I wish he would spell out in greater detail the consequences of devaluation. He huffs and puffs and gives us dire warnings of bad things to come. But the reality is that South Korea came back big from its devaluation. As did the UK from Soros’s currency attack. Every devaluation has within itself the seeds of a revaluation – the country’s wages and assets become cheap relative to foreign markets, and prompt large inflows of foreign direct and portfolio investment. Brokerages making leveraged bets based on assumptions of stable currencies (like Goldman Sachs) may take huge losses if a major devaluation happens, but it’s not the job of the Federal Reserve to shield wealthy Wall Street speculators from the consequences of their arrogant, unwise and, frankly, stupid actions.

By the way, in the early ’80′s, the dollar bought roughly 2 Chinese yuan (RMB). Today, it buys 7.5 Chinese yuan. The Chinese devaluation vs the dollar – since the ’80′s – doesn’t seem to have hurt the Chinese economy much.

ROFL!

(Bought IBM with employee discount at adjusted $25/share, sold at $108.. Was kicking myself that I sold before the peak, but after it laid around in the doldrums for awhile, I learned: you can _never_ time the peak, if you try you’ll end up on the other side…)

Horse pucky.

Is this the one you bought in 2006?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3MsHgljSTLg&refer=home

When I worked at AT&T, I had long drawn out conversations with other employees about how important it was to avoid AT&T exposure. I was always met with blank stares. With one exception. One guy said to me, oh don’t worry about me, I’m diversified. I own just as much Lucent as AT&T……..

Some investment advisor at my bank tried to talk me into non-taxable short term insured municipals, but I did not follow up at that time. Does anyone has an idea what this is all about?

Dear xxxxx,

We are writing to let you know HSBC Direct has adjusted your Online Savings Account interest rate to 4.50% APY*.

2nd Quarter, 2006. LOL! The dance at the bottom didn’t even begin at that point. Love to see 2nd quarter 2007.

Wasn’t the largest concentration of flippers in CA, NV, AZ and FLA? Most flippers have quietly exited and trying to figure where to place their cash, in these states? I do agree with you on one point, they are quiet.

Thank you for that link. I dug a little deeper and found the source data.

Flippers earned profits in 141 out of 147 MSAs in 2006. Amazingly, the guy who wrote the article concluded from this data that “flippers are losing money hand over fist.”

http://www.homesmartreports.com/docs/hsrnews/flippingactivity92106.htm

Did some business with them in 98….bought a bunch at 50 or so…sold at 70….my broker said it was ‘like att’…widows and orphans fund…no one should be without it…..then it went to single digits….I was shocked. Completely blown away. But glad I’d sold.