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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (84936)	11/6/2000 9:24:59 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

what i'm saying is that they steal the power of compounding interest over 40 years. multiply that by 15% of one's income (unless one is in congress!) and you are talking REAL money. yes, the govt can, and does, literally lose 75% of ss and nobody benefitted excepyt those who received a free check after not contributing. those folks are almost gone and we're left w/ the wreckage. why don't you sit on your money? you understand the power of compounding over even short periods.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (84936)	11/6/2000 10:11:13 PM
From: Spekulatius	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Telecom debt meltdown? I wonder when Barrons's comes out with a story about the burn rate of telecom startups. Even the big players are at risk if they cannot manage to raise more money. Here is my list Ticker Cash Debt Burn Flame_out_date Comment LVLT 6B$ 7B$ 1.5B$ Q4 2001 MTP 1B$ 0 ? ? WCG 1.5B$ 3B$ 1.2B$ Q3 2001 ? 1.5B$ credit from WMB GX 2.3B$ 6.3B$ ? 2003 ? sales of ILEC, Asia IPO will raise cash,credit facilities Of course all the above companies have the option to a) issue junk bonds b) new shares or preferred stock c) slow down spending d) vendor financing It seems that Y2001 will be a pretty turbulent year for both the providers and the equipment companies.From the big playes, LVLT seems to be severely underfunded. Maybe that is the reason why the stock price has been that weak recently. Montana Power MTP looks like conservative play going forward - no debt and a fairly small market cap of 3B$ only. Of course their competitors may shrink into the same market cap fairly soon :-). I do not think that all the above companies will survive as an independent entities.