10,047. RUDIMENTS, pt.101

RUDIMENTS, pt. 101

Making Cars

There was a while there, into

the early 1990's, when the early

growth of computer companies

was a really hot thing. Stock

prices doubling every two years,

with splits and spin-offs. Some

of those early names are gone now,

like Compaq and others. One time,

at a client's place, an insurance

company, Sovereign, in Edison/Iselin,

along Route One, I arrived just in

time to watch as the hallways were

being filled up, right off the large

tractor-trailer delivering them, with

probably 70 or so brand new, boxed

Gateway computers (they had a

very recognizable, black/white

cowhide logo motif broadly printed

on all their crates and boxes). Of course,

seeing that, I went and purchased 50

shares of Gateway stock. It, along

with Dell, Compaq, and even Intel,

which made the microchips inside

most of these units. It was sure some

high-flying time, and those prices took

off. Of course, they also plateau'd, and

fell too. Gateway is gone. Compaq as

well, and Intel I don't know about.

Dell ended up the big winner, but they

too have faded now, all these years later.

The things about tech stocks and all the

breaking and leading edge stuff which 

goes with it, is that it flies, for a while, 

and then everything else catches up 

to it. Just like Apple, like Microsoft.

With all of that, a person could have 

gone crazy chasing each new little

whim and rumor. I never did any 

of that; instead I stayed light, watched 

carefully and then cut and run. Nowadays 

you can run open accounts with, say, 

T. G. Edwards or Ameritrade, and plunk 

in your own trades at 7 bucks a trade, 

and keep a trade account with them as 

well. I was stone-age by comparison,

and it was at 60 bucks a shot for a

trade, buy, and sell too. So I was never 

really trigger-happy. One guy told me 

to just make sure I get the original

prices back, say a $3000 trade, and 

once that return was made, on each 

company, sell enough to get that 

return, and whatever was left, being 

gravy, just keep it there, for years if 

that's what it takes, and just let it keep 

appreciating, growing in value. That's

psychological reasoning talking  -  and

the average 'investor' at this level, I

found, never worked that way; they 

wanted a much more instant gratification, 

couldn't much wait for anything, and 

wanted returns. Even bragging rights. 

I started seeing, right off, that I wasn't 

the sort to ride it in any way seriously, 

and it meant too little too me, plus

I detested all the tax crap  -  every little 

piece of paperwork and tax form, returns, 

their portion of 'short term capital gains,' 

etc. I said to myself, 'I thought you were 

more than all that crap? What's going on?' 

I was right.

-

To tell you the truth, the biggest thrill I 

ever got from any of this was  - I chose to

do it all in person, not my mail or broker - 

when there were splits or buy-outs, or 

companies were sold or spun-off, and 

new ones created, you'd get this form in
the mail to surrender the stock certificates 

(no longer done this way), turning in the 

old ones, getting new ones, new share 

assignments, etc. That probably happened,

in 8 years or so, about 12 times. The biggest

thing I did was  -  and I loved it  -  going right

down to Wall Street, to the exchange window,

with ID, certificates, and all, and at this little

bank-teller-like window, frosted glass, small

lamp, pens, pencil, money and change-till,

turning all this stuff in in  person, to the

real, live, exchange agent at the other side

of the glass. It was all so very cool; almost

shabby too, like an OTB parlor betting

window, but marble and stone, and there

was even a rent-a-guard kind of security

presence in the little lobbies and doorways.

I'd go in with one set of document or

certificates and  -  waiting 20 minutes or

so  -  leave with a whole other set. Felt like

a regular Rockefeller. Well, irregular.

-

I used to watch for the monthly GNP (gross

national product) figures, rates, productivity, 

all that crap. International Harvester, which 

later became Navistar, or some stupid name, 

always reacted well when the economy was 

positive (farm and equipment needs going 

up) so I'd buy some of that. At those early 

days, as well, America OnLine was always 

a big mover. It too faded and, as AOL, I 

recall, was actually bought by Dell, for a 

while anyway. And Home Depot, and

Staples. These were all, at one time, each

fierce and energetic companies to buy.

All sorts of really stupid things  - turning

real life into the pale, asshole expectation 

of dollars and sense, and hoping to have 

it pay off. So senseless, and divorced 

from reality. But it was, for a while, 

almost a sport for me. There was/is an 

oil-equipment and drilling company, 

named Halliburton, that was another 

reflexive mover on economic figures 

 - oil prices, futures, drilling starts,

etc. That started at about 32 dollar a 

share, maybe 4 splits ago. There was 

a good, oil-industry ride with them. 

Losers? Most any airline stock went 

to Hell, as did the America Auto 

Company stocks; Ford, GM, etc. Bad 

bets each. In fact, all that old-industry

stuff is dead meat. Another funny thing

was, back in those days, constantly 

gaining, making money each day, 

was this crazy company, trading here,

but a Mexican company to which

everyone was jumping  -   'Telephonos

de Mexico' (pronounced by the radio

voice 'Mehico'). Fact is, crazy as it was,

growth industry for sure, in the late

eighties, they were only just then wiring

Mexico for telephones and wire-service.

-

Now I'm going to talk experience here:

the background buzz to all this stocks 

and bonds stuff, supposedly so 'American

Republic' and authentic; the Buttonwood

tree, under which the original outdoor 

trades were done and proclaimed, it's 

all bullshit and a grand, mythic lie. 

The grand, mythic lie underlying all 

of if it, is, of course, that any little 

guy, a you or a me, can step in and

take part in and reap the benefits of, 

the grand capitalist system with allows 

public ownership and sharing of profits 

and proceeds  -  through quarterly dividends

and more. In this vein, it even, through

stockholder voice, etc. allows the influencing

of product and procedure. (Those wishing,

by the way, to buy a bridge should please 

line up to my right, and I'll be with you 

shortly). In no way, shape, or form is 

any of this true. The individual investor 

is a short-eyed loser, especially in these 

days of computerized, programmed-trades, 

flash buys and sells, great blocs of 

pension-fund and such moneys, by

huge insurance companies, brokerage 

firms, industry-protectors, etc. These 

organized trading operations not only 

buy and sell in blocs that influence 

everything, and in huge numbers, 

they also set and determine and 

influence their own markets by 

timed-buys, insider information,

trade-offs, and the corrupt 

mechanization of laws, process, 

hearings, and legislative goals. 

Overnight buys, after-hour trades, 

international exchanges and 

determinants  -  (they can lose 10 

millions at 4pm in NYC, so as to 

gain it back, with an additional

5 millions aggressed and achieved, 

in the Tokyo Market at 1am. All those 

little guys, in their pajamas, at home, 

at midnight, swiping their trades and 

buys and 200 share blocs, they don't

stand a chance. Nor does the fool

lunging in for hot IPO's (initial

public offerings)  -  companies with

a product first going public, for

shareholders (money). Those are

priced, say, for the average sucker, 

at 26 bucks a share. The stooges line 

up, but they're never sold for that, 

starting instead at like 34 'because 

of demand,' while all the insiders,

sycophants, deal-makers and institutions,

already have their millions of shares

guaranteed for 16 bucks a share. They

all walk away at the end of the week,

millionaires, then dump their initial

shares high, thereby depressing the stock

value down way under initial pricing,
and they buy back again, raising, as it 

were their own bar. It's a racket. As is

the country as a whole  - senators and

representatives, they all get their personal
and staff pre-notification, and buy in, 
smiling, while supposing, as well, to
regulate all this crap. In addition, let me
add, my own personal broker guy, he'd
call me once or twice a month too, with 'tips'
on upcoming deals and developments he'd 
'recommend' I buy in on now, before it broke. 
He was pre-notifying me, you see, of a
stock he'd become, through his firm, a 
'market-maker' on. I'd be able to buy in
early, and he'd get a cut for pre-selling.
Now, about the bridge, here's the deal...

-

You know, back when all this first got

so out of hand that it had to be controlled,

the President way back created the SEC

(Securities and Exchange Commission) 

to take hold and control all this rank 

crookedness. You know who he put 

in charge as the very first Chairman? 

The biggest crook in America at 

that time. Joseph P. Kennedy.