Wait, we're talking about congress now??? :eyebrow:

No congress(wo)men got their jobs the old fashioned way, they bought them.

From page 6...

A chief executive officer of a Standard & Poor's 500 company was paid, on average, $10.4 million in total compensation in 2008, according to preliminary data from The Corporate Library.

Excessive executive compensation has taken center stage since the government bailout of banks that began in September 2008. Americans have expressed outrage as CEOs and other executives responsible for the financial crisis have pocketed millions of dollars from bonuses and golden parachutes. CEO perks alone grew in 2008 to an average of $336,248—or nine times the median salary of a full-time worker. Meanwhile, the economy tanked for working people while many companies were bailed out with more than $700 billion in taxpayer money, as well as low-interest loans and guarantees.
http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/

http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch...ceou/index.cfm

Oh no, it's a lot more than a few thousand.

I watched a program on Frontline the other night about Enron. By the gods those guys were corrupt to the bone! I swear, speculating should just be illegal as hell.

Yea, that is what I said. Very few people compared to the total pop of US workers.

What is speculating, Sugarpop?

Speculating involves people selling stocks based on what they will be worth in the future, not what their actual current value is. That is how Enron was able to make money when in reality they were losing money. That is one of the things that caused the crash we are experiencing right now. It is one way some investors bet against a company or commodity, thereby artificially inflating or deflating the actual price and wreaking all kinds of havok upon the rest of us. the same thing happened last year with oil.

That's why so many are now buying Ford stock.

It is not the speculating. It was intentional fraud. Enron accounting is alive in other companies.

Investment is speculation. You invest because the company may be providing innovation to mankind. Enron was not about speculating. Enron was about intentional fraud because profits - not the product - are only important.

Enron story is classic when people think the purpose of any company is only its profits. Enron and their peers even created a mythical CA energy crisis - and of course got away with it. That also justifies Enron accounting.

So what you are saying is that you buy stocks with no concern for what they'll be at some point in the future?

Nooo, you invest to make money for yourself. The likelihood of profit is just greater in well run companies who also happen to be innovative. Don't mistake motive for method.

Edward Jones helps us. Ours went up significantly in the last month.

It's amazing how good that guy is from the grave.

I'm just waiting for some instant lessons on the proper pro-american method of investing. I'm sure someone will come along with a few clever one liners implying we'd all be wealthy and happy if we were smart enough to invest "the right way" like them.

Eh. I can't be that egotistical about it. The market is going to go where it is going to go. I am going to keep investing and just hope in the end, 20 years from now, it will be up and I will be comfortable.

You've got 20 years, sit back and relax. The Jones system is designed for that kind of investing. I started out there so I know it very very well.

Which is why finance people must be heavily regulated; why finance people are so easily corrupted. If reward was the only purpose as lookout123 says, then Bill Gates should buy all Olympic gold metals and be the world's best athlete.

Meanwhile, in the real world, only people who deserve profits are those who contribute to the advancement of mankind – who make better products that an economy needs. When finance people are honest, that is what happens.

No profits? That message says the product / company is operating against mankind – working to corrupt the economy. Profits only say one might be advancing mankind. Eventually even the spread sheets from Enron style companies show how much they have subverted mankind because only profits were important.

If a company is earning a profit instead of advancing the product; that is the mafia. Obviously, finance people rarely grasp the concept because their training and nature is to be corrupt at any opportunity. Greed is good. Screw the people, economy, mankind, and the world. That simple principle commonly found in Wall Street where innovation and economic advancement is not the purpose. Where innovation is something messy that just gets in the way of profits.

American soldiers were found dead. Slumped over their broken down and jammed M-16s. Why? That was good. By using cheaper ammunition, profits were made. Lookout123’s principles. Profits are the purpose. Which is why those deaths were routinely covered up until whistle blowers were finally discovered. Those dead American soldiers are a direct result of lookout123's principles. Even openly advocated by the George Jr administration: ie Haliburton, K-Street, and long list of world record corruption.

Since profits are the purpose of any company, George Jr's adminstration even refused to prosecute Enron. In complete agreement with the principles advocated by lookout123.