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Sunday, May 16, 2010

The GFC is funny now...

Watching a Robin Williams special on Foxtel last night (Weapons of Self Destruction), I noted that the GFC has now become appropriate comedy fodder. I guess it’s good to be able see the humour in everything…?

Anyway, there were a couple of observations that did tickle me, so I thought I’d share them with you.

One of my laugh out loud moments was when he reminded us of the banks assuring us that they were "too big to fail", and posed the question – is that like saying you’re "too fat too diet"?!

Then he impersonated a bank authority explaining, “Well we had all these very complex formulas, but we forgot to factor in greed and panic.” Giggle. Yep, it’s funny coz it’s true…

I often tell my clients that if we took the “people factor” out of the market, it would be a much smoother ride. Of course, risk is closely related to reward (and please note I say “risk”, not blatantly silly decisions), so if we eliminated the emotional element from the market we’d also eliminate much of the investment return.

Hey, at least it’s not boring?!

By the way, Williams also apologised for Bicentennial Man which I felt was long overdue.

Talk soon,
C

PS. There’s a serious battle going on in my household at the moment between my Accountant partner and myself. It’s over this whole suing the banks debacle (oops, did I just give my position away?). Maybe I’ll highlight our respective points of view next week if anyone’s interested?

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