JVan

Google: The Next Ponzi Scheme to Fail?

Whatever your personal feelings about Google, as a market analyst you ought to know better than shorting a stock for the reasons mentioned in "Next Ponzi Scheme." People might be teed off at the price of oil moving all over the map (anyone who can't read the manipulative tea leaves is not paying attention), but to go short of oil based on being teed off would be stupid. Stocks moves up and they move down. There are far more reasons for those moves than how people feel about paying their gasoline bill!

Four Points on the 'Great Short Trade'

I find myself in agreement with wpdragon. The shorts are in bad shape, and anyone who has traded awhile knows better than to fight the tape. With a bit of common sense about buying low and selling high within the support-resistance ranges of stocks that are in good uptrends, you should be able to make money in this market.

There are bears who write about everything that is the matter with the economy--and we learn a lot from them. But I never met an actual person who made money in the market without some optimism in reserve. There are enough green shoots sprouting these days to put me in that camp.

Cramer's Mad Money - Obama, Take a Break (2/3/09)

You're the one who should "Take a break," Cramer. At least Obama (and the Democrat Congress) were elected by a popular vote to effect major changes in a set-up that was savaging too many Americans. You? You used to rave about a set-up "of the corporations, for the corporations, and by the corporations." It's as if you cared nothing about the moral compass of what markets were about. You said often, "Buy MO and donate your profits to Greenpeace," or some such thing.

Now all of a sudden, you're not raving about how to make money, given Obama's program. Now you're bringing your economic moral compass to bear. Too little, too late. You can be entertaining, but in my humble opinion it's time for you to take a break.

Real Estate Bottom - or Prelude to a Drop?

Andrew has some very fine observations. But I believe the opening of his piece says it all--there is a generational difference. And it has to do with fear. With fear driving so much of the financial world the older, more experienced generation has been through some horrors we younger ones cannot imagine. Their experience should be considered carefully.

Andrew says, "will they ever see the 20% or 40% drops making headlines? I doubt it." Had I listened to my financial guru (who began saying in January the financials had bottomed) instead of my father (another depression era worrier) I'd be broke.

If the fathers are right, upside-down mortgages will not ultimately slow down price erosion in real estate. With the government insuring that the banks cannot be hurt, they will foreclose on overdue debt. Too bad for those who are upside-down, but reality will win out. Prices can go lower! Congress can only go so far legislating that lenders give "holidays" or "relief" or God knows what to strapped mortgagees. In the end, a slow down with global implications will wallop the upside-down mortgages too.

I'm with Andrew's father. Hold your water!