The near 100% equity run up at the height of the correction was easily seen by my and my staff, but I severely underestimated the breadth and depth of this synthetically contrived, central bank centrally planned, bear market rally (which is essentially what has been called a "recovery" of late).
I warned that the attempt to centrally plan 16 economies in concert, by force nonetheless, would result in the Eurocalypse (that's a Reggie Middleton copyrighted term)! As is customary with warnings of common sense against unbridled, optimistic BULL(ishness), I was dismissed as being sensationalist. Well, as Malcom X is known as saying, "The chickens are coming home to roost!"
I have told subscribers that I would have to revisit the Apple valuation numbers after finding out more about their cloud services offerings. After all, embracing the cloud could potentially enable Apple to win the Mobile Computing Wars. As I have stated in my many rants regarding the Mobile Computing Wars, Apple is (strategically) placed behind Google.
This is a very, very important article. It is important enough that it should easily go viral, for it clearly and meticulously illustrates both the ease of perpetuating inaccurate information through the mainstream media (in this case, the venerable NY Times) while simultaneously demonstrating the blatant conflicts of interest, the “profit off of the client’s back” mentality and the piss poor performance of Wall Street’s biggest and most well respected (well, at least some of them) investment banks.
This is, by far, the best time I've ever witnessed to be a consumer of mobile computing technology. Alas, this is going to be the worst of times for those companies that come in any where under 2nd place in the Mobile Computing Wars - including some pretty big names... RIM, NOK, MSFT? INTC?
The banks can be trusted... Truly! All of them, but particularly the BIG ones! JP Morgan slashes loss provisions on RE loan assets by more than Dexia actually provisions for said losses in anticipation of sale. This is bullish, of course, so Goldman puts JPM on their "CONVICT"ion buy list in order to create the buying pressure necessary to dump prop inventory. Of course, this is just speculation on my part. After all, they would never do such a thing with Apple, would they?
Goldman sold somewhere around $428,672,680 worth of Apple stock into Apple loving, Apple can do no wrong, Apple has superior user experience, Apple will never face margin compression, Apple has shiny new products on tap, Google Android phones are cheap, I don’t care if the competition is taking over the world, Apple juice sucking, Goldman Conviction Buy List client purchases. Diehard Apple fans, the Goldman bonus pool (Manhattan Motorcars & the Hamptons local Azimmut dealer) simply luvs y'all!
It's amazing what one can discern from a leisurely walk through the local big box electronics retailer. I reiterate - the wholesale assumption that Apple can defy the basic rules of business, economics 101 (supply and demand) and common sense, combined with a near-nonsensical lovefest for this admittedly very impressive and innovative company will result in some very bad days for the NASDAQ (wherein Apple is one of the, if not the, heaviest weighting) in the future.
I called it the coming RE Depression in 2007! I put MY money where my mouth was and sold off all of my investment real estate. I put YOUR money where my mouth was and shorted all that had to do with real estate (REITs, banks, builders, insurers). I called almost every major bank collapse months in advance. I warned the .gov bubble blowing does not = organic economic recovery. Now I'm saying we need to, and will, continue what's left of the crash of 2009, with ample global company. There will be no RE recovery this year, and there will be a crash. OK, you heard it here!
Greece says it will not default because it has made a perfectly circular argument against default, and we all know that Circular Reasoning Works Because Circular Reasoning Works Because...
Greece is Guaranteed to Default. It's shouldn't even be up for debate since it is simple math: 2+2=4, not 3. I've laid it all out for you below, complete with the requisite advanced mathematical formulae (2+2...)
LinkedIn (LNKD) went public with an absolutely unrealistic valuation that illustrates the dangers of ZIRP policy that has carried on for too long. The marketing machinations of investment banks combined with a total lack of respect for risk and the cost of capital has allowed such to happen – and we all know how this is going to end!. In 2010 LinkedIn generated $15m of PAT (profit after taxes) as quoted by the popular financial media. But that’s PAT. What the media and pop media readers are forgetting is what’s available to common share holders, you know the guys holding that stuff trading on the exchanges.
My many warnings on the impending dethroning of Apple by Google has produced more flak and negative response since any proclamation since my warning about Goldman Sachs in the spring of 2008. Of course, fast foward to the spring of 2011 an you will find Reggie was right on point. I am just as confident, or more, about Apple vs Google, and for the same reasons as I was confident about Goldman Sachs.
Several BoomBustBloggers inquired as to my opinion of what apparently was an overpriced acquisition of Skype by Microsoft. At first blush, it appears as if the management of Microsoft has lost their mind. A second look reveals a more interesting perspective. To make a long story short, Microsoft is trying to replicate Google’s cloud services.
