September 22, 2000

6:42 AM

It seems to me that this kid is only getting in trouble because a bunch of people are sore losers. Aside from the legal trappings that they used to frame him, don't you think that people stupid enough to take financial advice via postings on Yahoo (or other sites) shouldn't whine when they turn out to be bogus? thoughts?
posted by ooklah (9 comments total)

You're simplifying the issue here, ooklah. Stock runs based on rumor affect all shareholders, not just the "people stupid enough" to read his messages on Yahoo. When he made a stock spike and collapse, he affected the company and all the legitimate investors in that company, while he padded his own pocket by taking advantage of their misfortunes. That's why such maneuvering is illegal.
posted by werty at 6:53 AM on September 22, 2000

"You're simplifying the issue here, ooklah. Stock runs based on rumor affect all shareholders, not just the `people stupid enough`"

So we've established the entire system is flawed then.
posted by holloway at 7:12 AM on September 22, 2000

If he'd been an adult, he would have spent time behind bars.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 8:21 AM on September 22, 2000

Alternatively, if he'd been an adult, with those skills he'd have been working at a brokers', with the protection that entails.

There are cases like this one, akin to shouting "fire" in a packed theatre. And then there's the entire morass of CNBC moneychat, "unbiased" analyst reports, under-the-counter rumours and blatant tape-painting. Fraud is basically the crime of indiscretion.
posted by holgate at 8:50 AM on September 22, 2000

Why should we care at all about any investors anywhere for any reason, legitimate or not, and whether they lost money or made it?
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:59 AM on September 22, 2000

Well, there's the small matter that if you have a pension, insurance policy or health insurance, your premiums are determined by the state of the markets. In short: we're in hock to the fluctuations of a collective hallucination, whether we like it or not.
posted by holgate at 10:51 AM on September 22, 2000

The stock market's gyrations are a quandry...on the one hand, it's good for our nation's economic growth, when people pump their investment dollars into the market, companies have more money for R & D, expansion, etc. But so many people are trying to invest for such short term gains, we get these wild speculative investors who ARE stupid enough to react, not just to chat comments, but who also overreact to real news, which they don't understand. Take today's gyrations with Intel. They announced that their 3rd quarter sales were only 3% above last years for the same quarter, instead of the 5% that had been previously estimated. So they still grew their gross sales, plus they announced successful improvement in their profit margin. Yet the short term investors have driven the stock price down by 20%. of course I'm happy, cause it means I can buy back some of the shares I sold at 75, a few weeks ago, for less than 50. The whole market has been plauged with people who ignore "Fundamentals" for short term fluctuations. personally, I think people who think short term, in the market, deserve what they get.
posted by nomisxid at 11:24 AM on September 22, 2000

This kid probably already has 10 job offers from Wall St. Just like a virus maker, he has proven that he can be successful.
posted by chaz at 11:42 AM on September 22, 2000