Friday, March 4, 2011

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Yes ladies and gents, it is time once again for your weekly opportunity to unburden yourselves!  Put it out there for all to see, fly your flag, etc.

5 comments:

"The Hammer" said...

Joe Kennedy was a rum runner. But old Joe by no means made all his fortune running rum (actually Old Haig scotch). In the 1920’s Joe was a very successful Wall Street operator; a top money man if you will. He was smart enough to get completely out of the market six months before it crashed. The old man knew a bubble when he saw one.

One of Joe favorite schemes was a sweet little scam called “the pool”. This highly illegal market manipulation consisted of getting a few very wealthy pals together and buying blocks of a particular stock. These guys would hide their purchases through various nefarious means so as not to tip the bottom feeders. They would bid up the price of the stock in a very short time and create a buying frenzy, while also buying short sell options on the stock. When the time was right they would dump everything and the stock would crash. They made money two ways. First, on the stock itself. They might have bought in at $100 but after the artificial run they themselves created, they may well have sold for $125 or $150. The other way they cashed in was “put options” (the lower the stock goes the more money they make). They cleaned up coming and going. Only one problem with this scheme; it devastates the target company. After being hit by a pool a company has all the value taken out, its market cap is shit, it can’t borrow short term or long term, its options are few. Many, forget many, most went out of business.

This is much the same game George Soros played with countries. He’s done it half a dozen times and nearly destroyed the Pound Sterling, reportedly making 6 billion in one day. Vulnerable countries had one thing in common, they were in terrible debt.

What is the nature of debt? I think when you boil it all down, debt limits your options; be it an individual, company or country. Get in enough debt and you have no options. I think there are some powerful forces in the US who are trying to do just that, manipulate us into a position of few if any alternatives. Of course at that exact moment they’ll step forward with the solution, and at that stage we'll have no choice.

Anonymous said...

About time you got outta the rack.

Doc Milnamo said...

The last sentence is what keeps me awake at night.

Anonymous said...

So, how many Marines or for that matter refugees can an LCS carry. I wonder if Africom wants to step up and swap our the Kearsarge or Ponce out for a "more capable" LCS. Since that is the new realist and the Navy wants to use the ships as amphibs, we may as well get a little proof of concept going with this little fracas. Those two helo spots will come in handy landing CH-53's and Osprey's. Oh, will they fit? Oh not with the amphib suite installed. OK. This was just a Friday Free For All thought.

BigFred said...

Read the JAGMAN on the ENT videos. Harvey did well, and punished pretty much everyone. It gives me a chubby that the CMEO advisor got one as well.

WI issues warrants for the missing representatives, and may lay off workers.

Newer Post Older Post Home