantly happy, Mqurice

To: TobagoJack who wrote (14343)	2/3/2002 10:07:34 PM
From: Moominoid	Respond to of 74559

I of course liked the title of the piece below, the alternative to Gold=Zahav. On Chinese corruption (which we hear quite a bit about down here in Oz), the problem is these guys get too greedy, and not smart enough. The plan should be: 1. Steal 1 or 2 million dollars or so. 2. Arrange study leave in US, UK or some such place 3. Join every anti-Chinese government organisation - e.g. Falun Dafa, Free Tibet, No Sweatshops etc. 4. Go on lots of demonstrations against the Chinese government 5. Claim political asylum. 6. If this doesn't work apply to do PhD in another country 7. If this doesn't work buy Trinidad :) or the like passport 8. Plan #4 fly to Indonesia and pay people smugglers float over to Christmas Island and get the Australian government to resettle you in Hobbitland. Well I don't know if this would work, I certainly wouldn't try it but it must beat spend 20 years stealing 1 billion dollars and hope no-one notices. __________________________________________ Le Metropole Members, Philip Judge has served commentary at The Man Ray Table entitled: "KESEPH - PART 1 THE MONEY OF THE AGES." "The dramatic impact of silver on the lives of man through the chapters of time is simply unfathomable. In an age where little importance is placed on the lessons of history or tangible assets, the role that silver has played in shaping the events of mankind down through the ages is easily overlooked or forgotten. In Part 1 of this two part essay, we look at the dramatic and important role silver has played in shaping our world." As more and more Enrons and Argentinas show up, the more and more silver and gold ownership will come back into fashion. <A HREF="http://www.LeMetropoleCafe.com/entrance.cfm"> Le Metropole Cafe</A> All the best, Bill Murphy Le Patron www.LeMetropoleCafe.com