Deception In The Markets ( and in life!)

[Reaver 10]

Lord only knows what the next fad will be....they are already trying to kick up the next wave of houseflipping due to the mortgage bust...they are saying this is the worst downturn ever...LOL...I'd like to direct their research to South Florida in the late 20's early 30's...

 

It's funny how the flavor of the week changes so fast but people still line up for it.

 

I think that article said that that woman lost $100,000 and her husband didn't know yet! Ouch. Talk about awkwardness at the dinner table. ;-)

[PYenner 10]

That lady and the other 2.5B were trading forex.

So my guess is that any futures losses would be on top of that...?

Long overnight without a stoploss, so the equity limit was the stop loss for that lady, 1% left. Probably overtrading too.

Hard lesson in trusting the market.

[Reaver 10]

You ain't lying Pyenner..ouch $100K loss in forex. man oh man.

 

Wonder if they were trading FX futs? No way in hell I'd trust an FX broker with $100K....

[PYenner 10]

No way in hell I'd trust an FX broker with $100K....

Yep and that was the whole nestegg, the family savings, all in one leveraged fx account like it was a bank account or something.

[Reaver 10]

Wow man...just wow is all I can say. :doh:

[PYenner 10]

There is a quote from Stalin to the effect that he couldn't have done it without a horde of willing little helpers.

 

I see a guy like Richard Nixon and I wonder how the land of the free produced such a twisted individual who would have been right at home at Stalin's right hand.

 

Same goes for Hoover, the old FBI guy?

 

So that lot confuses me.

But the problem is that the older I get the bigger the corruption snowball gets.

 

Man, its in the boardrooms of the ordinary Blue Chip companies, "brainy" people, "successful" people, "whos who" and yet so many are twisted dirty little "Stalin helpers". Do they really have any smarts at all?

 

I will never understand those who mistake a bully for a strong man...

 

Some quotes from Stalin-

Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem.

Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.

I trust no one, not even myself.

Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.

History shows that there are no invincible armies.

In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.

The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.

One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.

The only real power comes out of a long rifle.

We don't allow our enemies to have guns, why should we allow them to have ideas?

[Reaver 10]

It's like the chaos theory...like Pyenner said...every day the corruption snowball seems to get bigger.

 

It's really crazy to see what is happening in the news everyday....Politicians getting charged, having to resign, all that stuff. Strange days.

[PYenner 10]

Should also have said-

A bully is damaged goods, perpetuating the damage from one generation to the next.

[thetradingdoctor 10]

There has always been corruption in the markets and in life. One of the things that has happened over the past years is that the media has exploded.

There is more and more competition for attention--24 hours news channels and the internet with everyone clamoring for attention. In the news, there is a saying "If it bleeds, it leads." This means that the more horrific the news, the more people want to watch it. I am actually getting a little sick to my stomach writing this.

 

There seems to be no limit to man's inhumanity to man and to all sentient human beings. There does not seem to be enough of anything. We want it all and we want it now. The more shocking the better. The more extreme the action or the sport, the better.

 

We ask for this by listening to it, by seeking it out, by watching it or paying for it. We get what we ask for.

 

There is great evil in this world. There is also great good. The good does not get noticed, as it is foreshadowed by the evil. I don't know what all of this means, but it does seem that bad actions are rewarded with publicity and good actions go unnoticed or with only brief mention.

 

I think it is important for us to try to insulate against the mediocrity and sensationalism of the media. I think it is important not to make heros and heroines of people behaving badly. I also think this is almost impossible to achieve. We are living in a world of almost instantaneousl global information.

 

What is the solution? Run away and hide? I don't think so. Create ones own microcosm where one can selectively let in or let out what what wishes?

Maybe. Can it be done?

 

And yes- a bully is not good news. Unless there is a significant positive effort on the part of each following generation, the bully will propagate.

 

Those of a religious bent say that we are near the end of days and all of this hideously bad behavior reflects that. I don't know. It seems more like we are in the roaring 20's where anything goes and shocking is a state of mind that wants more and more shocking.

 

How does this relate to the markets and trading? Cons, games, the plunge protection team, the working group on financial markets, scandals, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer. Today I saw where the CEO of Jet Blue just bought a 10 million dollar condo in NY where property is going for $6,000 a square foot. We are looking to make a few dollars from a Jet Blue trade. The CEO is clearly quite happy about that--thank you very much. Does being the markets make one more cynical than most? I am beginning to think that this is the case, but would love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Doctor Janice

[walterw 10]

but would love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Doctor Janice

 

Hi Janice, I do have my thoughts on all this, but it may sound at first glance like "religious" content and I dont know if this complies into TL`s posting rules, ironically I do not consider myself a religious man but more of a Bible beilever and practicioner... so if "faith" can be commented here and not religion... I would be more than glad to share my thoughts on why humans are having this conduct, where are they headed and what could be the hope for the ones who believe in God... I can testify that there is a diferent superior paralel quality of life for those who experience what I personally did experience on my faith... so its not religion what I can comment here, but my faith experience, wich is far FAR diferent to any poor religion... would love to comment, but need to know if its possible... cheers Walter.

[thetradingdoctor 10]

Thank you, Walter. I will leave this decision to James re: posting here. Please feel free to communicate with me directly at: janice@thetradingdoctor.com as I am always eager to exchange ideas with intelligent life in the universe.

 

I encouage every one of you to evolve your thinking away from Mediocristan to higher and higher levels. It will help your trading enormously and get you out of the herd mentality.

 

That said, and back to the topic of money and deception:

 

I just saw this from American Banker. I do not have a subscription, so here is the essence. There is so much money floating around that it sometimes seems almost incomprehensible to envision:

 

===============================

AML Fines Mount: Root Causes and Next Steps

Trend toward higher penalties seen likely to remain intact

 

American Banker | Wednesday, September 26, 2007

 

By Cheyenne Hopkins

 

WASHINGTON  Almost six years after the USA Patriot Act toughened banks' anti-laundering requirements, large banking companies continue to face massive fines for failures in their programs.

 

 

"But the biggest fine is likely still to come. ABN Amro Holding NV, which was fined $80 million in December 2005 for problems in its anti-laundering system, disclosed in April that it may receive a second penalty of nearly $500 million. Such a fine not only would obliterate the record for a laundering penalty, but it also would be well over the combined amount regulators have assessed against banking companies for laundering problems since 2001."

 

And...in the continuing saga of Uncle Ben and his feeding the masses ( and the gold markets!) here is news of the latest 38 billion hot off the printing presses:

 

Brother Ben, will you lend another $38 billion? After all, that is what you lent this morning to your friends.

http://www.ny.frb.org/markets/omo/dmm/temp.cfm?SHOWMORE=TRUE Almost $20 bilion was collateralized with mortgage backed securities. A month ago, they were only accepting treasuries as collateral.

 

Yikes and Thanks!

 

Doctor Janice

[thetradingdoctor 10]

More deception. This time, it's Discovery Channel's "Wild Man." There is no end to the deception....

 

Discovery's "Wild" man tamer in new episodes

Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:20am EDT

By Andrew Wallenstein

 

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Discovery Channel on Monday aired re-edited versions of its reality series "Man vs. Wild," acknowledging that elements of one of its most popular show were faked.While the series claims that "Wild" star Bear Grylls braves the great outdoors, it emerged during the summer that he sometimes spent nights in a motel when he was depicted sleeping outside, or received off-camera assistance in constructing rafts or bridges that he was shown crafting alone.

Facing a public relations nightmare, Discovery was forced to acknowledge that "some episodes were not natural to the environment."

 

On Monday, following an exhaustive internal investigation, Discovery aired four consecutive episodes from the first season, accompanied by a disclaimer. Other clarifications came in the form of new voice-overs from Grylls and excisions of dubious footage.

 

Beginning with Monday's rebroadcasts, "Wild" will now feature a disclaimer that runs both in the introduction and in the middle of each episode that reads: "Bear Grylls is trained in extreme survival techniques. He and the crew receive support when they are in potentially life-threatening situations, as required by health and safety regulations. Professional advice should be always be sought before entering any dangerous environment."

 

In an episode airing Monday set in the Scottish highlands, Grylls feasts on a rabbit he claims to have caught in a trap he set. But in the re-edited episode, the voice-over makes clear that his crew provides the rabbit for him.

 

"My trap didn't catch anything overnight, but I've been brought a rabbit to tell you what to do if you're luckier than me," Grylls says in the voice-over.

 

In another part of that episode, the location of one scene shot relatively close to civilization is specified as such.

 

Interesting that his name is "Bear!"

 

Thanks!

 

Doctor Janice

[PYenner 10]

<disclosed in April that it may receive a second penalty of nearly $500 million>

Sounds like the govt is happy to tax the offending, meaning there is no real offence. Happily profit sharing.

 

I don't have an answer to the bigger questions.

Middle America has shown some values, yet it seems unlikely the next generation will share the same strength of values.

 

Is degeneration into hardship the only way to learn values?

[PYenner 10]

Is degeneration into hardship the only way to learn values?

On the other hand, it was hardship that gave us Hitler.

[PYenner 10]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z66kmPRl5Y

Youtube vid.

People & Power - Rigged Markets - 20 May 07 - Part 1

Hedge funds, naked short selling.

Apparently Al Jazeera is distributing this material.

Mixed feelings about this one.

[PYenner 10]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3H6uEyR66M

Part 2

[MC 10]

I find your post of an affiliate spam link in your message, quite deceptive, and against forum rules, I should think...

 

Plus it crashed my browser (Firefox 2.0) when I tried to exit it - with numerous unwanted pop-ups to boot.

 

This is just the type of behavior that James, et al, is trying to curb on this forum, given the recent shenanigans of another vendor a few days ago.

 

Speaking of deceptive...pot meet kettle. Ain't that right Cooter...I mean Forsearch???

How's this for digging up an old thread and bumping it? LOL

 

"Res ipsa loquitur"