what were you doing on Sept 11?

Hi el caballo,
the answer is yes, with some qualifications. A lot of stress & needless worry for a not so flash return.

1) The Soros time: 1990-92 on the sterling & NZD trades, I averaged 17.5% for 2 years. That was because I cut loss in time & changed over to NZD & then bought back in at 1.49 sterling/USD cross. I remember giving my brother back his 42K capital plus 9K earnings. He gave me 42K to invest.

Those days, we were POOR with capital P. I only had $6667 to invest!

2) The twin towers time: I actually made 80K in 12 months on AUD/USD
I had 30-50K in cash & $420K AUD in home loans so I figured buying AUD @0.49 USD was a no risk or low risk thing to do. I would have to change my money to AUD anyway.

I made a mess when I got scared/carried away. I gave back half the profits & decided to quit so I was about 35-40 thousand ahead.

The profits on the shares were much higher. But then I understood the Singapore stocks at that time. I had had a very good practice run in the 90-93 period.

To be very honest, the falling knives had their turn when I started buying Aussie shares in 09. The 'junk shares' made a killing!

However, everyone agrees that QBE is a good company. I bought @ $22. Today the price is $13.50

I bought again @13.40 sold @14.60 and bought again @12.94

I agree beware of falling knives but the problem is how do we pick the bottom?

That's why black swans fascinate me. Also, why I remain a property afficionado. Much more stable & predictable.

KY
 
I was at home waiting for the Bigpond tech to come fix my ADSL dropout issues. He told me about it when he arrived.

What was a little closer to home for me was the London bombings, I had flown out of London a day earlier and used one of the tube lines that was bombed regularly while I was there.
 
I was also in Year 10... I thought my friend was joking when she first told me on the train. I still remember that particular moment even though I can't remember what happened at school later. I don't think I fully appreciated the consequences of this tragedy until quite a while later. Can't believe it's been more than 10 years since then, many things have changed.
 
MsAli said:
...I just didn't/don't understand the hate people carried for the US or vice versa towards the middle east....
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It's not just the Middle East. The Yanks have an unparalleled ability to stomp around the world and make enemies with all manner of folks in their homelands.

You really do need to get out more and read a bit of history then.

This one incident here ;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

...a single incident from a single US company caused more deaths than 9/11, plus as many again permanently disabled injuries plus over half a million people affected.

The company simply closed down, retreated back to the US and told everyone, Govts and citizens alike to go and get stuffed...

Those victims and all of their families didn't carry on like pork chops, making 100's of emotional videos and downloads. No-one declared war on the US over it and to this day none of the American big wigs and decision makers have been brought to justice over it.

It's been 28 years....I think they "got away with it'.


Having lived in the Middle East for more than a few years, and sat down to dinner with 4 star US Generals, the over-riding attitude of "we've got the biggest and best guns, so you'll all shut up and do as you're bl00dy well told" doesn't really go down too swell in other people's countries.

I'm yet to see anyone try that **** with them on their soil....but I gather the American public wouldn't be too impressed if their attitude was turned back onto themselves.

However, when you are the top dog in the room - and they are at present, the rules get set by them. It appears the rules do not apply to those who set the rules.
 
rajnhets said:
I was working for an outsourced call centre in India for an US based ISP.
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You might have been that bloke who rang me at lunchtime, and then again at dinner time that day while I was trying to watch the 9/11 footage on the teev at home. :D

Did I rudely hang up in your ear? ;)


Maybe you should have rung this bloke:
I was at home waiting for the Bigpond tech to come fix my ADSL dropout issues. He told me about it when he arrived.
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Dazz said:
It's not just the Middle East. The Yanks have an unparalleled ability to stomp around the world and make enemies with all manner of folks in their homelands.

You really do need to get out more and read a bit of history then.

This one incident here ;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

...a single incident from a single US company caused more deaths than 9/11, plus as many again permanently disabled injuries plus over half a million people affected.

The company simply closed down, retreated back to the US and told everyone, Govts and citizens alike to go and get stuffed...

Those victims and all of their families didn't carry on like pork chops, making 100's of emotional videos and downloads. No-one declared war on the US over it and to this day none of the American big wigs and decision makers have been brought to justice over it.

It's been 28 years....I think they "got away with it'.
Click to expand...

Interesting Dazz! When I was visiting Pakistan in 2011 this incident took place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Allen_Davis_incident

However the interesting thing is US airlifted Raymond Davis. If it was in US, I bet the person regardless of nationality or status would have gone to trial...

Not to forget..."secretly" flying into a sovereign territory to shoot a terrorist.
 
Without even going to Wiki ... I know several guys who fought in Vietnam and the Americans were hated then, by their allies.

They were considered loud, arrogant, gungho, rude and a danger to any who assosicated with them ... the Aussie soliders I know always refused to set up camp anywhere near them.
 
MsAli said:
Not to forget..."secretly" flying into a sovereign territory to shoot a terrorist.
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They should, I reckon. Terrorists do it; secretly infiltrate and destroy.

This is something that has always irked me; with all the supposed technology, secret squads of elite personnel etc, why does the US need to spend trillions on wars to rid the world of terrorists who threaten the US and everyone else? (I forgot; the oil - that's why!)

All they need to do is send in a pod of elite troops and snipe them to oblivion, then ghost back out of there...then move on to the next one.
 
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that was a surreal day in many ways - i had arrived in warsaw, poland a week before, ready to start my new job on sept 11 2001. i met a bunch of people, including my predecessor's best friend, an american. we partied and whatnot before i started my job that day..

i was meeting everyone and trying to get hold of things when the american called and said to turn on cnn. I did and we (my new colleagues and i) watched the second plane ram into the second tower - what?

we all got together for a drink that night after work, the team taught me every polish swear-word they could think of so i wouldn't embarrass myself again (another story), all to the visuals and sounds of the disaster that happened that day on the tvs all around us...
 
Interesting thread but somewhat off topic...

Was in 2nd year university (was doing a science/commerce degree)....I think if I recall it was mid semester....was finishing off an assignment and was up late.

Went into the kitchen for a midnight snack and turned on the TV....thought like many others it was some TV show/episode of McGuyver...little did I know it was the news.

Felt somewhat shocked and feared it might spread to other European settlements. Woke up the next morning with folks talking about it at the dinner table....
 
MsAli said:
But Marc, if the same was done to US? Some random airforce entering and destroying a terrorist hiding in US...will that be acceptable to US? Don't think so. :)
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Not an airforce; small covert platoons of elite troops, targetting known terrorists and their organisations.

The Yanks know exactly who they are, and this strategy would save trillions of dollars, and many innocent lives - on both sides.

And the diff is the US citizens aren't strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up markets, or taking innocent people hostage and cutting off their heads on video, or driving trucks filled with bombs into buildings full of people and such like.

I know they're not angels either, however.
 
BayView said:
And the diff is the US citizens aren't strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up markets, or taking innocent people hostage and cutting off their heads on video, or driving trucks filled with bombs into buildings full of people and such like.
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No, they do much worse. I would'nt know where to start?
 
lizzie said:
Without even going to Wiki ... I know several guys who fought in Vietnam and the Americans were hated then, by their allies.

They were considered loud, arrogant, gungho, rude and a danger to any who assosicated with them ... the Aussie soliders I know always refused to set up camp anywhere near them.
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There’s too much emphasis on US flaws. The very reason we talk about their flaws is because on balance we still consider the US as a force for good, whereas the ideologies that they oppose (nazism, communism, islamic obscurantism etc…) are simply bad – flawlessly bad.

As a Vietnamese lad who grew up during the war years, I found this analogy very true: they’re like friends, so embarrassingly tactless, loud and arrogant but so bafflingly generous when we need them.

Hold on to your friends.
 
BayView said:
Come on; not even one example?
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More recently, invading Iraq for their Weapons of mass destruction (whatever happened to them?). Just so happens they are one of the world’s biggest oil produces. And so happens America is the world’s biggest consumer of oil.

Yet invading a country for their resources is not considered terrorism. (sorry for all the sarcasm)
 
thepeoplesagent said:
More recently, invading Iraq for their Weapons of mass destruction (whatever happened to them?). Just so happens they are one of the world’s biggest oil produces. And so happens America is the world’s biggest consumer of oil.

Yet invading a country for their resources is not considered terrorism. (sorry for all the sarcasm)
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Aside from the theory that they are just there for the oil, they were responding to the Dictator who was there and who repeatedly threatened to do bad stuff to them and others....not to mention his own people.

But then; if it is all about the oil, why haven't they bombed the bejeezus out of Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc and moved in to liberate the oppressed?

It's a bit of a hollow argument, don't you think?

As I said; they're not angels, but I can't remember a time where they invaded anywhere, or started a war anywhere; without some degree of provocation first.

Whereas a Terrorist who hates the Western world, or anyone elses' religion.....
 
BayView said:
Aside from the theory that they are just there for the oil, they were responding to the Dictator who was there and who repeatedly threatened to do bad stuff to them and others....not to mention his own people.
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.

More innocent people were killed in that war then Saddam could kill in his lifetime.

Bay, no matter what I say to you, It won’t change your mind. And no matter what you say to me, it won’t change my mind. So I will save our time and not bother with the back-and-forth.

But, can I say this. There was a time when I laughed at people who believe what I believe now. My opinion was changed after I done my own research (only in an effort to debunk someone), watched documentaries by private producers who were not funded by big media outlets or the discovery channel. I listened to both sides of the fence and made my mind. That is it.

Now I’m a nice person and respect everyone’s view. I won’t call anyone ignorant or anything of that nature.

And if I am wrong, I will be the first to admit I am glad I was wrong
 
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