The predatory capitalist mindset: Rubes waiting for Wall Street's next big scheme.

This is such an odd little point that it's probably not worth making an OP about. But in an entirely different context, I know some people who are pure predatory capitalists at heart. I've dealt with them for years. Their first instinct, I have learned through experience, is "Is that for sale? I want to buy it!" Even when the thing in question is almost worthless, maybe totally worthless.

These are the kind of people who would incorporate just to purchase the patent for bendable soda staws and then try to run all the other soda straw makers out of business so everyone will have to use their product. Regardless of whether or not people tend to use straws, period.

The context is rather obscure and personal but the situation does involve real money. I couldn't help but thinking "These are the little guys who buy into so many of the Wall Street schemes, bubbles."

In this case, these particular people (all of them that I know of, anyway) are actually broke-ish middle-class folks who will scrape up two dimes which should probably be going to more important financial pursuits to buy a chance at cornering the market on something, anything.

I bet you know people like this too. It's not a function of wealth, necessarily. For all the times I've posted "Eat the rich!", most of the wealthiest people I've personally known have actually been very decent, hard-working people. People you would consider decent folks, nomatter how sour you are on the wealth class, in general. I've also known a few very wealthy scumbags, too. When I say rich I mean someone who's got a net worth of a million, maybe two. In my neck of the woods, that's rich.

But I see the same kind of greed in some people and existing wealth doesn't seem to be a factor- it's more like a personality type. One of my longtime friends has been dead, I mean dead broke for over twenty years. And he's the hardest core Republican, just about NeoCon you can get. I watch him hack and cough while he rails about socialized medicine. It's pretty funny to watch.

Anyway, I'm not saying Wall Street is not guilty- Jesus, please don't interpret it that way. But I am reminded that in severely dysfunctional structures like our Market there's fucked-up personalities up and down the whole chain who keep these schemes going.

PB