Comments on: Annals of white-collar crime, James Altucher edition

By: BillAndivey

BillAndivey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:30:30 +0000

“Just Enough” by Fitty Dollar J:

I’m Fitty Dollar J, gonna teach ya how to rap my way,
I don’t sling no rock, I just push a bunch o’ crock,
Been a crook from the get go, though I took down my say so,
I’m a master self dealer, not so good a self squealer.

Stevie Cohen changed my life, mind if I ring up yo wife?
Hit ya wiff a Pacifi-ca, now I wield a hedge fund, duh!
Don’t need no skillz ya jerk, got tole how da cell fone work,
‘Course I’m contro-versial, you let me hold the purse, y’all.

Runnin’ red lights, sleeping good at nights
Cuz, I read your email, popo knows I’m a big whale
Laughing at my large pay, I’m gonna save a life today,
I’m rappin’ bout the small stuff, to ease my conscience just enough.

By: BillAndivey

BillAndivey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:48:10 +0000

It’s obvious why he’s doing this — he’s been listening to rap. The parallels are striking. An underground criminal enterprise that everyone in the neighborhood knows about. Not all participate, but enough have family members – or receive paltry income from — the criminality, that no one rats to the cops. The cops are seen as the enemy. Regular society is portrayed as “square” and undesirable, to be avoided at all costs. Those at the top achieve incredible wealth, and fame. The leaders’ biggest worries are protecting themselves from their underlings. I could go on and on. Question is: Am I talking about a crack gang or a major investment bank? Thanks, James “Fitty Dollar” Altucher.

By: wpw

wpw — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:26:32 +0000

I am not saying anyone is sheltered because they have not done any of these things. I am saying you are sheltered if you are shocked that many successful and powerful people have done these things, do these things on a regular basis, and think there is nothing wrong with people of their standing doing these things. I have had my emails hacked and my privacy intruded by very successful and respectable people. That is how some of them work. Dont be shocked that Prime Minister Cameron’s communications man would be approve of hacking private phone conversations. It is because he would do that sort of thing that he is suitable for the job.

By: KenG_CA

KenG_CA — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:55:25 +0000

@wpw, I didn’t realize that making it to middle age without emptying your parents’ bank account, without defrauding your employer by awarding contracts to your own secretly held company, without breaking into email accounts, and without shoplifting, qualified as “living a sheltered life”. What percentage of the population do you think has done at least a couple of those things?

By: rb6

rb6 — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:32:21 +0000

I had a lot of reactions to this, but the one thing that really makes Altucher’s original post so unselfconsciously revealing is how he seems not to have any awareness that “us regular folks” are routinely subjected to pre-employment screening and background checks looking for mere proxies of potential dishonesty — arrest, banruptcy, long-term unemployment, poor credit history — and here he is freely admitting to criminal and dishonest behavior that defines him as not much more than a cheat and he expects no consequences to flow from this despicable course of conduct whatsoever. A fine example of how privilege works, and how it is utterly transparent to those who possess it.

By: spectre855

spectre855 — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:09:34 +0000

@jimmycabo: I’m pretty sure that numerous courts have agreed that email is private. People have gone to jail for email hacking.

By: wpw

wpw — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:52:54 +0000

Wow! Either you people have led very sheltered lives or you need to develop some sense of perspective before judging others.

By: BarryKelly

BarryKelly — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:42:53 +0000

As far as I can tell (particularly the lack of empathy he shows to others), Altucher seems to be a successful sociopath with narcissistic tendencies. An entertaining character to observe, but I’d stay well away from engaging with him, business or personal or otherwise.

By: jimmycabo

jimmycabo — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:56:08 +0000

Since when was e-mail private ?

By: ReginaLovejoy

ReginaLovejoy — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:22:24 +0000

I agree with the criticisms, while also applauding his honesty in bringing this type of behavior to light.

So how common is this type of unethical behavior?

What does it mean for the future evolution of the species if the unscrupulous among us enjoy the most business success?

Basically, we live in a crony capitalism world steeped in corruption… We’re doomed.

By: TFF

TFF — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:57:56 +0000

LOL :) Good call, CavelCap.

Maybe there are other reasons besides self-enrichment for working on Wall Street? I don’t know, I’m not there, so I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. There’s nothing wrong with liking money, though, at least as long as you approach it ethically.

Of course, Altucher seems to have stepped over the line MANY times in the pursuit of wealth. That doesn’t necessarily make his sins worse than mine, just motivated differently.

By: Rsharak

Rsharak — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:48:22 +0000

For a guy who is making a living out of being so “honest” he sure has lied a lot. Half the things on the complete list of 10 sound like BS. If he did in fact do half of the other half [2.5?] ;-) — he likely suffers from antisocial personality disorder. So again, why should anyone believe him?

By: CavelCap

CavelCap — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:02:42 +0000

@TFF Your comments on this blog are normally very lucid and add much to the discussion, but did you just claim that “Of course those who work on Wall Street almost by definition love money more than anything else.” And then in the very next sentence state that it is not for you to judge? Regroup, my friend, regroup.

By: jamesagain

jamesagain — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:17:22 +0000

If you want to see the old article, go here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jamesaltuche r

Also, just fact-checking, I looked and saw that a Chrysler Pacifica first sold in 2004, which, if I did my math right, is a lot more recent than 15-35 years ago.

By: hsvkitty

hsvkitty — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 22:51:04 +0000

It sounds as though James is a self serving narcissist, who believes everyone around him has to act in a certain way (you will never again play with him, boo hoo AND you have acted inappropriately and unprofessionally simply because you are to praise if you want yo keep playing backgammon)

I liked the comparison to Bernie Madoff, because criminals, banksters and the James of this world have their own code of ethics. Being able to blog and have people AGREE with your code of ethics, even better. You get to bear your soul and not pay the hourly pshchologists fee as well!

Any “friends” (in a narcissist’s case, remember they are the yes men in their circle who agree, heap praise or kiss derrière’s) read this and wonder which of those 3 they really are… and whether they are still friends because he hasn’t hacked their account to see what they truly think of him…