THE SEDUCTION OF A GOOD DEAL
We all want a good deal. When asparagus was $1.79 a pound last week I jumped on it. Of course the vegetable traveled a thousand miles and was so pumped up with water and nitrogen that I could barely taste it through the cream sauce. My urine did not even smell funny. What is a good deal anyway? Would not a righteous deal be a win/win, where both the seller and buyer feel good about the transaction? Has the concept of a "good deal" become opportunistic and predatory. You drive by a yard sale put on by folks obviously down on their luck and see a $20 price tag on something worth $200. If you offer them $15 and they accept is that a good deal? Maybe we could disclose that we know someone more than happy to buy it for $200, so sell it to us for $160 and we can make a 20% commission to broker the deal. In a ethical society should not good mean fair?
The capitalistic world has become a giant mouse trap baited by rats and a "great deal", a "big score", "something for nothing", a "killing in the stock market", is the cheese. 5 maybe 8% is a sustainable return on an ethical investment. 20 to 30% or even higher means either people or the environment are exploited, usually both with a "great deal" of deception and slight of hand. How often is a mutual fund, in reality, a pretty package wrapped up with a shiny bow stuffed with blood money soaked in polluted tears? Many of my family and friends have lost close to half of their investments and I have to admit some ambivalence in my compassion. Maybe we should all be thankful that the economic meltdown may have washed some blood off of our hands.
My advice is if someone offers you a "good deal"--------RUN!
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