Greedy Greedy People

With every one chiming in about Enron I thought I would throw my two cents. While I think the upper echelon of Enron should take an Ethics 101 course I think we are all over looking one major detail in the whole fiasco. The people who lost money lost it in stocks; Enron didn't take money out of peoples bank accounts. Their business failed and their stock fell, such is the story of the stock market. No one is bailing out all the people who lost millions on the E-business' demises.

On a bit of a side bar here I would like to point out that you don't really "lose" all that the stock is worth, you lose what you invest. Let's set up a little scenario: You invest 20 g's in a company and the stock skyrockets the next morning. Your portfolio is worth $2 million but, you get greedy and keep your stock too long. The stock plummets and your shares are worth 10 bucks. You didn't really lose 2 million, you lost $20,000. You could have HAD 2 million but you are only out 20K. Semantics maybe, but I wanted to point that out.

Too many people think the stock market is a sure fire way to riches. If it was would anyone be poor? Would I be poor? Furthermore the cardinal sin of investing is to put all your eggs in one basket. Lots of people transferred money out of a nice secure Mutual Fund and bought stock in Enron because they were dazzled by the high yield and were just plain greedy. Now they have nothing, and we're supposed to feel bad for them. Not to go John Stossel on every one but "Give Me a Break."

The worst of the worst is the wife of the CEO who was on television crying because, "They're broke." During the interview she was sitting in one of many immaculate homes that they own. All totaled the CEO was raking in about $200,000 dollars a day, and yet somehow it's all gone. I was watching TV most likely Politically Incorrect (The show I love to hate, it bothers me to watch a debate I can't participate in, but I love that show none the less) and they were discussing this topic and one of the panel members said something that made me think. " Let's say someone offers you 200,000 a day contingent on the fact that you have to spend every cent of it each day. So the first day you buy a Lamborghini, the second day you get a million dollar house and make payments on days 2-6. How long could you keep that up for?" I thought that was pretty funny actually. I mean finding ways to get rid of the money would be a full time job in and of itself. When MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy he made it clear that he didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him. He explained that there is a far cry between poor and just not being able to afford a 10 million dollar house. He's right you know. Buy his album.

To make sure everyone knows I'm not a complete Jack Pine I would like to say that I do feel sorry for some of the people screwed over in the whole ordeal. For example, the teachers in California whose retirement accounts were wiped out because the company brokering their mutual fund got too carried away with Enron stock. Those who had no control over the investing I feel bad for. For the rest of the greedy people who took it in the behind, tough luck saps.

-Jeremy Lindgren likes money, money doesn't seem to like him