Courtesy of Mish.
I have been under constant barrage of unsolicited phone calls recently. The phone calls typically begin with the same lie: “Mr. Shedlock you told a colleague of mine a few months ago to call you back when we have a really good investment opportunity”.
Given that I never ask anyone to call back, they are known liars from the start. Depending on what kind of mood I am in, I may hang up immediately or listen long enough to hear what kind of nonsense they are peddling.
I asked one of the liars the name of his colleague that called. He answered George. I said “George who?”.
The caller got exasperated and replied “Washington”.
The predominant thing these guys are peddling is the opportunity to lose a lot of money fast, frequently in the oil or natural gas industry. But lately the charlatans have pestered me with real estate opportunities, shorting gold, and buying microcap stocks I have never heard of (most likely the classic pump-and-dump) variety.
This is the kind of thing that happens at market tops. Everyone wants in, and the fraudsters come out in force to take advantage.
Nonetheless, I offer my standard warning: Just because this activity happens at peaks, does not mean this is the peak.
Sentiment typically gets more extreme than anyone thinks possible.
Social Media Bubble
Facebook recently paid $19 billion for WhatsApp, a company with 55 employees and no revenue.
Supposedly this is a good deal because WhatsApp is growing fast. It is growing fast because it has a cute texting app that it gives away for free.
…
