Why has someone else decided that we should all shift our paradigms ? If we were still buying cassette tapes or CDs for music, isn't that profitable enough? Why do we always have to switch to some new technology which switches out paradigm. Is it always better ? Do I really need 3-D TV at home ? Do I really need to read books on a reader ? Is iPad going to force the paradigm away from printed media in favor of electronic media ? Why is this better ? While I'm laying in a hammock with the latest novel on my iPad, will I be tempted away to visit my email or play the latest game ? Must every moment of my conscious existence be dealing with a data stream fed from a "firehose" ? How do I relax anymore ? Even "getting away" isn't totally, anymore. When I go for a drive, I just want to hear the purr of the engine- not the ring of my cell phone or the whir of a hybrid. Where is "fun" anymore ?
So I'm reading about Goldman-Sachs in the paper today and wondering how this whole scheme is allowed. We are all aware that gambling is illegal in the U.S. (except on Indian lands and in Nevada and other minor exceptions, but generally it is illegal). When a person buys stock, the gamble here is that the value of the stock will increase and then it can be sold at a profit. That I can understand. What I don't understand is why I can legally buy "shorts" at a particular value and bet that the stock (or investment vehicle) will go down (i.e. fail), and then I make a profit. It doesn't seem logical that I can make money on something that failed.
Perhaps, at a racetrack, I could buy a "short" on a horse and win if the horse doesn't ? This is all very confusing and somehow doesn't SOUND legal, but apparently it is. The only thing that I can't do is sell stock to another investor and tell him that it is a wonderful investment, but behind his back (because I know it is a bad investment), buy a short on it. This way, I profit from the sale AND I profit when the purchase fails. No wonder I'm always making a profit, but with a lack of integrity.
Marcus and Yacov, two Hasidic Jews, went to Pincus the tailor for
new suits.
"Pincus," Yacov said, "the last time we came to you for new
suits, we told you we wanted black suits. The suits you made were
not black. They were sort of dark gray maybe, but not black. We
need new suits, and this time we want black suits, from the
darkest black cloth there is."
Pincus reached behind for a bolt of cloth and he said, "See this
cloth? It is from this fabric that I make the habits for nuns. In
all the world," Pincus said, fingering the bolt of fabric, "there
is no blacker cloth than the cloth I make nuns' habits from. It
is from this cloth that I'll make your new suits!"
A few weeks later the two Hassidim were walking down the street
in their new suits when they passed two nuns. Impulsively, Yacov
went up to one of the nuns. He grabbed her sleeve and held it up
against his own. Then, in an angry voice, he muttered something
to his friend and they both walked on.
"What did that man want?" one nun asked the other.
"I don't know," she replied, "he looked at my garment, said
something in Latin, and left."
"In Latin?" asked the first nun. "What did he say?"
He said, "Marcus Pincus Fuctus".
Two five year old boys
are standing at the toilet to pee. One says, "Your thing doesn't have any skin on it!". "I've been circumcised.", the other replied.
"What's that mean?"
"It means they cut the skin off the end."
"How old were you when it was cut off?"
"My mom said I was two days old."
"Did it hurt?", the kid asked inquiringly.
"You bet it hurt, I didn't walk for a year!"
