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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: THE WATSONYOUTH who wrote (45122)	9/9/2001 4:11:38 AM
From: QwikSand	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

To me, the three most interesting things about this whole fiasco, even though they're hardly original thoughts, are these points: 1. It's so F**ING obvious in hindsight. How could anybody have believed that "it was different this time", and that the basic common-sense rules governing the valuation of publicly-traded equities had somehow actually been suspended? How is it possible that almost everybody, from semi-literate JSP-know-it-all-clown types to "distinguished" money managers responsible for billions, and people at every level in between, fell for yet another round of the same witless theory that had already been knocked down over the years more times than a bottom-rung palooka? How could people actually have bought a book called "Dow 36,000"????? 2. Young Watson is right: while almost* everybody with money to invest (borrowed or not) was caught up in the mania, there were YEARS of unambivalent, emphatic, plain-spoken warnings right here on SI. Much of it came from Lucretius and his vitriolic posse, and so might have been hard for a lot of people to absorb. But plenty came from friendlier sources like Fleckenstein and Bill Meehan, and including twister right here on this thread. Even at his nastiest moments, twister was never more than merely obnoxious. He was never JUST a Wintel-can-do-no-wrong Sun basher like the brilliant Dale J. and others of that ilk (although he was a little of that too<g>). He talked valuation. He asked people to account for Sun's valuation. He was told it was different this time. Sometimes in those words, sometimes in vacuous, voluminous prose (some written by me) that said essentially the same thing. He said no, it wasn't. That's really all there is to it. It wasn't different. They told us so. 3. Last but by no means least, the denial amazingly continues, as has been proved on this thread over the past two days. I feel sorry for everybody who got hurt even though they did it to themselves, or at least allowed it to be done to them by the sharks. I don't feel sorry for myself, because it turns out that through sheer, ignorant, utter luck I cashed out at the right time and made much more than I lost (though I too could have been a lot richer). I learned my expensive lesson. I'm sorry for those who paid more for the same lesson, and even sorrier for those who paid more and learned nothing. I get the uncomfortable feeling there are lots of members of that last group. --QS