Kirk here. Before you read the emailed note below from Jas Jain, think Enron, WorldConJob, The sock puppet internet companies.... Think of all the Silicon Valley tech companies that have stocks that go up and down with no real gains in over a decade. Insiders load up on options when they are cheap, convert to shares, ride the price cycle up and cash out for huge gains at a lower capital gains tax rate... money they didn't really risk since it came as a "salary" from the companies. UTEK is one I've made bundles following the CEO/Owner playing this game since the mid 1990s!
The companies actually make MORE money for the insiders if they go up and down then if they just grow slowly in a straight line while paying a dividend.
The companies actually make MORE money for the insiders if they go up and down then if they just grow slowly in a straight line while paying a dividend.
"In the late 19th century, the modern American corporation arose in the form of the railroads, and a template was struck by the new financiers and entrepreneurs: Use other people's money, pocket cash as you go along, and be far out of reach by the time the collapse comes."
What the author misses but I know Jas is fully aware of is the insiders TODAY are even smarter. They BENEFIT as parasites keeping the host (corporation) alive... but they NEED the host to survive so they can inflate it and deflate it for personal gain. This is where Jas and I differ on how we make money. I follow what the insiders are doing... buy when cheap and sell on the way up but keeping SOME when high as I expect them to keep the host alive so the biggest risk is missing the next 20 bagger be it buying FNSR when it was under $2, LRCX when it was under $4 or just recently VRGY when it was $8 and change before the insiders sold it out at $15... the same price it IPOed at!
Kirk out
-------- Original Message --------
| Subject: | Leland Stanford Was Corrupt and a Crook |
|---|---|
| Date: | Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:59:51 -0700 |
| From: | Jas Jain |
Leland Stanford Was Corrupt and a Crook
This according to Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University, the author of Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America.
I have not read the book but I watched the author's presentation on Book TV about a month ago and he was very clear about what he found about Leland Stanford, a lawyer and a politician. I did read a book that focused just on the four guys—Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington and Stanford, The Associates—from Sacramento and San Francisco that made a fortune in Central Pacific Railroad. Huntington was the key operator and he became the wealthiest and the best known of the four with Stanford as the second whose main contribution was political power (first as Republican Governor of California and later as a US Senator). Both were merchants in Sacramento during the California Gold Rush. From a reviewer of the book: "In the late 19th century, the modern American corporation arose in the form of the railroads, and a template was struck by the new financiers and entrepreneurs: Use other people's money, pocket cash as you go along, and be far out of reach by the time the collapse comes."
That is when the System of the Crooks got its start with the help of the govt that allowed individuals to make huge fortunes with little or no risk via use of corporations and political decisions. Corporate Crooks of America have come a long way since then in perfecting the system. According to the author of The Associates Huntington made a very insightful comment about the corporations that allow people like him and his partners to make huge fortunes with the risk born by others and how govts can give corporations what it could not give individuals! In Railroaded White gives example after example of individuals who made great personal fortunes while corporations they set up declared bankruptcies after bankruptcies.
People don't send their kids to Stanford University to become better human beings; they go there to join the ranks of the Crooks, e.g., Brin and Page of Google, or Crooks' agents and servents. I don't know of a single case where a person came out as a better human being after attending Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, etc. These are breeding grounds for evildoers (Bernanke, GW Bush, Obama, etc.), Crooks and Crooks' agents. That is what the System of the Crooks demands. You can see why it is necessary to breed Americans into dopes so that they would believe that financial success in America comes as a result of merit. It comes primarily from learning to use, or play in, the System of the Crooks.
Leland Stanford was among the best at the game. Most of the institutions and buildings named after individuals in America are named after Crooks. Stanford University and Huntington Library are good examples. And most of the so-called philanthropists are misanthropes. The bad news for Americans is that the system is nearing the end of the rope. Success is no proof of fairness or goodness. There are many scenarios under which the Nazis could have won and the world would have a global German Empire rather than the American Empire. Americans can thank Stalin for that.
Jas 
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2 comments:
Re: Leland Stanford Was Corrupt and a Crook
Replies:
I wholeheartedly concur!
These are institutions designed and sustained to socialize, credential, and allocate to the top strata of the division of labor the agents of imperial plunder of the planet.
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Jas,
"Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu' il a été proprement fait." – Balzac
Translation: "The secret of a great fortune for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed."
The latest and greatest financial crime was allowing financiers to create tens of trillions in paper wealth" without anyassociated economic output whatsoever as evidenced by our heretofore rising debt to GDP ratio. An illegal and epic sham(e)!Regards.”
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Thanks. I forgot to mention that the primary difference between the Crooks back then, say before 1909, and now are which houses of worships they go to. Episcopalians have been back seated. Another big difference is that Presidents and Senators are much more slaves of the Crooks and the govt is lot more submissive. Federal Reserve is the ultimate in that vain. Reagan, Greenspan and Bernanke are nothing more than great manipulators serving the interests of the Crooks in the name of serving the American People, the most ignorant and impotent masters of any domain. Just look at the parade, or a long line, of Crooks since Reagan.
Jas
Wow, you just spoke my mind- I couldn’t agree with you more on this. I attended Stanford before, and sadly my general take home point is that, as you said, the people there are crooks and frauds. If you think about it, schools like Stanford, Harvard, and Yale aim to produce people who succeed in society, i.e., individuals who can climb the ranks in the “system of crooks” and dominate the elite tier. That is why there is such a huge emphasis on “leadership” skills. Qualities like compassion, honesty, humility- things that make better human beings- will not help you through these schools. And I couldn’t agree with you more on that Stanford’s culture is really into political power, following the footsteps of its founder I suppose. You see this culture permeate every level of its personnel- students, faculty, and administration. I think few people come out to speak about this because the general public perception is that Ivy Leagues are respectable institutions, but once you’ve been in those places long enough, you’ll begin to realize what they’re really made of. This post was well written, thanks for taking the initiative.
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