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  • Verizon and AT&T Downgraded on Lower Expectations for Wireless
    "Moffett writes that the primary risk for the telcos is the wireless sector"

    No. the telcos are still gaining some customers in the wireless sector. Their primary risk is in the wireline sector--where they are losing massive numbers of customers.
    Jan 06 00:34 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Blu-Ray May Be Short-Lived as Streaming HD Moves In
    “Streaming video from the Internet and other means of direct digital delivery are going to put optical formats out of business entirely over the next few years.”

    There is a large chunk of the population which doesn't have internet. And of those who do a large percentage don't have a high quality internet service (adequate for streaming).
    Jan 06 00:25 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Ten Stock Picks for 2009
    Could you give us the results of your stock picks of a year ago?
    Jan 06 00:18 am |Rating: +7 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
    On Google Business News the first headline I read was: "US Economy: Manufacturing Shrinks as Orders Hit 60-Year Low"

    Next to this was roughly 2% increases in the DOW, Nasdaq and S&P numbers.

    What does the market consider to be bad news, which would result in a decline in the indexes?
    Jan 02 12:51 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Market and Economy Predictions for 2009
    Why doesn't someone do a set of predictions for the next 10 years? While I think the OP's predictions may be roughly correct for 2009 and that the government's massive bailouts and fiscal stimulus will temporally improve the situation this year, these policies are going to lead to catastrophe a few years from now.
    Jan 01 10:41 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • eBay: The PayPal Factor
    When a large company like Walmart does a deal with Paypal they demand such low rates that there is very little profit left.

    While Paypal is useful for eBay transactions and for payments to very small scale sellers, it has significant disadvantages for the buyer for transactions with normal ecommerce sellers--worse buyer protection and a more time-consuming transaction process than the credit card process.
    Dec 31 10:14 am |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Is Buying Bonds Really a Good Idea?
    What are "the better places to put your money right now"?
    Dec 31 09:57 am |Rating: +4 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Global Investing Economic Outlook for 2009
    When you see articles like this on DRYS to me it looks like a stock to stay away from no matter what its price:
    seekingalpha.com/artic...
    Dec 21 23:15 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • What Will Become of eBay?
    And what are buy.com and the other large venues doing? As soon as someone buys something from them on eBay they try to convert them into buyers at their own websites--so the repeat traffic goes to buy.com et al instead of eBay.

    This is something the small sellers are much less effective at--simply because small sellers don't have the broad inventory--so the repeat business goes back to eBay.
    Dec 21 22:54 pm |Rating: +2 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • GM and Chrysler Get an Early Christmas Present
    I doubt if the auto manufacturers and UAW will pay much attention to these "requirements&quo... Instead they will just put pressure on the new Democratic Congress and President to deliver some pork--and Congress and the President will deliver.
    Dec 21 12:25 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Americans Overspend by $650 Billion on Health Care
    Fundamental reform is not going to happen. The health care industry is making a lot of money; they don't want their profits reduced--so they have bought off Congress.
    Dec 16 19:43 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • GM: Natural Death or Suicide?
    "With a lousy 20-30 billion required"

    No, that would only last the auto industry until the early part of next year; then they would want much more.
    Dec 14 22:00 pm |Rating: +2 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Is eBay's Strategy Working?
    What happens when an eBay buyer buys an item from a small seller and is satisfied with it?

    He goes back to eBay for further purchases.

    What happens when an eBay buyer buys an item from a mega seller and is satisfied with it?

    He goes to the seller's website for further purchases. (Look at a company like buy.com which has hundreds of thousands of listings on eBay--total costs to the customer are cheaper at the buy.com site than eBay).
    Dec 14 21:52 pm |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • A Long and Painful Consumer Slowdown - Barron's Interview
    "Pomboy says deleveraging is in its infancy, with Joe blue-collar leading the next wave"

    What Joe blue-collar does has limited economic impact, except for a few types of businesses simply because Joe blue-collar (plus the non-working poor) make only a small proportion of the countries income. And this proportion is declining as good manufacturing jobs disappear.
    Dec 14 14:21 pm |Rating: 0 -3 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Putting Your Family's Financial House in Order
    I see no substantive content in this article--and find it incomprehensible that SA editors gave it a priority headline placement on the front page.

    What I would have expected that Mr. Merkel would have summarized the major points of advice of the book.
    Dec 13 13:57 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article

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