SOCIALISM AND "O.P.M."

By "OPM" of course I mean "Other People's Money." The concept of using "OPM" in finance, of course, comes up in real estate transactions (you use the bank's money to acquire a property you cannot afford to pay cash for and leverage your asset over time) and stock investing to use borrowed capital to acquire a block of shares (or the whole company, if your T. Boone Pickens!).

In this short blog post, I couldn't resist putting this on my site. It's a quote, attributed to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, very apropos of our current situation here in the U.S. and the pronounced swing toward socialist/collectivist government underway in Washington. You know, the phenomenon of "spending our way out of a recession," or, put another way, "spending our way to prosperity." (with, of course, "other people's money" - China's, Japan's, our tax dollars, etc. Ever notice how generous some folks are with YOUR money? Not their own, of course.)

Unfortunately, there may just be a problem with such thinking, since, as Lady Thatcher admonished:

"The problem with Socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other's people's money."

Enough said...



TTC