Dylan Jovine_

Los Angeles Declares War on Colonel Sanders (and Your Portfolio)

FYI--The Second Person Who Commented Under My Name starting with the line "Dylan made a mistake when he responded to you" is somebody who works with me and read the back and forth between Gashouse Gorilla and myself.

While I agree with the person 100% (I wish I would have responded with that argument) I did want to clarify that for the sake of editorial honesty/candor, etc. They should have logged into this site with their own name but they didn't.

That being said - I couldn't have made the argument better then she did! HEHE

--DYLAN JOVINE

Los Angeles Declares War on Colonel Sanders (and Your Portfolio)

To Gashouse Gorilla,

Dylan made a mistake when he responded to you - he never even debated some of the "finer points" in your comments. Frankly, I think you've missed the main premise of his whole argument (kind of missing the forest for the trees so to speak).

--For starters your suggestion that he replace "instead of" with "addition to" completely ignores the basic premise of the article which is to get government out of the lives of citizens. He doesn't think the government should restrict fast food restaurants IN ADDITION TO anything. (By restricting new restaurants all you do is create longer lines at the ones that currently exist).

--With respect to the "alternatives" you so desperately seek I'll admit - I cannot offer any more then the 3 he already posted. It is not my job as I am not a politician so I haven't given it any more thought then what he's described. I will say that any "alternatives" should be PRIVATE MARKET ALTERNATIVES THAT FOSTER THE KIND OF BUSINESS PRACTICES THAT WOULD PROMOTE THE KIND OF HEALTH RESULT THE GOVERNMENT WISHES TO OBTAIN.
(i.e. tax breaks for certain kinds of food joints, tax breaks for parents of children deemed to be in good health, etc).

--Now here is the weakest part of your argument (and proof that you completly did not understand what he said or intended in this article): You say the following:

"It's hypocritical of you to on the one hand excoriate LA for recognizing many of its citizens make poor decisions when it comes to the food they eat while on the other hand mentioning (among the vague solutions you offer) "education" as the answer. Are there people out there who make bad eating decisions? There must be. Or else you wouldn't be recommending we "educate" them."

Where did he ever insult the citizens of LA? What he said was that the GOVERNMENT WAS INSULTING ITS OWN CITIZENS FOR ESSENTIALLY TELLING THEM THEY ARE NOT SMART ENOUGH TO MAKE DECISIONS THEMSELVES (i.e. the "nanny state")

What he is saying is that citizens ARE smart enough to make their own decisions - especially when given proper financial incentives which I am sure you can grasp the concept of (let me guess - you're a wanna be hedge-fund manager, right?).

--And finally, you finish with your "grand" flourish:

"So, for daring to recognize that some diners don't know better, do you intend to rip yourself a new one?"

I'll throw that one back to you: For daring to comment on an article that is beyond your comprehension to understand, do you intend to rip yourself a new one?

Los Angeles Declares War on Colonel Sanders (and Your Portfolio)

Dear GasHouse Gorilla,

You've seen right through me - this is EXACTLY how I analyze stocks. How did you know? I feel totally ashamed now that you've "Outted" me.

All kidding aside: I've been an analyst and professional investor for 20 years.
I have the kind of track record that makes me feel confident in myself when I look in the mirror.

I've been a "writer" for a couple of years and I enjoy it immensely. Usually I write articles that study either the cash flow, income statement or balance sheet of any business I'm looking at and I like to think (or at least I've been told) that I do a half-way decent job at it.

But several months ago I started writing more op-ed pieces on finance where I tried to interject some levity into the discourse. I was pleasantly surprised to find that many readers found what I was writing humorous. So I kept doing it.

Perhaps it's the current market stress folks are feeling or perhaps it's something that I cannot explain or will never understand but many of these pieces have been well received and have made people laugh. Several of them have been posted on other websites for the same purpose (of making a bloggers readers smile).

And the truth is that I've gained some pleasure from that. Putting a smile on the face of an investor in this market - or in the context of largely dry financial writing - has made me happy and I have hundreds of notes and emails attesting to that fact.

Of course that doesn't mean that this kind of article should be used in place of serious financial analysis. But I hope that in the context of this great website that these rarely written (sometimes funny) articles have a small place for a reader who is sick of bad news.

Have a great day,

Dylan Jovine