Faulty intelligence about Iraq stocks
.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Dear Mr. Berko:
My Merrill Lynch stockbroker has two foreign contacts in the Middle East, and he and they believe that there is a tremendous opportunity to make money by buying stocks on the Iraq Stock Exchange. He says it has increased by 25 percent this year because the country is on the verge of an economic expansion that will be felt throughout Iraq and the Middle East. He wants me to invest $100,000 in Iraqi banks and insurance companies that he and his two people believe can easily triple in value during the next year. Please tell me what you think about this. I can afford to risk some of that money but certainly don’t want to lose it. Also, I feel I should take you to task for being so negative and writing so disrespectfully about members of Congress. Most are good people who are trying to help America get back on its feet. It’s just a few bad apples who are spoiling the barrel. Please consider this the next time you write about our representatives and/or speak of them as you did disparagingly during your speaking engagement in Waukegan, Ill., last October.
B.R., Chicago
Dear B.R.:
In my opinion, the Iraq Stock Exchange isn’t worth spit on a sidewalk. Trading volume averages $800,000 a day versus well over $500 billion per day on the New York Stock Exchange. Although ancient Babylonia was the first society to adopt a stock exchange, it’s still very much a novelty for Mr. and Mrs. Iraqi.
The Iraq Stock Exchange is located in an abandoned Baghdad kosher restaurant and dominated by a few wealthy Iraqis who live in England and France and left Iraq when the United States loosed its troops on Saddam Hussein. These wealthy Iraqis reopened the exchange in 2004 and hope that some day soon they can return to their homeland with their fortunes intact. There are 98 companies listed on the exchange: hotel companies, oil service firms, insurance companies, some manufacturers, movie companies and a few trading and shipping companies.
However, foreign investors account for only about 15 percent ($120,000) of the daily activity.
I would sooner trust a hungry jackal than I would an Iraqi broker. Frankly, neither you nor I nor your broker has any bloody idea which of the 98 listed companies are legitimate or have potential value. However, I can get you a good deal on several waterfront condominiums in Baghdad if you’re interested.
Now, as for my public comments about politicians while speaking to the folks at Uline Corp. in Waukegan, Ill. I base the respect I show for people on their competence, their honesty and their humanity. So I believe my remarks about members of the House and Senate accorded our Congress people proper respect.
Mark Twain once said that America is a nation without a distinct criminal class “with the possible exception of Congress.” And things haven’t changed since Twain’s comment more than 100 years ago.
According to the Web site www.capitolhillblue.com: “In recent years members of Congress have gone to jail for child molestation, fraud and other charges.” Capitol Hill Blue’s research found that 117 members have run at least two businesses that went bankrupt, leaving their partners and creditors holding the bag. Seventy-one members have credit reports so bad that they can’t get an American Express card. And 53 members of Congress have personal and financial problems so serious that they would be denied security clearances by the Department of Defense and Department of Energy. At least 27 members of Congress have drunken-driving arrests on their records, 27 are current defendants to various lawsuits from bad debts, personal disputes and civil matters, 19 have been accused of writing bad checks, 14 of them have drug-related arrests, eight have been arrested for shoplifting, seven for fraud, four for theft, three for assault and one for criminal trespass.
This number doesn’t include 43 members who are currently being investigated by the FBI and other agencies for predatory sex crimes and other criminal behavior. The percentage of Congress members who have committed illegal activities exceeds, by orders of magnitude, the percentage in the general population. Are these the kind of people you trust to pass legislation and run the country?
I thought former President Jimmy Carter was a nutcake, and in some respects I still think he is. However, I have enormous appreciation for this man’s intolerance for congressional pork and privileges, his budget programs, his energy programs, his tax programs, his efforts to curtail runaway spending for social programs, to repair Social Security, Medicare and reduce the cost of running Washington, all of which were defeated by Congress. I also have tremendous respect for his humanity, his humility, his integrity and his spirituality.
Though I still can’t abide by his goofy smile and the funny way he talked, I think history will mark Carter as a forward-thinking president and a man way ahead of his time. Carter is the kind of politician most members of Congress secretly admire but cannot find the courage to be.
Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@comcast.net. © 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.
Trending News
