Plausibly Undeniable
So I sold AIG this morning at $4.93, having bought it last Monday at $3.61. A roughly 30 percent gain, and I admit it was more guesswork than legwork on that one. Because of that, I didn’t put as much in as I would have liked, but a win is a win.
I expected AMR would swing down this morning, and it hasn’t disappointed. We’re at $11.41 as of 11:04 a.m. (CDT), and I’m thinking it will dip maybe as low as $11 today.
UPDATE: Holy crap. It’s 12:34 (CDT) and AMR is at $11.07.
It’s worrying to think that so many people are breaking the law on a daily basis. And it’s an even bigger concern that many aren’t at all bothered about it.
Really? I should think it’s even more worrying that there are so many laws against what people do normally.
Here’s my column in the Sunday Dallas Morning News. They gave the print version a great headline:
Are You Out of Your Mind With Fear?
Here’s a sample:
No one should be surprised that politicians have little to sell but fear itself.
But if the rest of us are so smart, why do we keep buying it?
Crime, global warming, drugs, terrorism – a mere mention is all that’s needed to close the deal. It’s worked for politicos from the president to the Dallas City Council.
Not that this is anything new. H.L. Mencken sagely observed in 1918 that the “whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed – and thus clamorous to be led to safety – by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
(Writer’s note to editors: Thank you Nicole and Tod.)
Also, be sure to check out this column from Stanley Fish about how we need to get real about our attitude toward pollution. It’s not a moral sin. It’s a fact of life. It’s the cost of people making things. And the materialist, capitalist system so many green weenies decry is what provides better efficiencies in industry and the technologies to clean up the messes we made.
Doubt it? Look at the old Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. Or Red China. Worst pollution on earth. Meanwhile, despite all our industry (actually, because of it) we live happier, healthier, longer lives than ever before.
I’ll have my first Points columns (as opposed to Viewpoints) in this Sunday’s edition of the Dallas Morning News. Drop me a line and tell me what you think.
So I just sold the Washington Mutual (WM) I bought on Monday at $2.14 for $4.27. I missed the day’s peak of $4.85 because I was rounding up things for you people.
Ah well — that’s one penny shy of doubling my money in a week. Wish I’d been more daring and bought more, but I had visions of losing my half my trading stake if my guess was wrong. On the other hand, AIG is (as of this moment) almost $1 down from where I bought it at $3.61 on Monday. And AMR is soaring. I may sell if it hits $12.50.
So I’m way, way up for the week overall, but still holding a turkey in AIG.
(And warning if you have TD Ameritrade — high volume is slowing the site. I talked to customer service and they said they’re working on it, but I figure the delay in placing my trade this morning cost me at least $50.)
Obama Promises To Stop America’s Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas
(editor’s note: I just realized I had two Wednesdays this week. Must get more sleep.)
Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O’Reilly.
The Fed’s bailout of AIG — which is the effective purchase of a private company on behalf of the federal government using our money — is going to cost us all a lot more than $85 billion.
The question no one is asking is: Why the hell are they doing this? Yes, AIG’s failure is going to hurt some people. Yes, it will have a domino affect on a lot of other businesses. Yes, it will be painful for the economy.
So the eff what? Businesses fail — that’s what happens in a competitive market when they do the grossly stupid things that AIG did. That failure serves as an example to other businesses of what not to do. The market then corrects itself and learns to have more vigilance about dealing with other companies. This is competition driving out bad practices and bad players.
The Fed, coupled with decades of government interference in the insurance, investment, banking, and mortgage industry is what built the house of cards that’s collapsing. And it needs to collapse, no matter how painful the short-term consequences.
And yet because it’s an election year (kill me, Jesus) candidates are demanding more of what got us in this mess in the first place — government regulation, oversight, and interference.
That’s right — dig more to get out of a hole.
By the way, you want a short version of the subprime crisis history that sparked all this?
(Full disclosure: I bought some shares of AIG Monday at the ebb betting something like this would happen and I could turn a short-term profit. I’m not above taking advantage of a situation I condemn. I am mercenary, if nothing else.)
Guess who is screwing South Dallas again? Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price says South Dallas needs a master plan for development, and wants to create some kind of new government entity that will levy new fees and regulations on developers just as they’re trying to get things going.
The Allen Group (I profiled them here in January 2007) which has invested more than four years and $20 million (several million just in getting approvals) for its owned planned 6,000-acre logistics hub, says it will “add unnecessary delays and uncertainty as well as another layer of bureaucracy that will scare off investors with new regulations.” And it’s for certain the Allen Group would have to start all over again on a project that promises 35,000 new jobs over its 20-year build-out. No one will invest in the area, CEO Richard Allen said, if they “don’t know what the rules are.”
JWP wasn’t happy, according to the DMN.
Mr. Price bristled at the criticism, telling one developer sarcastically, “We’re glad you finally got there,” referring to southern Dallas County.
Well, you’ve been county commissioner “there” for 23 years, John Wiley, and things are as crappy as when you first took office. Why get in the way of new arrivals who want to actually make the place better? Oh, right — people like you profit from keeping constituents in poverty.