Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Apple (AAPL) rising too fast: I smell a high frequency trade pump and dump
Boy the big trading firms hate Apple (AAPL)! Here is a massively successful company that puts out innovative products geared toward high-profit, democracy-promoting interconnectedness and user-friendliness. That right there, is a spit in the eye of the self-appointed market king makers, the we-tell-people-what-to-be-and-do, different-set-of-rules-for-us, risk-as-cocaine egomaniacs that think that companies and markets, nay, THE WORLD, should follow their orders.
Oh, and Apple just happens NOT to give out dividends AND parks its gains in nearly 100 billion (with a "B") of cash and cash-equivalent securities with less than a one percent annual return. Here is a company, AAPL, not "playing the (corrupted) market," not acceding to the returns extortion being perpetrated on savers in an attempt to force their money into the essentially counterfeit value casino the stock market has become.
Steve Jobs may not have been one of the easiest guys to get along with but he was no dummy. He knows how unsound the market is, and it's almost like he's teasing these clever-by-half crooks and arrogant jerks from the grave with this huge sack 'o cash. Talk about threatening the manhood of these Wall Street "play-ahs".
Short take: The Wall Street psychopaths are looking for revenge against the super-rich nerd and his company. They'll figure: "Let's see if we can crash the value of this company by manipulating demand past the fundamentals, thus creating an AAPL bubble. Boost volume at the margins to tweak the market into a buying stampede. Then we'll short it, and see how much money we can make both ways and hopefully screw over this damn upstart (turned behemoth) that thinks it can play its own game. We'll take a big chunk of this AAPL pie AND take it down a peg."
I'm not handing out stock advice, but in my assessment the recent vertical rise in Apple share price is way too steep for comfort or for fundamentals (even for a popular company). I smell manipulation, and I sense a downturn, not a crash, but an "adjustment" in line with fundamentals. AAPL is generally a well-run company, (despite some of the Chinese labor practices, etc.) with good products and a lot of cash. They can't be blackmailed, like Greece, with sleazy derivatives contracts and margin calls into playing where they don't want to play. Personally I hope AAPL whacks these villains but hard.
We'll see...
Disclosure: No positions
Oh, and Apple just happens NOT to give out dividends AND parks its gains in nearly 100 billion (with a "B") of cash and cash-equivalent securities with less than a one percent annual return. Here is a company, AAPL, not "playing the (corrupted) market," not acceding to the returns extortion being perpetrated on savers in an attempt to force their money into the essentially counterfeit value casino the stock market has become.
Steve Jobs may not have been one of the easiest guys to get along with but he was no dummy. He knows how unsound the market is, and it's almost like he's teasing these clever-by-half crooks and arrogant jerks from the grave with this huge sack 'o cash. Talk about threatening the manhood of these Wall Street "play-ahs".
Short take: The Wall Street psychopaths are looking for revenge against the super-rich nerd and his company. They'll figure: "Let's see if we can crash the value of this company by manipulating demand past the fundamentals, thus creating an AAPL bubble. Boost volume at the margins to tweak the market into a buying stampede. Then we'll short it, and see how much money we can make both ways and hopefully screw over this damn upstart (turned behemoth) that thinks it can play its own game. We'll take a big chunk of this AAPL pie AND take it down a peg."
I'm not handing out stock advice, but in my assessment the recent vertical rise in Apple share price is way too steep for comfort or for fundamentals (even for a popular company). I smell manipulation, and I sense a downturn, not a crash, but an "adjustment" in line with fundamentals. AAPL is generally a well-run company, (despite some of the Chinese labor practices, etc.) with good products and a lot of cash. They can't be blackmailed, like Greece, with sleazy derivatives contracts and margin calls into playing where they don't want to play. Personally I hope AAPL whacks these villains but hard.
We'll see...
Disclosure: No positions
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Thursday, December 03, 2009
The Corporatocracy: A New Economic System for the Connected Banking Sector and Political Elites. Providing the new Serfdom Massive Debt Servitude.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
New realities well met create the dreams of the future
Every thirty years or so in this young and powerful country there has been a progressive or semi-progressive upwelling to clean things up a bit, shake them up a bit, and move things awkwardly forward. Like a gigantic teen with coordination problems we seem to have managed a few moments of brilliance and genuine moments of change. For some reason, for the first time (at least in modern history), this progressive hiccup has been skipped. Clinton's "bridge to the 21st century" was coopted into a blithe economism.
I think we progressive leaners have all sensed that this is our time for change, not just because we "want" it, but because it is being thrust upon us and we desire to meet the challenge of our time. What we are getting is people who seem to think we can run out the clock, keep our noses clean, etc. and things will turn around. Obama was called a "once in a generation leader" by Ted Kennedy. It appeared that the confluence of Obama's promise (metaphorically and literally) combined with the times would open the door to recognize that change is upon us in a way that really required a bold new mindset and direction. Instead we seem to be getting retreaded conventional wisdom which is predictably proving itself to be unworkable and unequal to the demands and opportunity of the time.
Yes, I am somewhat selfish in that I would like to experience one progressive moment in my civically conscious life. (I was about 9 when the Vietnam War ended and a few years older when the ERA was defeated.) I realize that the resistance to the necessary changes now are signs of the probable immensity of the shifts we are being brought to globally and nationally. I am patient and perceptive, but problems do not solve themselves. Big problems and big changes need big leaders who not only inspire but push to recognize the nature of our challenge in practical terms. Obama's response in this regard and that of the Democratic party has been undoubtedly tepid.
They seem to be signaling that they are not up to the challenge and Republicans smell blood in the water. They are as effective as an opposition party as they are lousy as a governing party. The question is, "Who will govern in a manner appropriate these times?" I'm beginning to think it will simply have to be us working on the local level, grooming and supporting candidates, and creating our own positive change. Notice Obama and Rahm have completely abandoned the "house party" and local organizing roots they used to get themselves and Democrats elected. We were told he would need us to push for essentially progressive change and that he would have our back. For whatever reason, compromise, DC realities, too much on his plate, Obama has not done this. So it now gets thrown back to us. Is it too much to ask to have a champion, and not simply to be doing all the hard work ourselves with a hope that my son will have a brighter world, based in the reality of the changes we face as a foundation not an impediment to our greatest dreams?
I think we progressive leaners have all sensed that this is our time for change, not just because we "want" it, but because it is being thrust upon us and we desire to meet the challenge of our time. What we are getting is people who seem to think we can run out the clock, keep our noses clean, etc. and things will turn around. Obama was called a "once in a generation leader" by Ted Kennedy. It appeared that the confluence of Obama's promise (metaphorically and literally) combined with the times would open the door to recognize that change is upon us in a way that really required a bold new mindset and direction. Instead we seem to be getting retreaded conventional wisdom which is predictably proving itself to be unworkable and unequal to the demands and opportunity of the time.
Yes, I am somewhat selfish in that I would like to experience one progressive moment in my civically conscious life. (I was about 9 when the Vietnam War ended and a few years older when the ERA was defeated.) I realize that the resistance to the necessary changes now are signs of the probable immensity of the shifts we are being brought to globally and nationally. I am patient and perceptive, but problems do not solve themselves. Big problems and big changes need big leaders who not only inspire but push to recognize the nature of our challenge in practical terms. Obama's response in this regard and that of the Democratic party has been undoubtedly tepid.
They seem to be signaling that they are not up to the challenge and Republicans smell blood in the water. They are as effective as an opposition party as they are lousy as a governing party. The question is, "Who will govern in a manner appropriate these times?" I'm beginning to think it will simply have to be us working on the local level, grooming and supporting candidates, and creating our own positive change. Notice Obama and Rahm have completely abandoned the "house party" and local organizing roots they used to get themselves and Democrats elected. We were told he would need us to push for essentially progressive change and that he would have our back. For whatever reason, compromise, DC realities, too much on his plate, Obama has not done this. So it now gets thrown back to us. Is it too much to ask to have a champion, and not simply to be doing all the hard work ourselves with a hope that my son will have a brighter world, based in the reality of the changes we face as a foundation not an impediment to our greatest dreams?
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Lawrence Wilkerson: Congress Is "Spineless" (VIDEO)
There are no positive steps without the truth. We've lost the ability to distinguish between positive and painful (cutting through lies, looking at our own complicity, transparency) and negative and numbed (willful ignorance, calculated amnesia, allergy to accountability). The longer we go on playing footsie with the truth, the more painful the inevitable unveiling will be. Political animals, it seems, survive by foisting the consequences of decisions or LACK OF decisions on the next generation and the next Congress. This is the root of the cowardice-- bald, butt-preserving, short-term self-interest. Thank you Col. Wilkerson for speaking out. (In defense of him, they were lied to as well. At least he is telling the truth after being lied to, instead of continuing to lie to himself and the American people like the Republicans and their Democratic enablers.
About Colin Powell
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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