goes. And where the hell is that? This information is so asymmetrical, nobody knows it.
(What you should really do with your money is watch me. That is, watch what the baby boom does. We baby boomers have caused everything since 1946. We’ll keep buying stocks until we retire. But when we hit sixty-five, we’re going to sell stocks. And the stock market is going to go down. And we’re going to wet ourselves. The math is simple: 1946 + 65 = 2011. Buy stocks until 2011, and then buy Depends.**) There are alternatives to the free market. Congress could pass stricter investment-industry regulations, more orders and directives like the New York Stock Exchange’s rule against running. Investment-industry professionals probably hate all those limitations. Except they don’t. “I think the mix is perfect,” said David. “The rules are rigid and strict.” “There are things you take for granted in our market—rule of law,” said the B-girl investment banker. “It’s mostly disclosure rather than regulation per se,” said the move-stupidly investment banker. SEC requirements and NYSE bylaws are there to make sure that investment trading is fast and confident and the O. J. jury doesn’t have to be brought in every time somebody says “at” instead of “for.” These kinds of restrictions aren’t concerned with how much money goes to which place, just with how it gets there. On the other hand, we could have the government take over the investment industry. The government would consider what’s best for us all. If Americans wanted to buy stock, the government might, for example, look at the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola was selling for $1.54 a share in 1982, and, as of mid-1998, it went for $78. That would have been a good buy. But Coca-Cola is not a product that provides social benefits. It causes cavities, is a factor in the increasingly dangerous nationwide obesity health threat, and contains caffeine, which harms fetal development in unwed mothers. The government would buy shares in the Studebaker corporation instead. Studebaker is heavy industry. Heavy industry provides high-paying jobs to semiskilled workers. Studebaker made important contributions to America’s defense efforts during World War II. And Studebaker automobiles produce very
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