[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan: Beyond the feeling that neither McCain nor Obama has any clue as to what to do here? I don’t see either candidate stepping up and telling the American people what are now home truths: We need to stop buying s**t we cannot afford, we need to go back to our core strength of manufacturing and production and we need to stop these nasty and expensive foreign misadventures.

I would opine that the US has managed to gull the rest of the world for the last 25 years into believing we were possessed of a financial acumen that didn’t exist and that we’ve managed to sustain an unsustainable standard of living through insane amounts of debt creation (personal, commercial and governmental) and now the bill has come due.

I would also say that I think our days of being a world leader in banking and insurance are over, but
then I see the problems in the Euro zone, and China and even the Mideast, and realize that the whole world is pretty sideways right now, so who the hell knows? We are in completely uncharted waters right now, even relative to something as catastrophic as the Great Depression and while the US won’t emerged unscathed, we seem to be ahead of the curve (in terms of timing) of many other countries.

In response to your sign-off, I can only offer the wisdom of Devo: “Whip it. Whip it good”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan: Beyond the feeling that neither McCain nor Obama has any clue as to what to do here? I don’t see either candidate stepping up and telling the American people what are now home truths: We need to stop buying s**t we cannot afford, we need to go back to our core strength of manufacturing and production and we need to stop these nasty and expensive foreign misadventures.

I would opine that the US has managed to gull the rest of the world for the last 25 years into believing we were possessed of a financial acumen that didn’t exist and that we’ve managed to sustain an unsustainable standard of living through insane amounts of debt creation (personal, commercial and governmental) and now the bill has come due.

I would also say that I think our days of being a world leader in banking and insurance are over, but
then I see the problems in the Euro zone, and China and even the Mideast, and realize that the whole world is pretty sideways right now, so who the hell knows? We are in completely uncharted waters right now, even relative to something as catastrophic as the Great Depression and while the US won’t emerged unscathed, we seem to be ahead of the curve (in terms of timing) of many other countries.

In response to your sign-off, I can only offer the wisdom of Devo: “Whip it. Whip it good”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan: Beyond the feeling that neither McCain nor Obama has any clue as to what to do here? I don’t see either candidate stepping up and telling the American people what are now home truths: We need to stop buying s**t we cannot afford, we need to go back to our core strength of manufacturing and production and we need to stop these nasty and expensive foreign misadventures.

I would opine that the US has managed to gull the rest of the world for the last 25 years into believing we were possessed of a financial acumen that didn’t exist and that we’ve managed to sustain an unsustainable standard of living through insane amounts of debt creation (personal, commercial and governmental) and now the bill has come due.

I would also say that I think our days of being a world leader in banking and insurance are over, but
then I see the problems in the Euro zone, and China and even the Mideast, and realize that the whole world is pretty sideways right now, so who the hell knows? We are in completely uncharted waters right now, even relative to something as catastrophic as the Great Depression and while the US won’t emerged unscathed, we seem to be ahead of the curve (in terms of timing) of many other countries.

In response to your sign-off, I can only offer the wisdom of Devo: “Whip it. Whip it good”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

gandalf: Dude! The horse is dead. Stop beating it.

Petraeus is a stud, though. His accomplishments with the 82d Airborne during his tenure as CO really stand out as how to operate effectively in a counter-insurgency environment without incurring US or civilian casualties to an unnecessary degree.

As a former soldier, I would also caution you as to reading too much into his comments. Regardless of one’s thoughts, feelings or affiliations, all professional officers maintain impartiality at all times to prevent any sort of misunderstanding.

Lastly, according to a buddy of mine in Baghdad, troop count was not a marginal factor. It wasn’t the decisive factor, either, that much is true, but it wasn’t marginal.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

gandalf: Dude! The horse is dead. Stop beating it.

Petraeus is a stud, though. His accomplishments with the 82d Airborne during his tenure as CO really stand out as how to operate effectively in a counter-insurgency environment without incurring US or civilian casualties to an unnecessary degree.

As a former soldier, I would also caution you as to reading too much into his comments. Regardless of one’s thoughts, feelings or affiliations, all professional officers maintain impartiality at all times to prevent any sort of misunderstanding.

Lastly, according to a buddy of mine in Baghdad, troop count was not a marginal factor. It wasn’t the decisive factor, either, that much is true, but it wasn’t marginal.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

gandalf: Dude! The horse is dead. Stop beating it.

Petraeus is a stud, though. His accomplishments with the 82d Airborne during his tenure as CO really stand out as how to operate effectively in a counter-insurgency environment without incurring US or civilian casualties to an unnecessary degree.

As a former soldier, I would also caution you as to reading too much into his comments. Regardless of one’s thoughts, feelings or affiliations, all professional officers maintain impartiality at all times to prevent any sort of misunderstanding.

Lastly, according to a buddy of mine in Baghdad, troop count was not a marginal factor. It wasn’t the decisive factor, either, that much is true, but it wasn’t marginal.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

gandalf: Dude! The horse is dead. Stop beating it.

Petraeus is a stud, though. His accomplishments with the 82d Airborne during his tenure as CO really stand out as how to operate effectively in a counter-insurgency environment without incurring US or civilian casualties to an unnecessary degree.

As a former soldier, I would also caution you as to reading too much into his comments. Regardless of one’s thoughts, feelings or affiliations, all professional officers maintain impartiality at all times to prevent any sort of misunderstanding.

Lastly, according to a buddy of mine in Baghdad, troop count was not a marginal factor. It wasn’t the decisive factor, either, that much is true, but it wasn’t marginal.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

gandalf: Dude! The horse is dead. Stop beating it.

Petraeus is a stud, though. His accomplishments with the 82d Airborne during his tenure as CO really stand out as how to operate effectively in a counter-insurgency environment without incurring US or civilian casualties to an unnecessary degree.

As a former soldier, I would also caution you as to reading too much into his comments. Regardless of one’s thoughts, feelings or affiliations, all professional officers maintain impartiality at all times to prevent any sort of misunderstanding.

Lastly, according to a buddy of mine in Baghdad, troop count was not a marginal factor. It wasn’t the decisive factor, either, that much is true, but it wasn’t marginal.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: Another key distinction that needs to be made here is the difference between traders and investors. When someone like Jim Cramer makes pronouncements, he is doing so as a trader, not an investor.

Traders look for momentum and investors look for value. Value investing is extremely difficult right now because of all the off-book and off Balance Sheet transactions that are muddying the waters in terms of asset value and company strength (or weakness).

AIG is a prime example. The insurance side of the business is doing quite well, but their various “bets” in the derivatives markets nearly sank the company. Old school Graham’s Theorem guys like me don’t have a good set of metrics to work with and everybody is suspect until proven innocent when it comes to what might be lurking out of sight and off the Balance Sheet.

Point is this: It really is anybody’s guess as to what might happen in the market, and every day brings some new revelation or surprise (England nationalizing a slew of banks, Iceland pulling billions in bank debt onto the country’s Balance Sheet, etc).

While I appreciate the wisdom of spending half an hour a day watching the market, the reality is that there is no way of knowing what the hell is going to happen next. Historical precedent can be illuminating, but can only take you so far.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: Another key distinction that needs to be made here is the difference between traders and investors. When someone like Jim Cramer makes pronouncements, he is doing so as a trader, not an investor.

Traders look for momentum and investors look for value. Value investing is extremely difficult right now because of all the off-book and off Balance Sheet transactions that are muddying the waters in terms of asset value and company strength (or weakness).

AIG is a prime example. The insurance side of the business is doing quite well, but their various “bets” in the derivatives markets nearly sank the company. Old school Graham’s Theorem guys like me don’t have a good set of metrics to work with and everybody is suspect until proven innocent when it comes to what might be lurking out of sight and off the Balance Sheet.

Point is this: It really is anybody’s guess as to what might happen in the market, and every day brings some new revelation or surprise (England nationalizing a slew of banks, Iceland pulling billions in bank debt onto the country’s Balance Sheet, etc).

While I appreciate the wisdom of spending half an hour a day watching the market, the reality is that there is no way of knowing what the hell is going to happen next. Historical precedent can be illuminating, but can only take you so far.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: Another key distinction that needs to be made here is the difference between traders and investors. When someone like Jim Cramer makes pronouncements, he is doing so as a trader, not an investor.

Traders look for momentum and investors look for value. Value investing is extremely difficult right now because of all the off-book and off Balance Sheet transactions that are muddying the waters in terms of asset value and company strength (or weakness).

AIG is a prime example. The insurance side of the business is doing quite well, but their various “bets” in the derivatives markets nearly sank the company. Old school Graham’s Theorem guys like me don’t have a good set of metrics to work with and everybody is suspect until proven innocent when it comes to what might be lurking out of sight and off the Balance Sheet.

Point is this: It really is anybody’s guess as to what might happen in the market, and every day brings some new revelation or surprise (England nationalizing a slew of banks, Iceland pulling billions in bank debt onto the country’s Balance Sheet, etc).

While I appreciate the wisdom of spending half an hour a day watching the market, the reality is that there is no way of knowing what the hell is going to happen next. Historical precedent can be illuminating, but can only take you so far.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: Another key distinction that needs to be made here is the difference between traders and investors. When someone like Jim Cramer makes pronouncements, he is doing so as a trader, not an investor.

Traders look for momentum and investors look for value. Value investing is extremely difficult right now because of all the off-book and off Balance Sheet transactions that are muddying the waters in terms of asset value and company strength (or weakness).

AIG is a prime example. The insurance side of the business is doing quite well, but their various “bets” in the derivatives markets nearly sank the company. Old school Graham’s Theorem guys like me don’t have a good set of metrics to work with and everybody is suspect until proven innocent when it comes to what might be lurking out of sight and off the Balance Sheet.

Point is this: It really is anybody’s guess as to what might happen in the market, and every day brings some new revelation or surprise (England nationalizing a slew of banks, Iceland pulling billions in bank debt onto the country’s Balance Sheet, etc).

While I appreciate the wisdom of spending half an hour a day watching the market, the reality is that there is no way of knowing what the hell is going to happen next. Historical precedent can be illuminating, but can only take you so far.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

peterb: Another key distinction that needs to be made here is the difference between traders and investors. When someone like Jim Cramer makes pronouncements, he is doing so as a trader, not an investor.

Traders look for momentum and investors look for value. Value investing is extremely difficult right now because of all the off-book and off Balance Sheet transactions that are muddying the waters in terms of asset value and company strength (or weakness).

AIG is a prime example. The insurance side of the business is doing quite well, but their various “bets” in the derivatives markets nearly sank the company. Old school Graham’s Theorem guys like me don’t have a good set of metrics to work with and everybody is suspect until proven innocent when it comes to what might be lurking out of sight and off the Balance Sheet.

Point is this: It really is anybody’s guess as to what might happen in the market, and every day brings some new revelation or surprise (England nationalizing a slew of banks, Iceland pulling billions in bank debt onto the country’s Balance Sheet, etc).

While I appreciate the wisdom of spending half an hour a day watching the market, the reality is that there is no way of knowing what the hell is going to happen next. Historical precedent can be illuminating, but can only take you so far.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Look on the bright side, you could be a Raiders fan.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Look on the bright side, you could be a Raiders fan.

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