DTEJD1997

I used to hear these dudes advertising on the local radio! I do not mean to be rude as to whether these dudes can come across with the returns, but... To ask the question is to answer it!

Hey all: Two things about Trump: A). Some percentage of his public persona is "show"....acting tough, brash, crazy, reckless...whatever you want to call it. What percent is it? 5%, 50%, 90%? hard to say. B). I would not be surprised at all if Trump has narcissistic personality disorder, or other borderline issues. HOWEVER, I am sure that Clinton, and most others at high levels of government have psychological problems/issues. It is not at all unique to him. Finally, I couldn't give a fig what these eggheads think/promulgate.

That is one thing I could never get...Why would aliens be tormenting rednecks & hillbillies in trailer parks? If I were an alien...I would be going to Vegas, NYC, Paris, Moscow, maybe military/tech hubs. I might also comment & upload stuff to the interwebs....would be directing/manipulating stuff behind the scenes. Kind of like the Pierson's Puppeteers from the Ringworld anthology. Tormenting drunk hillbillies in trailer parks would be pretty low on the list! Sometimes they kill cows, abduct and rape people and surgically put implants in their heads.

Hey all: Anybody else looking at stocks that are likely to be under tax loss selling pressure at the end of 2017? In years past, I've dabbled with this and had some moderate successes. I've found that buying stocks that have low/little liquidity can sometimes be the best candidates. Somebody has got a loss, they want to book that loss for the year....AND THEY SELL OUT, sometimes at a crazy price! I'll start this discussion going by giving out my 1st candidate: Marketing Alliance (MAAL) In years past, you can sometimes snap this up for a cheap price at the end of the year if you are patient. Anybody have any other candidate(s)?

Hey all: I once read a book that was simply fascinating & well done...It was Existence by David Brin. It is kind of a story of intergalactic "chain letters". In the story, a Chinese fisherman/scavenger finds a special orb. The orb takes a liking to him and hijinks ensue. It is so well written that you could almost see it happening next month... It kind of discusses the Fermi paradox...what happens to civilizations. I recommend it! David Brin is a great writer of science fiction...he had many different good stories & books.

Hey all: I think whether or not we've been visiting OR will be visited will depend on if the speed of light is the "speed limit". If it is the speed limit....it seems that the vast distances between solar systems would serve as a sort of quarantine. Of course, it would not serve as an absolute limit as you could have robotic probes OR multi-generational ships for living beings. Of course, a multi-generational ship moving at something like 10% or 20% of the speed of light would be an incredibly massive undertaking and would likely be easy to spot. I tend to think that there is indeed life elsewhere. I also think that there might be intelligent life...but would we recognize it? Would we even be able to interact with them? Would they want to interact with us? Would they even be industrialized or have technology? What if they are intelligent creatures who live under water such as dolphins or whales? How would we even interact with them? I think the most likely probability is that we are able to pick up and listen on some type of broadcast from another civilization (SETI). We would not even have to fully understand the broadcast, simply picking one up would conclusive proof of intelligent, technological life elsewhere in the universe. EVEN if it were a "get rich quick using leverage in real estate on Zebulon 9!!!!" commercial.... If we could indeed find life out there...it would be one of the greatest events in human civilization.

Hey all: When I was a kid, I used to like to read and think about UFO's. There were books & such detailing people's experiences seeing them & such. Of course, there was also the Air Force's "Project Bluebook", and Leonard Nemoy's "In Search Of" TV show. There were lots of photos showing grainy things in the clouds/sky that were UFO's.... Fast forward 40 years and there are BILLIONS of high resolution cameras that people carry with them ALL the time. Of course, there are still photos of weird things in the sky from time to time...but no definitive proof. Photos for the most part remain grainy...showing things way off in the distance. If there are indeed UFO's flying around, you would think somebody would have captured proof of them by now. OR if the government(s) had conclusive proof, somebody would have spilled the secret by now. Oh well...

If you wanted to speculate on real estate in cities where they may open their 2nd HQ...may I suggest simply getting options on real estate in those areas. Short term options would be OK. I think they are making the decision in January? Or maybe put offers on real estate with a long closing period?

This is a very difficult question, one that I've thought about often. I think this is a MUCH harder decision than deciding when to buy. This is doubly so when you buy deeply discounted shares in very thinly traded companies. Every once in a blue moon, my whole portfolio will move substantially (up to 10%) in 1 or 2 days when a stock will move substantially higher. One example that I've never had happen before was Bonal Technologies (BONL). I bought it a few weeks earlier, and one day it moved up nicely. The next day it ROCKETED up...all on no news. I was looking at almost a 100% gain in about 1 month on no news. It was an easy decision to sell. In the end, I guess it depends on what you think the stock is worth and how long you think it will take to get there. I have one position that is my largest and is up 75% in a bit over a year. When it moves, it frequently jumps higher. I'm not selling as I think it should IMMEDIATELY trade at a 50% higher price IF it were "rationally trading" and more people knew about it. If they have another good year, it should trade for close to 100% more. So I'm holding on. It is hard to be patient when you are sitting on a gain. But many of my worst decisions in life have been selling positions too early...

I bought my first shares in the Fall of 1989. I was a Freshman at university. I remember having to make the long distance call to the broker. Later in the day my buddies & I were discussing what classes we went to and what we did earlier. I can remember them looking at me like I was a space alien when I told them I bought some shares. Good times!

Hey all: Berkshire was heavily invested in the Washington Post. The Washington Post was invested in "for profit" skools. Some of these were predatory. It was absolutely disgraceful. Everybody involved in that should take some blame.

I am not sure if these obscure seminars really indicate the market. They will exist in bull or bear markets...... It reminds me of an informercial I saw as a kid, touting a system for guessing lottery numbers..... RandomEP: I am going to have to strongly disagree with you on this one.... Looking back, I forgot to mention that I heard this over broadcast radio....One of the local terestial "pop" radio stations. This was in the afternoon...maybe at the VERY start of rush hour time. This was the first and only time I've heard a commercial for crypto-currencies. Back before the great crash, there were constantly radio & TV ads about flipping houses, and "you two can get RICH using leverage in real estate!". While these ads didn't come on the day or week or month before the crash, they did signal that we were getting near the top. Hope this helps clarify things...

Hey all: I've read somewhere that when you factor in the energy it cost to smelt the metal (and it's mining, transportation & such) for turbines and the gas & such to move them and install them, they can never recoup the energy expended to build them. I almost find this hard to believe...has anybody else seen/heard of this?

Hey all: I heard something that I've never heard and I am quite sure that it indicates "frothiness" in the market. It was an ad for how to trade & get rich trading crypto currencies. I kid you knot! They were running a seminar at one of the local hotel ballrooms...and YOU TOO CAN GET RICH mining and trading crypto-currencies.... Nothing could possibly go wrong with this!

The market put Supervalu (SVU) on markdown...so I bought some more!

Hey all: While sub-prime auto loans are almost certainly not enough to touch off a correction or market collapse BY THEMSELVES, they certainly could be the match that sets off the chain of events that does. Sub-prime loans take down a bank or two or three OR maybe an auto manufacturer, or a couple of large hedge funds, OR some pension funds...and then the market goes down 15% and then that touches off more pension collapses....and on and on...

I am going to guess that you will see fraud where you see debt... I don't think you will too much of it at the "TBTF" banks. They are under too much scrutiny. You might see it with auto lending & leasing. There have hints, rumors & whispers that WAY too many loans are being given out and underwriting standards are too low. On a different tack, you might see a collapse of student loans, lending & "for profit" education. There have been reports that MANY student loans are in "soft" default. That is, the borrower will apply for hardship exemptions, they will get on "IBR" (income based repayment), or other special programs. There are reports that almost HALF of student loans are not being paid on, OR that they are on some type of assistance and making vastly reduced payments at best. I know for a fact that there is TONS of goofiness going on here. What I do not know for sure is if the number is 50%...some people say it is even higher than that...others say it is bad, but not 50% bad (maybe 25% to 30%)? There is also a problem with institutions of higher learning enticing students to take out incredible levels of debt to pay for their "education". Word is getting out that there is a problem with this and enrollment at some schools is declining. What happens if a trickle turns into a torrent of prospective students refusing to enroll? OR What about companies that are not a "scam" per se...but are running on questionable business strategies? For example, there are some "high tech" companies that have sales...but little or no hope of profit. These companies are multi-billion market cap companies. What happens if they are no longer Wall Street darlings? What happens if they actually have to start making money? You could see their business models collapse, perhaps prompting a broader market route? OR What if you have the general economy start to slow down and retail further collapse? A bad "black Friday" followed by weak Christmas sales? That could prompt some big name retail bankruptcies...followed by smaller name collapses...followed by problems with real estate...followed by problems with lending/banks? This then starts a negative feedback loop and the market goes down substantially. OR could be something totally out of the blue that few are expecting. I certainly hope things stay strong for a while longer...

Unless the business is particularly "heavy" in assets (own their location?), or has some other type of unusual situation going on (incredibly talented managers wanting to expand?), I would say that this is almost certainly a very high price to pay. Valuation for single restaurants in the USA are in the low single digits. Most of these place simply don't scale...and owners have simply bought themselves a job.

You guess? This just went from "wtf is this? lol" to "hey that's clever!" with StubbleJumper's post. This could work, especially of the collateral stays in Canada to collect when some of the customers flee back to Canada. Perhaps you misunderstood me....yes, it is a SLIGHTLY better business model (skirting capital controls) than just loaning to dudes & dudettes who want to live the "high life". All in all, color me skeptical...maybe this works out...but I am doubtful. Oh, and think about this....If a company is depending on skirting the law, and is willing to break(bend) rules....what do you want to bet that they will be willing to skirt(break) trust with investors & other stakeholders? In no way, shape, or form would I be investing in this.

Hey all: If the supposition of loaning to rich Chinese nationals is correct...are you comfortable investing in a company whose purpose is to help their customer flout/skirt capital controls? Even if it is with a nominally communist country? What happens if China protests about this to the Canadian government? What happens if "hackers" somehow get a customer list of the company? I guess helping Chinese nationals who are rich, but have difficulty moving capital out of China, is nominally a better business model than just loaning it to immigrants who want to live the "high life"...

whut, Whut, WHUT???? If you are looking at getting a "yacht"....I would think that is a very easy purchase... You simply write a check and that is all. Financing? WTF??? If you need financing for a "yacht", you don't need a yacht! I would also think the same thing goes for high end exotics/sports cars. Everybody I know that has high end sports cars simply writes a check for them...financing is not even thought of or an option. Back in the day when I owned a high end Corvette and was thinking of getting a Porsche...I asked the Porsche salesman how many people financed their cars...he said it was under 40%, and way less than that for the higher end stuff. I see signs of the bubble around me every day...I'm getting nervous...

I have been buying CBL. They have a dividend coming up & I figured that I would to get it.

Hey all: This story just gets weirder & weirder! It now appears that Equifax has been sending people who are concerned about their data being hacked to a fake phishing website! http://ktla.com/2017/09/20/equifax-has-been-sending-concerned-customers-to-fake-phishing-site/ Maybe they should be hiring music majors to run their security? All you guys selling puts still feel comfortable?

The articles I saw said that this person had 10+ years experience in industry in security field. Apparently this person indeed had a history of working in cyber security. HOWEVER, how does one go from a background in music composition straight into cyber security, and relatively high level positions at that? I guess it didn't work out none too good...as the results show. Why was this person allowed to retire? How come no C-level executives get FIRED? (or relatively few)? Why is the CEO not fired? Finally, if this CIO is eminently qualified, why the coverups & scrubs of the situation?

Hey all: There has been some scuttlebutt on the interwebs that the person in charge of security for Equifax has a MFA degree in music composition, undergrad degree is a similar thing. To further complicate the situation, this person's information & credentials is being scrubbed off of Equifax's site & the interweb in general. Almost kind of like they are trying to cover something up. Please see: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/equifax-ceo-hired-a-music-major-as-the-companys-chief-security-officer-2017-09-15 What I want to know is how does somebody with a background and degree in music composition get to the top position of CIO? What other goofiness is going on over at Equifax?