I have noticed a lot of that as well. People seem less industrious than just a few decades ago. No one wants to work hard to create anything, which is what made our nation great in the first place. Businesses either want to be the middle-man and snag an easy mark-up or they want to outsource and off-shore everything. Financial institutions want to gamble with derivatives or soak their customers with fees, instead of creating earnings from responsible lending. Workers want to sit in an office and collect a check. College students are unwilling to take the difficult math and science classes. Most of our Engineers and PHDs are either foreign-born or the children of immigrants.

I’m not sure if we are getting soft or if we have just had it too good for too long. But, I do know our economy was founded on the backs of brilliant engineers, scientists and industrialists. And, even though we are transitioning to a knowledge-based economy, somebody has to create something in order for us to remain prosperous. We certainly cannot thrive in an economy based entirely on consumer spending.

The problem is, there is nothing left to scam as the partys over, mainly due to decline in north sea revenues. I hope people enjoyed it, because it was the last hurrah for this country. Unless a new source of growth is found that doesn’t rely on debt, this place will look like zimbabwae, just not as hot.

As you said, bubbles do happen, and have happened for generations. I like your point about being able to profit from bubbles, even in the downturns. Often times markets overreact, and one can take advantage of the opportunity. The bottom line is to keep a clear head think rationally and with long-term perspective – both prosepctively and retrospectively.

That’s pretty much what I was trying to say with the quote. I was just trying to be subtle so as not to offend the foolish.