Happy New Year SOROS!
I've been away, so this reply might be a rehash of thoughts from others, but here goes anyway.....
No need to blast you for your thoughts. However, there should be no problem looking at some weaknesses in your theories.....
I'm sure there is a bit of reality in what you tried to imply..... no doubt there are plenty of folks who are looking for shortcuts to riches & are too lazy to put in the time & effort to develop their own style & to learn what works for themselves...... and the time & effort to perform all necessary due diligence to protect/maximize their equity & returns..... blindly following someone on a message board might seem like an easy shortcut.....AT THEIR OWN PERIL IMVHO
I see you did a good job finding selected passages that supported your POV..... it's a shame that there was absolutely no balance after such extensive research..... there are a lot of instances that show Voltaire made some great calls (market & individual stocks) in 2000 that went unmentioned.... there are many instances where folks could have made money if they chose to trade many of Voltaire bullish calls..... but you seemed to miss all of those posts.... or you decided to go for creating perceptions that support your POV..... possibly by excluding all contradicting evidence that would have mitigated the impact of your findings.... that truly is a shame :-|
I also have to wonder why you selected Voltaire to the exclusion of other thread leaders on SI who also have been perma-bulls & made numerous poor selections in 2000..... I have to wonder why you failed to mention analysts, talking heads, fund managers, brokers, CNBC, etc., that are suppose to be professionals..... How many hundreds of these highly paid people failed the investing public miserably in 2000..... how many of these folks were raising estimates for earnings, raising stock price targets into the stratosphere, with BUY & STRONG BUY ratings while these stocks fell from 30% to 90% from their highs..... and only after the huge losses did they lower estimates & price targets??????
Most/all of these people are paid handsomely to affect the perceptions of the investing public. How much did anyone pay Voltaire for his thoughts? I submit that those who followed blindly got what they paid for.
No doubt there were people who blindly bought stocks/options that Voltaire was bullish on...... no doubt many of these same people were not able to manage their own portfolio..... & were looking to find an easy way to riches.... rather than taking time to learn on their own what is best for their personal investment styles. Allowing the FREE advice of a thread leader(s) to have a significant influence on your personal investing decisions is a HUGE investing mistake..... now the question is, has experience taught these people anything??????
...... or will these people find a scapegoat to blame for their very own personal mistakes? Those who choose to point fingers at anyone besides themselves are doomed to repeat many mistakes in life IMVHO.
How can their own personal mistakes be laid at Voltaire's feet? He shares his thoughts & experiences to try to help people. Voltaire bends over backwards trying to help folks..... that does not mitigate any personal responsibility at all. Voltaire is human & 2000 was not kind to perma-bulls. However, there are no claims from him that, 'I'll take you by the hand to investment riches.'
Those who follow anyone blindly are doomed..... sooner or later..... due to their own personal mistakes..... not because someone else made them do it.
2000 was not kind to untold millions of investors. Perhaps 2001 will begin to reveal who learns & moves forward & those who choose denial of personal responsibility.
I remain Ö¿Ö |
