Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:
Mike Piper must be a goon if he threatened to ban you.
He did some good things and he did some bad things.
I have a category devoted to him here at the blog. So I have provided lots of articles for people who want to know how to characterize him to use to do so.
That’s my job, Anonymous. I am a reporter. I report. If some want to call him a Goon, they can look at the articles for arguments for the case. If some others want to deny that he is a Goon, they too can look at the articles for arguments to make the case. So long as I do my job well, I am happy. That’s the only part of this that I control.
I like the guy. I acknowledge that there were things he did that fall on the Goonish side. But personally I feel more sympathetic than critical.
But I am not going to offer any guarantees as to how others are going to feel. I knew that Buy-and-Hold was a scam a long time ago. A lot of people don’t know this even today. If I lost most of my retirement money because of a scam and then I learned that a fellow named “Mike Piper” played a significant role in keeping that scam covered up, I might both call him a Goon and demand a prison sentence for him. If that’s how it plays out, that’s how it plays out. I am certainly not going to tell the guy who feels that way that “Mike is really a nice guy!”
He’s a nice enough guy — but holy moly! A failed retirement is a serious life setback. Financial fraud is a felony. Going to prison is not on my bucket list. I don’t touch that one with a 10 billion foot poll. You can find comments in which I tell the tale of how Mike is a nice guy (which he is) and you can find comments in which I tell the tale of how Mike aided the massive cover-up (which he did). I am covered either way. That’s how I like it. That’s the long-term advantage of playing it straight going back to the first day.
I hope that helps a bit, Goon friend.
Rob
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