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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: advocatedevil who wrote (7207)	11/27/2002 8:40:06 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 95521

AD, defense stocks when there exists the possibility they might benefit from world conflict? I will not touch defense stocks for this exact reason. Have you ever sold a stock you owned because you thought it had become overvalued? (Brian, this is no different from what a short does.) Betting on a downdraft and profiting from a bombing in another part of the world is not quite analgous to my strategy of going long quality tech companies. That is a bit of a stretch there. I will also comment that I'm personally offended by you statement I am not sure why since that was not my intent; merely stating my personal opinion. Perhaps if you are offended there is a grain of truth to what I said. Just food for thought. Regards, Brian

To: advocatedevil who wrote (7207)	11/27/2002 10:11:24 AM
From: AJL	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 95521

OT--re. shorting. I think the thing that strikes me about shorting en masse is that it imparts a kind of negative energy, and this is perhaps in part what Brian is trying to express. When you short a stock, you are betting that the price of that stock is overvalued given its current environment, and that price will come down. Which is all well and good, but is there not then a naturally inherent desire to see negative publicity on a company that you are short, to see things begin to unravel causing the stock price to fall, the further the better (what shorter do you know who says, "oh I only want to see the stock price fall X amount of dollars, no more...")? And so, at its essence isn't shorting really about the desire for and encouragement of failure? Sure, there are some "bad" companies out there, poorly run and destined for failure, but obviously these are not the sole targets of shorts. Of course I understand the checks and balances that shorting brings to the markets, i.e; short-covering on rallies, etc., its just that I don't find it comforting cheering on the demise of a company or sector; to me, that seems "un-American" or at least unpatriotic. And negative. So I choose not to, but to each his/her own. Regards & Happy T-giving, AJL