[QUOTE=AimeeB]
I felt sorry for a man who had no hat until I met a man with no head.
[/QUOTE]
Ichabod Crane, is that you? 
[QUOTE=Voyager]
Definitely agree about the stupidity part, but wasn’t some of the liquidity crisis caused by the instruments being so complex that no one knew how to value them?
[/quote]
To some degree. As I understand it, the larger issue was that the most complex derivatives were traded so infrequently that they couldn’t be marked-to-market (i.e., priced based on the traded prices of similar securities), but rather had to be priced based on models that were shown to be inadequate. In particular, the models didn’t account for liquidity risk (which seems to be fairly difficult to quantify).
My position is that we need more and better regulation. I think that we’ll get it; I’m just hoping that it’s not a complete hash when we do.
[QUOTE=Evil Captor]
Yeah, but this just stupid reverse one-upmanship. Let me play one on you:
Well, I gaurantee you that there are a lot of people who really envy guys who are merely starving and homeless, because they are also starving and homeless and have diseases that leave them grotesquely disfigured and make them smell bad and have 29 kids depending on them all of whom are sweet and loving and mildly retarded, and their wife has a social disease that makes that time of the month all month. So your standard starving and homeless people will get no sympathy from me, because those guys have it a lot worse! Save your pity for them!
Oh, I feel so reverse-superior now! :p:
[/QUOTE]
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not saying that anyone doesn’t deserve sympathy. On the contrary, I would say that anyone who loses is potentially deserving of sympathy. Even the millionaire who has to give up his yacht or whatever.
[QUOTE=Voyager]
And plenty of them do, not for their own birth certificate but for their unborn babies. I lived in Africa across the street from a shanty town without water. I bet even those people would rather not be living in a box under a bridge. But, that said, our guy working two jobs is doing all he can for his home and family, and not whining about having to sell excess baubles.
[/QUOTE]
One man’s bauble . . .
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak]
I presume he is an asshole because he had a net worth of $20m? AFAICT, all he has done thus far is express his fears of losing his wife to a divorce lawyer, and admit to said lawyer that his lavish net worth is significantly less lavish now.
[/QUOTE]
Anybody who will share his financial troubles with his lawyer sooner than with his spouse may not be an asshole but he’s certainly a moron.
As a Guest with the ‘special’ feature of Google ads, I thought I’d share this one w/ you members who miss out on the Google Ads:
I’m Rich. You’re Not.
See how I make $3 Million per year. But keep the drooling to a minimum.
TheRichJerk.com
I’m sure it only costs $20-50 dollars for the introductory package. (I refuse to click on the ad, cause I’m sure it’s all BS).
[QUOTE=Voyager]
The article did not mention anyone taking out loans to support their standard of living, only selling off stuff.
[/QUOTE]
From the article: “They apply for a line of credit before art auctions, supposedly to buy a painting or a sculpture, but use that borrowed money to pay other debts.”
[QUOTE=Mr Buttons]
As a Guest with the ‘special’ feature of Google ads, I thought I’d share this one w/ you members who miss out on the Google Ads:
I’m Rich. You’re Not.
See how I make $3 Million per year. But keep the drooling to a minimum.
TheRichJerk.com
[/QUOTE]
Debt Settlement - Cut 60%
Reduce Your Debt By Up To 60%. Cut Payments In Half & Payoff Fast!
Mr. Buttons, bravo! You may fit in here…after your hazing period.
Lessee; True Entrepreneurs Only. No Selling. Residual Income. Make $10-$200k/ Month. BestMillionDollarGamePlan.com.
What fucking losers would go for that?! Everyone knows a million dollars ain’t shit these days. That’s barely lower middle class! (Thank you, Lauch Faircloth)
Really, I dunno how to make any new points on this one. I actually have been homeless and hungry; nothing romantic about it, I promise you. Once, when a college mate was complaining about some foolishness, I said (quote may not be exact): “Whatever your problems, they’re a lot easier to handle when you don’t have to worry about a roof over your head!”
Debt Help
Get Christian Debt Help Now Free Quote! Call 1-866-958-Debt
www.ChristianDebtConsolidators.net
The links are dead.
[QUOTE=Mr Buttons]
As a Guest with the ‘special’ feature of Google ads, I thought I’d share this one w/ you members who miss out on the Google Ads:
I’m Rich. You’re Not.
See how I make $3 Million per year. But keep the drooling to a minimum.
TheRichJerk.com
I’m sure it only costs $20-50 dollars for the introductory package. (I refuse to click on the ad, cause I’m sure it’s all BS).
[/QUOTE]
It’s not BS at all. The guy really does make $3 million a year- by selling you the introductory package.
[QUOTE=tdn]
Debt Settlement - Cut 60%
Reduce Your Debt By Up To 60%. Cut Payments In Half & Payoff Fast!
[/QUOTE]
Of course, I get the following ad:
The Advanced Kagel
New Advanced Kegelmaster with Zinc- Plate Spring Resistance. Only Here!
If only I was rich enough to afford one!
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
It’s not BS at all. The guy really does make $3 million a year- by selling you the introductory package.
[/QUOTE]
One of the few things that you can count on in the investment world is that if someone’s offering to sell you financial information, the proceeds from those sales represent the lion’s share of their income.
[QUOTE=AimeeB]
I felt sorry for a man who had no hat until I met a man with no head.
[/QUOTE]
And then I laughed, really hard…
I don’t buy the “to a poor man in India, the typical western lifestyle…” line of thought. It’s useful for establishing some perspective, but it goes too far - it tries to call all differences in income and quality of life equal.
The reality is that every additional dollar/resource/whatever you get is worth less than the last. Living off $5000 a year and getting bumped up to $50000 is a much bigger jump than $50000 to $95000 even though it’s the same 45k increase.
Worrying about whether or not you can pay your rent is a much more serious situation than worrying about downgrading your private jet quality.
[QUOTE=Trunk]
The problem is that anyone who makes more money than me who can’t live within his means, gets no fucking sympathy.
My wife and I (combined) make over $100,000 each year. We feel very well off. We don’t know what to do with it all.
We put well over $1000 a month into the stock market.
We travel. We eat out. We drink good alcohol. We have a nice TV. We could pay off our house twice.
You wanna tell me it’s hard to live on $50,000 a year? I’ll listen, because I’m not in that position.
You can’t live with $8 million in the bank, and your wife is going to leave you and you’re going to lose your house? Fuck you. You’re greedy and your appetites are shallow and insatiable. And, you married an ungrateful, superficial, fucking whore and it’s your own fault. Fuck you.
[/QUOTE]
Wow, I could have written that exact same post. Needless to say, I agree.
(Though if you have extra money, you could always give to charity :).)
[QUOTE=starryspice]
(Though if you have extra money, you could always give to charity :).)
[/QUOTE]
Hi. My name is Charity.
We give a decent amount to charity already, but my long term plan involves giving away A LOT to charity when I’m all done living.
I just figure that I know how to “grow it” better than they do for the next 50 years.
I do actually have sympathy for the people talked about in the linked article; they don’t seem to have a sense of what’s important in life, and how to live an examined, meaningful life - it looks like all their life consists of is stuff, and that’s pretty damned sad.
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun]
I believe something like more than 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Almost every American is rich beyond belief in comparison to many people in the world. Why make fun of only a select portion of the rich? Why is OK to make fun of a guy that is going to lose his wife because he cannot afford the fancy clothes and vacations anymore, but not the guy working two jobs who is about to lose his house to foreclosure?
[/QUOTE]
That is not the subject of the discussion.
If you want real angst among the wealthy, follow the N.Y. Times stories about the problems of those who stream out to the Hamptons (on Long Island) for summer vacations every year.
Over the past few years, there’s been endless coverage of their trials and tribulations - the traffic, the invasion of the lower classes, the inflated cost of summer homes, and most heart-rending of all, the dizzying social pace, obliging one to either make hard choices on what celebrity benefit parties to attend, or accept all the invitations and run oneself absolutely ragged.
*"This summer, the Hamptons charity circuit is more overloaded than ever, with every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day booked with at least one event, if not five or six. In all, there are at least 50 benefits scheduled in the Hamptons over the next three months, with tickets ranging from just $20 a person to more than $50,000 a table. Besides the usual triptych – cocktails, dinner and dancing – there are now charity brunches, charity auto shows, charity polo matches and charity store openings.
The way locals tell it, they can forget about spending the summer catching up on old magazines, cruising in their Sunseeker yachts or simply relaxing in their million-dollar homes. ‘‘It’s a nightmare,’’ said Adrienne Kitaeff, the executive director of the Children’s Museum of the East End, who is doing her part to add to the benefit overload with a Cuban-themed dinner dance on July 10. ‘‘Even walking down the street or the supermarket, you run into people who are donors and attendees.’’
‘‘You get tired of smiling all the time.’’ Ms. Kitaeff added.
Even some party promoters are feeling overworked. ‘‘I used to go to the beach three times a day with my dog,’’ said Linda Shapiro, one of the Hamptons’ top party planners, whose events this season included Dan’s Papers’ 26th annual Potatohampton race, which benefits the Foundation for the Advancement of Cardiac Therapies. ''Now I never go. Once, I went to a party at a beachfront home and saw the ocean, and I said to myself, ‘Oh, that’s why I used to love coming here.’ ‘’*
It is to weep.