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Let's get one thing straight - the SEC "worrying" about fraudulent behavior in crowd-based equity is laughable. Yes, fraud can happen in crowd-based equity - t

Let's get one thing straight - the SEC "worrying" about fraudulent behavior in crowd-based equity is laughable. Yes, fraud can happen in crowd-based equity - that's not what I'm talking about though. What is laughable is that the one thing the SEC is supposed to monitor (the stock market) is the single biggest fraud perpetuated on the American people. It is where young, naive people like myself put their life savings only to have it crushed by people who were richer than me, who could generate volume on whim, perform insider trading while not worrying about the consequences, and take bailouts from a government that milks the rest of the population for taxes. I'll honestly be damned if the SEC isn't in the pocket of those who would benefit from it.

sillysaurus3 12y ago
Have you written about your experiences anywhere? I'd be interested in hearing specifics.
- gavanwoolery 12y ago
  I've probably written about it a few times in various comments, but the essence of it can be found here: http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still-for-suckers-and-why-you-should-put-your-money-in-the-bank/ http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still... and here: http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ (I don't always agree with Mark Cuban, but most of what he says here seems pretty sensible). As far as investing goes, I always seemed to be pretty "good" - or at least, lucky. It was not unusual for me to make a few thousand dollars in a week (and occasionally lose a little). I typically never invested in very risky prospects, always things that I knew would be around for quite a while like Google and Apple. I made the foolish mistake of investing in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, companies that were once labeled "too big to fail" (and now trade OTC, if at all - have not checked since they became junk). Actually, my "mistake" appeared to be a brilliant move at first, as I made $30,000 in a few hours. But in a few more hours, that number was negative. However, I was not investing out of speculation, I invested because I thought that these companies were going to survive the recession - in fact, because of a statement from Hank Paulson (then Secretary of Treasury) who said that the government would not be taking over these entities (they were GSEs, but publicly traded). Hours later rumors turned against this, and within weeks it was trading at $0.25 or less (down from $7 to $11 a share where I originally was trading it at). But it gets better - little did I know (at the time) that Paulson was a Goldman Sachs alum: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagew... And that he gave advance word of their failure. Some people might call that insider trading, but, what do I know? :) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-gave-hedge-funds-advance-word-of-2008-fannie-mae-rescue.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-g...

sillysaurus3 12y ago

Have you written about your experiences anywhere? I'd be interested in hearing specifics.

gavanwoolery 12y ago
I've probably written about it a few times in various comments, but the essence of it can be found here: http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still-for-suckers-and-why-you-should-put-your-money-in-the-bank/ http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still... and here: http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ (I don't always agree with Mark Cuban, but most of what he says here seems pretty sensible). As far as investing goes, I always seemed to be pretty "good" - or at least, lucky. It was not unusual for me to make a few thousand dollars in a week (and occasionally lose a little). I typically never invested in very risky prospects, always things that I knew would be around for quite a while like Google and Apple. I made the foolish mistake of investing in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, companies that were once labeled "too big to fail" (and now trade OTC, if at all - have not checked since they became junk). Actually, my "mistake" appeared to be a brilliant move at first, as I made $30,000 in a few hours. But in a few more hours, that number was negative. However, I was not investing out of speculation, I invested because I thought that these companies were going to survive the recession - in fact, because of a statement from Hank Paulson (then Secretary of Treasury) who said that the government would not be taking over these entities (they were GSEs, but publicly traded). Hours later rumors turned against this, and within weeks it was trading at $0.25 or less (down from $7 to $11 a share where I originally was trading it at). But it gets better - little did I know (at the time) that Paulson was a Goldman Sachs alum: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagew... And that he gave advance word of their failure. Some people might call that insider trading, but, what do I know? :) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-gave-hedge-funds-advance-word-of-2008-fannie-mae-rescue.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-g...