I am convinced that some people have a death wish when it comes to investing

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkp1qvTiuC6iGsxcyVECWOmx9f-AD9A6RUE03

Traders keep buying old GM stock, despite warnings

By TOM KRISHER and TIM PARADIS (AP) – Aug 20, 2009

DETROIT — Whether it's a matter of ignorance or greed, people are still buying General Motors stock, even though the company and the government have warned that the shares will someday be worthless.

Investors are picking up millions of shares every day, thinking they'll profit from what is really a hodgepodge of outdated factories and a pile of debt left behind when the new General Motors Co. exited bankruptcy court protection. snip

Industry analysts and regulators say two groups are buying Motors Liquidation stock: People who are confused and think they are getting shares of the new GM for cheap, and day traders or institutional investors hoping for short-term gains as others continue buying the stock.

GM and federal regulators say they have done all they can to warn investors, giving old GM the appropriate moniker of Motors Liquidation Co., issuing multiple public warnings and changing the stock symbol from GMGMQ to MTLQQ.PK.

“There are people who think they are buying the new General Motors. Stop. You’re not. You’re buying the detritus,” said Harlan Platt, a finance professor at Northeastern University who follows corporate bankruptcies.

bankruptcy or corp debt works. The little investor is last in line.