When an unsavvy investor blows her money in equities trading.
It's a term referring to people who invests carelessly or takes greater risks than necessary to achieve their desired return.
So...when Debbie hears that inflation will eat away the value of her dollar over time, she decides she wants to invest her money to earn just enough to protect against inflation. Not knowing what she's doing, she throws a bunch of cash into emerging markets and takes a bath on her investment. She's taking a single, untested step into a new world...kinda like a barefoot pilgrim.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is Laissez Faire?9 Views
Finance a la shmoop what is laissez faire? alright well you know the
Renaissance Fair you know about playing fair and what about with laissez faire?
French term for more or less a Beatles [Beatles band singing]
song yeah let it be well as it applies to economics let it be means that the
economy is smarter than we are or at least a better arbiter of what works
what doesn't and what is fair ish so the ideology of laissez faire argues that
economic forces should be allowed to work themselves with maximum freedom and
minimal government interference part of the logic is purely economic government [Stash of cash appears]
involvement is friction bureaucrats who insert their noses only serve to hit the [Car driving uphill and approaches woman with stop sign]
brakes on the economy and make transactions more expensive by applying
taxes, ever been to the DMV and you know gotten the angry stare from the woman
whose Facebook page updating you just interrupted while hoping to get your [Dog on a leash appears]
license renewed yeah that's big government at work friction tax dollars
being spent to employ that woman instead of just figuring out a website that'll
let you go do it all on your own for about one millionth of the cost but part
of the argument of laissez faire is ethical, laissez faire advocates argue that
government interference distorts the natural and equitable forces of economic
development like think global warming for economics courtesy of our carbon [Earth heating up]
pollution otherwise known as regulatory friction slowing down the natural forces
of the commercial markets well in the heyday of laissez faire economics in
the last decades of the 19th century you really could buy happiness money was
pretty much everything government could be bought and it was kind of not a real
force without money behind it right kill someone well, you pay a fine of 199.95
kind of the way you know mexico works today
so what's fair about laissez faire? is it fair to have no minimum wage well laissez faire [Scribbles appear on graph of federal minimum wage]
would say yes but john steinbeck you know The Grapes of Wrath guy yeah he
would say no no and a half the logic is that human being
needing to eat will do pretty much anything to feed their kids right and [Man using shovel]
can't blame them will they work for just five bucks an hour to pay for that last
meal and probably a dollar an hour if it'll feed their last kid yeah you bet
fair well maybe among cave people but not today [Cave people by a fire]
but then there are other perspectives to consider like is it fair to have child
labor laws? if kids want to earn money cobbling shoes or making straw hats or
working 16-hour days in a stock brokerage or at shmoop...
shouldn't they be allowed to do so what do you think fair
not fair laissez faire yeah we don't know for sure what do you think? [People in shmoop boardroom]
Up Next
The Greater Fool Theory posits that there is always a greater fool out there to buy an item at a higher price... until there isn't.
A phishing scam is a con in which someone is contacted online in an attempt to procure money or personal information. We'd never do that. In fact,...
A penny stock is a stock that trades for an extremely low value or amount of money per share.
Painting the tape is an illegal way to manipulate stock prices. And yes, it’s still illegal, even if you paint it super pretty.