Do you NOW understand why I pleaded with rookie investors to shun pennies even back in the pre-dot com days? How many people used to reply that they only "played" with "money they could afford to lose."
We see now the damage stupid speculation inflicted on the U.S. and world economy. At least stock market carnage is limited because of lessons learned from the Dot Com collapse. Accounting is much better. Large corps and auditors are generally honest now. Mercifully margin buying was limited, a lesson from the Depression, thank God!
The real damage was from dumb and greedy real estate lending. In that regard American's look like Einsteins compared to some other countries (ie. Ireland)
As for that "play money" people thought they could afford to lose, many are discovering that pot was their retirement fund.
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