118 Reporting,
>>120
I don't ever recall bringing up the value of art and artists. It's true that musical and artistic genius is often overlooked for such a long time that the artist remains poor. But even then, having a poor life full of suffering does not make one a good artist. At the most it it inspires and gives the artist a window of reference from which to work. Oh and btw, your opinion of modern art is just that, an opinion. I highly doubt you even pay attention to the art world.
But that's still unimportant because my initial question was not about RedCream's artistic ability. I inquired as to why his "vast knowledge" of money management (which you will see throughout the forum) had left him in the middle class. But hey, way to go with your comparison. Maybe comparing
APPLES AND ORANGES can be a new form of performance art.
>>121
Yes, I'm sure our forefathers did pretty well FOR THEIR TIME. But this is the fucking 21st century. Do you honestly think society would be all that great living on subsistence farms? Oh I'm sure we'd all be better off without the industrial revolution. None of that annoying electricity to light homes and computer screens. That shit is just evil and horrible. And fuck this stupid refrigeration, it makes my food last too long!
You know, sometimes I just wish I could spend everyday from sun up to sun down doing back breaking labor. It's just a richer life.
You must be absolutely insane to not realize that industrialization has improved the quality of life for everyone. Even the poorest of people in America are better off than the poorest people in African countries. Complain as much as you like, but your quality of life is much higher than your grandfather's.
Now about Enron, Arthur Andersen, Worldcom, Tyco, LTCM, No-bid contracting for Iraq and the dotcoms:
You've listed
five (5) specific companies that went rotten. FIVE. FIVE companies out of HUNDREDS, maybe even thousands. OH NO the whole system is broken!!! Now, I'm sure 5 is a huge number for your preindustrial obsessed little mind, but it is nothing in the larger scheme of things. Yes, some people got a raw deal when those companies imploded. It's very unfortunate, but that's life. Not everyone can be guaranteed an amazing job that'll never go away. And the people who had their entire futures tied up in those companies' stocks were foolish for not diversifying. All your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.
There were massive dotcom failures because too many people tried to take advantage of the internet without knowing what they were doing. It was a totally new avenue of business and people thought it would be a gravy train without doing much work. Companies were bound to fail.
As for the no-bid contracts, that foolishness is due to a certain president being a dumb fuck. And as shady and unethical as it is, it's not the end of the world. We can only hope the next president is better (though I have my doubts).
>>121
Troll, I am not. I'm actually quite human. And my money is quite solid and safe. Only about 20% of my money is ever tied up in speculative endeavors. The details are too boring, but I'll you this: It's good to own land.