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To: American Spirit who wrote (49316)	3/17/2001 10:04:27 PM
From: George Schulte	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 57584

American Spirit or any and all on the thread I know alot of you do not like to give advice but I have been stressing over the correct decision to make regarding my portfolio and would appreciate any thoughts on the following situation I know I was stupid to get in this position but would like a little help with the decisions that need to be made the problem is this I was a new investor 2 yrs ago and put 80,000 in Ameritrade and being foolish used all the margin they would give me in purchasing tech at one time was up over 50,000.00 then the Nas started dropping I felt like I had always seen the bottom put kept catching the knife I Continued to feed the ameritade account to keep one step ahead of the margin and used up all of my $$$$$ doing so now I sit with a margin balance of 40,000 liquidation value of 55,000 left out of 128,000.00 there is very little cash left except the 55,000.00 value in Ameritrade I guess not being expierenced enough I think if I pull out now the mkt will turn and I might get some of my 73,000 loss back if not all following are my positions and the # of Shares needless to say they all show losses 300 Sh ARBA 500 shares of C 250 GLW 200 HD 500 JDSU 500 NOK 250 NTAP 500 Sebl and 300 WMT I feel that all of these will come back but in a steep downturn the Margin could eat would it be smarter to sell out and keep the 55,000 of course I probably will not have that Monday am or try to ride the storm and hope the turnaround will come I know the mkt has made my life misserble but I feel selling JDSU at 22.00 or NTAP at 19.00 would cinch my losses and that would be the end of course if the NAS were to go to 1500 as some has suggested there would be none left nad no $$$$ to get ant back Thanks for listening and sorry for the long post I know the stress of something like this can have an adverse affect on health Family and everything but it is hard to try and call it quits in the hole P>S My home is paid for but all retirement except about 50,000 more is in the mkt Thanks again and good luck to all George Schulte

To: American Spirit who wrote (49316)	3/17/2001 11:58:46 PM
From: Kanetsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

<So figure 60%+ unhappy with Bush these days.> That explains his 60%+ approval rating. Just remember AS, George Bush did not make you buy those dog stocks of yours or tell you not to short.

To: American Spirit who wrote (49316)	3/18/2001 8:08:51 PM
From: Mark Konrad	Respond to of 57584

Spirit, I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Here are a few back at you. All great selloffs, 1929 included, are worth examining if only for the psychological effects on active and passive investors. The latter are beginning to be hit right now, imo, and this could continue for longer than you or I want. My wife and I have some rental property we just listed this weekend. Several of our calls have been from people who are postponing homebuying for at least a year or more because of the stock market (their downpayments are gone). Don't underestimate the ripple effect. SCNT...I traded it a few times last spring and summer with mixed results if memory serves. It's not a major player like SAPE or SEBL and may not survive the decline in IT spending. I wouldn't touch it for a while...when/if that sector recovers, SAPE and SEBL will benefit far more as they have some large accounts and are both still on fund mgrs lists (I believe). We've all jawboned the "election" endlessly. To me, there wasn't enough actual policy differences between the two to get really excited about; only a philosophical difference and perhaps a different criteria for choosing a team (new atty general vs the old one, for example). Either candidate would have inherited a slowing economy and a downturning market that started a year ago. And I think you already know I'm a conservative with Libertarian leanings. The last American leader who was able to rally the markets and the public with his charisma was Ronald Reagan so I don't think GW's style, or lack of, matters at all. Some internets have proven to be "tulips," I agree (I bought into part of the hysteria, myself). Compare them to any other fledgling industry and you'll find the same thing: lots of startups, wild speculation, and then lots of nosedives and consolidations. So we live and learn. This market will recover sooner or later but it won't make sense to buy something that's cheap just because it's cheap. There'll be some diamonds in the rough but the better companies will appreciate faster (NT vs LU, for example). Greenspan is already late to the party and I think he's admitted as much. Tuesday's rate cut and further upcoming rate cuts will help set the stage for a recovery but I'm not expecting fireworks. The USS Titanic will not sink to zero but we've already taken on a lot of water...and it's gonna take those bilge pumps some time even after the holes are patched. And as I look outside, it's another beautiful sunny day--MK--