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Strategies & Market Trends : Trading the SPOOs with Patrick Slevin! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerry Olson who wrote (3932)	3/8/2000 9:59:00 AM
From: Patrick Slevin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7434

Glancing quickly at the train of thought over there it seems that you are speaking apples to their oranges. These people do not appear to understand trading from what little I get from the discussion so it makes me wonder why you even post there. I found the Oil remarks interesting because the BLS has always been (at least suspected of) mis-stating the numbers for CPI and PPI reporting. It's apparently a political issue that does not change from administration to administration. Here is a snippet I received the other day; ....get your hands on John Crudele's column from the Thursday edition of the NY Post. Effectively, PPI and CPI are systematically being understated for the effects of rising oil prices. " Shocked I tell you...I'm shocked to find there's gambling going on in this establishment!" (Casablanca) This line is from "Casablanca," but don't be surprised to hear something similar from the administration if anyone ever decides to hold them accountable for the actions of the BLS. But this is not a diatribe against democrats. We know that every adminstration has understated CPI for the last 20 years, so there is plenty of blame to pass around. The only difference is perhaps the number of government agencies that have recently been subverted for poltical reasons. (i.e. the transparent manipulation of the yield curve by the Treasury department). It's my belief, and I've restated it many times, that you cannot easily decide what is correctly valued in Internet stocks for the same reason that 20 years ago it was a nightmare to value options. Today there is far more of a track record with options and more defined manners of valuations. Such will be the case in 10 or 15 years with dotCOM. But the premise of the discussion you are having is tantamount to an argument debating Religion or Politics. My suggestion is to walk away and count your money. If you like you can do what I do; plow excess profits into a portfolio that includes a few smokestack companies. That way you get the last laugh for certain; Not only are you in your tech plays but you used your profits to buy the old-line as well. Meanwhile those that do not diversify are standing still, as it were.