The stock market is nothing more than a pyramid scheme. CEO's paying themselves 10, 20, 50, or 100 million in a year !!! Enough is enough... shareholders need to get a grip or better yet do not invest in the market. It really is for suckers. The average investor gets taken for a ride. How many people do you "know" have made serious money in the market the last 20 years. The insiders have done well but the average investor lost his butt just 6 years ago.

Years ago I was a conservative Republican... it's a shame what they have done to this country over the last 6 years. Larger debt, a dumb war, and more manufacturing jobs lost.

Made in America use to mean something...now we are a country choking on cheap products made in China.

I don't invest in the stock market. CD's and saving your own money by putting it in savings account is the way to go. My folks raised me to save money, because when I was there age, they where almost bankrupt. I'm a very liberal guy, but finances are the only thing I am conservative about.

Now, I worked at Burger King for a couple years, and I saved a ton, I only pocketed money for things I needed, and every so often I bought something nice. I put most of my graduation money in the bank. What was I going to buy? I have everything I want, and my car runs great for being 11 years old, and has low miles. Some people even think it's brand new! Furthermore, I saved enough money to buy a brand new economy car if I wanted to. But I didn't.

While my coworkers at BK where spending $400+ a month on cable, no, I'm not making that up. I went on a date with a coworker, and when I picked her up to go out to dinner, I saw on her coffee table there was a cable bill for $400. Or I could have spent $600+ a month on a used economy car that's three years old (economy my...) but instead, I put $400+ or $600+ a month in the bank.

I see your point but you also made a good point. If investors don't like what the CEO is getting paid don't invest in that company.
Perhaps you will feel different if Sum Poosie Cat was making the money that RB does every year and you were personally banking $25-50mm.
On another note I still believe in the Stock Market. My position is old fashioned....Invest for the future. Too many people today want to play the jump in make money and jump out game.
I invest in companies that I believe in their products. For instance...Home Depot. I will not shop at Loews because I feel I getter better pricing and service at HD. Pepsico is another company. I drink their drinks.
It also helps when your wife is a certified commodities broker with just about every "series" certification you can get under her belt. Moreover, she knows how to play the "currency trading" game.

[ 01-05-2007, 09:22 AM: Message edited by: greg ]

This is going to sound very corny LOL.
I try to keep this thought in my mind when I make most decisions; "Pay it forward". How will a small or large sacrifice better me in the long run. I'm old school and conservative. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh Yeah, The reason, IMO , that we are lossing so many manufacturing jobs is simple. UNIONS! Unions were very useful when they first came about but now all the are useful for is getting people wages that they do not deserve.
Tell me why a guy at a GM assembly plant that didn't finish High School get paid $18-$22 hr for bolting a seat in a car? On top of that he gets 4 weeks paid vacation a year, great health care and a pension to go with it.
They do not have that in China or Japan. A skilled worker is paid what he is worth.

Americans have lost the work ethinc that made this country the greates country on Earth. They have been used to it being handed to them for so long they don't know what real hard work is.

Take an immigrant form Africa. He understands the value of an education, hard work, saving, and putting off(sacrificing)material items for his future. Americans are all about NOW, NOW, NOW.

I agree and there are few other groups of first and second generation immigrants, that have superior work ethics and raise their children with superior moral ethics.

It is all Bush's fault. He owns the entire stock market, all of the oil companies, all of the manufacturing plants, everything. Didi I leave anything out??? Bush is bad, Bush is bad, Bush is bad.

[ 01-05-2007, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: the saint ]

Originally posted by the saint:
It is all Bush's fault. He owns the entire stock market, all of the oil companies, all of the manufacturing plants, everything. Didi I leave anything out??? Bush is bad, Bush is bad, Bush is bad.

You know, on that thought, why is it that when unemployment is at 4.5% (as reported for December 2006) it is hardly a blip on the newscreen, but under Clinton when it was 6% it was front page news and those 6% obviously just didn't want to work?

Greg... HOME DEPOT are you kidding me??? The stock is DOWN 7% over the last 6 YEARS !!! The CEO did a lousy job and walked away with 200 million last week.

Its not fair to blame Bush for everything but what he has done is just horrible. War is about money and Bush and his boys have made billions. We have spent half a trillion dollars and what do we have to show for it. 25k injured and 3k dead.

Have we learned nothing over the years? When we started taking Indian land they attacked us. To get them to stop we had to kill nearly all of them. Is that are plan today? War is not the answer and this war appears to be nothing more than a way to drive up oil prices and make billions for all the President's fat cats that got him into office.

Originally posted by SumPoosieCat:
Greg... HOME DEPOT are you kidding me??? The stock is DOWN 7% over the last 6 YEARS !!! The CEO did a lousy job and walked away with 200 million last week.

Its not fair to blame Bush for everything but what he has done is just horrible. War is about money and Bush and his boys have made billions. We have spent half a trillion dollars and what do we have to show for it. 25k injured and 3k dead.

Have we learned nothing over the years? When we started taking Indian land they attacked us. To get them to stop we had to kill nearly all of them. Is that are plan today? War is not the answer and this war appears to be nothing more than a way to drive up oil prices and make billions for all the President's fat cats that got him into office.

Since its inception HD has split 9 times. I am 41 yrs old and grew up in Atlanta, where HD was founded. I didn't just start buying stock last year!!


I guess WWI and WWII was a bad idea also. War is a necessary evil. I know of no one except for the clinically insane that wants to go to war. This is greater than just oil, this is a war that is being fought over the survival of a nation and quite possibly The World. Islamofascist reject and despise the Western World and everything it represents. They will stop at nothing to destroy it. If the reason for War was oil then why is it currently at $56.20 as of this writing(NYMEX.com)There is such a thing as Supply Side Economics at work here. Over the last 3-5 years look at the growth that is going on in China and India alone. China is using up resources quicker than can be produced. Aluminum, Concrete, Wood, Oil, Gypsum, Steel , etc are all being used to build the fastest growing economy in the world......CHINA! Over 1 billion people!
Come on, drop the War for Oil Liberal talk and look deeper into the events that shape this world.