Apple Inc. (AAPL) Message Board

Rogere,
Read a few of the newer books on automation and realize that in this "information" age, automation is taking its toll big time on the information sector, and there is more to come. When you think about it, we saw what automation can do when slavery was legal in the US. What happened was that wealthy southern plantation owners got "automated" help in the form of slaves while the those farmers unable to afford slaves were dirt poor or went out of business in the south. They couldn't compete against the "free" labor slaves. When you talk about jobs that automation can't replace being in the medical field and government, you need to be careful, as there are loads of machines monitoring patients now, which in turn require less personnel to monitor the machines than having nurses in every room. It is true that government jobs are less susceptible to automation problems, but really, government workers do not pay enough taxes to pay their own salary. It requires taxes on private industry. There are loads of places where government jobs SHOULD or could be replaced by machines, but it is only government unions that keep those employees there. In other words, unless there are laws that prohibiting laying off of people, because a machine can take there place, it is a foregone conclusion. In all honesty, most teaching for high school students could be done with computer programs and no teachers in the school, and the results would be the same or perhaps even better. It is only unions and laws that prohibit such, but in all fairness, education is about information, and information is readily available now via internet for nearly all subjects. A teacher can lay out a good curriculum on You Tube and a million students could watch and get that information. As I said before, we are advancing technologically to the point we don't need many humans anymore to produce the goods and services required for the human race to exist.

lakeebarb,
Why don't you list the totals of fatalities and US embassies or consulates during Obama's tenure and then compare it to Bush/Cheney tenure, and then make your point.

It was a loser from the onset. The guy at the top made off with all the coin most likely.

I think you are correct rogere. I have avoided FRO for some time now and will do so for awhile. I have had a sweet run up in zptaf and enytf and consider them both quite undervalued. I have been sucking the divvies in enytf all along. Thinly traded but they look solid to me. What do you think?

Yes...with the earnings report, it appears this could be an $8+ stock quite easily. The dividends keep pumping, and it really doesn't look like there is much in the bad news department unless I am missing something.

all of the companies are better than this one

"OPEC does this constantly. It's not like here in the states where it is illegal for companies to bond together to control prices. OPEC and member countries purposely set out to hold prices high by using methods that in other countries would be considered collusion."

Please, Mr. Shores....don't be so naïve.
Oil companies here get together and price fix continually. If you were around during the Arab oil embargo and during the massive gas price increases of the mid 70's, you would understand. You couldn't go into a major US harbor without seeing tankers down to their marks waiting to discharge, but not getting to the docks, because the tank farms were full while your friends, the oil companies were causing rationing, fights in gas lines, odd even days of gas purchases, etc. etc. Even Carter couldn't do anything about them. They got fined a token amount, but hey....they can afford the best lawyers in the world to defend them, and we all know how you tell if a lawyer is lying...."His lips are moving." We were doing round turns off the coast of Oregon, full of gasoline, and "waiting" orders to come in to discharge. Meanwhile, folks couldn't find gas stations open. Why do you think they all do "refinery" work in early spring always claiming it is to do maintenance. They do it together to cut down supply and create higher gas prices. Did it happen here the last couple of months? You are correct in the OPEC makes no bones about what they do, and American oil companies do the same only discreetly, and since they own the republican party and enough of the democratic party, they do as they please. Welcome to the "corporataucracy."

197.78

Pipeline spills can be quite quite bad, and the problem with them generally is that nobody is around where the spill occurs, so it goes on for awhile before anything is done. Train cars derail and that is it. Not good, but oil doesn't continue to flow. Just Google Arkansas Oil Spill that occurred earlier this month to see what can happen quickly. I was once on a tanker in Diego Garcia where we were pumping only 2K bbls of gasoline ashore through hose and pipeline. Navy geniuses said they were receiving oil when they really weren't as they had the drain valve to the tank shut. This went on for quite awhile, but we were using very small stripping pump to discharge. About half the gas went right into the sand and into the sea. 1K bbls is 42K gallons. Once the genie is out of the bottle...it is out of the bottle.