Are all stock brokers/real estate agents/car salespeople scum?

[neonplaque]

Started wondering about this tonight...

Are there any stock brokers / real estate agents / car salespersons who are actually liberals? I know several in each trade and they are all hard-core conservatives, Bush supporters, and of the mind of anything they can do to close a sale to put the money in their pocket is the #1 concern.

Can you be in any of these businesses without being scum?

:shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. no, yes, yes

[Nite Owl]

2. I know stock brokers

and real estate agents that are liberals. They are a minority though.

[Swede]

3. I know quite a few of each and they run the gammit.

From liberal to conservative.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Hi, neonplaque,

I can only speak for myself, but I have the world's BEST stockbroker! And my husband also likes him a lot. He (our broker) is rather liberal plus he's extremely knowledgable about the stock market and how to invest your money. I've been going to him since 1980, and I trust him with my life. So for me, the answer is yes, there are liberal stock brokers. At LEAST ONE! For the other categories, I can't say...We have dealt with good people there, but as to their politics, I have to plead ignorance.

[neonplaque]

6. Thanks for the response....

But I believe it goes beyond "politics" in how people approach their careers. Obviously, everyone needs to make a buck... but the question is, in these industries, do the sales people shuck what they know is wrong aside in favor of personal profit.

[cestpaspossible]

5. I had to hire a lawyer to negotiate with my real estate agent

:grr:

[neonplaque]

8. That's Crazy! ... n/t

[cestpaspossible]

19. She wouldn't listen to me

she kept pitching this renogotiation of the agreement that she and the other side worked out... couldn't seem to understand that she was supposed to be persuading the other side to accept the deal we'd already signed and agreed to

[Lucky Luciano]

7. My friend was a stockbroekr

He was absolutely ruthless. It was in the 1980s. He made 750 phone calls a day...he eventually hired some others to make calls for him (which is illegal w/o a series 7), but he did not care. He paid a little commission to those kids...then he built a good book within a year....then he was given a plush office...then he would boss around his boss = "Get the fuck out of here - I am fuckin' busy and you are messing up my deals" - he would say that to his boss because a good salesman gets carte blanche right to do as he pleases as long as he brings in the bucks. Then he brtanched out on his own - Integrated Resources offered to start up his own personal firm because he was such a powerhouse salesman....Before starting up with his partner, they each went to work for large brokerage firms like Bear Stearns and Merrill....they only went to work there for a month - while there, they stole the huge lists of leads that are extrremely expensive for cold calling- boxes upon boxes upon boxes.....all lists of very rich people for selling to....Then they used this to cut down the costs of their new firm - they were never short on leads....then he went institutional for the big big clients...and passed all these rich people in the lists to the 40-50 brokers he had hired....

They would raid other offices on the weekends by paying the security guards a few thousand to look the other way...they would see a list of clients for one broker and look at all the bad deals they sold to big clients....then they would call the same clients and discuss how they recommended opposite trades at the time - and what do you know "MY lousy broker recommended that one!" You are my new broker!

Then he eventually got busted by the IRS when they noticed he was deducting $125K from taxes for alcohol purchases - he would take out all of his employees every day after work to get royally fucked up drunk and chase women....then the IRS found some other problems....then the NASD and SEC noticed some insider trading he had done along with some other faux pas he made with Michael Milken...

They took a good chunk of his change, but he still has some offshore....he declared bankruptcy although he still has hidden assets...now he lives in a regular apartment smoking pot all day (he was not charged because he talked and he paid a substantial fine).....he went to law school for a hoot....but is not motivated enough to be an attorney....If he ever decided to apply himself towards it, he would be uber-dangerous as an attorney because he knows marketing, negotiating, and power-"broking" very well....he would be a power playing hungry shark....but he prefers to smoke pot all day...


He does not like b*sh and he also did not like Clinton either because of the lies he told the American people - for some reason I am reminded of some kettle and pot thing with his dislike of Clinton.

[neonplaque]

9. Sounds like heaven...

Living off the money I scammed from others and smoking pot all day... damn, what a life!! :)

[freethought]

10. I'm surprised people from his old firms

Didn't try to kill him! Does not sound like he made many friends.
Sheeeesh!

:shrug: :shrug:

[neonplaque]

11. Sounds like he fits the term "scum".

I rest my case. :)

[Lucky Luciano]

16. yea...he can be really weird sometimes

fucking paranoid....I guess that is why he lives so low profile...I had no idea about this for the longest time....He lived right next door to me while in grad school....I just went over there and smoked a bit too....then the stories came out...one fantastic one after another...it became a bit much to believe....then he showed me his tape that had a bunch of his old ads for the firm he ran that played on the old financial channel that used to run in LA....he also showed me his half hour show that he ran every week on that same channel (sort of a precursor to CNBC) and said that show was great for getting new clients - kind of a Wall St Week show.....

I think he feels guilty....he goes around Los Angeles and hands out food to homeless people in random locations sleeping in bus stalls and what not...he said he used to be in much the same predicament they were in before he got the broker job.

The guy had fantastic stories - even if they are lies, they made good stories.....but he was always perfectly consistent....and usually evidence of the truth would pop up...like I did not believe all his wild stories of running cargo planes in South America through treacherous jungles and what not and the one time his plane crashed due to bad fuel with him limping in the jungle for a week until help came(I never mentioned my suspicions - just let him tell the stories)....sure enough I met a few people a year or so later that backed it up as they flew with him down there - met them at a small local airport bar that is a sort of hangout for renegade drunkard pilots....the guy eventually lost his pilot's license when he became too much of a daredevil with his plane near LA....after landing they exploded at him and revoked his license (Flew one hundred feet over the ocean at extremely high speed).

Definitely a character...no doubt about it.

[DS1]

12. I wonder if it has to do with living on commission

Those realtors work really really hard, you know.

At plastering their faces over everything.

:sarcasm:

[neonplaque]

13. I think it might be a problem of a desire to 'oversell'...

I mean we all feel we need a reliable car, home, and sound investments.. but it seems those entrusted with the tasks of providing for us are more concerned with personal gain rather than prudent investments on behalf of their clients.

[warrens]

14. yes, they are cumdumpsters

Why do you ask? They are the most worthless assholes in the world.

[HEyHEY]

15. I've met a couple good car salesman

[LiberallyInclined]

17. pretty much. probably. not if you want ot make the big big money.

nt.

[NuttyFluffers]

18. nothing is perfect in the world, so technically 'all' cannot be possible

that said, they have an unfair share of pricks don't they? probably has to do with the culture of living off commission and the hyper-aggressivity that encourages.

but i think other societies have changed the dynamics for such sales positions, so the amount of amoral behavior fostered has been altered. i notice some sales cultures in certain markets aren't nearly as chock-full of assholes and actively discourage high-pressure sales tactics.

[tk2kewl]

20. not all, but more the average for other vocations for sure

[AlCzervik]

21. i'm a real estate agent and a liberal

and i need to put food on my family too ya know unless you want to start paying my bill for me.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

22. I think it's a rank generalization that salespeople are Repuke

I know many who are liberals.

[AlCzervik]

24. Thank you!

[tjdee]

23. All commission work sucks, they're desperate sometimes.

I thought of going into real estate agenting awhile back, but you get ZERO salary/bucks/anything until you sell a house from my understanding. I imagine it's rough wondering how you're going to eat/pay the bills while no one's taking you up on an offer.

The only reason I'd get into commission work is if I was selling real estate in Beverly Hills or something....just have to make one sale a year, and be pretty comfortable.

[Mutley]

25. My stepmother is in real estate

and she's a liberal. She also doesn't cheat people.

[Worst Username Ever]

26. As a stock broker, no.