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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GraceZ who wrote (214052)	8/5/2009 12:18:53 AM
From: Skeeter Bug	Respond to of 306849

>>Why do you think screwing anyone, in the sense that you meant in your response, actually serves the interest of the person doing it?<< i don't. i think that attitude will lead to the destruction of humanity. it has already led to the destruction of 100s of millions of lives. >>In most cases, even the one that MD brought up, these actions ultimately turned out to not be in the long term best interest of the person or company doing it.<< that's not the way people think. using an extreme example, they tend to think along the lines of "rob bank, get rich." most end up with, "behind bars, oh chit!" so, we agree robbing banks is irrational from the long term standpoint, right? so it never happens, right? wrong. people don't think long term. they tend to think short term take. like my real estate agent who sent me an email telling me my condo buyer's mortgage broker was instructing me to commit fraud so their client could get government funding. i supposed that's the first time that happened (and no, i didn't commit fraud and my closing will, knock on wood, take place a month later than expected). >>It is fairly easy to see that a street criminal holding a gun up to your head for some small possible gain of cash in your pocket isn't acting in their own best interest<< but they think it is and that is what matters. >>but harder for you to make the leap to the concept that the more sophisticated thief, someone who robs people with a "fountain pen" isn't acting in their own best interest either.<< i agree - it all ends in death and destruction. my WHOLE POINT was that acting selfishly lead to disaster eventually. i'm not sure how you missed that since it was my whole point! >>People don't always act in their best interest or even know how it is that their best interest is served.<< they do, however, act in their self interest as they understand it. sometimes this is positive, sometimes much less so. when it is much less so, especially as a society, bad things happen. that's my point. >>Aside from that, a lot of evil in the world is done by people attempting to "do good" for others.<< that's the story line, however, it is often a matter of doing what they perceive to be in their best interests justified by doing good for others. the bankers, for instance. they believe, paulson chief among them, that we should be happy we lined their pockets with trillions in cash and guarantees b/c they saved us. bernanke thinks we should appreciate his efforts to save us, too. note - these guys are like an arsonist fireman who puts out his own fire and wants the owners of the home to thank him for his effort. the truth is people are trying to screw over others every day. companies are trying to maximize profit at the expense of their customer. customers are trying to low ball businesses. people promise things and don't deliver. marketing is all about lying in a way they can pretend isn't lying. many don't even bother pretending anymore.