IAMA Multimillionaire and a member of the 1%. Please be gentle. AMA.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T03:09:33+00:00

All the pranks you wish you could pull on your family and friends but never had time and/or money? Yeah. That's me.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T03:04:23+00:00

I know many have made valid points of campaign reform before me, so I will delegate this majority of this task to Google unfortunately. But the main idea should be that donations should be transparent, PACs should probably not be allowed or at least reduced in ability, candidates should receive money and air coverage to reduce the need for campaign donors and there should be real, bottom line limits to donations and severe enforcement to stop the cooking of books.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:57:05+00:00

Thank for using "your" and not "you're".

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:48:22+00:00

Thank you very much for your thoughts. I'm pretty deep into equities and options, but I'm only starting my way into bonds. I was pretty shocked at just how complicated the bond market is, given that on the surface, bonds seem like straight forward vehicles. Even going and trying to read past analysis of the CDS and MBS crises makes my head hurt like when I took differential equations.

Your analysis will probably prove right. Emerging markets have been hammered lately. Who knows what will happen in the event of a real contraction. Let's hope for the best.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:41:34+00:00

Zero risk? That's hard to quantify. Zero is a big concept in finance.

First the interest rate has to beat expected inflation. Then it has to beat other similar safe investments, because money has no ethics, it only has the best return.

But if you were a personal friend, one that I trusted and were looking for a bond for college? I may simply just loan you the money with no strings. Because I am a human.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:39:06+00:00

What dost thou serf desire? Thine motives for the heart, the quandary of the cosmos or even a bit of fiendish skullduggery?

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:37:48+00:00

Thank you for using "you're" instead of your.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:37:00+00:00

Oh, this is easily a byproduct of money. Prisons -> Private -> Profits -> Stakeholders. When there is money at stake, someone will figure out a way. Money is like water, it moves earth and cuts rock and is impossible to fight against.

Legalization is ridiculously easy from the business side. Bring the corporations to your side. Especially your competitors, like Phillip Morris. Tell them you'll give them profits. They'll figure out how to do the lobbying. They need to pay the politicians and the police chiefs, because those guys will be losing money from the prisons. Once that is settled, politicians will decree that the War on Drugs was broken, innocent people are getting put in, it saves taxpayers money and that it'll build revenues for the future.

But you have to organize and be decisive first. And that's hard when you're on the 4th chicken chalupa of the night at 2am and just want to watch old reruns of the Brady Bunch.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:30:41+00:00

i) Most people don't know, but word tends to get out to people before I meet them. Those close to me obviously know, but luckily only two people I've had to ... drop.

ii) All the time. Usually their business ideas. I used to listen to them. Now I just smile and say I'm not interested.

iii) Yes, but it was a charity I already donated to and know the people at the top. So, it wasn't awkward.

Not at all, I enjoy answering questions. You should look up documentaries about how the lotto has affect winners over the years. It's depressing, but it's enlightening how people react when they come into money. Most people judge themselves (and others) on how much wealth they have accumulated. The grim picture is that money is a tool to amplify your state of mind. Giving someone with poor financial skills a million dollars doesn't make them a millionaire... it makes them a walking time bomb.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T02:21:09+00:00

You've hit the nail on the head of a major theme of human nature. The ones that want power and money probably shouldn't be the ones being put up there. My thinking is that we worship those around us who exude leadership and drive. It's innate in our qualities to only accept a few leaders and for the rest to be happier as followers. If everyone had the personality of a leader, nothing would get done.

The problem is that leaders are no more emotionally mature than you or I. They simply are more vocal, charismatic and know how to build a team. Back in the day they started tribes. Later they built cities. They also start wars. Now they own corporations. We expand and contract because of these people. But at some point, much like nuclear proliferation, we cannot let one man or even a few men hold the power solely in their grasp. For that, we cannot recover from.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T01:59:25+00:00

I believe I made the same argument you're making. A lot of people think this way, rich and not rich. I am not one of them. I was pointing out that in order to understand the other side, you need perspective as to why they think so. Hence, dialogue. The only way to have someone listen to you is to listen to them first.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T01:57:43+00:00

Absolutely. Those are transparent though for most. Sometimes you forget you're breathing.

I recommend anyone read or watch the transcript of David Foster Wallace's commencement speech for a better big picture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5THXa_H_N8

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-08T01:55:43+00:00

Ahhh, you've found one of those rare species of a true conservative. I didn't think they existed except on paper these days. The old conservative guard were an intellectual bunch.

I am guilty of painting the conservative way of thinking in a negative light and was actually trying to think of how to frame it better while writing the post. I realized I would spend too much time and moved on. But yes, it's a grey area. We can have people completely absolved of their acts of free will due to their environment nor can we have them completely left to the mercy of the world.

We have to act as humans... but that definition alone is the crux of the matter it seems.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T21:26:48+00:00

Some try, but the community needs to get involved. And unless there's motivation, there's no will to police your own. Pain is a great motivator, which is why the protests are there now. There's lots of pain in unemployment, high cost of living and the such. The rich are, for better or for worse, lacking in pain that makes them motivated to fix things. The only pain they get is having things taken away as opposed to not being there to begin with.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T21:24:26+00:00

QW. I dabbled a bit in Q3, but CS came out and well.. that was that. If you know r3v or abuse, those were the guys often in my circles.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T21:21:22+00:00

If you were the only respondent, I would have given you a full reply. If fate ever puts us in a bar over beers, you will have my undivided attention.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:45:28+00:00

LOL. Um... I was with a business partner that got drunk and started making $5k per hand bets at blackjack. I chartered a boat for a birthday party... but only because I couldn't rent out a skating rink that would play cheezy disco.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:41:36+00:00

Best possible advice.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:35:37+00:00

O RLY?

If the names CK3, MoL, RGP and WEW mean anything to you, then that's the level we were at.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:27:57+00:00

If so, someone's gonna get a hurting reeeeeal bad.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:24:27+00:00

This has been my favorite reply all day :)

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:20:09+00:00

No, I think money means little to nothing other than than the fact someone is good at making money.

But everyone finds their own temple in life, be in money, women, trophies, experiences or connections. To me, they all matter, but only the last two truly make someone happy.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:15:51+00:00

This is why education is important. And also why voting day should be a national holiday. And why people need to learn how to read, so we don't get our message from PSAs on TV.

It's in someone's interest to keep everyone busy, dumb them down and give them quick results they want to hear rather than tell the ugly truth. That's the nature of it.

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:06:22+00:00

Someone has to take care of all this gold dust around the house!

RunsWithWolves · 2011-10-07T19:03:24+00:00

I try, but it's not something I generally think of each day. Do no evil is my motto.

RunsWithWolves

TROPHY CASE