August 06, 2008

Rally caps?


fasion queen said...

very 'European style' cap

No style and no class

kinda like a BMW

Ok BMW's are plain old ugly and over priced..

Proud to be American? said...

IRS offers deal for companies to end tax shelters
By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 08/06/2008 10:57:40 AM PDT

WASHINGTON—The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesay it is prepared to offer settlements to some 45 corporations if they agree to end questionable tax shelter practices.
IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said the agency aims to end transactions that have allowed corporations, including many of the nation's top banks, to gain billions in tax deferrals. He did not name the corporations.

Letters were sent out Wednesday giving the corporations 30 days to make a decision on accepting the terms of the offer, which include best efforts to terminate the transactions by the end of this year.

Shulman said the transactions, called lease-in/lease-out (LILO), and sale-in/lease-out (SILO), involve complex arrangements where large corporations lease or purchase large assets such as foreign rail systems or sewer systems and then lease them back to the original owner.

"As a basic matter of fairness to all taxpayers, the IRS cannot allow LILO and SILO deals to stand," he said.

The 45 companies are engaged in more than 1,000 of these LILO and SILO transactions. The tax agency said it has won three cases against corporations involved in the transactions, giving others an incentive to agree to the settlement offer.

It said that cases will proceed against corporations that decide not to participate in the settlement.

keith said...

It's a rally cap. Don't watch much baseball, eh?

Anyone else buying up stocks this week?

Arrest Orangeman Mozilo said...

Angelo Orangeman continues to Roam Free and Frolic in America:

Connecticut sues Countrywide over lending practices
Associated Press
Article Launched: 08/06/2008 09:15:20 AM PDT

HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today the state is suing Countrywide Financial, alleging it misled borrowers into taking on risky home loans they could not afford.
Blumenthal alleged the mortgage giant violated state consumer protection laws and charged unjustified fees to homeowners who defaulted.

A spokeswoman for Countrywide says the company is going to review Blumenthal's allegations before commenting.

California, Illinois and Florida have filed similar lawsuits against Calabasas-based Countrywide, whose shareholders recently approved a takeover by Bank of America.

A federal grand jury has been investigating Countrywide and other lenders at the center of the mortgage crisis.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the long post... but a good read - the whole article can be found here:

Here is how it looks to people like me: Real estate dealings fueled the economy in most areas of the country for the past decade or more. We've been in a market downturn for three years. We have seen the cost of doing business increase for builders, along with a big drop in buyers as everyone tightens their belts, or can't sell existing homes. Many employers have gone under ending thousands of jobs. If they have a job people are worried about losing it. Driving long distances to work is not possible with gasoline costs double that of 2006. There has been a 40% drop in most peoples' home equity worth. Many people are "underwater" on their homes, meaning they owe more than the market price is worth today. So many under-employed don't show up in government unemployed statistics. Self employed like me never get counted. Today, nobody is building. Unsold home inventories are triple that of 2003. Banks no longer give easy credit for home buyers. Many realtors I know have gone two years without selling a home. Empty storefronts are becoming common. In many areas unemployment among construction trades people is 50% or more. Tens of thousands of illegal Mexicans who did most of the manual labor have returned to Mexico to find work. What now? Well, I do handyman projects of all sorts, big or small and make about 70-90% of what it takes to survive with a family of a wife and three young children. My savings make up the rest. That can't go on for too much longer. We went from affluent and comfortable to nervous and broke with diminished opportunities in just three years. We used to be the middle class.

So... don't bet on the rally - it's a sucker's market.

keith said...

Buy when everyone else is selling sell when everyone else is buying

fasion queen said...


Ok true I don’t watch much baseball.

BMWs are still ugly and not worth a fraction of what they’re charging for em.

Anonymous said...

I am looking at the rally cap picture and the QQQ Chart atop the previous post of the broken down bridge in the river. So which is it?

Are we just making ourselves feel good that just maybe, possibly, Happy Days Are Here Again and we can buy a house with granite countertops finally?

Seems a bit schizoid to me.


fasion queen said...

Hey, Keefer..

Also, White trailer trash bud guzzling bubbas, have more class than any arrogant bald headed smelly cheese eating wine sniffing Europeeons.

keith said...



ATE-UP said...

Good for you Keith! I thought so, and I am proud of you.

Rational Renter said...

Buy when everyone else is selling is a sound philosophy...unless you are smarter than everyone else and see all the bad economic news coming down the pipe. And you are smarter than just about everyone else, Keith. I'd sell again if the dow gets close to 12,000.

Paul E. Math said...

My rally cap is not on. The sox are up 5-2 to finish a 3-game sweep of the Royals as I write. No need to go rally-cap.

And I'm certainly not going rally cap on the stock market. P/E ratios are NOT low, given how low future earnings will be.

There is a pervasive, blind belief, exactly as you said Keith, that you should buy when a stock is low or has fallen. But that would only hold true if the company is a good one, well-managed and with bright business prospects. I know that is the way you buy, Keith, but these recent rallies are people just buying because it's down, not because they have found bargains.

Just an opinion.

messier11 said...


Didn't you call the last market top around 1400, how's that looking?

See John Hussman's latest market commentary on what recession bear market bottoms look like. (

Its basically when everyone (and I mean everyone) on CNBC first of all acknowledges there is an ongoing recession and secondly we get a general sense that things are not only not getting better, but they are getting worse and will continue to get worse for the foreseable future.

More likely, we are setting up for a secondary (although probably not the final) major run down in this bear.

Rally Caps Schmally Caps. Good Luck!

lunatic fringe said...

Keith, what are you saying? That it's time to buy stocks or time to sell stocks?

This is just another bear market rally, just like the one that finished up in mid May.

Check out The Big Picture. Barry has a post up about big moves up only happening in bear markets. Pretty interesting.

Anonymous said...

Long-time bear joins bulls

Granville's third signal: Sentiment: "At the start of all important advances or declines there is always disbelief."
Granville's current projection: "How far could this rally carry? My first guess could take it up 800 points, but my most recent research is taking aim at the 12,000 Dow area. I had said to do some buying in the airlines, banks, brokers, and casinos, but keep shorting the oils.
"This past week oil broke key supports and now looks headed for the $121 level. Only a few days ago, The Wall Street Journal said the consensus was looking for $200 a barrel, typically wrongly timed. I think anything under $121 projects to $100."

keith said...

Re stocks, I'm not a bull or a bear. I'm buying though... Oil bubble deflating has presented many interesting opportunities...

Anonymous said...

The economy is sending ALL of us signals that the worst is still to come. Yet we see these big rallys and as investors (stock gamblers) we don't want to miss out.

Look at where the financials stocks are now that the Fed outlawed short selling. They say only "naked" short selling, but have you tried to short any on that list? You can't. So they go up.

Makes no sense to invest long when day after day bad news comes out. Study, planning and strategy mean nothing when investing in Wall Street because it makes no sense, thus it is simply gambling.

Today's bad news can be shrugged off and the market goes up and we start to think this is a bull starting. Then when you are heavily invested bad news comes out and the market actually acts accordingly and goes down, at that moment we realize we drank the kool-aid.

GT Charlie

Anonymous said...

Please keep in mind that oil prices will start spiking in the fall because fuel oil production will start ramping up (for heating homes/schools/business this winter).

The by product of making fuel oil, however, is gasoline - so gas prices should hold steady or even drop.

Usually, fuel oil production stops in Jan/Feb, so I'm expecting another meltdown on Wall St. like we had this year when it all combines with a new gloomy outlook (especially after the Christmas shopping season).

Gotta remember - the market is cyclical. Some cycles are long, while others are very short. The problem I see however is that we're in a death spiral going downwards - at this point we are seeing blue sky again, but it's only a matter of time before the plane spins some more and we again see the cold green earth below.

Overall... the direction is down.

Hope you all brought your parachutes...

vanilla ice said...

"I'm buying though... Oil bubble deflating has presented many interesting opportunities..."

Such as.....?

Anonymous said...

i gotta hope all you people are ejoying your summer as its hot as hell again here in phoenix and somewhat has been for about as long as winter will be for you...............