I’m fascinated by the TV personality Jim Cramer. I heard in NYC, a few years ago, that Cramers’ annualized return for his hedge fund was around 2%. That return barely kept up with inflation. Two percent is the return profile that most hedge funds make today; but back in Cramer’s day — they actually made money because there was less competition. The pickings was easier. I’m not sure what kind of returns the indexes at the time ran as comparables but you can bet they were well in excess of 2%. I’m writing in a part for a stock evangelist in my script and have been using Jim Cramer as my model for the character. Alan Abelson was the stock prognosticator for Barron’s years ago and he was busted and fired, for trading on inside information. Am guessing the SEC was more relevant then. Mike Huckman was a healthcare reporter for CNBC. He was caught and fired for publicizing false information about a biotech company’s drug. I don’t believe that any of them ever did jail time. Not even country club jail time. I think that everyone, minus Cramer, has a better job than the job they had before they were busted. Like failing upward, right? It doesn’t seem like it should happen in America, does it? That trajectory/intersection of ‘power corrupts absolutely’ and ‘pay-me-to-play-me’ models are interesting when shoved into a financial context. A lot of innocent people actually trust theses entertainers opinions but these moths, evidently, love the flame. The notion of a character that cheats, gets busted and fails upward are fascinating in a character sense though. It’s hard to imagine that they could rationalize that they’re doing some sort of a humanitarian service; so you can’t call it contrast; maybe a character flaw… It almost like they suffer from some form of insanity, that makes them think they’re invisible. Interesting to try and write character for, none-the-less.