The Best of the Mailbag
Editor's note: Today, we're bringing back a holiday favorite, "The Best of the S&A Mailbag." Every day, we sort through dozens, sometimes hundreds of your e-mails, and choose the best to publish. This year, we got a request for naked pictures, a giant yacht bought with profits from our research, and someone wanting a refund for The Digest (too bad it's free). Some are accusatory, some are intelligent... all of them are entertaining. We hope you enjoy...
"Well, Porter, I do feel you could include a picture of a Stansberry & Associates Pin Up once in a while, to give us old codgers reason to keep opening these e-mails from you. So as not to slight the female readers, let them have a pic of John Wayne, Fred Astaire, or Boggie once in a while, too." – Paid-up subscriber Peter Courtenay Stephens
Porter comment: That's not a bad idea...
"I'm naming my new truck... 'The Naked Put.' Thank you for giving me the tools to pay for it!!!!" - Paid-up subscriber Bill
"Hey Porter! Don't get me wrong I love a nice truck too, almost as much as a nice boat and your awesome PUT STRATEGY. We took delivery of her 3 weeks ago and are cruising the Bahamas. In October we will take her through the Panama Canal over to the Pacific side since I just bought a home in Mexico, in part due to your and Doug Casey's recommendations." – Paid-up subscriber Ulf Rohde
Porter comment: Sounds like you're ready to join our 400 Club.
I see no reason to torture. Get a group of the detainees together, pick one, shoot his ass. Ask the others if they have anything they would like to offer. If not kill 'em all." – Paid-up subscriber Fred
Ferris comment: Oh, that's much more humane.
"Soros should be run out of the country, stripped of his citizenship and tarred and feathered." – Anonymous
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Porter comment: I agree. Those who oppose us are terrorists. If you're not with us, you're against us. And all terrorists must die. Strength through Unity. Unity through Faith.
"I subscribe to The S&A Digest but it is not what I expected it to be. I want my money back..." – Paid up subscriber Mary Olah
Porter comment: Mary, we're certainly sorry to lose you as a reader... but we don't owe you anything. The S&A Digest is free. You can unsubscribe at any time by simply following the "unsubscribe" instructions we include in each copy we send you.
"I make my own wine for $3.00 a bottle. Got two naked women to stomp the grapes for me. You can enjoy the finer things in life even at low income levels." – Paid-up subscriber Ignorant Dupe
Ferris comment: You are wealthy beyond measure. Congratulations.
"Hi Porter. Still pissing people off? retired from [FBI] consulting a little over 2 years ago, and am now a full-time welfare rat. I get annuities from the Navy, Social Security, OPM, HP, and a couple more. Keep paying your taxes, I enjoy living off you. I see where you now have a former dentist working for you. His retirement book is a riot. Nothing new in it for anyone who can do a little research on their own. I'm sure he'll do we'll. I have to applaud you on the GM bankruptcy. I didn't think the Gov't would bail them out, but I really didn't realize how much GS was imbedded in the power structure.
"I'm sure you've howled long & hard how your tax dollars are keeping these and other crooks afloat. And their bonuses: you must be having a cow! So, you & and your family have a Merry Xmas, and keep pumping those newsletters. Life's great! p.s., please keep having your marketing dep't sending me all those subscription come-on mailers: I use them as fire-starters... p.p.s., it looks like my negative-am daughter will get well thanks to your tax dollars. She says thanks, too. o, life keeps getting sweeter..." – Former paid-up subscriber Steve Dansker
Porter comment: Longtime subscribers will recognize the name "Dansker." This was the subscriber who threatened me through his FBI connections. As I recall, he was upset with me for warning about GM's bankruptcy and said I should be arrested. When you're thinking about the merits of democracy... just keep in mind, guys like Dansker are the kind of people who vote. And they will vote themselves your checkbook every chance they get. When you complain, they'll send the FBI after you.
"You ASSHOLE, I take personal exception to your remark in reference to felons. I am a felon. I am a responsible and tax-paying individual. There are numerous felons of very high integrity and moral fiber, of which I am one. This nation was originally populated with felons. It is your contemporary Christian attitude that bars felons from participating functionally and totally in society. You should be formally castigated for your comment." – Paid-up subscriber Dave Broer
Porter comment: If you don't think a governor in a tight election suddenly deciding to allow felons to vote is one of the more obvious examples of graft and corruption in the history of American politics, I don't know what to tell you. I mean... you just can't make this stuff up. Perhaps the only thing funnier is getting a letter from a felon about the matter – which made my day. As for most felons being "responsible," I have to wonder how many you've met...
"You are one ugly American, P.S. You're gutless and Godless to print crap about all the incompetent people who hinder your lifestyle. These rants, as most people recognize, are from an insecure posturer, not quite fulfilled in life, no matter what show you put on for others. Picking on the poor cable guy, school teachers, and even fry cooks, chopping them down so you look taller. These people obviously don't have your IQ, common sense, good looks, and family lineage to run in your pack, so fire 'em all, let 'em lose their jobs, homes, friendships, self-esteem..." – Paid-up subscriber Bob Kelly
Porter comment: You guys have it all wrong... Recessions are great for the economy and great for individuals, too. Recessions clear out the dead wood, get rid of inefficient companies and people, punish business leaders who have made bad decisions, and bring reality back to folks who have been living in a dream world – from investment bankers in private jets selling worthless mortgages to union labor leaders pushing GM to continue to pay workers who didn't have to work!
And yes, I certainly know the pain and humiliation of being fired. It happened to me in January 1999. My boss said I was the least entrepreneurial person he'd ever met. It was a very motivating experience. Six months later, I put out the first issue of my own newsletter – in which I predicted AT&T would go out of business (the old AT&T, which did go out of business).
Six years later, I took over the entire building I'd been fired from – 1217 St. Paul Street. We renovated it, put in a nice gym. Today, I work from my former boss' office. I eat lunch at the conference table where he fired me. There's a plaque on my desk. My dad gave it to me on the night we celebrated the renovation of our building. It says, "Success is the best revenge." I know the minute I stop serving my readers, there's another guy out there just like me – young, super-hardworking, and hungry – that's ready to eat my lunch. That's how the economy is supposed to work, and that's why recessions are good.
"Porter you arrogant little twit... I have absolutely had it with YOU and ANYTHING TAINTED BY YOU. What happened with you and GM? Did your tranny blow up because you FORGOT to service it? Or do you just LOVE JAP cars. And don't tell me again and again and again and again (oops, too late) that GM is the worst run company on the face of the Earth. S&A is worse, much worse, because with your personal vendetta against GM how can I have ANY FAITH in anything you say or write? There is no place in investment newsletters for this sort of blatant personal attack. No one else on the staff does this, just you.
"There is NO EXCUSE FOR YOUR BEHAVIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a retired GM engineer, chemist and statistician and the main problem with GM is that 'Americans' walked away from a perfectly good 100% AMERICAN manufacturer of automobiles for a few percentage points in total defects. What a shame, because now the whole country will suffer, and you seem to enjoy watching it unfold, doing your little play-by-play. How sick – how very, very sick. REMOVE MY NAME IMMEDIATELY FROM ANY AND ALL PUBLICATIONS FOR WHICH YOU WRITE TODAY... I don't want to see your name ever again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" – Paid-up subscriber Victoria Smith
Porter comment: OK.
"According to your many editorials on the subject, I'm one of the deadbeat borrowers because I've applied for not one, but two, loan modifications. I can't handle my debt so I'm a deadbeat, right? Wrong. I've never drawn on a line of equity in my life and as you can see from below my expertise is real estate. I have a master's from USC in development as a matter of fact and (probably) know much more about how to evaluate real estate values than anyone on your newsletter.
"I put 20% down on one loan and 25% down on the other one, both high-priced properties in expensive markets. One was bought at auction in a market that continued to plummet after it had already declined 2 years. Even my boss, a millionaire many times over (and he seldom touches stocks) told me at the time it was a smart buy.
"Bottom line is that in real estate, just as in stocks, timing is everything. I'm as much a victim of market forces beyond my control as any corporate accountant with a 401K and a shocked look on his face. There are many, many, many honorable people out there like me trying to meet their obligations who are getting virtually no help from anyone. Not from the government that partly caused this problem, not from the media that loves to hype one side, and not even from supposed 'experts' whom I pay a goodly sum for expensive advice to help me navigate these troubled financial waters.
"Broaden your horizons. Your readers will benefit from it. I suspect if you look at the actual foreclosure numbers in depth you'll find that many of the NODs waiting in the wings are being sent to market victims, not greedy and inconsiderate credit hounds." – Paid-up subscriber Colleen Fuglaar, vice president, development, RTI Properties
Porter comment: As long as you believe you're a victim, you won't learn what life is trying to teach you here, Colleen. There's a tremendous difference between the actions you took and equity investors with their 401ks. It's simple: 401k investors didn't borrow money from other people and then refuse to pay it back. You did. That's why you're a deadbeat.
You took a risk with other people's capital. Once you do that, you're not working for yourself anymore. You're working for your creditors. Your first obligation is to pay back the money you've borrowed with interest. And apparently, you can't. So let's be clear about who the victim is here: Your creditors are the victim of your bad decisions. Blaming the lender who gave you the money is preposterous – these folks trusted you, backed you, and were willing to take a chance on you. Now, you're saying they've exploited you and you're a "victim." Give me a break.
You act as though someone came into your house one night, put a gun to your head, and forced you to sign a contract on two expensive condo buildings you couldn't really afford. Of course, that's not what happened. And we don't have any sympathy for you. Don't borrow the money if you have any doubt about your ability to pay it back. And, yes, the government certainly is to blame for creating an environment where too many people like you could borrow money to buy real estate.
But no agent of the government forced you to make this or any other deal. You don't get a free pass from taking responsibility for your actions just because a lot of other people made the same bad decision. And you don't get a free pass because you have a degree in real estate "development." In fact, claiming to be an expert in something you've just bankrupted yourself doing is... delusional.
Finally... I must say... I got a real charge out of someone like you telling me to "broaden" my horizons. You might recall that I decided to fold our Real Estate Investor newsletter in 2006 because I knew there was going to be a disaster in U.S. real estate. You might also recall our numerous specific warnings about the condo market in particular. While I was telling folks to get out of the U.S. real estate market, I was working with Doug Casey and his group to select and then promote the Estancia Cafayate, a luxury project in Argentina, which has worked out very well. Also, I've been heavily involved in Nicaragua, deals that have been very lucrative.
I didn't learn about real estate at USC. I learned from two masters – Bill Bonner and Doug Casey. These guys and their partners have made hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate over the last 30 years. The secret? It won't come as a surprise to any of our subscribers: We only buy real estate we can afford. We never borrow a penny. And we work hard to improve the perceived value of the land.
You're in quite a pickle, Colleen. You've dug a big hole for yourself, and you don't know the first thing about how to get out of it. It might take you a while to realize what you have to do. It's not easy. But it is simple: From this day forward, always take complete responsibility for your decisions. From this day forward, live up to all of your promises. Start by repaying every penny you owe – no matter how long it takes.
Doing this hard work will teach you a lesson you need to learn about the risks of borrowing money. And the risks of buying expensive real estate. But... once you've really learned those lessons, your life will be incredibly enriched. You'll make far better decisions. And you'll attract the goodwill of everyone you meet.