A little OT: Found on a Yahoo thread
In the year 2000 Berkshire Hathaway Chairman's Letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett wrote the following about the tech bubble:
"It was as if some virus, racing wildly among investment professionals as well as amateurs, induced hallucinations in which the values of stocks in certain sectors became decoupled from the values of the businesses that underlay them."
Had Mr. Buffett studied this virus closer, he would have discovered multiple strains, each inducing slightly different investment hallucinations. The epidemiology has revealed two strains, Amazon-Blodget and Meekernet-simplex, spread rapidly to a large numbers of investors, but fortunately neither was chronic. Except for immunodeficient individuals, both of these strains have a low incidence of recurrence once symptoms subside so treatment is not required.
The most virulent strain inducing the most dramatic hallucinations, as measured by aggregate vaporized dollars, is Gildercosium. Not only does this virus cause expensive, widespread hallucinations severe enough to cripple the world's economy, but the virus is often chronic, retreating to a latent phase after the initial infection fooling victims to think they are well.
The following are the top ten symptoms exhibited by those infected with the Gildercosium virus. If you find that you exhibit some of these symptoms, don't panic: The disease is often curable by the simple homeopathic remedy of opening your eyes.
*10. You think JDSU is "the Intel of the Telecosm" and will return to its old highs in your lifetime.
*9. You believe Warren Buffet, a man who targets a minimum 10-year holding period and whose favorite holding period is forever, is an inside trader.
*8. Your stock picking methodology consists of "listening to the technology."
*7. You don't know that George Gilder's middle name is "hype."
*6. You believe that if you subscribe to the Gilder Technology Report you will actually be kept up to date on technology.
*5. You know that if only the Fed had not messed things up, companies such XLA, TERN, MFNX, PRCM, NOVL, EXDS, STOR, GSTRF, and TSIX would actually be good businesses worthy of stock prices near their old highs.
*4. You think Gilder is smart because you have to read his reports multiple times before you think you understand what he is saying.
*3. You still think Global Crossing and Avanex were great investments when George Gilder announced they were his top picks.
*2. You believe Internet data traffic doubles every 3 - 4 months.
*1. You think Telecosm is a word and actually means something.
If you find that you have some of these symptoms please seek help immediately. If not properly treated, Gildercosium has been known to wipeout life savings, ruin families and destroy lives -- it must be taken seriously! An outbreak of a closely related strain, Gildersuplysidium, in the USA during the early 80's resulted in a rising national debt that took nearly two decades to slow and still may not be contained. |
