Comments on: God’s green earth

By: buddy larsen

buddy larsen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:06:19 +0000

The last newspaper headline before the lights go dark:

“Barney Frank’s Fannie Hoovers Up Entire World”

(jeez i oughtta copyright that (he says, blowing –er, exhaling upon, fingernails))

By: slade

slade — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:06:27 +0000

In a few more minutes Joe Kernen, Rick Santelli, and Steve Liesman will wrap up another week of downtrends and “ludicrous” valuations. I am still undecided between the Nouriel Roubini versus Jack Welsch gestault. The bigger picture is foggy – to me. Shadowy times. Like a bad Woody Allen movie.

Santelli takes on Cramer

[The cowboy ethics video link works if you play with it.]

By: buddy larsen

buddy larsen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:58:18 +0000

aw, hell –i just got here –i need to see that video. yes, caught part of Consul guy on Kudlow –i wuz dragging my carcass outside for that fricken two mile run (well, “lurch/crawl”).

right on all counts –incl mgmnt prob at Rentech –iirc, it was some sort of ethical, not criminal thing –overselling forward earnings ar somesuch sh*t easily cured with a single personnel change. –far different and lesser prob than any structural market weakness.

agree, the ”sell sell sell” advice is better for retail trader than enterprise stability –far far –

i can’t sleep w/o a constant electron bath –and cable tv ads will wake up the dead (Billy Mays esp –someday i’m gonna harm that guy) –so i default to ad-free TCM. Old black n whites, 30s40s50s vintage. Rarely see one thru as they signal the sandman, but –in addition to the gorgeous corn-fed women and great cars and nightclubs –the warp and woof of plot development, character development, theme, meaning, IOW the gestalt of the time inadvertantly transmitted states a morality different from ours here today, different almost not only in degree but in kind. An inside-out smelted-in disgust and impatience with proscribed shame-creating thought and behavior –not just in the mechanics of the film but in the tics and postures and expressions of the actors themselves –as actual people as well as as the characters being played.

The difference with nowadays is i think in the thing we later threw away, the old fashioned drag we ‘evolved’ our silly selves out of: “judgementalism”.

Where do we get it back? We ain’t gonna make it much further down the road without it, i don’t think.

By: slade

slade — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:18:30 +0000

OK. Video won’t link. Too bad – it was great.

I’m done for awhile.

By: slade

slade — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:06:15 +0000

Try again. Cowboy Ethics

By: slade

slade — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:02:56 +0000

There's a better way and I think it's found in the past: Cowboy Ethics

By: slade

slade — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:52:20 +0000

See the CEO of Consol Energy on Kudlow tonight.

He makes the case.

By: slade

slade — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:37:56 +0000

Cramer may have soured on the Rentech management team, some of which were cleaned out several years ago when current CEO (D. Hunt) Ramsbottom took over.

But to return to my original point, the time frame and the availability of cheap abundant domestic resources make it an attractive energy option, in my view.

By: slade

slade — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:27:08 +0000

And I’m not so sure about Cramer anymore. He is focused on returns and earnings, but has also stated that Buy and Hold of Blue Chips is no longer a viable investment strategy, IOW, active trading is the new paradigm. That type of trading pattern will never sustain the long-term energy development projects. Look at the impact on well-managed companies. A start-up can’t sustain itself in that financial environment.

By: slade

slade — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:22:37 +0000

Cramer has embraced natural gas. I read somewhere (the Rentech site I think) that the bank approved their business plan to build commercial-scale plant after receiving firm DoD contract. Maybe this is the wrong paradigm but it seems prudent to maintain a diversified energy portfolio. Natural gas obviously has the potential to become another monopoly.

In the meantime, this just in:

Working Paper 666

Myths about the financial crisis:

1. Bank lending to nonfinancial corporations and individuals has declined sharply.
2. Interbank lending is essentially nonexistent.
3. Commercial paper issuance by nonfinancial corporations has declined sharply and rates have risen to unprecedented levels.
4. Banks play a large role in channeling funds from savers to borrowers.