The Texas Department of Criminal Justice executes more condemned men than any other state in the USA. Traditionally, condemned men were granted a last request. Most death-row inmates chose to have an elaborate last meal before going to the ‘gallows’.
This practice has recently been stopped, thanks to convicted murderer Lawrence Russell Brewer – a member of a white supremacist gang who brutally murdered a black man by dragging him behind his truck for several kilometres before dumping his decapitated body near a cemetery.
Brewer ordered the following last meal before his execution:-
- Two fried chicken steaks with gravy and sliced onions
- A triple-patty bacon cheeseburger
- A cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers
- A bowl of fried okra with ketchup
- One pound of barbecued meat, accompanied by half a loaf of white bread
- Three fajitas
- A meat lover’s pizza
- A pint of Blue Bell ice cream
- A slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts
- Three root beers
No human being can possibly consume all that food in one sitting. In fact, when the meal arrived, Brewer refused to eat by saying he wasn’t hungry. He was deliberately manipulating the system. He ordered whatever he felt like, because he could – and then declined to eat it.
What does this bizarre tale have to do with small investors? The stock market displays a smorgasboard of alluring stocks from junk companies with questionable promoters that trap unwary small investors. After losing their shirts, small investors complain about ‘operators’ manipulating the system to deprive them of their savings.
Be a smart investor instead. Substitute each of the junk food items in Brewer’s last meal with companies like Cranes Software, Karuturi Global, Bartronics, Punj Lloyd, Suzlon, IVRCL, Delta Magnets, Reliance Communications, Kingfisher Airlines, Temptation Foods (!). Then ‘manipulate’ the system in your favour by refusing to buy any of their stocks. Only buy stocks of well-respected companies with proven managements at reasonable valuations, and you will never go wrong.
