Tuesday, November 16, 2010

There's a Fool Born Every Minute

I don't know who first said or wrote that, but it is being proven true this week as the fools are lining up for the GM IPO. Amazingly, the offering appears oversubscribed and they are raising the price targets and share offerings.

The sheer lunacy of any buyer is certain from the following:

1. The company has roughly zero free cash flow net of unfunded pension & healthcare obligations.
2. The company is controlled by its labor unions.
3. The company looted billions from its bondholders and gave the labor unions a free pass on restructuring costs.
4. The company broke contracts with dealers who had provided good service for its customers for many decades.
5. The company broke a implicit bond with customers by cutting entire product lines and dealer networks, thus orphaning prior buyers with no places to get service.
6. The company's snout in the government trough has antagonized millions of potential buyers of its products - "Government Motors".

Having lied and broken promises made in the past, why or why would ANYONE believe them now? I guess the greed factor in the world capital markets is rising much faster than I felt was occurring.

Oh well, a new top might be a few years away. These trends can go on awhile before grinding out. It took the tech bubble about four years after Greenspan's "irrational exuberance" speech to blow up.

Bunkerman's little birdie is chirping. He will be more caution now about being heavy in equities over recent highs.

Word of the Day

"Defalcation" - noun [$10]
Defalcation means an act or event of the misuse of funds; embezzle.
Sentence: The gross defalcation that occurred in the GM bankruptcy case should give great pause to anyone rational who considers investing in such a company ever again.

32 comments:

Bud said...

Dr bernanke's QE2 is a gross defalcation of the US taxpayer.

Bud said...

inflation check :


at Publix last night..............cilantro 1.29 a bunch....used to be below a buck.............red hot green chillies..........1.79 a lb...........used to be closer to par



i guess the common man won't be eating and cilantro or green chillies anytime soon

Bud said...

Bman cut the crap about me growing my own vegetables or butchering a cow .............i live in a F'ng city!!!! where you want me to play joe farmer.............in my bathtub ???



let it fall my ass

Bunkerman said...

nope, defalcation is when one takes, Ben is giving.

Bunkerman said...

lolol Bud, I haven't been saying to grow your own, but to prepare and cook your own food.

I made fried eggs & Spam this AM; a hot nutricious meal that cost less than $1.

Use your hands

;)

Bunkerman said...

Coffee made at home probably costs a dime a cup, vs. $5 for a SBUX grande latte.

Bunkerman said...

learn to use knives & fire, like the cave man did.

:)

Bunkerman said...

going to MG range this PM ... for practice.

Bunkerman said...

gonna cap off a few hundred rounds - 9's & 45's

Bunkerman said...

that metal target will sound like Lionel Hampton.

Spin-em said...

"Bunkerman's little birdie is chirping. He will be more caution now about being heavy in equities over recent highs."


more nebulous posturing indications ..."jim" would be proud

the Ohio worker deserves better....

80% long....50% long....10% long....OUT

Bud said...

Bucking the Federal Reserve's efforts to push interest rates lower, investors are selling off U.S. government debt, driving rates in many cases to their highest levels in more than three months.



well well well.....QE2 only a few days old..............and it ain't working..............defalcation indeed

Bud said...

ny fed governor bill dudley defending QE2.................Bman should bill dudley be charged as a co-conspirator in dr bernanke's treason-trial ??

Spin-em said...

To.....Ztech
From...your fans around the world

we think Joe Esposito said it best


Try to be best
Cause youre only a man
And a mans gotta learn to take it

Try to believe
Though the going gets rough
That you gotta hang tough to make it

History repeats itself
Try and youll succeed

Never doubt that youre the one
And you can have your dreams!

Youre the best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you down
Youre the Best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you down
Youre the Best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ow-own

Fight til the end
Cause your life will depend
On the strength that you have inside you

Ah you gotta be proud
starin out in the cloud
When the odds in the game defy you

Try your best to win them all
and one day time will tell
when youre the one thats standing there
youll reach the final bell!

Youre the best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you down
Youre the Best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you down
Youre the Best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ho-how-ho-own

Youre the best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you down
Youre the Best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you down
Youre the Best!
Around!
Nothings gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ow-own

Bud said...

Bma what is your take on the muni bond selloff ??

why ? when will it stop ?? do we need QE for munis ?

Bunkerman said...

the muni bond sellof will stop around 5% for good quality bonds (A-rated, no CA, etc.)

That's where I'll be a buyer. And is where I bought in large amounts in late 2008 and in 2009.

Bunkerman said...

sheesh, spinny, you want more specificity?

I tell you guys everything "qaluitatively"

I even say how I manage the Krytpo Fund.

have not bought bonds for a long time. sold all my TIPs

sold the US stock add from August.

I post sells and buys in everything.

Do you want me to cut your meat and wipe your nose, too?

;)

Bunkerman said...

I'm happy bonds are rising - I have a mountain of cash to buy them over 5%,

Spin-em said...

looooool....didnt mean to hit a nerve ...Bunk didnt make me and Bunk aint gunna break me....if your blog is truely to help and educate...then help and educate...lift the clouds...decide weather its about the readers...or you


I have a "mountain" of cash to buy them over 5%,

WHOOPS..THERE IT IS!! WHOOPS THERE IT IS!!

Bunkerman said...

I suppose I should reprise a post about Krypto Fund. Maybe newer readers missed it.

And maybe "older" readers forgot it.

Hmmmm ...

Bunkerman said...

just to repeat my answer to a Q from mfl Friday - I'll rebuy the US stocks I told around S&P 1150.

Bunkerman said...

I have been saying all $ from recent sells were going to cash to wait for something to sell off.

Bunkerman said...

A lot of the non-commenting readers get a bit bored if I write about the market too much.

Spin-em said...

loooool....Ohioweenians own stocks....should their not so mountain of cash be 20% 50 % 80% high??..now that might have helped last week...non posters I bet would have been very interested....AM I RIGHT OHIO????..UR GD RIGHT!!!!!

be William Wallace Bunk....not longshanks

let it fall my azz



looooool

older ones...looooool

handshake bunk,,,callin off the dogs

Bunkerman said...

rofl spinny ... uh ... but didn't Wallace get captured & tortured & killed ?

How about if I'm Henry V ?

Bunkerman said...

going to MG range now ... will practice with the M1 Thompson and7 a SW76.

Spin-em said...

as bunk raises white flag...to be fair...and to show Im not a total douche(I know..imo..lol)...your timing sir is par excellence..(including french waiter mouth pop..lol)

Bud said...

The entire European Project is now at risk of disintegration, with strategic and economic consequences that are very hard to predict.
In a speech this morning, EU President Herman Van Rompuy (poet, and writer of Japanese and Latin verse) warned that if Europe’s leaders mishandle the current crisis and allow the eurozone to break up, they will destroy European Union itself.
“We’re in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we don’t survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union,” he said.





does herman van rompuoy read this blog ??? he definitely reads my comments

Bud said...

Bman do you think the EU will be around in 2 years ?? what about the Euro

Bud said...

watch this video Bman......hilarious


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAhayy1NGJ0



you make me puke Bman

Spin-em said...

hilarious????

thankuuuforr wastin 3 minnutes ofourrlivves

mfl59 said...

Uhhh Bunkerman you gonna take that kind of talk from Mr. Top Tick?