Quote from gmst:
Wrong, Wrong, Absolutely Wrong! Volente has been saying this in the other thread for sometime now. I will write it down more clearly so that everyone is clear on this point.
For an individual trader, yes it is their money to a large extent. As an individual trader, you are going to pay for combine + as a live trader, they are keeping USD 1.26 per round trip from you in comms. So, on an individual trader basis also, they are building a little bit of reserve on which they are extending risk to an individual trader.
Game completely changes however if you consider all Patak traders as a group:
From the perspective of Patak traders as a group, a live trader is risking other trader's money and NOT PATAK's money. As I said earlier - its an elaborate scheme. In fact, it is as risk-free business as it gets and I bet 10% of ET regulars have the resources to put together a competing business like TST in a fortnight. LOL. That would be interesting. 100 clones of TST in 3 months 
Lets look at the numbers:
Consensus is that 1% of traders pass combines in their first attempt. Lets increase it to 5%, so 95% traders are paying for combines.
Lets say, they have 500 traders doing 200$ combines for a 50k account. So, at 5%, 25 would pass it and their combine income gets refunded. So, 475 will pay for the combines.
TST's combines revenue = 475*200 = 95k per month
The risk they are taking on live traders before they cut-them off = 2 times the daily loss limit. Daily loss limit for 50k account is 1k, so total loss before they cut a trader = 2k.
So, if all these 25 live traders lose money from day 1 of live trading, Total exposure of Patak on these 25 traders = 25*2k = 50k.
Still, Patak made a risk-free profit of 95k-50k = 45k. And this doesn't include the commissions income. LOL.
So, the marketing is successful in fooling the trader think that Patak is backing them. When the fact of the matter is other combine traders are backing a live trader. 
Doesn't mean anything. Any normal person will be courteous while meeting someone else, especially if he is in the business of scouting traders. Madoff was also nice - he raised billions. Patak is a small fish compared to Madoff.
If it is a winning proposition, then traders at Patak must be making 30k, 50k, 100k a year. As Lucias has asked, Let Mr. Patak respond on this. Because if only 5 or 10 people are making that kind of money among the thousands who apply, then this is not a winning proposition.
Your argument is logical. You mentioned that you are getting tired of this discussion. When it is over, and you have rested and refreshed, take on another grand cause. This one will help millions of people all over the world.
I always joked with my clients that the best business model is university education. Just think about it;
1) Before you get anything, you pay money to them.
2) they teach you.
3) periodically you pay them more money, and all you have had in return is their time.
4) they evaluate you, if you fail you get nothing. It's all your fault for being too stupid
5) if you pay them even more money, they will give you another chance to learn.
6) you pass, and you expect to get a job based on the wonderful ads universities post about the successes graduates have experienced in the job market.
7) the best efforts of Bernanke et al notwithstanding, you can't get a job.
8) I paid for my kids educations, but if you suffered the misfortune of needing a student loan, you are jobless and in debt.
Stop and think a moment and tell me if Patak's offer is really so dreadful in comparison.
If you want to tilt at windmills let me know and time permitting I will join you. When people say I have to do something, I say no without thinking. But let's do it for the grand cause, minnows are a waste of time.