'Mad Mail'

Research In Motion (RIMM)

Q:      Booyah Mr. C,
Apple is soaring again, but why isn’t RIMM keeping up? Do you think RIMM will catch up to Apple and make it back to 60 in the near future?
   -- Dave

Jim:    Dave, RIMM shaded its number down… I told you do go the low end… Apple (AAPL) has continued to blow numbers away… so it is really just a question of what company is closer to perfection… and Apple keeps doing well… I think Apple is expensive, but you know I like it… I think RIMM is cheap, and I like it… but that has not been a money maker in the latter and it has been a money maker in the former.

'Mad Mail'

Apple (AAPL)

See RIMM comments above for:
AAPL

'Mad Mail'

General Question about ETFs and Mutual Funds...

Q:      Jim,
A general education question - how does an ETF differ from a mutual fund? Is it just new lingo for the same thing?
LoN

Jim:    No, you can control when you want to take your profits and I think that is important for tax considerations.

'Mad Mail'

C

Q:      J

Jim:    I

'Mad Mail'

United States Steel Corp. (X)

Q:      Jim, I’ve been buying United States Steel Corp. (X) from $40.00 through $30.00. I’m thinking about buying more at today’s prices, but I’m concerned about some stories that I have been hearing about X. Do you think the prices have bottomed?
Mark

Jim:    Mark, what people are worried about here is the debt convenience, they are worried about the pension plan… you know I have got to tell you I am so tired of trying to figure out whether letter X is good or bad that I have to have Mr. Sirna on the show… I am not going to make a determination without checking in with him.

'Mad Mail'

General Question...

Q:      How cant it be a shock that foreclosures increased? Unemployment increased. A home is not an earning asset, the homeowner is the earner that supports the debt service. No income, not debt service, the house belongs to the bank, it’s pretty simple. The moratoria on foreclosures didn’t change the math, it just led to a surge in foreclosures when the moratorium ended.
   -- Merrill

Jim:    Merrill, you said it better than anybody… I have… you know all the models said that if unemployment ever exploded all foreclosures are going to break loose… that is why it is so important to give that unemployment and housing foreclosure… that is why we favored the $15,000 tax credit that didn’t get in… it is why we favored 4% mortgages for everyone including refinance, even if you are not struggling… because we want fairness…. we have not been heard about our issues… but we will keep trying.

'Mad Mail'

General Question...

Q:      Jim,
Can you explain why there are so many analysts that don’t agree with your take on the uptick rule?    For example, how will the uptick rule impact the short ETFs?
Chris

Jim:    Okay, there is a guy by the name of Bill Furber, who wrote on TheStreet.com today a three part series… I am chairman at TheStreet.com, I urge you to go to it… I also urge you to go to Eric Oberg, he is a former partner managing director at Goldman Sachs… he has been writing endlessly and eloquently about the uptick rule and the impact… these people are much better than I am… Furber and Oberg on TheStreet.com… go there this weekend… these are definitive best pieces about the really nefarious way that the ETF’s have used the abolition of the uptick rule.