bookie71

I am about half way through "The Big Short" and I keep wondering IF we aren't all the way through the debacle?

I always thought that their real strength was in salesmanship. Have they ever come out with a "new, truly inovative" product?

To be an "expert", you just have to be loud, obnoxious, and act like you know what you are doing. Remember ex means has been and spurt is is a drip under pressure. ;) :D ;D

Even if you have grown up with it, you don't necessarily understand it. Look at IBM and the PC's. I remember when the IBM guys came by and they were shocked at what we were doing with the Osborn PC. You needed a big mainframe to do all that stuff and then not that easily. :-)

As one of the players said, "It's a shame someone had to lose"

Thanks, that is what I suspected, but wasn't sure.

Has something happened? Ameritrade has "restricted" trading on NICK (nicholas financial) and they won't say why. Thanks

Read how good their oil spill plan was: http://www.adn.com/2010/06/09/1315823/bp-c-plan.html Chuck

A a minimum, he should have contacted the companies and requested the info be sent to you. The only use I have had in the past few years for a "full service" broker is to check out their opinion if opposite of mine, i usually know I am on the right track. If he (she) says, "that piece of c--p" I know I have a winner.

-Gov't ownership acted as quasi-receivership where the government would have closely examined Citi's balance sheet and off balance sheet arrangements; the government would probably not be selling if they did not think Citi could survive more economic turmoil . . Be careful - remember how many government regulatoirs were at Freddie and Fannie.

For me it was the "straw that broke the camel's back". Others are giving him time, and I hope they do well, but I will invest elsewhere.

Check the "archive" section. Chuck

Most of her talks are about abstinence, which comes under the category of, "Do what I say, not what I do". Her ex boyfriend has appeared in Playgirl. I feel sorry for their kid.

Sounds like "value investing" to me.

Sorry, I thought we were talking about Begari.

Oh, I'm sure he'll get a lot of investors, it just won't be me.

I say ditto to all the above

No kidding. I have two pages of a log book dedicated to passwords alone. And I thought it was fun as a kid to have a secret password...... Well its not fun when your over 40. :-). . . Just wait until you are just south of 70, it doesn't get easier.

Years ago, in another life, I did a lot of farming and cattle clients. the rule of thumb was tey would farm until the money ran out. By then the city (Phoenix and Tucson) had gotten close enough that they could borrow enough to farm for a few more years. That aside the only ones who consistently made money were the citrus growers and one rose farmer. I'm not sure how it is now but that was back in the early 60's.

Their volumes are dropping hard though. It's true that they are walking away from business, yet they're just not getting meaningfully below 100%. Could it be that they are weighted towards lines of business that are easier to enter and so capital flows in freely (aka: fiercely competitive). I don't know... you have to wonder that this might be the case. Otherwise, why do they keep giving up business and tend to write aggregate CRs much higher than WR Berkeley and Markel? It has to be that however they're set up, they're fishing in the wrong pond. Some ponds have trout and some have carp. . . I believe it is called disipline. Let the others write the unprofitable business.

and CET has discounted Plymoth Rock in it's valuation, so a double discount

Dumb question: Is an impairment charge deductible for taxes or is it a reserve similar to allowance for uncollectibles that isn't deductible.

The problem with vigilanties is that the solution soon becomes the problem.

locutusoftexas, I agree, I also am an old fa--, and have been trying to make my potfolio such that it needs less management and have been moving part opf it into mutual funds as my kids and spouse have no interest in the market.

Just try to keep a couple of years RMD in cash, it usually doesn't take longer to recover or top out.