At the risk of sounding like I have IPO envy, I'm tired of hearing about all the newly-minted Facebook millionaires.
It's not that I'm jealous of their bank balances, especially given the post-IPO fallout. I don't need or want any of the extra goodies such resources can buy.
I'm tired of the Facebook news because, reading between the dollar signs, I see the negative impact that the IPO is likely to have on my community.
Living in Silicon Valley, I'm no stranger to IPO magic. During the dotcom boom, which was followed by the Google era, it seemed like you couldn't open your car door without hitting a member of the nouveau riche. They arrived at open houses waving wads of cash and gleefully paid over the asking price for the 1950s ranch-style homes that they then leveled and transformed into McMansions.
We "normal" folks were supposed to be happy. After all, our property values were rising and our equity increasing.