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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (104153)	5/26/2000 5:21:00 PM
From: Sarmad Y. Hermiz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

>> Did they "steal" money from others? Yes. >> We have had a down trend for 60 days so apparently that makes all those that played these stocks long fools? Yes.

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (104153)	5/26/2000 5:24:00 PM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 164684

I know someone close to wiped out. Is William or Eugene the cause of this? Glenn - thanks for your post. The point I was trying to make in the statement above is that some investors have suffered severe financial hardship by investing in new economy stocks. I'm not blaming William or Eugene - I'm just stating that some investors have lost a lot of money by investing in the same stocks that William and Eugene appear to be promoting. We do not know this. We have had a down trend for 60 days so apparently that makes all those that played these stocks long fools? Good question - the answer to which we don't know yet. My view is that it is a very very risky game to buy and hold a stock that has been propped up by momentum investing. I have a small long position in AMZN. I hate AMZN. I dislike management, the VCs, the analysts, the method of accounting, you name it and i hate it. For some reason institutions continue to accumulate AMZN share even as the insiders sll more and more stock. Is it possibly I do not understand the fundamentals? As for why institutions continue to buy AMZN - well, I see two potential reasons: 1. They truly believe in Amazon. 2. They're already in too deep - and they are essentially "buying the dip" in order to try to salvage some of their losses. Over the past year, I have become quite cynical with regard to the market - and while there was a point in my life (not too long ago) when I assumed that "institutions" (mutual funds, investment banks, VCs, etc.) did their business in a rational and responsible manner, I no longer believe this to be necessarily true. As such, I do believe that it is possible that traders at mutual funds that manage billions are basing AMZN purchase decisions on the same factors used by day traders - following trend lines and trying to anticipate herd behavior. Is it rational? Is it responsible? Does it make sense that one of Wall Street's most famous analysts should continue to maintain a very bullish price target on Amazon while the company continues to lose money hand over fist? No, it makes no sense at all - unless, you accept the fact that the industry adheres to a "get rich by any means" stance in doing business. Even now, as people are becoming poor as the market falls. You have a very solid understanding of Amazon's fundamentals - you've proven that time and again on this thread. But you're trading in an arena controlled by thieves masquerading as respectable institutions. Cynical enough for you? I scare myself, sometimes. But sadly, I do consider many of the participants in this industry to be thieves of a sort. I cannot help but feel that fifty years from now, historians are going to look back on our "new era" as a time when VCs, investment banks and insiders took advantage of the "new" internet technology to cleverly deceive and steal billions from individual investors. Sure, each investor is ultimately responsible for their own buy and sell orders - we can blame no one but ourselves for being suckered into buying stocks that are being propped up by institutions. But, we've all been deluded into thinking that the analysts speak the truth. It's been an expensive education for many of us. Hopefully, when the dust settles, the resulting recession won't be too bad - and hopefully, we'll see new laws enacted that prevent investment banks form using analysts to pump their own holdings. And if we're lucky, we might even see new ethical standards and a return of some sense of integrity to the industry (I think if times get bad enough you might see this). The New Era Mantra: Make money now at all costs - deal with any ethical implications later (there will be plenty of time to consider such issues as you relax in your villa). Thanks, -Eric