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Enright, Daniel...............and the bank keeps on loaning, and loaning, and loaning.
I sat in my bedroom two nights ago, with my cards in their plastic shields like valiants of old, and my stomache clenched tight as panic fear and mild nausea wafted round me. Not the first time I had allowed myself this thought. But, what, IF, these peices of paper, all of a sudden, had no value. Nothing. That this whole world I had become immersed in, and filled my empty space full with, and escaped that which was hard, and unpleasant, and drained me of that happy version of me I remember pre responsibility, and fatherhood, and husbandry, was suddenly gone. I had merely been part of some dark pinter-esqe slice of life - where men whose life experiences left them largely unimpressed with the system, and it's orchestrators, had created a new world and given it meaning, and language, and justification, and value, just to find joy in something plainly good, and unjaundiced.
And what if, all those men no longer turned up, at shows, on-line, their phone messages changed to cutting feminine tones informing all former friends who wanted to bilk her family of their opportunities for a happy life, to just piss off.
I mean, its paper. And yes, those who aren't the described-in-recent threads as No.1 ers, seeking the cache, the self agrandisement of owning what others couldn't, but those of us who really love sport, the movement, the extraordinary instinct to leave gravity and twist and throw and time each motion just so, to combine and recombine in time with others all flowing to move balls to other places in time, do really love and perhaps understand more than others who just can't, what is special about sports, and the images captured on card. That the very best essences of humanity can be expressed over and over again, and the worst that must be overcome and beaten down to give context to the life experiences of our species can be so beautifully played out.
But it is paper. And if you, or 35-50 wingnuts, or one hundred or three or eight, all decide it was just crazy, then I'm absolutely buggered.
What do I do? How do I explain to my wife the opportunity cost to her life, and our kids, of my collecting.
So when I read of Hal and his Wagners, and the anxiety and treachery of those who would take shot at such high flying ownership, I understand. Because all of us are angst'ed, whether we allow ourselves to think often on it or not. To own two extraordinarily rare, and meaningful, and shockingly expensive cards, is also to be holding so much possible hurt and grief in one's hands should the carousel stop.
Should the carni' leave town waving sadly and all his animals moved to new homes in authenticly generated habitats with lab created superior-vita-mined foods, then what does Hal do the next morning? And all those who would secretly be pleased with the idea are merely those not brave enough to risk such a latte less day, and think they are somehow safer because they 'only' have 60k in cards and would never have risked so much any way in one basket. Ah yes, the stock market learned collector has soooooo much less to worry about!
Of course, there is an answer.............a kryptonite to this big f decaled costume that shrouds our love of the game.
It's called fair play. Why on this gorgeous blue jewel of a planet do collectables sold pay up to 28% capital gains tax, very near the highest tax thuggery for all investments possible regardless how long we cherish them?
For this community to ensure its economic and emotional existence, it must grow so large that it sits immune to the vagaries of taste and change - and do so in a way that Americans most admire. Make it pay.
So lawyers amongst us (and I am not one), whose o'pining is fun to doggedly decipher, I believe, should take the challenge. Fair play I say!
Make us safe.
Make us happy.
Make us sleep all snuggly with our vintage and significant others at night.
Daniel
Ps. Thanks so very much Keith O'leary for your generous and kind welcome to the community post-my-first-post, and to Ben Fisher who I absolutely remember from Ebay as a first class human being and collector