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03/13/2005: "Sex, Greed and Wall Street."

All of the above make for a fun romp were it not for the avarice and thievery the tale describes. But while this interesting and accurate record of the Internet boom and bust and the people who helped other people lose money shows how corrupt analysts were, it also shows how gullible and ignorantabout stock buying the public is.

I remember everyone getting into the market. And it scared me off when the people on the assembly line came home at night and picked stocks to buy. So I sold. The level of stock analysis was on a par with the stock tips Joseph P. Kennedy received from his shoe shine boy in July of 1929. Joe Kennedy exited the market shortly thereafter, only months before the great crash. "When the shoe-shine guy gives you stock tips, it's time to get out", Kennedy said.

Like Kennedy, I left the game while I had lots of chips. But people who had no knowledge of the market were playing a game for grownups and they got burned. Why did they blame the greedy, dishonest analysts in the first place? Because they believe someone looked out for them. No one did. I personally don't blame the analysts who had buys on all the stocks their firms brought to market. I blame the folks who bought the stocks based on their words.

These people later blamed the analysts and anyone else they could place blame on when they should have taken responsibility for their own losses.

But be that as it may, for those of you who want someone to blame and who love to see the mighty fall, this is an excellent book. It has everything from sex to greed to egos the size of Texas and brains the size of peas.

Gasparino has chronicled the Internet boom and bust, the background and all the players. From mighty Mary Meeker who gave up a personal life to become rich to Henry Blodget who was on CNBC about as much as the anchors and all the others who had the power to make or break a stock and a company. These were the stars of the time. And this is their story.

But it is more. It tells of a time when people like Barbra Streisand became day traders. Just about everyone thought they couldn't lose. People quit their jobs to trade stocks. Common people moved up --- only to later have to move out of luxury.

The story it doesn't tell well enough, however, is that the analysts were all but forced to promote a stock and sell out in favor of companies who were clients of their respective firms. The analysts were, in fact, mere pawns in the whole game. The blame for the bad calls belong at the top of the firms from wince came the pressure.

The bottom line --- if you buy stocks, do your own due diligence. Read the reports and if you must look at what some analyst says, see if the company is their client or if the analyst has some agenda. If you can't do that, beware. Just remember that no one cares about your financial security but you. The advice to keep your own counsel has always worked.