Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Bob Brinker: Market Savant & Radio Host -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wooden ships who wrote (4688)	4/24/1998 9:13:00 AM
From: Kirk ©	Respond to of 42834

Truman, I've been compiling people's ideas on how to record Moneytalk here suite101.com (Click on Next Messages to get more) I have the starting of an article on how I record all 3 hrs on standard speed tapes here suite101.com I have just posted the new article (in progress) even though there are a few bugs to work out for perfection, the method works well enough and is reasonable in cost. Hopefully, others will find the above useful and feel comfortable adding their ideas. I didn't like the thought that I would have to carry some extra box to listen to "ReelTalk" tapes when I drive to work in my 'vette which does not have alot of space for extras so I devised a way to record all 3 hrs on standard tapes for 1/3 the cost of buying "ReelTalk" (the 2/3'rds saved can go to buying an autoreverse recording tape deck if you don't have one already) regards and have a great weekend! Kirk out

To: wooden ships who wrote (4688)	4/24/1998 11:39:00 AM
From: Alan Whirlwind	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42834

Truman, I did a review of an article for an Irish literary group I belong to on AOL. As it is a sad commentary on where welfare unchecked did eventually lead I thought it fit in well with the previous exchange on this thread... "What Caused the Irish Potato Famine?" That is the title of Mike Thorton's brilliant commentary on the Famine years in this month's Mises Institute publication The Free Market. Some salient points ferreting out root causes: A. ENGLISH OWNERSHIP OF LAND. Managers replacing absentee landlords leased small plots in share cropper type arrangements, with the poor renters doing most of the sharing. Irish tenants received zero credit for property improvements and possessed zero land rights outside of Protestant controlled areas. B. OVERPOPULATION? Not Exactly. The viewpoint from Malthusian quarters is that the Irish were somehow too loose and prone to early marriages with too many children. But according to Thornton, the Irish population was expanding only slightly faster than that of England in the generation prior to the famine. All of Europe was undergoing a rapid population expansion at the time. C. PROTECTIONIST LEGISLATION. The British Corn Laws were extended to Ireland in 1801, when the island was formally sucked up into the British Empire. These laws protected grain farmers from low prices in productive years and kept prices very high when harvests were poor. Absentee landlords made a killing on this type of legislation because large pools of cheap Irish labor and their livestock could survive on easily grown crops of potatoes which didn't deplete the soil, at the same time freeing larger percentages of each estate for cultivation of grain. D. POLITICAL INTRIGUES. In 1845 the Tories and Whigs agreed to revoke Corn Law tariffs altogether by 1849 in response to free trade pressure from both manufacturing and labor. In 1847 wheat fell to a 67 year low. Land prices and demand for farm labor plummeted. Much of the land itself was converted from grain fields to pasture for cattle. E. SHORTSIGHTED ENGLISH MEASURES. The soup kitchen approach, closely akin to private charity actually did much to alleviate hunger at the onset of the famine, BUT WAS SUSPENDED in favor of workhouses and road projects. The workhouses lent little in the way of economic vitality and the roads often led to nowhere. In many cases these substitutes hardly provided their participants enough to adequately feed those desperate enough to turn to them. Furthermore, they tended to concentrate their malnourished populations, making it easier for disease to ravish them. F. TAXES. In the summer of 1847, the government RAISED TAXES, a move which Thornton describes as "a truly callous act." G. PRIVATE CHARITY UNDERMINED. Thornton asks why previous famines hadn't affected Ireland similarly as the 1840's--sure, they were bad, but not a disaster such as this that took the Irish population more than a hundred years to recover from. His answer? In previous famines, private charity intervened and monies poored in from England and elsewhere. But in the 1840's, those of charitable inclination were led to believe the government had the situation under control. They were already considerably taxed for ongoing welfare schemes anyway. In Thornton's words, "Why donate when the taxpayer was taking care of the situation?" A grain laden ship steaming in from Massachusettes was detained in port so as not to "undermine trade." The Sultan of Turkey, who had offered 10,000 pounds sterling for Irish relief was said to have been asked by a British official to lower his offer to 1,000 pounds so as not to embarrass the queen who only offered 1,000 herself. E. The Bank Act of 1844. This withdrew credit and liquidity from the capital markets at the worst possible moment when only jobs and growth could get the Irish through what was to come. F. Referring to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's recent apology for England's doing too little to alleviate the effects of the Potato Famine, Thornton wonders if the government itself didn't do too much to cause it.

To: wooden ships who wrote (4688)	5/2/1998 9:56:00 PM
From: wooden ships	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42834

Today Brinker considered the possibility of collective earnings on the S&P 500 approaching the $50 price point for the current year. He did not rule out the potential for that index to earn "$53 or $54 next year" which itself might imply an S&P 500 at $1230 and a DJIA in the $10,000 area, he said. Yet advocating dollar cost averaging, Brinker opined that the bull market remains intact. At this time, he foresees a market with more upside possibility and a bear held at bay.