tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post4158671329990495027..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: How to short sell stocksUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-17824036730363893862014-03-20T14:21:50.004-07:002014-03-20T14:21:50.004-07:00It is cheap and easy to register a corporation. [....<i>It is cheap and easy to register a corporation. [...] It is cheap and easy to file a patent application on anything.</i><br />-Corporate Shark<br /><br />Not sure if you were elaborating or thought you were contradicting, but yes, that was one of my points. The scam is beyond ridiculous and transparent to anyone with a modicum of business experience/acumen. <br /><br />Despite our technology and universal education society hasn't moved one bit beyond the gullibility-level possessed by those townspeople in Huck Finn.<br /><br />It's still like taking candy from a baby. Shooting fish in a barrel. America is truly the Land of Opportunity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-88198055437004860602014-03-15T10:51:28.345-07:002014-03-15T10:51:28.345-07:00"Mike said...
In the time it took you to wri..."Mike said...<br /><br />In the time it took you to write your comment you could have done a Google search which would have cleared up your ignorance."<br /><br />It appears you are right. I was under the impression that this was not the case. I imagine that there is a great deal that you have posted on about which you are ignorant, and the same thing you said would apply to you. So don't be such a dick about it.<br /><br />Though I ask again - why doesn't everybody do this? Nobody has an interest in having their stock shorted.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-52526700063343223702014-03-15T10:45:55.277-07:002014-03-15T10:45:55.277-07:00"Mike said...
You can also decline to have y..."Mike said...<br /><br />You can also decline to have your shares available for borrow into the market and some people/groups do this."<br /><br />How does one do this, and why doesn't everyone do it?Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24368142779335014522014-03-14T08:10:57.103-07:002014-03-14T08:10:57.103-07:00"Mr. Anon said...
I have yet to find anyone w..."Mr. Anon said...<br />I have yet to find anyone who will explain to me why it is ethical for the broker who bought a stock for you to loan it to someone else, without your permission, so that that someone else can use it to devalue your investment. Why is this not a breach of fiduciary duty? Would you patronize a doctor who loaned out your medical records to a bookie who was placing bets on your imminent death? If you placed some family jewelry in a safe-deposit box, would it be ethical for your bank to loan it out to a guy who was having an affair with your wife, and who made a gift of your jewelry to her?"<br /><br />You have yet to find anyone to explain it to you because this is not what happens. The broker can lend your shares to a short seller and the short seller becomes responsible for paying dividends to you plus a lending fee.<br /><br />You can also decline to have your shares available for borrow into the market and some people/groups do this.<br /><br />In the time it took you to write your comment you could have done a Google search which would have cleared up your ignorance. Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-5322532987410114262014-03-12T22:25:40.803-07:002014-03-12T22:25:40.803-07:00I have yet to find anyone who will explain to me w...I have yet to find anyone who will explain to me why it is ethical for the broker who bought a stock for you to loan it to someone else, without your permission, so that that someone else can use it to devalue your investment. Why is this not a breach of fiduciary duty? Would you patronize a doctor who loaned out your medical records to a bookie who was placing bets on your imminent death? If you placed some family jewelry in a safe-deposit box, would it be ethical for your bank to loan it out to a guy who was having an affair with your wife, and who made a gift of your jewelry to her?Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-11144101835349678522014-03-12T17:16:46.889-07:002014-03-12T17:16:46.889-07:00A lot of smarts goes into thinking about stocks an...<i>A lot of smarts goes into thinking about stocks and sports</i><br /><br />And Star Wars, and Star Trek.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-83046191220952418762014-03-12T16:56:50.151-07:002014-03-12T16:56:50.151-07:00A lot of smarts goes into thinking about stocks an...A lot of smarts goes into thinking about stocks and sports. These fields seem to be where much (not all) of the man brains in America are to be found nowadays. Imagine some of the better thinkers among them deciding that America needs a new political structure. Things could get interesting. (Of course, you can argue that this has been happening for a while already, in a negative way.)<br /><br />Anyway, it's great to read some of the comments here and realize that people are still out there who are alive above the neck.Davidhttp://david-passingparade3.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-11645118362115230482014-03-12T16:17:38.898-07:002014-03-12T16:17:38.898-07:00"This misconception is common that somehow a ...<i>"This misconception is common that somehow a company can go out of business by being shorted. A company that is not full of BS has zero chance of going under even if every share somehow got shorted. If you are running a real business and have real profits the shorts will lose their shirt."</i><br /><br /><i>The kind of companies that are more vulnerable to short sellers are ones that are highly leveraged and require constant borrowing to finance their operations. If their share prices start tanking, their lenders can loose confidence in them.</i><br /><br />IIRC, Mr. Friend said that The Company:<br /><br />1) was fairly small,<br /><br />2) was an eternal start-up, the way some people are perpetual students,<br /><br />3) was always looking for investors,<br /><br />4) was always operating at a loss, not a profit,<br /><br />5) was largely vaporware,<br /><br />6) had no goods or services to sell, just vague future plans,<br /><br />7) was poorly managed,<br /><br />8) had some strange priorities, such as being extremely litigious while never having the money to keep on or pay its employees decently.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-54036241141342663602014-03-12T15:43:35.135-07:002014-03-12T15:43:35.135-07:00"1) Short sellers are almost always the good ..."1) Short sellers are almost always the good guys. They are typically vastly more intelligent than long only investors. As the article mentioned, they love to expose FRAUD."<br /><br />In a basically honest economy they *might* be the good guys but in the organised crime economy we have they're at best bounty hunters. They don't love to expose fraud. They love to quietly profit from other people's fraud.<br /><br />.<br /><br />"This misconception is common that somehow a company can go out of business by being shorted. A company that is not full of BS has zero chance of going under even if every share somehow got shorted. If you are running a real business and have real profits the shorts will lose their shirt."<br /><br />Not entirely true. For example if a company is going through a temporary bad patch they might survive unshorted but not otherwise.<br /><br />Also a lot of the Wall St. mortgage scams involved banksters passing off bundles they knew were totally toxic <br />and then shorting the companies they sold them to. Shorting made that tactic profitable.<br /><br />.<br /><br />However in a healthy economy (i.e. not now) shorting would be a risky way of guessing what firms are hiding something from the outside world and thus would serve a useful purpose.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-85035169920304506682014-03-12T15:35:09.514-07:002014-03-12T15:35:09.514-07:00"Hempton's occupation consists of being a...<i>"Hempton's occupation consists of being a parasite - a cockroach picking up the leavings of productive society."</i><br /><br />It's true that pretty much all of financial services is parasitic. But Hempton's IMHO one of the more beneficial parasites. Think of him as a leech or maggot*, cleaning the putrescent financial flesh. <br /><br />* you can buy wound dressings containing live maggots for ailments like leg ulcers. They work well.<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggot_therapy#Application_of_maggot_wound_dressings Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-40126381877208476922014-03-12T15:29:11.411-07:002014-03-12T15:29:11.411-07:00Short sellers can also be hurt by the "short ...Short sellers can also be hurt by the "short squeeze" - the price rises, they're forced to buy to "cover their shorts", price gets pushed even higher. <br /><br />I believe short sellers have to declare themselves, so the percentage of a firm's stock "out on loan" is known. Which also means smart operators, probably the usual suspects in cahoots, can sometimes "burn them".<br /><br />http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortsqueeze.asp<br /><br />In 2008 Volkswagen shares went through the roof because of this. <br /> <br />"Volkswagen shares (VOWG.DE) soared as much as 55 percent to a record high on Tuesday, driven by frantic short-covering, traders and analysts said.<br /><br />As of Oct. 3, 13.5 percent of available Volkswagen shares were on loan, more than for any other DAX stock, according to dataexplorers.com, a financial market data consultancy.<br /><br />The cost of borrowing VW shares for short-selling was about five times the average for DAX stocks, broker data showed."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-23740373892959709602014-03-12T14:21:18.479-07:002014-03-12T14:21:18.479-07:00Mike is right
"1) Short sellers are almost al...Mike is right<br />"1) Short sellers are almost always the good guys. They are typically vastly more intelligent than long only investors. As the article mentioned, they love to expose FRAUD. This is evil how?<br />2) The odds of ANY employee having the firepower to move the needle on any stock price approaches a statistical likelihood of zero. Your friend is a braggart at best and likely simply lying."<br /><br />Accusing someone who has lots of money of fraud is dangerous. you can be sued for defamation. Requiring someone to personally have a real case before doing anything when you suspect fraud is license for more fraud. Anyone who can short their employer out of business really did not need a job in the first place. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-454869881881496222014-03-12T13:46:47.310-07:002014-03-12T13:46:47.310-07:00"This misconception is common that somehow a ...<i>"This misconception is common that somehow a company can go out of business by being shorted. A company that is not full of BS has zero chance of going under even if every share somehow got shorted. If you are running a real business and have real profits the shorts will lose their shirt."</i><br /><br />This is particularly true if a company doesn't need to borrow to finance its operations. If it funds its operations from its own cash flow, there isn't much short sellers can do to hurt a legitimate company. They can actually benefit current shareholders, as, at some point, the shorts will have to buy back their shares, and a short squeeze can drive up the share price. <br /><br />The kind of companies that are more vulnerable to short sellers are ones that are highly leveraged and require constant borrowing to finance their operations. If their share prices start tanking, their lenders can loose confidence in them.Dave Pinsenhttp://twitter.com/dpinsennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-17698420147699159982014-03-12T12:12:22.332-07:002014-03-12T12:12:22.332-07:00"He who sells
What isn't his'n
Must ..."He who sells <br />What isn't his'n<br />Must buy it back<br />Or go to prison."<br /><br />---old Wall St. caution<br /><br />Can someone please explain why "naked" short-selling is any more "evil" than ordinary short-selling (which isn't "evil")?Gene Bermannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-92031437729223549782014-03-12T09:38:32.507-07:002014-03-12T09:38:32.507-07:00The world of finance is an unregulated Wild West, ...The world of finance is an unregulated Wild West, and the risk/reward ratio is such as to encourage a lot of law-breaking. You can make very large amounts of money by doing unethical/illegal things, and even in the unlikely event you get prosecuted and convicted your sentence will be minimal.<br /><br />Madoff broke the unwritten rule here - he didn't screw over ordinary Joe Q Public types, he screwed over wealthy and influential people - so <i>he</i> wound up with 150 years in prison. Daniel Porush got away with just over three years behind bars. The message is clear - pick your marks carefully and you too can rob people with impunity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-43477585321610242842014-03-12T08:52:04.099-07:002014-03-12T08:52:04.099-07:00The sheer stupidity of people regarding short sell...The sheer stupidity of people regarding short selling is breath taking:<br />"There is also naked short-selling which is even more evil than regular short-selling."<br /><br />"A friend of mine was fired, so he took revenge on the company by selling short its stock. It worked, and the company is no more."<br /><br />These comments literally in response to someone explaining short selling to a child! In response to both comments:<br />1) Short sellers are almost always the good guys. They are typically vastly more intelligent than long only investors. As the article mentioned, they love to expose FRAUD. This is evil how?<br />2) The odds of ANY employee having the firepower to move the needle on any stock price approaches a statistical likelihood of zero. Your friend is a braggart at best and likely simply lying. This misconception is common that somehow a company can go out of business by being shorted. A company that is not full of BS has zero chance of going under even if every share somehow got shorted. If you are running a real business and have real profits the shorts will lose their shirt. <br />Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-69117817100317612792014-03-12T08:41:43.706-07:002014-03-12T08:41:43.706-07:00As an investor, and fan of Hempton, and Steve'...As an investor, and fan of Hempton, and Steve's, I say with confidence: Steve would've been an incredible stock picker. Breadth, contrarianism, rationality, and an insane inductive memory. If you'd gone into investing you'd be filthy rich, but we'd be worse off.brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17626455451216977447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-90151113755412301232014-03-12T08:01:05.746-07:002014-03-12T08:01:05.746-07:00Watching out facebook. This one attracts a lot of ...Watching out facebook. This one attracts a lot of short sellers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-63841289283135429602014-03-12T07:40:44.088-07:002014-03-12T07:40:44.088-07:00Hempton's occupation consists of being a paras...Hempton's occupation consists of being a parasite - a cockroach picking up the leavings of productive society. Do guys like him have any shame at all? Or is he every bit as shameless as that Duke-coed/whore who is in the news now?Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-30386677680618185372014-03-12T07:37:02.304-07:002014-03-12T07:37:02.304-07:00"Anonymous said...
Short-sellers aren't ..."Anonymous said...<br /><br />Short-sellers aren't really the evil ones."<br />that doesn't mean they aren't evil. They conspire with brokers who loan out their clients stock for the purpose of undermining its' value.<br /><br />It is theft.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24205146735599444312014-03-12T07:11:09.143-07:002014-03-12T07:11:09.143-07:00"So, says my son asks you like nasty people t..."So, says my son asks you like nasty people to steal from poor investors,..." probably needs to have the word "says" removed to make sense.<br /><br />"So, my son asks, you like nasty people to steal from poor investors, ..."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-66206244062731791052014-03-12T07:01:31.001-07:002014-03-12T07:01:31.001-07:00On the other side of the coin, crooked hedge funds...On the other side of the coin, crooked hedge funds and other investment scams are unlikely to be uncovered these days due to TBTF and other papering programs.chuchonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-61050866896523206512014-03-12T06:13:22.441-07:002014-03-12T06:13:22.441-07:00What are these "fake accounts" he is tal...What are these "fake accounts" he is talking about?sunbeamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16540822135478202229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-30038804302653521252014-03-12T05:53:03.491-07:002014-03-12T05:53:03.491-07:00Allow the Manolo to say the few words about the St...Allow the Manolo to say the few words about the Steve Madden as the "designer" of the shoes the teenaged girls wish to buy. These few words would be: he is not.<br /><br />He does not design the shoes. What he does is steal the designs for his shoes from the real shoe designers and produces them in China with the cheapest materials possible. And, because the fashion cannot be copyrighted, he gets away with this outrageous behavior. <br /><br />Here is the example from 2007, from the humble shoe blog of the Manolo, in which Steve Madden method is discussed:<br /><br />http://shoeblogs.com/2007/11/20/louboutin-miss-fred-tacco-vs-steve-madden-becks/<br /><br />Notice that the Steve Madden version of the shoe is exactly the same as the popular Louboutin bootie sold at the Saks Fifth Avenue. It is exactly the same because Steve Madden has stolen the photo of the Louboutin shoe from the Saks website and has used it on his own site! (Notice how the Madden graphic designer has photoshopped out the Louboutin trademarked red soles, the one element that can be defended in court.)<br /><br />Here is the other example that is slightly less egregious:<br /><br />http://shoeblogs.com/2008/04/24/the-shameless-steve-madden-knockoff-machine/<br /><br />Thus, you may see why the Manolo becomes angry anytime someone refers to the Steve Madden as the "shoe designer."Manolo the Shoebloggerhttp://shoeblogs.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-38977160629710393012014-03-12T05:26:04.539-07:002014-03-12T05:26:04.539-07:00Here's an easy one: MEDBOX, Inc (MDBX). It'...<b>Here's an easy one: MEDBOX, Inc (MDBX). It's a company which consists of eight employees and the 'exclusive' rights to a marijuana vending machine patent (brilliant!).</b><br /><br />It is cheap and easy to register a corporation. A few hundred bucks in fees. Cut and paste corporate charter and bylaws. <br /><br />It is cheap and easy to file a patent application on anything. Again, a few hundred bucks apiece. Cut and paste from existing patents. <br /><br />They are great for buffing your resume, or for supplementing your kid's college applications or the like.Corporate Sharknoreply@blogger.com