I managed to keep this topic off my blog for long, ignored all the drama, shrugged off stuff like this in disbelief, spun off several conspiracy theories, and generally just let an idiot be an idiot (here, idiot in question = Casey Serin). But yesterday, through a series of links, I finally landed on his blog and wasn’t very happy to read some of the stuff and just had to get this rant out of the way.
More than unhappiness, I think what I felt was sheer frustration (perhaps jealousy too). It’s not anger, or hatred (I would have been angry and hated him if he had sent me emails - like he sent to Ramit @ I Will Teach You to be Rich) … it’s just some frustration on how Casey’s idiotic approach to getting rich quick has propelled him to almost a celebrity status, in spite of his large scale financial failure.
Now, he has it all - publicity (albeit negative - it’s ultimately going to work in his favor in the long run), main stream media attention, mentions in numerous major magazines and newspapers, an alleged book deal, outrageous internet traffic to his blog (300,000 hits a month), and now generous advertisers to give him more money to spend.
And what did he have to do for all this? Acquire real estate by fraud, and later just throw up his hands and say “Oops! I made some mistakes, I can’t pay you guys anymore… do what you want”, and then preach his get rich quick strategy to other people through his blog (and, in future, possibly through his book).
There is something else that I didn’t like. Read this excerpt from a letter sent to him by a debt collector:
“Washington Mutual has authorized our office to offer a settlement on the above-referenced account for less that the full balance due. To settle this debt, Washington Mutual will accept $4884.08 which represents 70% of your current balance. To take advantage of this offer, send the full amount of $4884.08.
As of the date of this letter, you owe $6,977.25.”
In the context of this letter, Casey writes:
“Is that the best they can do? I’m guessing it’s 8-9 months late at this point.”
So, after you commit frauds and spend money like crazy, you get a discount on the amount you owe? - plus, you think they should be giving you more discount? That’s awesome. Earlier, I used to think about such things as *irresponsible*, but thanks to Casey’s *success*, terms like fraud, irresponsibility, arrogance, etc., now have a new meaning to them. I don’t think I have an instrument capable of measuring the almost infinite thickness of Casey’s skin. For some people, he is is “high stress tolerant” — for me he is just thick-skinned.
On a related note, I wonder if Washington Mutual would give a 30% discount on defaulted student loans to students who are in genuine financial trouble.
Also, with the book deal rumors out, I don’t understand why creditors are giving him discounts on amounts owed at this point of time — why not wait for him to make money from his book deal and then extract every penny he owes (before he spends it on some other monkey business and declares himself bankrupt again)?
Anyways, in time to come, I think Casey could write a good book titled “How to be a Rich and Successful Village Idiot“. I will give him that. He may continue being the village idiot, but our general mass tendency to idolize such people will eventually make him rich.
Sometimes, I like to think that this whole I-am-facing-foreclosure mess was orchestrated right from the beginning (just because I can’t digest the real stuff — it’s just incredible). Probably, real estate was never in Casey’s get rich scheme — insane publicity was.
Btw, I don’t buy the “at least he is brave enough to talk openly about his failure” - I think he is doing that just because, in his current position, there is nothing else he can do.
Apart from the links in the write-up above, here is another article (by JD @ Get Rich Slowly) that discusses Casey’s attitude towards getting rich.
Bonus: This link will take you to a page on Casey’s website where you can read some funny testimonials by his advertisers. The last time any testimonials made me laugh was in this ad. 
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Karma will have the last laugh. You can get rich being an idiot, but in the end, you’re still an idiot. The universe remembers. That’s all I have to say about this guy.
[Btw, I don’t buy the “at least he is brave enough to talk openly about his failure†- I think he is doing that just because, in his current position, there is nothing else he can do.]
Don’t buy it either. And you know what? It’s because there’s nothing else he can do. EXCEPT GET A JOB AND WORK. Ugh. Moron.
There is a quiet upside to all this: 8 other people got “sweet deals”. A free market is a beautiful thing, and when it deviates (as it naturally does), some people take a hit and others are enriched (often quietly) as the market reverts to its mean.
Whether Serin and his lenders figure out which side of these kind of trades they want to be on in the future is of no concern to us. There will always be people making the good trades and the bad.
In the spirit of your blog title, I’d like to point out that the Tao Te Ching is not personal in this regard:
As it acts in the world, the Tao
is like the bending of a bow.
The top is bent downward;
the bottom is bent up.
It adjusts excess and deficiency
so that there is perfect balance.
It takes from what is too much
and gives to what isn’t enough.
Bad publicity is still publicity and in the world of advertising (online/offline), it’s all about publicity.
That’s why you often see celebrities that are falling off the radar pulling stupid stunts.
Flexo, I hope you’re right. Because at the end of everything, if I’ve been saving my ass off and doing the right things and the rug gets pulled out from under me, I’m going to be seriously cranked.
Flexo: That’s deep. Yeah, the universe will probably remember. But people generally have short memory, especially when it comes to dire stuff like this. Casey will keep blowing it - and we will keep giving it to him.
Msminiducky: You got it - I didn’t mention that point in the post. The dude still doesn’t have a day job that pays.
Steve: I think you understand the Tao completely.
First Flexo mentions karma and now you mention the Tao te Ching ~ is something in Casey making you guys think on a philosophical level? 
J2R: That’s right — bad publicity also translates into money and I think Casey has grasped this concept long back when we were kids.
KMC: Following Flexo and Steve, here are a few more lines from the Tao if something like that happens to you:
Approach it and there is no beginning;
follow it and there is no end.
You can’t know it, but you can be it,
at ease in your own life.
Just realize where you come from:
this is the essence of wisdom.
Ok this had no bearing on you comment, but I just wanted to mention something from the Tao.
Like I said, seeing the free market in action is a beautiful, eye-watering thing.
It’s justice, Adam Smith style. Serin has been sentenced for breaking the Grahamian Laws of Investing, and he’ll do his time now.
Because all good customers ultimately bear the cost of the bank’s chargeoffs, this guy has defrauded the general public.
I admit I missed somehow hearing about this guy. But I have a different question.
If he does get a book deal out of it, why would people buy it? It’s not like he can teach people how to get rich. Nor does it seem particularly entertaining the way successful schemers can be (in “catch me if you can” sort of way). What would the title be “how I tried to get rich and failed?” Wouldn’t it be like Hunt brothers writing a book on how to get rich by trading silver?
What makes people buy books like this?
i’m amazed that the first week of the blog advertising he essentially made the equivalent of $182,000/yr.
speaking about washington mutual, they sold his debt to the collection agency for pennies on the dollar, so I’d say yes there was much more discounting that could have been done on the debt.
i’m amazed he can still afford to drink starbucks regularly.
who does that guy think he is… and frankly… i hope if he tries to get a job… the guy will use “google” and “myspace” to see his uhhhh “mindset” before employeeing him.
I’m not really sure that he’s “on the path to riches.” Yeah, I paid him $50 but it’s already paid off a fair amount of that. I don’t think many more people are going to buy ads on his site, but you never know. I was (and still am) betting that the place where I bought the ad won’t see any more action for a while. My link is still the top one, after 3 or 4 days. I’ve been getting some pretty good traffic, and my Google earnings have gone up substantially (not that they were anything in the first place) and my MyFICO.com links have been getting a good deal more clicks and a couple of sales.
Anyway, I still think that his final destination is prison or some equivalent. I don’t think he’s equipped for financial success of any sort.
Gaming the Credit System: Noticed your ad on his website
Considering Casey’s traffic stats, I guess you made a smart move. I contemplated on it, but I don’t think I can give him 50 bucks for it. I am going to email him and ask him if it’s negotiable. 
Casey even has his own theme song ” the official IAFF theme song” http://www.myspace.com/audiofonixxx99
this story gets better every day.
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