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VeeJay says, "Treadmill? What Treadmill?"
"Rats on Treadmills? Made a few quid from their miserable labors
VeeJay says, "Who is Bernie Schaeffer?" Bernie Schaeffer's September Option Advisor Commentary: Dreaming of Bulls and Bears, by Bernie Schaeffer 8/29/2003 "Wall Street is living in its own version of Don Miguel's dream. A dream of
accelerating, non-inflationary economic growth. A dream of imminent job creation. A
dream of pernicious debt levels floating away into the sunset without inflationary
consequences. A dream that current aggressive market valuations can support their dream
of strong earnings growth recovery. A dream that overseas investors will continue to
tolerate our all-out effort to print dollars, borrow dollars, and spend dollars with no
concern about the debasement of our currency. A dream of another 20 years of weak gold
prices. A dream that the Fed still has control over interest rate levels. A dream of
geopolitical stability. And a dream that investors will buy into this dream." "At the same time, the bears have their own dream. A dream that massive short
positions and heavy put open interest will not end badly for those betting against a
rising market. A dream that they can correctly call an "echo bubble" in a Nasdaq that is
still down by two-thirds from its peak. A dream that a rally led by "low quality"
stocks is not sustainable. A dream that "valuations matter" over the short term. A
dream that "too many bulls" in the sentiment polls and a "low VIX" (see my recent
Schaeffer on Charts commentary on the VIX) are enough to call a market top. And a dream
that the massive liquidity and buying power created by the policies of Messrs.
Greenspan and Bush will not serve to support the stock market in the near term far
beyond the ability of the shorts and the skeptics to pound it down." "My own dream is to be able to make enough sense out of the dreams of Wall Street
and dreams of the bears to construct an intelligent investment strategy. I appreciate
the serious shortcomings underlying each of these two dreams. And I also try hard to
appreciate my own shortcomings in attempting to reach an actionable and profitable
strategy, and to appreciate the fact that there are no certainties - only probabilities." We recommend a visit to see the rest of Bernie's commentary. |
VeeJay says, "What is XaraX and Xara3D?" VeeJay says, "Washington Post articles? Here are a couple." The View From Iraq, by Ahmad Chalabi, Washington Post, 9/1/2003 Why Iraq Needs More U.S. Troops, by Robert Kagan, Washington Post, 9/2/2003 VeeJay says, "What's a BLOG?" By Jon Carroll "I get emails constantly reminding me of the tragedy of September 11 and telling me
how the 'Arabs' brought all of this upon themselves. Never mind it was
originally blamed on Afghanistan (who, for your information, aren't Arabs).
I am constantly reminded of the 3,000 Americans who died that day... and asked to
put behind me the 8,000 worthless Iraqis we lost to missiles, tanks and guns.
People marvel that we're not out in the streets, decking the monstrous, khaki
tanks with roses and jasmine. They wonder why we don't crown the hard, ugly helmets
of the troops with wreaths of laurel. They question why we mourn our dead instead
of gratefully offering them as sacrifices to the Gods of Democracy and Liberty.
They wonder why we're bitter." "Riverbend has a cousin who works as a structural engineer. He is, says
Riverbend, a 'bridge freak'; he can spent hours talking about trusses and pillars
and stuff. (It is useful to remember that Iraq, before we started destroying it,
had a pretty good infrastructure of roads, bridges, water and power, education;
all that. Iraq ain't Afghanistan.) The Iraqi company that employees Riverbend's
cousin was asked to bid on rebuilding the New Diyala bridge south and west of
Baghdad. 'They did the necessary tests and analyses (mumblings about soil
composition and water depth, expansion joints and girders) and came up with a
number they tentatively put forward -- $300,000. This included new plans and
designs, raw materials (quite cheap in Iraq), labor, contractors, travel expenses,
etc.' 'Let's pretend my cousin is a dolt. Let's pretend he hasn't been working
with bridges for over 17 years. Let's pretend he didn't work on replacing at least
20 of the 133 bridges damaged during the first Gulf War. Let's pretend he's wrong
and the cost of rebuilding this bridge is four times the number they estimated --
let's pretend it will actually cost $1,200,000. Let's just use our imagination.
A week later, the New Diyala Bridge contract was given to an American company.
This particular company estimated the cost of rebuilding the bridge would be
around -- brace yourselves -- $50,000,000!!'"
Actor Johnny Depp Disavows Anti-American Quotes
September 4, 2003, Reuters,
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