TheCenterLane.com: Recent Comments

Comment on More Super Powers For Turbo Tim

Pierre Lefeuvre — 2010-02-18T18:04:12Z

Let's put the proverbial FOX in the chicken coop and see what happens!

Comment on This Fight Is Far From Over

Larry Kingston — 2010-01-01T20:15:38Z

Since we assign our best and brightest to front-run foreign markets we normally give them a free pass domestically if the public does not notice. They got greedy on the upside, and knew what would happen on the downside afterward, so they front-ran that also. After their chips were placed they deliberately destabilized the world. Either way, it became too big for us to ignore this time, since the action never stops according to them. It's just an ongoing phenomena according to them. Completely ignorant of the fact that they are supposed to be a private company. This is obviously TREASON!

Comment on This Fight Is Far From Over

Donald Sheldon — 2009-12-28T13:19:56Z

This sort of undocumented slander is just that. Quoting "on going investigations" where the proof is speculated on by "parties having knowledge" is just plane wrong headed. Everyone investing in these securities was aware that an offsetting hedge was necessary to fulfill these contracts. These were professional investors making educated bets on market direction and now ignorant hind sightseers want to use 20/20 look back to demonize Wall Street firms. Complete idioticy, spoken by jealous non-producers who stand on the sidelines. Drugstore quarterbacks who criticizes after the game and have neither the courage nor ability to get on the field. Down where Bill Clinton and I come from the saying is "If you are so smart why aren’t you rich" Goldman did what their critics wish they had the courage to do. See opportunities in a market and put their capital at risk to take advantage of the greed and mistakes of less wise professionals. Good for Goldman. Wish I could have called that market as a partner and so do any of you who are honest. That is what markets and contracts are all about.

Instead of demonizing Wall Street look to the real cause. Stupid incompetent politicos and government regulators who forced high risk loans into the market and now, having failed to even find a real criminal for twenty years (May doff) want us to trust them to impose further “regulations”? Did we all just fall off the melon wagon last night? Run Chris Dodd and Barney Frank out of office NOW and get the government out of the Mortgage Guarantee business.

Donald Sheldon

Comment on That Sinking Feeling

theinnocentone — 2009-12-15T05:52:11Z

Very great advice!

Comment on Sign This Petition

Steven R Owen — 2009-11-25T23:57:47Z

Change Senate rules to a vote of 55 to pass cloture

Comment on Invoking Thomas Paine

Jr Deputy Accountant — 2009-09-01T07:06:33Z

Holy crap how did I miss this? Seriously? I can't even look at naked capitalism the same . . .

Response by John Burke:

Well, my dear . . . As you admitted on August 26, whilst discussing TheCenterLane.com:

. . . if I had more free time, I wouldn't have to lie here and say I read it consistently.

Comment on Fed Up With The Fed

Jr Deputy Accountant — 2009-07-21T03:00:46Z

Oh my dear John, if only I had enough time to keep up with all the awesome things that you are up to here these days. We still need to discuss that guest post. :)

GREAT F^%&ing job, DONT STOP!!

Adrienne

Comment on Reality Check

iownsrstoo — 2009-07-13T20:12:18Z

I own SRS too. Was wondering what things would trigger you to "pull the ripcord?"

I have been trading srs and skf for almost a year and made $ off them but now just have SRS.

Don't want to give back my gains....what should I look out for?

Thanks in advance,

Own SRS, too.

REPLY BY JOHN BURKE:

I used to love SKF myself -- especially because Jim Cramer hated it so much!
Well, if you're still in SRS ... we both had a bad day. Eight percent! OUCH!
It looks as though I'm close to pulling the ripcord now (Monday night 7/13).
Someone at StockTwits (Quickoatgains) was kind enough to post this chart after the close today.
As you can see, SRS is presently at 4 levels of support, all at once! (10-day, 20-day and 50-day moving averages, along with a 61.8 retracement level of a recent leg higher.)
Another factor is what you mentioned: not wanting to give up my gains.
I suspect that much of this movement was caused by the broader-market rally resulting from enthusiasm over anticipated windfall earnings to be reported by Goldman Sachs on Tuesday.
So I might wait until Wednesday before "pulling the ripcord" (if I do at all). Then again, the old adage "Buy on the rumor and sell on the news" could motivate lots of investors to sell GS tomorrow. As a result, GS might not have enough steam left to rally the market as it did today. How all this will effect investor sentiment (and more importantly: algorithmic trading programs) is up for grabs.
Lots of suspense tomorrow!
I hope this helps.
Now it's time to include the disclaimer that I stole from Tyler Durden:
DISCLAIMER: NOTHING CONTAINED ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ANY INVESTING ADVICE OR RECOMMENDATION. ANY PURCHASES OR SALES OF SECURITIES OR OTHER INVESTMENTS ARE SOLELY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE READER.

Comment on Obama Unveils His Most Ambitious Plan

Jr Deputy Accountant — 2009-06-23T00:27:57Z

In case you aren't already aware (you may be), Greenspan's Body Count is courtesy WC Varones - if you aren't already reading his stuff, I highly suggest it.

Oh and P.S., this plan makes me sick to my stomach. Just sayin

Jr

Response by John Burke:

Yes indeed! WC Varones points out in this posting:

http://wcvarones.blogspot.com/2009/06/obama-organizing-picketers-to-protest.html

as I did on June 8:
http://thecenterlane.com/2009/06/08/the-c-word.aspx
that Obama's website is apparently being used as an alter-ego against his own self!
Too bad the strawman.com domain was already taken!

As for Obama's financial regulatory reform plan ... you know ... he's just not giving enough new power to the Fed.
When he puts Larry Summers in charge, he will need to grant Larry the power to override Congressional veto overrides as well as the power to reverse decisions made by the Supreme Court. Larry will also have to defend the administration against allegations against it, published by Obama's own website. Make that guy get off his ass and work!

Comment on Where The Money Is

Jr Deputy Accountant — 2009-06-03T23:49:49Z

Brazil is looking beautiful right now - keep me updated on how that turns out for you?

The wheels are falling off this thing and yet this is what we continue to get from our friends in the media. It's no wonder Jeff Macke sucked down a fat rail before going on CNBC the other day - you NEED to be high just to get through a show. Or maybe he wasn't high at all but, in fact, the only sane one on the panel. After all, didn't he say "f&$@ that" when asked how he felt about financials?

It's a joke. It will continue to be a joke. And eventually, when the truth finally gets out, we're going to get pounded in the a$$ hard enough that America will be entirely unable to ignore that nagging pain in our rear-ends.

Bah.

Response by John Burke:

As I reported in my June 3 update to this posting, I was very disappointed by EWZ's performance on Wednesday. It seemed to be moving up and down along with the American indices, as I feared. Worse yet, during the final minutes of trading, it did not seem to get the same bounce as the American listings. This raises the possibility that the Plunge Protection Team is happy to leave emerging market ETFs in the ditch, when it's time to go about manufacturing a "late day rally". I was keeping track of other emerging market ETFs during Wednesday's trading. Keep in mind that what I observed may have been peculiar to that particular day, for whatever reasons. What I did observe was that the China and India - focused ETFs appeared less effected by the ups and downs of the American market action, compared with those from other areas. (There's even a "Chindia" ETF!) The Indonesian ETF appeared the most disconnected from the American action and was doing better than any other emerging market ETF. Again -- This was just one day's activity, so it may not serve as a guide to the performance of the various emerging market ETFs in future trading. I considered it a worthwhile study because the action was bearish all day and that's what I'm trying to avoid by looking to emerging market investments. So I will continue to keep track of this. The solution may be to focus on particular stocks, rather than funds. For example, Mercado Libre (MELI) finished the day with 57 green basis points. Now it's time to repeat the disclaimer that I stole from Tyler Durden:

DISCLAIMER: NOTHING CONTAINED ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ANY INVESTING ADVICE OR RECOMMENDATION. ANY PURCHASES OR SALES OF SECURITIES ARE SOLELY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE READER.