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Funny Money Game
Book by Tobias, Andrew P.
- GenresBusiness
185 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1978
94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 9, 2017
It's hard to believe this book was written 46 years ago, as much of the content, is just as applicable now as it was then. Think Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen.
The book is a cynical but hilarious account of the writer's experience as a vice-president of a public company at the tender age of 22. I suppose I shouldn't say hilarious because when the bubble burst the stock fell from $143 to $3.50. Nothing funny about that it you were unfortunate enough to own the stock.
I don't think we've learned much in 46 years. Fast buck merchants will rort the system, regulators will close the loop holes. high priced accountants and lawyers will find ways around those loopholes and so the eternal cycle rolls on. When will corporate dishonesty cease? At the same time greed does. When will greed cease? Never!!!
I loved The Funny Money Game. Anyone who's been in business or the markets will enjoy this book.
The book is a cynical but hilarious account of the writer's experience as a vice-president of a public company at the tender age of 22. I suppose I shouldn't say hilarious because when the bubble burst the stock fell from $143 to $3.50. Nothing funny about that it you were unfortunate enough to own the stock.
I don't think we've learned much in 46 years. Fast buck merchants will rort the system, regulators will close the loop holes. high priced accountants and lawyers will find ways around those loopholes and so the eternal cycle rolls on. When will corporate dishonesty cease? At the same time greed does. When will greed cease? Never!!!
I loved The Funny Money Game. Anyone who's been in business or the markets will enjoy this book.
January 16, 2018
National Student Marketing Corporation (NSMC)- the 1968 version of the chain letter. This book is a rather short and reads more like a long magazine article. It's not bad, but its not the style I am used to.
It is crazy how the market comes full circle. NSMC had a charismatic CEO who sold possibilities as facts, and then used the resultant high price of his stock to purchase profitable (and sometimes not profitable) companies. Honestly, I am a fan of Elon Musk, but I couldn't help thinking of Musk every time Cortes Randell (the CEO) came up. Randell sold things hoped for, but he could not deliver. Musk meets that bill for Tesla, but the bill hasn't come due yet.
Reading this 1971 book during 2018 had me wanting to highlight every other paragraph. Here are some snippets that had me shaking my head (at how history rhymes with the present):
-The challenge was to retain all these unprofitable programs and still report a profit to Wall Street. The challenge was met for quite a while by what is known as creative accounting and perhaps as one high-ranking executive once termed, "near fraud."
-The recession that had begun, it seemed to me, was long overdue. Finally things were beginning to make a little more sense. The chain letters were being broken, get-rick-quick schemes were actually being labeled "schemes," and most of the young entrepreneurs were having to adopt more reasonable timetables.
-Sometime during each generation the magic of the chain letter is rediscovered. The phenomenon has reappeared this time in a very unusual and unlikely locale and form; it has seduced the investment community. While it is generally agreed that chain letters cannot create wealth, it is well recognized that they are a very effective means of transferring and redistributing wealth...
Just some snippets of the cynical, amusing, and enlightening story of NSMC.
It is crazy how the market comes full circle. NSMC had a charismatic CEO who sold possibilities as facts, and then used the resultant high price of his stock to purchase profitable (and sometimes not profitable) companies. Honestly, I am a fan of Elon Musk, but I couldn't help thinking of Musk every time Cortes Randell (the CEO) came up. Randell sold things hoped for, but he could not deliver. Musk meets that bill for Tesla, but the bill hasn't come due yet.
Reading this 1971 book during 2018 had me wanting to highlight every other paragraph. Here are some snippets that had me shaking my head (at how history rhymes with the present):
-The challenge was to retain all these unprofitable programs and still report a profit to Wall Street. The challenge was met for quite a while by what is known as creative accounting and perhaps as one high-ranking executive once termed, "near fraud."
-The recession that had begun, it seemed to me, was long overdue. Finally things were beginning to make a little more sense. The chain letters were being broken, get-rick-quick schemes were actually being labeled "schemes," and most of the young entrepreneurs were having to adopt more reasonable timetables.
-Sometime during each generation the magic of the chain letter is rediscovered. The phenomenon has reappeared this time in a very unusual and unlikely locale and form; it has seduced the investment community. While it is generally agreed that chain letters cannot create wealth, it is well recognized that they are a very effective means of transferring and redistributing wealth...
Just some snippets of the cynical, amusing, and enlightening story of NSMC.
May 13, 2022
It is amazing how the economic world was different to nowadays. I highly recommend this book as a window into the past and how people earned money (illegally).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews