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Daily Speculations The Web Site of Victor Niederhoffer & Laurel Kenner Dedicated to the scientific method, free markets, deflating ballyhoo, creating value, and laughter; a forum for us to use our meager abilities to make the world of specinvestments a better place. |
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The Old Speculators Association Proposes a Toast:
To the Greedy Bastards!
July 4, 2003
By Tim Melvin, member, Old Speculators' Association
As we close in on the fourth of July here in the States, recent discussions about the need for a capitalist museum and Vic’s ruminations on the gains produced by those seeking personal gain have served to remind me what a blessing it is to live in a country where I am free to pursue my personal goals and interests, free to succeed or fail on my own merits, in a society where failure—even spectacular failure—is often seen as just another step on the road and not a permanent ticket out of society.
This weekend, the grills will be fired up, the 12-packs busted out, there will be parades with high school kids marching in step to out-of-tune Sousa songs, veterans stuffed into old uniforms and proudly staggering down Main Street under the weight of the flag and the heat of the day as we celebrate our independence. I’ll be right there with maybe a few of the elusive Chesapeake blue crab in the steamer, the cooler full of beer and various and assorted other adult libations and it’s a near certainty that I shall once again piss off my neighbors (especially the new one, a good hardcore Baptist who offered to save me the second day he lived in the complex. I thanked him and offered to teach him to drink instead) by pitching an endless stream of firecrackers off the deck into the commons. I'll enjoy the day off like the rest of the country and celebrate it with typical good old American excess. But first I need to stop and recall just what we are celebrating.
It’s not just Lexington, Concord, the tea party and the first reading of the Declaration. There are 200-plus years more to celebrate. The easy thoughts are of the countless men and women who donned their countries uniforms and left their blood and their futures on Flanders field, in the rock dens of Gettysburg, cornfields of Antietnam and beaches of Normandy, to say nothing of Chosin or Da Nang. Those who took arms for whatever reason or cause, who answered the call of their country to protect and preserve our way of life, and to protect the rest of the world from a vast, seemingly endless succession of villains and despots. Think of those who died in the worthless wastes of Somalia trying to feed innocents caught up in a continuing brutal way of life, of those who in the war torn Balkans trying to bring an end to modern genocide. Anytime we think of our past and our heritage, they must be first in our thoughts. Without them, there is no us.
But I think also of those, who for what many would label less glorious reasons, have mightily advanced our country. Think for a second of the great robber barons of the 1800s and early 1900s. Get a group of socialists or liberals to name the greatest villains of all time and the names of Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie will come leaping to their lips. Tales of exploitation and evil greed will spread around the room quicker than liquor at an Irish wake. But these men, operating for personal advancement and the gaining of wealth, created the steel industry, the modern form of banking, the oil industry, produced the steel that provided the infrastructure to build our great cities and the railroads that connected them. The companies they created employ millions even today. Think of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell—greedy little bastards every one and thank God for it. For out of their vision and desire to get filthy dirty, stinking, computer generated-art-on-the-walls, hot-babes-in-the-Porsche rich, the modern computer and technology industry provides something on the order of 25% of the U.S. GDP and God knows how many jobs, to say nothing of the once unthinkable increase in productivity (and of course most important, the ability to play chess and poker online).
I think of Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, Bell and countless others who, out of creativity, intelligence and a desire for profit, took risks and created entire industries, giving light to a nation, wheels to us all, round-the-world travel down to hours instead of years, making communication instantaneous and much of the advance of civilization possible. Not, mind you, for some war-hearted desire for the public good, but for desire for profits. Their desire to increase their wealth and improve their lot on life created jobs for millions and vaulted the quality of life further ahead than any social initiative or new deal ever could have hoped. Think of the waves of immigrants who for want of a better world for themselves and their children came and worked tirelessly to build that new world. Chinese, Irish, Italian, working at the laying of the railroad, in the building trades, opening shops, creating communities. Not out of some civic-minded “greater good” theory but for more folding Yankee dollars in the pocket and a greater chance for their children We hear the horror stories of the awful conditions they labored under, and no doubt it was true. The America of the 1800s was a cruel place at times, and survival of the fittest and labor exploitation was part of that world. Of course in Europe, there was still feudalism and serfs, tenant farmers under the absolute thumb of the landowners with no hope of getting ahead. As bad as things may have been here, they were better than in the Old Country and here at least, there was hope for a better life. Over time, thanks to the rule of law, the continuing establishment of a real, true working class with choices, hopes, dreams and courage, conditions improved and those who do the work also enjoy the spoils and gains of a capitalist society. I think then of those men and women who died building our bridges, laying miles of railroad track, blasting tunnels though mountains, and digging coal thousands of feet under the hardscrabble of West Virginia and Kentucky to fuel the growth of a nation and of a way of life, as much as the soldiers on the beaches and in the trenches. Those who died working to build this country and chase their dreams of a better future sacrificed for what we all enjoy today.
There are still problems, there are inequalities in this country. It is the nature of the world we live in. I doubt that we will ever reach the state of utopia. America is vilified all over the world as imperialistic and worse. But tonight, along our borders and in our ports, immigrants—legal and illegal—will once more to try to cross into a country where they have a chance, where they have hope. Nations all over the world will curse us while cashing our checks. So-called civic leaders will decry the capitalist system and injustice with their hands out for more. The Billarys of the world will continue to throw taxpayer dollars at the problem and look for judicial and legislative fixes, a la affirmative action and welfare driven programs. Many of the problems of the day, however, will be solved by those seeking profit, not goodwill. The dollars and jobs needed to carry the country forward to the 300 mark will come from aggressive inventors, entrepreneurs and risk takers, or it won’t come at all.
To those future heroes I shall on Friday raise a frosty mug, toast them and all who came before them whose desire to gain profit and improve their life have improved mine, to those whose risks and sacrifices in the name of a better life and fatter bank account have made so much of my lifestyle possible, to the profit motive and the greedy bastards who built the greatest nation on earth, I thank you and celebrate your achievements.
Now, light the coals, crack the cooler and celebrate in typical ugly American style with much grilling of flesh, imbibing of chilies and throwing of firecrackers at your proselytzing neighbors.