Great read. Not too shabby for an S. O. B.
http://www.rootforamerica.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080930-091145
What: Annual Wine and Liberty Celebration
When: October 5, 2008 1:00 PM
Where: Westover Vineyards, 34329 Palomares Road, Castro Valley, CA 94552
Come celebrate the harvest season with friends, family and fellow
Libertarians at Westover Vineyards in bucolic Palomares Canyon near Castro
Valley. Unique to Westover is its focus on crafting unusual ports from grape
varietals such as zinfandel, cabernet, merlot, petite syrah and chardonnay.
Its selection of 20+ ports -- including
specialties like white vanilla and cabernet chocolate-- is the largest of
any winery in the U.S. Westover Vineyards' winemaker/owner (and passionate
Libertarian) William Westover Smyth also produces a variety of red and white
wines from the Livermore Valley, Central Coast and Russian River
appellations.
As in the past, our Wine and Liberty celebration includes wine/port tasting,
non-alcoholic beverages, light hors d'ouevres and souvenir Libertarian-logo
wine glasses. Don't forget to participate in the raffle for a chance to win
some terrific prizes!
Meet local candidates for congress, city council and other elected offices.
$20 per person at the door. All proceeds benefit the East Bay Libertarian
Party outreach programs.
RSVP/Questions to Jim Eyer at (510) 482-3521 or jim@...
<mailto:jim%40jimeyer.net> . Details, address and directions to the winery
are at http://eblp.lpac.us/events.
Directions:
From most locations; take the Eden Canyon Road exit from highway 580. Go
south for 0.3 mile on Eden Canyon Road (turn right onto Eden Canyon Road
from the exit if coming from the West or turn left if coming from the East).
Turn right onto Paloverde Road and go for 0.5 mile. Turn left onto Palomares
Road. If you see the purple barn that says "Sparks Stoves" you're on the
right road. The winery is about 6.2 miles from that turn, on the right/West
side of the road.
[Map to <http://maps.citysearch.com/location/972352?> Winery]
This is a ridiculous statement by Root: "The Wall Street big shots -
investment bankers, money managers, hedge fund gurus, analysts,
brokers, traders - create nothing of value." If they aren't providing
value, then why do people hire investment bankers to take their
companies public, to help them merge with or acquire other companies,
or to provide other strategic advice?
This coming from a man who made his money as a "professional sports handicapper"
-Derek
Derek,
Perhaps Root was referring to underlying value, as opposed to contextual value. When the Federal Reserve prints up a batch of notes with $1 billion face value, I think we can agree that it is creating nothing of *real* value. And yet most people would be happy to get their hands on those notes, and would be willing to give up other things of real value in order to do so. Although there's a vast moral difference between the coercively-funded Fed bankers and people who make their living on the basis of voluntary mutual exchange, it's still true that Wall Street is largely engaged in manipulating monetary instruments that are no less fake than the ones hot off the government printing presses. I rather agree with you about the irony of someone in his occupation pointing the finger on that distinction, however. Sports handicappers aren't exactly adding to fundamental underlying value either!
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Without research analysts to analyze public equities, investors would
demand a higher return to hold stocks, thereby driving down current
prices. That is value lost.
Without merger and acquisition advisors and dealmakers, it would be
much more difficult for two companies to combine and achieve cost
synergies for their respective shareholders. That's true value.
Without corporate financiers to help take an entrepreneur's company
public through an IPO, fewer entrepreneurs would start companies,
there would be fewer equities in which to invest your retirement
assets, and business growth would be hindered due to lack of available
equity funding (or higher frictional costs in obtaining funding).
This too is real value provided by the corporate financier
Too often, people assume that those working on Wall Street do nothing
except "trade paper". It's far from the truth.
-Derek
Derek,
You make good points. I'm sure there is real value created by people in the occupations you mention. I still have a gut suspicion that a lot of high finance isn't creating real value, but the economy is so complex, and government interventions so pervasive, that it's pretty difficult to break it down.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
But at least sports handicappers are working in a voluntary world. Bankers use legal tender laws to maintain thier sole access to newly created money.
The bankers give them access to the counterfeited money created from thin air by the Federal Reserve and the fractional reserve system. Thus as the system is presently constituted, investment bankers unwittingly are the support staff for the counterfeiters. People pay to have access to the counterfeit money.
sorry to be so harsh, Derek. I know that you are a decent guy, much more than most.