# Why are no economists in any of the rich lists?



## robots (25 March 2008)

hello,

find it very interesting,

with so many weighed down by a backpak filled with text books for years yet the lists are empty,

like with all the studies, even a humble truck driver creams them

thankyou

robots


----------



## theasxgorilla (25 March 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*

Who is on the rich list?  Entrepreneurs?  Property investors?

You can't watch and report on the economic cycle to be super-rich, you have to be in it, right?  Seems pretty clear to me why there aren't any economists in there.

ASX.G


----------



## xoa (25 March 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*

Successful property investors end up in the BRW rich list. Failed property investors end up in homeless shelters.

A career economist simply enjoys a middle class existence.


----------



## rub92me (25 March 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*

For the same reason that banana's don't drive bicycle's I suppose.


----------



## chops_a_must (25 March 2008)

robots said:


> hello,
> 
> find it very interesting,
> 
> ...




Oh yeah, and don't truck drivers just have the most enviable lifestyle?

Education largely gives you that, as well as some degree of job security.

It's easier for an office worker to start cleaning toilets, than it is for a toilet cleaner to become an office worker.


----------



## reece55 (25 March 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



xoa said:


> Successful property investors end up in the BRW rich list. Failed property investors end up in homeless shelters.
> 
> A career economist simply enjoys a middle class existence.




HAHAHAHA..........

That's what I keep telling myself about accounting and geologist salaries...... LOL....

"You will still have a job and they will be driving cabs"

Needless to say, so far I have been saying that for the last 3.5 years....

I think you have hit the nail on the head here Xoa, those who make it big risk it big (generally speaking) or were born into it. I don't know about the poor house however..... David Coe of Allco made many millions in side deals and looks to have walked away scott free with the excuse of "It wasn't me, it was the sub prime". Needless to say that he is a former lawyer at Mallesons, so I think he had a few smarts about how to work the system. But many entrepreneurs lose the lot and pop up again in a couple of years on the next boat ride. I think that those who are rich generally aren't afraid to go all in, where as most of us prefer the white picket fence..... LOL.

Cheers


----------



## wayneL (25 March 2008)

I really hope I don't insult anyone, it is certainly not intended, but the reason is that modern economic theory is a load of b0ll0x.

I don't have a shread of evidence, but I suspect that a few in the rich list might just be Austrians, either by study or common sense.


----------



## wayneL (25 March 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



reece55 said:


> I think that those who are rich generally aren't afraid to go all in, where as most of us prefer the white picket fence..... LOL.
> 
> Cheers



.... I like that summation, pretty much encapsulates the whole deal. Ain't nuttin' wrong with the white picket fence either. Horses for courses etc.


----------



## freddy2 (25 March 2008)

To paraphrase Balzac - "behind every great fortune lies a great crime" would apply to many especially property developers.


----------



## Trembling Hand (25 March 2008)

freddy2 said:


> To paraphrase Balzac - "behind every great fortune lies a great crime" would apply to many especially property developers.




Ah your a sceptical fella aren't you.

traders don't make money.

Tech/a doesn't work.

anything more than 1% per month is a lie.

And now many fortunes are the result of crime.

Classic.


----------



## Julia (25 March 2008)

robots said:


> hello,
> 
> find it very interesting,
> 
> ...




Interesting topic, Robot.

Wouldn't it have something to do with mindset?  e.g. the type of analytical person who would become an economist would have a quite different mindset from the entrepreneur whose natural inclination is to think up innovative schemes to make more money than the average salary earner.

I believe many people are constitutionally unsuited to be involved in trying to become supa rich.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but I think some people actually fear real wealth.  It confers too much responsibility.

Much easier to trudge along in a mediocre but still quite well paid position with the kudos of offering other people advice, whilst being under no obligation to actually take it for yourself. This removes the risk of failure.


----------



## dhukka (25 March 2008)

robots said:


> hello,
> 
> find it very interesting,
> 
> ...




I was once told that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. I think this thread comprehensively debunks that little nugget of wisdom.


----------



## reece55 (25 March 2008)

dhukka said:


> I was once told that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. I think this thread comprehensively debunks that little nugget of wisdom.




I'm in tears dhukka that is hilarious, that comment really has made what has been an otherwise very long slog to get my last annual report finished this evening....

Dhukka, whilst at times you can appear harsh, your constant sarcastic and pessimistic view of this market combined with intelligent wit certainly has my interest, keep it coming....

Cheers


----------



## 2BAD4U (25 March 2008)

The problem with economists is they are always happy with the middle ground, afterall when all those lines cross on the graph all their theories are proven.


----------



## reece55 (25 March 2008)

2BAD4U said:


> The problem with economists is they are always happy with the middle ground, afterall when all those lines cross on the graph all their theories are proven.




My favorite quote in regards to economists I found in a business valuation textbook we have at work. It is as follows:

"Economists use statistics like drunks use lampposts - to hold themselves up rather than to illuminate".......

One of my favorite quotes of all time!!!!

Cheers


----------



## dalek (26 March 2008)

Julia said:


> Interesting topic, Robot.
> I believe many people are constitutionally unsuited to be involved in trying to become supa rich.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but I think some people actually fear real wealth.  It confers too much responsibility.




Julia surely wealth excuses responsibility (Paris Hilton?)
Being broke I might be regarded as stupid but become wealthy and I am attractively eccentric.

On the subject of economists I am unreliably informed that after they have spent 50% of their time postulating theories and 50% explaining why they didn't become reality there's just no time to get rich


----------



## Kimosabi (26 March 2008)

robots said:


> hello,
> 
> find it very interesting,
> 
> ...



I really don't want to upset anyone who is an economist, but I think the answer to this question is that most economists have been the most duped of all of us, sorry any economists out there...


----------



## Spaghetti (26 March 2008)

The wealthiest person I know USED to be an economist. The truth is economists are employees and employees rarely get very very rich. However the training obviously helps those that want to branch out in their own business.


----------



## metric (26 March 2008)

uni students, teacher, professors dont make it either.

uni dropouts seem to make it though..


----------



## Trembling Hand (26 March 2008)

metric said:


> uni dropouts seem to make it though..





LOL. Yeah isn't that funny.


----------



## 2BAD4U (26 March 2008)

metric said:


> uni dropouts seem to make it though..




Now is that an opportunity cost or a marginal benefit


----------



## explod (26 March 2008)

robots said:


> hello,
> 
> find it very interesting,
> 
> ...




Paul Keating is not a man of letters but many have said he is one of the greatest economists of moderm times.   In spite of the recession we had to have, it was not of his making, it was a mater of bad timing and world events.

I used to have a mentor at Uni some years ago who said, the best brains with the high IQ's leave school at the first opportunity because it is too slow and it inhibits the free expression of ideas.  

I have had a lifelong association with fine art and know that at school you are taught that the sky is blue.  But that is wrong, it can be red, white, orange, yellow and many shades of black as well.

So the many wealthy in the world are probably the smartest.  I think Buffet is brilliant because he will not touch anything that he does not understand.  The Wall Street journo/spin doctors are also sociologists and are employed to feed the sheeple with rubbish.  They mostly have letters and as a result are not endowed enough to know they are being used by the unlettered billionairs.

Wish I could identify my place,                               ah well


----------



## theasxgorilla (26 March 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



xoa said:


> A career economist simply enjoys a middle class existence.




I think one could manage an upper-middle existence or higher if one was clever and ambitious enough.

ASX.G


----------



## theasxgorilla (26 March 2008)

wayneL said:


> I really hope I don't insult anyone, it is certainly not intended, but the reason is that modern economic theory is a load of b0ll0x.




Hehe, did you read my post before I deleted?

This is exactly the reason IMO.  What classic economic theory teaches ain't what markets run on.  You've said it yourself in many places on many occasions.  It's all driven by debt and the ponzi scheme.  Economics won't tell you how to window dress an asset whilst running it at a huge loss, then sell it to a greater fool.

ASX.G


----------



## aldebaran3003 (18 September 2008)

1 reason.  Control everything but own nothing.


----------



## Timmy (18 September 2008)

Richard Farleigh is a bit of an exception.


----------



## xoa (18 September 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*

It's interesting that of these rich Aussies, virtually none of them got there by creating anything the least bit technological. Everybody is a property/equities/commodities/retail billionaire. We know how to dig stuff out of the ground, resell Chinese made widgets, and ride asset bubbles; but we're a wasteland when it comes to technological innovation.


----------



## fimmwolf (18 September 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



xoa said:


> It's interesting that of these rich Aussies, virtually none of them got there by creating anything the least bit technological. Everybody is a property/equities/commodities/retail billionaire. We know how to dig stuff out of the ground, resell Chinese made widgets, and ride asset bubbles; but we're a wasteland when it comes to technological innovation.




We are pretty good at medical research as well.


----------



## xoa (18 September 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



fimmwolf said:


> We are pretty good at medical research as well.




Yeah, but how many Aussies on the BRW rich list got there thanks to medical research? Or software? Or technology in general?


----------



## Naked shorts (20 September 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



xoa said:


> Yeah, but how many Aussies on the BRW rich list got there thanks to medical research? Or software? Or technology in general?




Aspen medical came first on the BRW fastest growing business list in 07.

http://www.aspenmedical.com.au/pdfs/Press Release - Aspen Fastest Growing Company - 28  Oct 07.pdf

(note: above link is a pdf).


Back to the topic, I guess its because knowing the economy is only part of the "key to success"...

George Soros couldn't have profited from Black Wednesday if he didn't know loads about the economy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday

Perhaps all the economists are too scared to take risk.


----------



## xoa (20 September 2008)

*Re: why are no economist's in any of the BRW/or Forbes rich lists?*



Naked shorts said:


> Aspen medical came first on the BRW fastest growing business list in 07.
> 
> http://www.aspenmedical.com.au/pdfs/Press Release - Aspen Fastest Growing Company - 28  Oct 07.pdf




They're a glorified recruitment agency for short staffed public hospitals. Most of their income comes from taxpayers. It's easy to grow quickly when your turnover is only 44 million. 

No Aussie inventors or innovators on the BRW rich list?


----------



## Spanning Tree (20 September 2008)

I'm actually an economist myself.

My advice is that if you want to be a billionaire, don't be an economist.



> What classic economic theory teaches ain't what markets run on. You've said it yourself in many places on many occasions. It's all driven by debt and the ponzi scheme. Economics won't tell you how to window dress an asset whilst running it at a huge loss, then sell it to a greater fool.



There are economic theories about bubble formation.


----------



## xoa (3 November 2008)

The "clever country" is looking more like a banana republic. 

If precedent is any guide, to become a rich Aussie you must speculate on asset bubbles; don't invent or innovate.

:bananasmi


----------



## Glen48 (3 November 2008)

Look no further than Ridout and Eastlake both with Bank of NSW who tell us things are rosy and we won't have a recession. Then the James from CBA who should look at the Comsec board and explain why we won't  have a recession.
Actually if we have a recession and nothing worse we will be lucky.
There are groups of House wives who sit around picking stocks whop get a better return than the Xspurts.


----------



## metric (3 March 2009)

> Re: Why are no economists in any of the rich lists?




because they are either mouthpieces for corporate fraud, loudmouth idiots, or doom and gloomers.


.


----------



## aleckara (3 March 2009)

metric said:


> because they are either mouthpieces for corporate fraud, loudmouth idiots, or doom and gloomers.
> 
> 
> .




Even doom and gloomers can make money. They would of made a lot of money in the last few months for example.

No - I suspect that economists dont' study the markets - they study the economy itself. Markets can go up before they can go down, even if they should go down. How about shorting the dow at today's prices of 6800? Do you think it will rally beforehand and clean you out? Most of them are wrong true, but even the smart ones that saw this coming aren't necessarily good traders.


----------



## Stormin_Norman (3 March 2009)

_'an economist can tell you tomorrow, why what he predicted yesterday, didnt happen today.'_

stormin norman - honours in monetary economics and schumpetarian economist.


NOT a fundamental trader for the reason stated above:



> I suspect that economists dont' study the markets - they study the economy itself. Markets can go up before they can go down, even if they should go down.


----------

