Not a Conspiracy–A System

[AMaltsev]

Re: Not a Conspiracy–A System

Pervilis Spurius, thanks for the info and especially for the link.
One might probably say, "If Americans would know how The Brokerage System works, they would revolt before tomorrow morning"... :-)
"The Dark Side" story did impress me so much. It's not that I personally care about your biggest brokers, no - I got no accounts in USA and have neither means nor intention to open one there. I was just wondering... if something like this can happen in a 'democratic' country like USA, what could be at play here in 'Wild East'?
AFAIK, in Russia it's impossible to get FTDs on one's account, because payment and delivery of shares occurs simultaneously. However, this alone doesn't prevent many of our brokers from getting into their clients' accounts to 'borrow' some stocks. I personally dislike an idea of such treatment of the shares I own... and therefore I opened my account with a broker so conservative that it:

• doesn't allow margin (credit) operations;
• doesn't allow short selling;
• is legally unable to deal with my shares unless I make an explicit order (cannot 'borrow' them);
• is legally unable to deal with the money on this account (and thus pays no interest);
• doesn't provide an access to the account via Internet or a phone (theoretically it can, in practice it does not);
• has fairly high tariffs and isn't really interested in developing its broker services.

You'll probably laugh out loud on the conservatism of these guys... and especially on their poor affinity to modern means of communications. But before you do please remember recent sell-off when DJ plunged few hundreds within couple of minutes... and later you learned the computers of NYSE were 'lagging'. Maybe the machines were slow indeed on that particular day, or maybe the computers of NYSE are also just a part of The System... how the hell can you be sure? If next time you place an order via Internet, and something goes wrong - how could you prove you did make an order?

Well... maybe a little bit of conservatism is exactly what is needed these days? ;-)

P.S. It seems the story on 'The Dark Side of The System' has enormous potential. Once the brokers' illegal activity ceases, a huge number of shorts will be closed - and S&P500 will double in no time (Hint: all 'average Americans' will be happy!) Maybe it'd be wise to attract to this story attention of some loud guy like Mogambo? To initiate revolution before tomorrow morning? Good luck anyway!

[grapejelly]

Re: Not a Conspiracy–A System

I wonder what this means in terms of FTDs and ETFs. Especially GLD and SLV...interesting that shares could be not just "paper gold" but "paper paper gold"

[Tet]

Re: U.S.-Russian relations

IMHO, it's hard to make people your friends by bombing or threatening them. And I believe none of you iTulip readers dare to insist the USA never bombs and never threatens anyone.(

Well said, I do try to steal more from them then they can from me each and everyday. I believe that is truly the only thing crooks really understand. ;)

Hope you find this of interest.
http://www.warandpeace.ru/en/exclusive/view/8087/
A Look at the Big Picture, Cracks in the D0llar Hegemon
Article translated into Russian on the Russian part of the site.

World is changing, not much the serfs can do here one way or the other, the BRIC nations plus South Africa and South Korea seem to have the situation well in hand. Never lose hope, but understand that the punishment of those living in this debtors prison won't bring the world to a better place, one the rest of the world is working very hard to create. Best of luck with it.

[Tet]

Re: Not a Conspiracy–A System

The good news is that, I think Kremlin is running out of plutonium."


Any thoughts you have are appreciated. In any case, welcome.

-EJ

Meanwhile in the land of the free and the home of the brave, large sums of money are appoved to fund a new hydrogen bomb, no mention that any improved yield on a new hydrogen bomb is throwing money away.

Putin talks about taking his countries plutonium and doubling Russia's nuclear power generating capacity. Latest launches from Russia's ballistic submarines have been satellite launches and Russia expects to launch quite a few more satellites this way. Looks like Russia isn't going to take part in the latest cold war that Wall Street is pushing either. Interesting times.

[algerwetmore]

Re: Not a Conspiracy–A System

I inquired about stock certificates for my investments in a self-directed IRA, and was told by the broker, if I took delivery, I would incur a tax liability. Does anyone know if this is a true statement?

[sadsack]

Re: Not a Conspiracy–A System

I inquired about stock certificates for my investments in a self-directed IRA, and was told by the broker, if I took delivery, I would incur a tax liability. Does anyone know if this is a true statement?

Your broker is correct - taking physical possession of stock certificates yourself is treated as a taxable withdrawl that may also incur a 10% penalty. It is the same as if you partially or completely liquidated your IRA custodial account.

If I recall correctly, you would have to find another custodian or custodial entity who is willing to request the certs on your behalf and then hold these certs for you.

There was a thread back several months ago that discussed how - the lowdown was that the logistics were non-trivial.