TheCenterLane.com: Recent Comments

Comment on Ignoring David Stockman

David Hughey — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:55:34 GMT

I can't believe Stockman is this incoherent. I quote: "The lower half of American families don’t pay income tax, and they’re the people who ought to be given a break here". They don't pay tax and they get the Earned Income Tax Credit among other tax "credits" (you can't have a tax credit when you pay no tax). In other words - they receive welfare. And don't the top 10% of taxpayers pay like 70 or 80% of taxes? According to Stockman, they're poised and ready to "contribute" even more once the Bush tax cuts expire. Experience shows that as tax rates and categories increase, investment decreases. Thanks, PrezBO; we're well along our way to a full-fledged recession now.

Comment on Financial Reform Bill Exposed As Hoax

Travis — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:14:36 GMT

"...quadrillions in unregulated derivatives..." - How does this make sense??? Zimbabwe dollars?

Response by John Burke:

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge provided that example of his unique gift of hyperbole.

Comment on More Super Powers For Turbo Tim

Pierre Lefeuvre — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:04:12 GMT

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

Comment on This Fight Is Far From Over

Larry Kingston — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:15:38 GMT

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 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:19:56 GMT

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 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:52:11 GMT

Very great advice!

Comment on Sign This Petition

Steven R Owen — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:57:47 GMT

Change Senate rules to a vote of 55 to pass cloture

Comment on Invoking Thomas Paine

Jr Deputy Accountant — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:06:33 GMT

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 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:00:46 GMT

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 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:12:18 GMT

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.