Posted By:
warshawlawJay may not "write" well but how he "speaks" isn't at issue in a written posting, Bruce. If you're gonna crap on someone's grammar at least get the subject matter right.
We seem to have one of these rich vs. poor threads every few months (of course, what we really have is a rich vs. upper middle class argument since anyone who spends money on baseball cards isn't poor). Frankly, this isn't ever going to resolve nor will it ever stop. There is a perpetual clash in this country between the rich piggies at the top and the hungry piggies in the middle and bottom, and we all know who's been winning and at whose expense for the last several years. We won't solve it with cards. Is is sick that John Travolta has a 727? Would I personally like to see a radical redistribution of wealth in this country? Maybe, but this isn't the place for it to be discussed. One of the things that is most distressing is to see arguments here equating personal wealth with superior intelligence, morality, etc. For every smart guy who made money on his own I can show you dozens of widows and idiot sons living on their predecessors' investments and lots of smart but unexceptional people who were at the right place at the right time and happened to cash in on it. Money isn't about character, quality, ethics (not that anyone ever mentions ethics but I thought I'd throw it in there), morals or any other quality. You can have money or not have money and still be a jackass, as we've all seen.
Getting back to cards, personally, I can't decide if I'd prefer that the bottom fall out of the card market so I can collect solely for fun again or if I want to see it keep spiraling out of control so I can retire on the cards I own. Having to insure my cards, keep them in a vault where I can't see them, and enrobe them in plastic can be such a drag, and it bums me out to no end to watch my wife flying lazy circles over my collection waiting for the value to rise to the point where she can force a sale to pay off the mortgage (don't laugh; I know two collectors who "had" to liquidate to pay off their houses or pay for additions because the cards are just too valuable; not surprisingly both are married). If prices on rare and old cards continue to rise many collectors will be forced out of the hobby and that is s shame.