BB&T Corporation Message Board

Some of you boys -- in your comments about what
kind of market southwestern VW is -- remind me of
people who are always chasing after hot stocks, always
jumping on a horse already running fast and due for a
cooling off and rest, if not a fall. Why not sometimes a
horse that's been cooped up for too long and is
chomping at the bit, kicking the gate, ready to trot, and
maybe run with the wind, in its own way? So
southwestern VW isn't Silicon Valley, isn't even Atlanta or
Virginia Beach, but then Silicon Valley wasn't Silicon
Valley thirty years ago, and Atlanta wasn't busting out
either. Southwestern West Virginia may have a long ways
to go, and may not go as fast or as far as some
others, but being there early and along for the ride just
might not be such a disaster.

If the great BBT makes a mistake, it does
matter!!!!!! Picking a loser matters!!!! Picking a winner
matters even more!!! I didn't invest in this company to
pick losers and no growth markets. BBT wants to be
ahead of the market instead of "ahard of the market" as
you posted earlier

But I kanda wish you were a shill!

Regards.

Stock

with your last paragraph mischaracterization for
the second time. You must have missed my earlier
response to your first shot over my bow..."I'm retired,
enjoying life, and investing" and I will add, after 40
years in insurance and financial services. I have a
nice (for me) and profitable long term position in
BB&T and a 10+ year collection of annual and quarterly
reports, recent press releases,& other internet available
documents.
I continue to add to my holdings with
dividend reinvestment (which I'd recommend to everyone)
because I believe the CEO is one of the brightest
strategic thinkers in banking and management knows how to
execute. Ask some of the people he convinced to sell to
BB&T rather than another bank (they like the paper).
Ask a broker whose firm follows the bank. Read the
annual reports, listen to John at the annual meetings
and he'll answer most of your questions. I have two
objectives on this board: to learn, and to post factually.
If you find any factual errors in my posts I'll
apologize to the readers. Meanwhile, let's focus on BB&T &
leave off the personalizations.

I remain a
BBTFan! Good Day!

Just another note from WV. I wonder if BB&T will allow MNB to retain most of their employees...Let's hear from some veterans of the "Aquisition Process", or should i say {survivors?}....

The financial markets were just great yesterday,
weren't they? I hope you made a pile. I tried to send a
post to you earlier today, but it capsized in
cyberspace. Here's another. If the first one surfaces
somewhere, please forgive the redundancy.

Thanks for
pointing out the wording in Tush's posts. I know he
appreciates it. Just change a bit of his wording: Rather than
"NO highly skilled workers", change that to
"COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, RELATIVELY FEW highly skilled workers".
Rather than "Trash EVERYWHERE", change that to "DEBRIS
VISIBLE IN MANY PLACES."

Stockboy II has just put
up a post, to which I agree wholeheartedly. Let's
drive on to more challenging things, such as
speculation on what BBT and its competitors may do, or not
do, next.

But.......since you seem to indicate
that you live in southwestern WV or, perhaps,
southeastern KY, I'm really surprised that you take issue with
the phrase "open mining pits".
I would think you
would recognize the name Arch Coal, a St. Louis, MO
mining company that is one of the largest coal operators
in WV. I think Arch operates the very large Spence
#1 mine in Logan County, part of Mate's core market.
You should know that a Chief U.S. District Judge this
week blocked Arch's request for a permit to open, over
in Pigeonroost Hollow in Logan County, what would be
the largest mountaintop removal mine in the state. It
appears as if the judge thinks that thousands of acres of
mining have previously been approved in violation of
federal laws, and dozens of improper mountaintop removal
permits have previously been issued.

In case some
of the readers of this board are wondering, in
mountaintop removal mining, explosives are used to blast off
the tops of hills. Then, huge earthmoving equipment
moves in and digs out the coal. Leftover rock and dirt
is then dumped into nearby streams in waste piles
called valley fills. I really think that the people of
WV are very concerned about the cumulative
environmental impacts of mountaintop coal
operations.

Don't feel badly about this, however. Next to Iowa,
there are more hogs raised in NC than any other state.
It brings in more revenue than does tobacco (really
shouldn't be a surprise there). In Duplin County, NC there
are 40,000 humans and over 2,000,000 hogs; more hogs
than any county in the nation. Approximately 2,000
hogs per square mile. An estimated 20,000 hog births
each day. The anti-poop lobby (yep.....that's what
they call it) has been calling for anti-stink
measures.

Troubles everywhere.............trade you
some hogs for a coal mine ?

I hope you have a
great weekend.


PS. Thanks, Stockboy, for
your unique talents. Tushtilla.

I'm sure everyone that has posted re: the WV
purchase feels they are RIGHT! and they probably are. The
point is, it really doesn't matter. This is a very
small purchase and will have very little impact on BBT
one way or the other. I happen to agree with
Tushtilla (well, that seems to cover all your names that
I'm aware of!) that the demographics are not
exciting, at least for now. Before you start with the "buy
low, sell high - get ahard of the market" stuff, WV,
as wild & wonderful as it is, is not an attractive
banking market - when compared to VA, GA, SC, MD, and
even TN. Sorry, no harm intended, it just isn't -
based on the simple facts. But, I digress.

I
doesn't matter much what I think, because (and say it
with me you Monday night "The Bisquit" fans - think
Ally McG), this is too small to really count.

I
would love to leave this discussion on WV, as healthly
as it has been, behind and focus on the future if
possible.

You are a sharp bunch of folks, so what do you think
the future for BBT holds? If you were John Allison,
where do think you should go to next? Alaska to corner
the fishing market? Do you continue branching out
from traditional banking and, if so, into what? And
WHY? I'm really interested in the "why" part, so
please enlighten us all! Since I'm convinced that
BBT_Fan is a company shill (hey, why not - that's smart
on their part if true), perhaps he/she will share
your ideas with Mr.
Allison.

Regards.......

Stock (I ain't Doc -where are you Doc?) Boy

IMHO, your criticism is unwarranted and, perhaps,
misplaced. We've reviewed all the posts after #855, and
really can't locate one from you that addresses the
original issue: the MARKET in which Mate operates. If you
have information about that issue, there are some who
would like to hear it.

As I understand your new
post, you are trying to address growth in "scenic"
areas, with specific reference to Boise, Idaho, a
location with which you profess familiarity. I don't
really see much of a similarity between Boise and
southwestern WV. The population of Boise is approaching
200,000, inside an MSA approaching 400,000. Although I
haven't checked it out, I really think that the combined
population of all the counties in Mate's core market is much
less than the Boise area. Unlike southwestern WV,
doesn't Boise have several major corporations
headquartered there, and have been there for many years, in
addition to the tech stuff of Micron? Companies like Boise
Cascade, Morrison-Knudsen, and Albertsons ring a bell with
me; not necessarily high-tech, but providers of good
jobs. IMHO there is really no similiarity between the
two economic areas, either now or in the
past.

I agree with your comment about basic factors
"fundamental for economic success: a disciplined, competent
labor force and the efficient circulation of capital".
However, wouldn't you also agree that, when so-called
high-tech companies make decisions to locate their
facilities, they also consider many other factors, such as
taxation in the locale, the reasonable availability of
truly outstanding educational facilities (Palo Alto,
Raleigh...nearby Duke University), financial inducements (I'm not
inferring that inducements ultimately paid by the taxpayers
are good), the availability of air transportation
(both domestically and internationally), etc., etc.,
etc.?

There has been, and still is, a major concern in WV (by
the state government, the economic development
agencies, and many families) about the outflow of people
from the state........declining population (do you
remember that post ?), especially the outflow of young
adults; both educated and uneducated. This is a fact. If
"good" jobs, generally speaking, were available in the
state, the young people would remain. The purchase of a
medium-size bank in WV by BBT, while it might improve "the
efficient ciculation of capital", (some believe that the
capital will circulate VERY efficiently FROM W.V. TO N.C.
and VA.), will not necessarily help provide good jobs
to the people, which I think you erroneously
imply............. Although many of the leaders in WV want
desperately to solve these problems, it always gets embroiled
in state politics.

I hope you enjoy your day.

not being able to see the forest because of the
trees? That's what your problem looks like to me. You
quote a few satistics and that's ok, but there's a
bigger picture. For one thing, AndyNum. is right about
growth in "scenic" areas. I have some familiarity with
some of the areas he mentions, such as Boise, Idaho
which not so many years ago was considered a backwater
by many and is now thriving, with Micron Tech. among
the companies located there. Same for the Salt Lake
City area and parts of South Dakota, and Des Moines
and Omaha. Maybe you need to lift your eyes and mind
up from the outhouses and toward the two basic
factors most economists agree are fundamental for
economic success: a disciplined, competent labor force and
the efficient circulation of capital.

What posts indicated you said something about the
people of the area - I give you post #855, #868,
#872!!!!!!!!!
And I quote "NO HIGHLY SKILLED WORKERS", "TRASH
EVERYWHERE", AND
"OPEN MINING PITS".
You may have not
said anything about us straight up but you have
implied!!!!!
I drive 23 miles to work daily and I don't see the
trash or the open mining pits and yes I am a highly
skilled college graduate. (I had my eyes checked last
month so don't say I need to have them checked.) In the
future I will try not to take things so personal but I
am passionate about my beliefs.