December 11, 2008
The average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think. -- Jesse Livermore
Livermore was a legendary stock investor from 1900 to 1929. He shorted the stock market in 1929 and made $100 million -- $2 billion in today's money. Anyway, most historians think he did. (Paul Sarnoff denied it). He made and lost fortunes several times. In 1932, he wife divorced him. He re-married in 1933, to a woman whose previous four husbands had committed suicide. He committed suicide, broke, in 1940. Read about him here.
Don't imitate him, but take his warning seriously.
Every day, I get emails from people who have read my articles on LewRockwell.com or in my newsletter, Gary North's Reality Check. These letters ask me for investment advice.
They want this advice free of charge. Supposedly, their economic futures hinge on my answer. It is crucial to them.
I don't send back a note saying, "Then subscribe to my site, you cheap, freeloading so and so." Instead, I send back this letter:
Please post all questions on my site: www.GaryNorth.com. Thanks."
This is fair to my subscribers, who pay to get answers from me and other site members. Subscribers are warned in the Welcome Letter and on the forums that I do not respond to questions by email. I cannot afford the time to look up every questioner to see if he is a subscriber. If a subscriber has a question, he posts it one one of the forums. I do not make exceptions.
I rarely hear back from non-subscribers. They do not post a question because they must pay $14.95 on a money-back guarantee basis to post it. "Pay $14.95 for life-changing advice? Are you crazy? Advice should be free! For me, anyway."
This is known as something for nothing. The mindset is not limited to socialists, communists, and welfare statists.
When they send a letter to me from Lew Rockwell's site, they receive an instant-response form letter. In that letter is this warning:
I answer investment questions only on my web site, not by e-mail. There, I offer a lot of free materials. Take a look.
//www.garynorth.com You must join the site to post your question on one of my Q&A forums.
By then, it is too late. They have already asked their question(s). But they at least are alerted when I direct them to my site. They know they will not get an answer.
The free rider mentality is the freeloader mentality. It is a sure-fire way to poverty. It is endemic in Christian and libertarian circles. I have written about this before.
When you will not pay for value received, you must apply for welfare. This need not mean government welfare. Private welfare does just fine.
Do people on welfare get rich? Of course not.
Do Christians and libertarians get rich? Not often. Are they out of debt and comfortable? Not often. Are they masters of their chosen profession? Not often.
Is this because they are disciples in practice of something for nothing? Yes. You cannot become a success if you cannot meet market demand at a profit. If you expect others to provide you with free goodies, you will not be able to survive in a competitive market. It is far too competitive.
It is fine to give away advice. This is why I have a FREE MATERIALS section on my site. It is why I offer my Tip of the Week. These make it possible for people to "test drive" my services.
But for those who want it all for free, I know this: my advice will not help them. They will remain poor. My advice relates to techniques on not remaining poor.
The first technique is simple: Get off welfare. This is too terrifying for millions of Christians to contemplate.
My second technique is also simple: Tithe. It is more terrifying to most Christians than getting off welfare.
So, they remain in debt, living from paycheck to paycheck, and trusting in Social Security to make their retirement comfortable.
They are, in short, lambs for the slaughter.
If you have relatives with this mentality, do not share your plans with them. If you do, they will be knocking at your door when times get tough. The grasshoppers expect the ants to feed them in winter.
We are facing a long winter.
© 2022 GaryNorth.com, Inc., 2005-2021 All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.