This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Investment Advice From GE's Subsidiary

Tyler Durden's picture




 

No comment necessary.

hat tip A B

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Wed, 08/05/2009 - 09:45 | 25590 kote
kote's picture

Front-running... behind the market?  Huh?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 09:50 | 25597 PragmaticIdealist
PragmaticIdealist's picture

You know... like cutting behind the line-up at McDonalds...

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 09:46 | 25591 waterdog
waterdog's picture

Crystal Ball- just pay shipping

 

I got tired of being the only person who has not seen the bottom. I read about it all the time on blogs, hear it on TV and radio; Normal every day honest looking news people able to see and call the bottom. They must have crystal balls. So I got on-line and found this guy who was getting rid of a crystal ball that he had used to see the bottom. I called him and told him I too wanted to see the bottom. He said that all I had to pay was the shipping cost. He asked me if I knew what the bottom looked like. I said no, I had never seen it. But everyone else had. I paid and got the crystal ball two days later.

 

I set it on my desk and closed all the blinds. Shaking with adrenalin at the chance to finally see the bottom, I looked into the crystal ball,

 

An image appeared almost immediately. It was an image of 1,000 weeping mothers whose pregnant teenager daughters had died from the H1N1 virus half way through their third trimester.

 

Another image took its place. There was a man sitting in his car at an Assisted Living Facility. He had just turned his dementia disabled 77 year old father over to Doctor Death and Nurse Neglect. He was staring blankly through the windshield, trying to reconcile in his mind the life he just threw way to the life his buddies say he is entitle to have.

 

Another image took its place. Two strange men were standing in ankle deep snow fighting to the death over a space in a four block line of cars waiting to pay $9 a gallon for gasoline.

 

I shook the thing. I think this thing does not know where to find the bottom. I set it down.

 

I came back 2 hours later and looked into it. There was an image of hundreds of workers in fields, manually pollinating the vegetable plants and fruit trees because the honey bee had become extinct.

 

The heck with this, I’ll just have to find another crystal ball.

 

Crystal ball, just pay shipping.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:51 | 25692 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Please do not stop writing. This is powerful.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:05 | 25876 dnarby
dnarby's picture

Hmmm...  Let me check mine...

 

(Shakes vigorously)

 

I see...   Unemployment reaching 25%.  I see... Workers in China revolting after their own Western-style bubble pops...  I see...  A near total changeover in goverment in the US, with moderately Libertarian centrists taking power, some even under the Libertarian party banner...  I see...  A completely new monetary and financial system, one based on transparancy and 60% metals, and a new goverment not only accountable to the people's desires, but responsive!

 

I like my ball better, thanks.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:13 | 25886 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

This is a cristal ball not a Genie in a bottle.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 17:55 | 26406 Alexander Supertramp
Alexander Supertramp's picture

Whoa, amazing work waterdog/dnarby.  

Upon one last shake of mine, the mushroom cloud appeared.  All our decades of "moral catastrophe on a scale without precedent in human history" (in the words of Daniel Ellsberg, yes, that Daniel Ellsberg), the button got pressed and we dropped the bomb.  It sure was fun while it lasted, humanity.

If we stay focused and do the right work, maybe we'll get a shot at another shake... it's why I show up here on ZH.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 15:15 | 26117 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I dusted off mine, shook it like an 8ball in hopes of seeing something new and a whole bunch of gold coins, ammo and dry food packets fell out.

Now I know why I shelved the damned thing to begin with: worthless.

Thu, 08/06/2009 - 03:31 | 26955 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Put your Crystal Ball in a tube sock.

Not so useless after all.

:-)

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 09:50 | 25600 Pickdog
Pickdog's picture

Very nice Waterdog!

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 09:53 | 25603 Anal_yst
Anal_yst's picture

WTF?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 09:56 | 25607 Hondo
Hondo's picture

Where would someone borrow (ex China) the $ to invest in the US markets?  I certainly don't see it in the numbers at any US financial institution.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:06 | 25614 Sancho Ponzi
Sancho Ponzi's picture

From Bloomberg:

'Ten-year note yields touched their highest levels in over a week after U.S. lost 371,000 jobs in July, the smallest amount in nine months, after a revised drop of 463,000 the prior month, ADP Employer Services figures showed today. The Treasury plans to sell $75 billion in 3-, 10-, and 30-year debt next week and is considering introducing 30-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and ending 20-year TIPS.'

30-year TIPS = kicking the can way down the road 

Something needs to be done about this @#(#!@ NOW

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:05 | 25619 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

GE's lean green propoganda machine.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:08 | 25622 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I totally agree, cannot disagree with that. It's not BS information it is just incomplete. He forgot to put some other prices on that chart just after the DAX, FTSE-100 & Silver.

Let me fill in the missing parts:

Loaf of bread @ $23,
Gasoline/ gallon (not premium) @ $12
Ice cream (Ben & Jerry Pint) $41,
Haircut @ $256,
Regular trip to the grocery store @ $2300
Milk @ $36 / half gallon

You can add some more examples here [feel free] , but we should thank Mr. Ben first.

Thank you Mr. Ben, for getting my 401(k) up 10 times when everything else I buy is up 50 times.

But because we have left most the US society in darkness, in terms of math, ranking 4th from last (out of 30 countries that competed) noone can really comprehend what is going on.

SOURCE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR200712...

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 14:00 | 25960 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

French fries $32
2L coke soda $42 (with coupon)
White T-shirt (plain) $234

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 15:18 | 26119 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Box of condoms == Free.
wtf?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:11 | 25627 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Which large institution will be the first to run for the exits on this train wreck. As soon as they can't frontrun they won't have early information to make decisions to buy or sell. Who will panic first.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:46 | 25773 aldousd
aldousd's picture

how many 30 to 90 day waiting and public comment periods are there between now and the next presidential election?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:15 | 25633 economessed
economessed's picture

I just fired-off letters to all my congresscritters and the gang of foul-mouthed Goldman Sachs underwriters (Treasury, Fed, etc.) demanding that the ZIRP be pulled, and we get ahead of inflation now since the recovery is solidly underway (it's COMMON KNOWLEDGE that things are getting better!!!!).

 

The Fed can't have it both ways -- you can't keep rates at essentially zero percent AND have a durable, inflation-free recovery.  So what's the truth, Ben?  If we're out of the woods, don't let the inflation monster out of his cage -- jam 200 basis points into the equation to throttle that demand-driven price spiral!!!!

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:25 | 25657 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

"The Fed can't have it both ways -- you can't keep rates at essentially zero percent AND have a durable, inflation-free recovery."

Yes they can. That's what they are doing no matter what the actual results may or may not be.

It's ridiculous but through the wonders of propaganda they are going to get it done...for there own sakes.

MS

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:52 | 25697 economessed
economessed's picture

Words -- they seem to overcompensate for the uninspiring reality, don't they?

"2nd quarter recovery" is the new "younger, thinner, healthier, richer, better looking" tag line.  If we spend ALL of our time talking about how things are getting better, we won't have any time to talk about the unfixed problems that sour our mood (and erode our potential as a society for that matter).

The whole broadcasting establishment has turned into one giant Successories poster.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:53 | 25703 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

"When I use a word, it means exactly what I want it to mean."

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:15 | 25724 economessed
economessed's picture

"When I use a word, it means exactly what I want it to mean."

 

May I suggest REVENGE.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:37 | 25674 Econofresh
Econofresh's picture

You bought the dark crystall ball he? :)

To understand why the stockmarket is rising, you need to understand what has changed in the companies across amerika and europe.

2000: A lot of firms where still owend by the baby booming genartion who started their companies from scratch. They where the hard working kind of people who forget they also had to educate their offspring so they could take over their firms in the future. Ten years later, a hughe amount of them sold their companies and cashed in, becaue most of their offspring where... idiots to say the least.

The people who bought those companies where investment firms. They didn't really care for the business, only the EBITA is important for them, pushing the salesprice of that company up (they never wanted to keep that companie for longer than 5 years anyway).

Since then, almost everybody knows what a FTE is, 3 letter, most people didn't even know what it meant. FULL TIME EMPLOYEEEeee

So the stockmarket, the economy crashed. And what did those investment firms do? Push sales? That was hard... and impossible.

But what about the EBITA? well... if the EBITA goes down with for example 1 million dollars, and a FTE costs 50.000 dollars on average, you just cut 20 FTE's and TATA!! Same EBITA!

Don't look at the companies anymore like we did in 2000, a lot has changed! Look at the EBITA, followed by the downsizing.

That is why, if a company fires people: STOCKS GO UP!

This is also why stocks are no longer a long term investment. Forget about blue chips!

Another example: GM

Magna bought Opel in Europe. What will they do...

1. boost sales, so they make more money?

2. bring down the FTE's and sell the activa to another company (another investment firm)

I think it will be number 2. And once the EBITA is back in a good shape, even if OPEL sale would be down for example 25% extra, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO SELL THAT COMPANY FOR TWICE THE AMOUNT!

(and as a surpluss bonus: the activa which they will sell will not affect the company sales price!)

 

BOTTOM LINE:

A company is valued as a concept, and no longer as it's assets.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:00 | 25708 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I think you're right. The stock market is now mostly banks and mutual funds selling to each other. The whole thing is a bubble, and bears little relationship to earnings. Of course, that can't last forever, just as house prices can't last forever if working people can't afford to rent them, but who knows when it will end. We only know that buy-and-hold is for suckers.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 12:37 | 25850 Joe Sixpack
Joe Sixpack's picture

I remember hearing a story on NPR. It was told by an older German gentleman recounting an experience he had in London in the 1960s. He said he had an appointment in London at 10 AM, so he got on a bus, and it was very crowded. He commented to another local passenger about the crowding. The Londoner said, it was rush hour. The German man then understood the decline in England. In Gemany rush hour was 6 AM.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 10:44 | 25684 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

In direct response to the above memo Polish WIG20 index lost 3% in last few minutes of trading. The only way surely is up from here.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:27 | 25746 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

If Tyler is so sure that no comment is necessary, why are there now approximately a score of comments and more to follow?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 12:02 | 25798 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

your stupidity is giving me a headache ...

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:28 | 25747 mdtrader
mdtrader's picture

But if we should be evicted from our homes
We'll just move somewhere else
And still carry on

The only way is up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxlHiyBewSA

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:38 | 25761 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I swear, when I first saw "Zwermann", I thought it said "Zimbabwean"

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:48 | 25768 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

ahahhahahhahahhaha

 

you'd be stupid to take advice from GE.   that said,  i wonder about the comment on silver.   either they are telling the truth, or they are lying in usual cynical fashion, which probably means one of two things:

1) the technical damage to the USD is 'for real' and we are on our way down to 71 with silver and gold responding accordingly.

2) we are in for another round of forced deleveraging, and everything *except USD* will take massive losses.

 

Thus this makes me say, "hahahhaa f*ckers I'm hedged! Go to hell GE!"

 

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:56 | 25789 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Confidence, which is what the Fed et al are trying to achieve, is great if people have money to spend and are feeling secure in their jobs. It's a waste of time if people have little or no savings and are having credit lines cut by the banks and CC companies.

As for employment and job security, only when cap util starts to rise will anyone's job be somewhat safe. There are still far too many half idle workers across the economy, and management continues to see the bottom line effect of cutting headcount even further. Even if inventory restocking occurs, few end users can afford to buy what's produced, so it would be merely a temporary blip in GDP. And $3 billion worth of autos, especially when those qualifying for the CforC program are most likely to default on their payments in the future (if they could afford a better car they would have bought it already), is pretty insignificant in a $12.5 trillion economy, despite how animated the cheerleaders get when discussing it.

Of course if Bernanke and Geithner's plan is what many here seem to think it is---inflation in both equities and fixed assets---then failure and an even greater disaster is all but a certainty. Too bad the mechanisms do not exist to stop the two before they do any more damage.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:58 | 25790 Moe Speeks
Moe Speeks's picture

ANARCHY IS THE ONLY TRUE ANSWER TO THESE ISSUES.

at least that is my thinking.

 

and what the fuck is with these asshole math questions????

fucking christ

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 15:25 | 26150 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Dude, all you have to is answer the math question once while yer here. It's a very (times 10^12) simple algebraic expression.

Is this what the US has come to? A simple math problem annoys us when it should delight us in the ability to use our minds to solve a puzzle or figure out a problem?

*sigh*

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 12:18 | 25821 crzyhun
crzyhun's picture

FYI all....from Briefing.com

Reuters.com reports U.S. Treasury Department officials refused to say on Wednesday whether China had been asked about and been assured last week that Treasury will ramp up its issuance of inflation-protected securities. At a press conference after announcing the sale of $75 billion of fresh U.S. debt next week, U.S. officials ducked direct questions about whether Chinese officials raised the issue of TIPS, or Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, in talks in Washington last week. "We talk to a range of market participants on a daily basis ... to ensure that we are constantly getting feedback on our debt management strategy," an official said. "So it shouldn't be a surprise that we are talking to a whole range of market participants," he said, but added when pressed about China: "I'm not going to comment on any individual investor or conversation that we have had."

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 12:43 | 25857 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I think this is what GE means by Eco-Imagination.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:11 | 25882 futboller04
futboller04's picture

WTF is happening to SRS???

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:14 | 25888 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

all the proRetard ETFs have significant tracking error.  get a margin acct if you want to short.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:17 | 25891 futboller04
futboller04's picture

So what would one look to short that would "mimic" the returns of SRS?

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:45 | 25930 Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire's picture

I Lost them At "UP"!!!

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 13:48 | 25934 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I noticed that the quote at the beginning was about GLOBAL stocks. Call me a cynic, but I think that means all of the world except the US.

Wed, 08/05/2009 - 22:21 | 26655 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Quote: "2000: A lot of firms where still owend by the baby booming genartion who started their companies from scratch. They where the hard working kind of people who forget they also had to educate their offspring so they could take over their firms in the future."

For the last couple of decades we have become a nation that consumes like crazy, produces little value, thinks shuffling financial paper around is an economy, and overuses the word innovative way too much. All while people in China and other emerging countries are working hard and PRODUCING value.

Wake up people, how can you build a vibrant economy without any manufacturing? And a vibrant economy is not one where stock prices go up, but one where citizens have jobs and a decent standard of living.

We don't have a lock on "ingenuity" or "innovation". And simply blaming others or politicians is easy but no answer.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!