For years I wanted to print up t shirts that said George Bush didn't force you to: Max out your credit cards, take an adjustable rate mortgage, get in student loan debt, buy more car than you could afford and so on and so forth.
I have never been in the stock market since my income level won't allow it. But I wouldn't even if I could. I don't like it because it's pretty much the same thing as gambling. Even the terminology is similar. " Buying on margin" sounds a lot like getting a marker from a casino or just plain betting on air.
But here's what I really don't like about the stock market. Let's say you build a successful company doing whatever. Then you take it public for whatever reason. At that point you have allowed people to come in and buy a piece of what you've built even though they may know absolutely nothing about it. So then you have to answer to shareholders about every move you make. A good example of this was Easyriders Magazine. It was a great day for decades. And they went public around 98\99. Now it's a disaster and it has been for at least 15 years. In short I think going public waters down and ruins a lot of companies.
