[geeks] Re: (Almost nothing to do with )Carley Fiorina

[Lionel Peterson]

--- Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc at linuxweasel.com> wrote:

> Lots of folks lost money, but it was because they were gambling, not
> investing.

One of my favorite "Investor" sightings was in a mid-quality steak
house - there was a gentleman standing in (what may have been the
world's smallest) men's room, talking on his cell phone. Over the
flushing noises,  he was trying to explain to his "broker" (or,
investor friend) why they should buy several thousand shares of Lucent
ASAP. The humor was in his efforts to avoid "spilling the beans" on why
Lucent was a great investment...

This was a year ago, and, as I recall, they were in the midst of
casting off anything of marketable value in an effort to raise capital
ASAP.

Lucent was circling the bowl, but this guy had the "inside scoop" - in
this case, it was most likely someone who worked at Lucent, and was in
denial that his 401K/ESOP was tanking before his eyes...

It would take a long time to convince me that what this man was
practicing in the men's room was investing. I would call this gambling,
and IMHO it was far from an isolated event...
 

=====
Lionel

"Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten
programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software"
Bill Gates, in "An OpenLetter to Hobbyists" dated February 3, 1976
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