Posted on 06/24/2003 8:26:40 AM PDT by Colofornian
June 23 — Is there virtue to investing in vice? For some people it can be either a lifestyle, or an investment philosophy. ...in Australia, investors have legally gotten in on the world’s oldest profession. The Daily Planet Bordello began trading publicly last month, with Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss on hand. Shares have nearly doubled since the debut. And, flush with cash, the company says it now wants to build a theme park in Las Vegas. But though he’s the manager of the Vice Mutual Fund, Dan Ahrens doesn’t see much potential in brothels. “We’re not looking for bad areas,” he said. “We’re not looking for areas that people shun. We’re not going to invest in Krispy Kreme or McDonald’s because everyone in the world knows they’re not good for you.” Ahrens finds virtue in using a narrow focus. “We made a conscious decision to invest primarily in four areas,” he said. “That’s alcohol, tobacco, gaming casinos and aerospace and defense because those are four of the largest areas that are screened out by the so-called “socially responsible” funds.” With holdings in Anheuser-Busch, Altria, lottery computer service firm Gtech, and casinos, the Vice Fund has gained about 3.5 percent since launching last year. Year-to-date it’s up 10 percent. Not bad. But by investing in stocks in like eBay and UPS, the Vice Fund’s counter-benchmark, the socially-responsible Pax Global Growth Fund, has done just as well in the last year and is now up 20 percent year-to-date. Ahrens and his investors are undeterred. “An old adage in investing is invest in what you know and invest in what you understand,” he said. “I’d like to say I’ve been doing research in alcohol, tobacco and gambling since college.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
Bloodsuckers. Living off of the miseries of others.
That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that they are profiting by providing things that people want and are willing to pay for voluntarily.
You may not like it, and you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but as far as I'm concerned this is between the people providing the services and the people seeking them. It's not like they're trial lawyers or anything.
Sounds like my kids: "Well, they were doing it, too!" (the "everybody-does-it" ethic).
There are indeed concentric levels of vice. Two levels are clearly articulated in Romans 1:32: "Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things {basic level}, but also approve of those who practice them {advanced sanctioning level}."
You confuse what is legal vs. what is moral. Alcohol consumption is not a vice; drunkenness is. Tobacco consumption or overeating may not in and of itself be a vice; an ongoing pattern of bodily self-destruction is (e.g. my dad having emphysema due to 30 yrs. worth of tobacco intake). Gambling may not in and of itself be a vice for the recreational gambler; but for the industry, which often preys upon the addictive gambler and the poor, it is.
"...do not share in the sins of others" (1 Timothy 5:22) is one thing these industries and the investors of this fund is not practicing.
Yeah, I know. Neil Postman said it best in the title of one of his books: AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH
Well, how big of an umbrella of activity does that phrase describe?
That describes prostitution; the sex slave industry oversees (foreign pedophile tourists going to Asian & other countries); the illicit drug industry; the CD/tape pirate industry (especially oversees); etc. etc. etc.
Wow, you can write off anything as objectionable with such a bland description of it. You're good! I think you could work for a lot of special interest groups or liberal networks!
This was funny.
I don't have any problem with legalized prostitution. It seems to be working find in Nevada for both the women and their customers. Go here to hear it from the ladies' own mouths and maybe learn something. They seem pretty happy, and by all reports are making lots of money for themselves.
As for sex slavery, that is something else entirely -- since by definition that is not a true voluntary exchange. And I don't have a problem with setting a legal age minimum for those who want to participate in it, which solves the pedophelia issue.
Of course CD piracy should be illegal -- since the people selling are not the owners of the property being sold, and therefore are no different than someone who robs a jewelry store and fences the stolen merchandise.
As for illicit drugs, I am one who believes the War on Drugs is far more damaging to society than the drugs themselves.
No. But Scripture is replete with examples of multiple dimensions of consequences...vice is kind of like an import/export industry. Some sins we import into our lives (therefore, those industries exporting them share in our sins); some sins we export into others' lives. For example, my brother took up my Dad's smoking habit; my sister took up my Dad's alcoholism; I took up other dimensions.
Our culture exports vices to others such as forcing abortions upon Third-World countries; or by exporting trash media to other countries.
"The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them {blatant vice-patterns}; the sins of others trail behind them {the negative legacy of consequences we pour into the lives of those around us}" (1 Timothy 5:24)
Showing the next generation that you can drink wine at a wedding feast or party is not a vice. A drunken parent throughout a child's childhood is a vice and is at risk of the "export" impact upon a child
"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" (Matthew 18:6-7)
Obviously Jesus says above that once sin entered the world, the ripple effect was in place ("such things must come"). However, he still doesn't turn around and excuse sin just because it's been naturally integrated into our world. He still warns "woe to the man through whom they come"--meaning that He provides a distinction between those who intentionally pass off sin the way a SARS infected person intentionally infects others vs. those who fess up and don't justify their behavior (especially before impressionable children).
How does eBay qualify as socially-responsible? Any adolescent with some basic computer knowledge and mom's credit card number can join in any number of porn auctions.
You assume legal prostitution (in Nevada or overseas) is A-OK just because some arbitrary age limit is imposed or just because some women entwined in this industry "consented" (for many women overseas, it's this industry or face starvation or deprivation for their children)...You assume drug intake is handy-dandy due to some look-the-other way glance at its true ravaging effects upon inner city & suburbia alike...
And yet the one thing you come down hard on is property rights.
To be consistent, the first awakening is to realize "you are not your own--you've been bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). In other words, you are "property" created by God and meant to be recreated in Christ Jesus, who paid for your sins.
None of us own our bodies to use for prostitution or drug use. That is a property rights issue that many of us seem to flunk.
Secondly, drug-dealing gangs need to have a "hands-off" policy of those they are recruiting into the drug addiction camp. Those kids are not their property. That, too, is a "property rights" issue that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 18.
Not a bad strategy {e.g. tobacco industry}.
So because some people drink too much nobody should make money off alcohol? These are legal companies legally operating...
George Bailey's world he woke up to {"It's a Wonderful Life"} once he realized he never existed was a world away from what his community was with him. And what that community became minus him was only "legal companies legally operating as they made money off alcohol" and other vices.
But, after all, that was, after all, only a quaint movie from archaic times...We all know most moderns, including us folks in this thread, prefer to live in the George Bailey-less red light district than the Bailey-invested life.
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