Write-Offs: 03.31.08

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 6:47PM

Ford stock is fun to trade because the volatility doesn't grab your heart through your shirt and rip it out like the financials do. However, given my experiences with the Ford product, I think the population of India will feel like boobs after owning a TaTa.

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 6:58PM

let them own the whole Ford. they are unreliable cars anyway.

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 7:11PM

the new mustang bullitt is going to solve all of Ford's problems.

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 7:41PM

She is adorable.

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 7:43PM

Show us your Tatas!

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 8:24PM

She doesn't look that bad today.

Posted by guest, Mar 31, 2008 9:08PM

Tomorrows Edition should have an article about whats surfacing inside the Beltway...

A representative of people who ride on the short bus, has proposed that the US get rid of speculation in the commodity pits, specifically heating oil...

Money Quote...

"People shouldn't be allowed to speculate purely with paper, fluctuating and driving the cost of oil, especially when we have adequate supply," Larson said during a news conference in the Capitol complex. "And demand, in fact, has gone down because of the crunch that everyone finds themselves in."

follow up knock on Quote...

"Only if you are an end receiver of the product will you be allowed to participate in this process," Larson said, adding that he expects "a stiff fight" from financial-service companies. Asked if he thought the issue would have to wait for a Democratic president, Larson said he believes that many Republicans would join Democrats on the issue, but "perhaps" a change of presidential administrations would be needed. Larson believes that a Democratic president would enact a more open and transparent energy policy than the current administration.

"This is not about Democrat or Republican," he said. "It's about the manipulation of prices. The integrity of our whole system is at stake here."

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 12:04AM

Guest@9:08pm...Great posting....When I have to pay $4.18/gal for highway diesel and $3.65 for home heating oil, while premium gasoline is going for $3.45/gal, something is wrong.

Talk about an inverted yield curve. Diesel & No.2 fuel oil cost much less to refine than gasoline does. Yet the prices are inverted.

I'm sure that some genius will want to explain the more subtle points of capitalism and free markets, but I don't think that Main St. wants to hear that shit from the genius-types anymore.

We've already had plenty of unregulated innovation. Now let's try some innovative regulation.

I'm with Larson. It always seems that the financial service companies want to fight any suggestion that they behave responsibly.

The financials will be squealing on and on throughout the process. Let them drone on.
To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, I'll add, "Their arguments will be insufficient to the present struggle".

-The Guy from Delaware

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 12:25AM

By the way, I watched that CNBC show earlier tonite about that dead rainmaker guy. What was his name?...Sloth Toadstool was it?

That jerk died as he lived--to excess. His hosed-up life is the same calling card all you hedge and PE innovators potentially have.

Is it any wonder that the Fed, the Congress, the Treasury Dept, and the American public all want to see you goons get a shave?

-The Guy from Delaware

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 12:40AM

Guy from Delaware -- I don't know where you get your views or what is encouraging you with all these posts, but there are plenty of people who work in hedge funds and PE who live responsible, generous lives.

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 12:44AM

Talk about an inverted yield curve. Diesel & No.2 fuel oil cost much less to refine than gasoline does. Yet the prices are inverted.

-----------
That's because more oil gets partitioned off for gas than for diesel, and the refining cost is a small portion of the total cost.

Main Street America understands this; that's why there aren't many diesel cars and coal runs power plants.

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 8:40AM

I hate to agree with delaware Guy, but heating oil on the highs as winter ends simply smacks of manipulation. The cost of making products hasnt increased as much as the retail price has. If you withdrew the speculators who have simply imposed a tax on the US public, you'd see oil products easily fall 50%.

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 10:07AM

Guest@12:44am...I guess that you're today's first genius who steps forth to explain the nuances of a free market.

Thank you for the explanation about the fuel that cars use. I think your analysis breaks down because the American public also understands that diesel fuel is used by highway truckers, buses, trains, ships, delivery vans, agricultural harvesters, dump trucks, and any other type of vehicle that transports goods and food around the country.

Americans also understand that the gasoline-using public can cut back on consumption, while diesel-using commerce really can't. The added diesel cost just gets added to the price of the produce. The same goes for home-heating oil.

Hey, the oil companies and the speculators understand this too. Supply & Demand, you know. The price is whatever the market will bear.

-The Guy from Delaware

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 11:02AM

"For the Love of Money" turned out, IMHO, to be a quite well-presented piece of work.

Much of the hour was of necessity spent presented facts with which the aficionados of this case are already familiar. What was new (to me, anyway) was that CNBC played for us some of the tapes on which Ash has claimed Filomena had confessed to him.

The host said that there is no confession on the tapes they've obtained. Without listening to every second of them, I can't confirm that. But they did play some portions that make it sound likely.

For example: at one point, Ash talks about how she has to keep up the act in public of being a grieving widow. She takes offense at this.

“I hate the way you make it sound … I AM grieving, Billy.”

He returned to the point, “You’re a lot better and a hundred percent richer.”

She replied, “That’s a horrible thing to say. Horrible.”

If she had already confessed to him that she had killed Seth, would she have taken such umbrage at what he said there?

It doesn't wash.

Posted by guest, Apr 01, 2008 11:37AM

Billy Ash is a poor excuse for a human being