We digress here, but I think that there is nothing wrong with buying low and selling high.
Capitalism, coupled with real democracy, is wrong in many ways, but it is the best system that we have produced and gives the most benefits to the largest number of people.
But, it is also human nature to be jealous of those who have more and to blame them for what we lack or for our own bad judgments.
I have done my share of turning around companies and parts of companies. The end result was usually an organization that was leaner and stronger and that strength protected the jobs of those who supported the new.
Let's get back to the original start of this thread.
Jim, you have sold items here on the forum. If someone came to you and wanted to sell an item he had bought from you, what would you offer him? What he paid or a discount off of what you think that you would be able to sell it for? In today's market, what an item sold for last year may be no higher than what it can be sold for today. Which means that you would probably offer substantially less than what was originally paid. If your whole livelihood and business depended on this, your discount off expected selling price would be pretty high.
I do not subscribe to the Occupy GDC Street school of thought that anyone who makes a 'profit' on selling an item is automatically a greedy pig and deserves to be shut down.
Oh, and I am not a socialist, but I am a realist and I also believe that we are capable of making our own decisions and have the responsability to live with them.
John
