Excuses are useless. Results are priceless. - Ziad Abdelnour

If judging people on first impressions were an Olympic sport, they'd suspect me of using steroids.

Bankruptcy cleans out the system. What’s wrong with that? South
Korea went through this in the late 1990s. They didn’t have anyone
to bail them out, and they had to go through the pain. Sweden did
it in the early 1990s. Mexico did it. Russia did it. The list goes on
and on. Competent people take over the assets from incompetent
people and rebuild from a solid base. Business has always been survival
of the fittest and Darwinism at its best. After all, this is what capitalism
is all about.

When people tell you that this
venerable firm or private investor invested X millions of dollars in
that entity and that it is a good investment, be skeptical and stay open
to the option of running as far as you can in the opposite direction.
We have all seen the biggest names on Wall Street along with the
largest sovereign wealth funds on the planet make the dumbest investments
ever made. Do your due diligence; ask the right questions, and
most important, check out the character of the people involved unless
you want to end up being prey to another master of the universe à
la Bernie Madoff.