Investors conned over $10m in start-up scam

Stupid fools, I have no sympathy for their gullibility. I only hope you all didn't lose too much. It was a valuable lesson.

Lots of successful people are just lucky. To be more precise they have some helpful skills and contacts but luck was decisive in their success. Few successful people are honest enough to admit the large role that luck had played getting them to where they are. You know them, they are not humble.

I bet now they realize how gullible they were. I am afraid they are still as easy to accept silly suggestions. How so? Why are they posing for this photo in this manner? This is a pose for kids or when you want to have some harmless childish fun. This is a serious matter, completely inappropriate.

A few months ago a friend kept persuading me to participate in some start-up. I kept telling her it was one big lie and con-job. Tried as I might, I couldn't persuade her to stay out. I have forgotten all about it until now. I bet I have been right because this enterprise was supposed to be a Google killer (laughable, how can you achieve that over night), and it succeeded in attracting a lot of support.

Please you suckers, do yourself a favor. You can begin by reading "Willful Blindness" by Margaret Heffernan, or for a more complete education, I recommend Daniel Kahneman, "Thinking Fast and Slow".

Specifically the psychologists could identify these folks as having been deluded by the "halo effect" abetted by the irresistible seduction of the false low hanging fruit.

Don't be lazy, always do your own homework.

Update: June 1, 2012 from the WSJ

Lazy people. Never change, and many including institutions are just letting fund managers have fun with their money. Lots of people simply do not do their homework and this is a key reason why we have financial crises. Don't you wish investors would be as divided as economists?