GETTING RICH #1 (FIRST OF A SERIES)

George Soros made billions in currency trading. He shorted (or did he go long?) on the British pound. Made a killing and almost sank one of the world’s solid currencies. A few years ago there was a monetary meltdown in the Far East. Thailand almost went bankrupt as the Baht dropped precipitously. The Prime Minister of the country blamed speculators for the collapse.

I am not a money trader although I, like thousands of others, missed an opportunity to enrich ourselves when the Canadian dollar went through $1.10 U.SD. Last year. I was in Texas at the time and I thought semi-seriously about buying a great quantity of U.S. dollars. One of the “joys” of money trading is that, like buying and selling commodities, you can do it on a ten percent margin. Of course, if you guess wrong, you are easily wiped out.

So it is with horror that I, a regular viewer of BNN (aka Globe and Mail Report On Business) saw a commercial selling the benefit of currency trading. I paraphrase, but the essence of the pitch is: “You too can learn to trade currency. You can sign up for free practice then when you are ready you can go to work getting rich.” The “getting rich” I added.

There is a kind of shameless seduction that passes as investment advice. Desperate times call for – of course - desperate measures. So if you are running on empty, why not become another George Soros, using your recently acquired “skill” in currency trading.

I wonder why such an august organization as Globe Media, which owns and operates the Business News Network can allow such jiggery-pokery enticement. A network that appears to take a solemn, measured view of investment, is endorsing membership in a casino-like adventure. Shame on them.

But we live daily with enticements to get rich. TV is full of them – from buying bankrupt properties to investing in commodity futures. The unwary are trapped. Yes, they are trapped by their own greed, but that is no consolation.

Like the poor souls in the U.S. who used their homes like ATM machines and found that when the collapse came their properties were ”under water.” Or the gullible thousands who hearkened to the siren call of the unregulated money-lenders who would put them into a home of their own for no money down.

Who is to blame? The fools who take the bait, or the fishermen who troll for suckers?