An Open Letter to Bob Brinker

Self ^ | February 27, 2004 | Alberta's Child

[TheMole]

I often work Saturdays, which involves some driving around. As a result I hear Brinker from time to time (on KGMI 790 AM Bellingham, WA)on my car radio. I once heard him launch into a sustained rant about Bill Clinton's moral character, with references to his draft-dodging, horndogging, and financial corruption, that would have fit right in on Free Republic. This was while Clinton was still in office, probably in 1999 or 2000.

[Alberta's Child]

Someone posted an article on FR last year that included a link to a great weblog article about the Florida election. The author of that article speculated that the "Pat Buchanan" votes in Palm Beach County were actually the result of fouled-up attempts at voter fraud.

Basically, his point was that Bush was originally in the #1 spot on that "butterfly ballot" and Gore was in the #2 spot, with Buchanan in the #3 spot. The way the butterfly ballot was laid out on either side of a center margin, the odd-numbered slots were on the left side and the even-numbered slots were on the right side -- so that #3 was directly below #1, #4 was directly below #2, etc. Bush was in the #1 position because the candidates were arranged in the order their party had finished in the last state-wide election (which I believe had been Jeb Bush's 1998 victory). Buchanan, then, was moved "up" from the #3 spot to the #2 position -- the top slot on the right side of the ballot.

After the original ballot was approved, the Democratic Party in Palm Beach County had Al Gore moved from the #2 spot to the #3 spot so his name would be directly below Bush's name instead of on the opposite side of the sheet parties did have the option of moving their candidate to a LOWER position, but not a higher one) -- they thought this would make Gore's name more visible to voters.

The author of that article postulated that most of those 3,000 Pat Buchanan votes in Palm Beach County were actually cast when a Democratic Party election official (or someone in the Gore campaign) was attempting to give additional votes to Gore but did so based on the original layout of the Palm Beach County ballot instead of the final one.

Pretty fascinating stuff, I thought.

[expat_panama]

Bob's advice on when to leave the market

Sounds like Brinker is as off-base with investing as he is with politics.  It's so hard to find a decent investing discussion group because everyone seems  to warp their economic views to fit their politics.  You'd think it would be the other way around, but there are so many Democrat Party freaks (as well as a lot of 'tin-foil' freepers) who throw their savings in down one hole after another because their political views require a 'bad economy'.

Their agenda really shows up when they flip out on Bush-bashing. 

[Alberta's Child]

That is true. I must give credit where credit is due . . . I will never forget that "rant" (it was actually a well-reasoned rant) because it was so out of character for Brinker to make such a political statement like that. I was actually in my car on Route 31 in Warren County, NJ that evening -- which meant it had to be around 1999.

After hearing that particular show of his, I was utterly convinced that the United States had somehow managed to survive an eight-year period in which the White House was occupied by a certifiable loony-tune.

[Alberta's Child]

I think Brinker's advice on when to leave the market was sound. He didn't time the market perfectly (he was giving a "sell" recommendation in September of 1999, if I remember correctly -- while the market peaked in March of 2000) -- but anyone who sold on his recommendation in 1999 is far better-off today than someone who didn't.

[samantha]

I have one correction to make in your very good article to Mr. Brinker. Bob Butterworth was not defeated in the Attorney General race,he resigned and moved back to Broward to run for the state rep office which takes in Broward and Palm Beach co. He lost that race thankfully. Charlie Crist ran against and defeated Buddy Dyer for Attorney General. Buddy Dyer is now Mayor of Orlando,if I am not mistaken.

[expat_panama]

It would be useless for a computer show to just say 'stop using the computer' if you don't like this or that font.  They're supposed to tell you how to change the font.  

From 2000 to 2003 I averaged a 20 percent rate of return because I screened for low-PE 'rocket' stocks.  Even while the NASDAQ was loosing 3/4's of it's value, there were other sectors that were bullish-- and Brinker just says "don't invest"?

But hey, the only time I listen to Brinker is when he advertises his website.  I confess: my panning Brinker is like Andy Rooney panning 'Passion'.  It would help if I actually listened to Brinker's show before I griped.

[cherry]

good job.....

people like Brinker are like transsexuals.....you never know where they're coming from or which costume they'll be wearing....lol

I remember so well him calling the Toon the "smartest" guy in the world, or some such nonsense....

[jackbill]

Thanks for picking up on those errors. I did this whole thing in MS Word before cutting/pasting here -- and it's no coincidence that the paragraph you mentioned was the ONE paragraph where I changed the text after pasting it! LOL.

No problem. Notice that neither would have been picked up by Spell Checker. Spell Checker is as dumb as a DemocRAT.

My local station dropped Brinker's Sunday broadcast and I was in and out of his Saturday show. I've heard that he also bashed Bush by touting Kevin Phillips' diatribe against the Bush family and another anti-Bush book, whose name escapes me. Maybe O'Neills?

My subscription to Brinker's newsletter has not given me one bit of useful advice. "If you are going to invest in the stock market, dollar cost average". Duh!

He also has a "Bulletin" page on his web site, for subscribers. There hasn't been one since I subscribed - over six months ago.

The advice that he's given that has helped me has been on his program. Although he has recently limited his specific advice, he does eventually give it out. It may be a week or two later than the subscribers get it, but it's still timely.

I doubt that I'll lose much by unsubscribing and it will save me $185 a year.

His call on (I believe) Jan. 10, 2000 was extremely valuable. I don't know of anyone who timed the market as well as he did. I didn't get out as much as I should have, but I can't complain.

[jackbill]

Thanks for picking up on those errors. I did this whole thing in MS Word before cutting/pasting here -- and it's no coincidence that the paragraph you mentioned was the ONE paragraph where I changed the text after pasting it! LOL.

No problem. Notice that neither would have been picked up by Spell Checker. Spell Checker is as dumb as a DemocRAT.

My local station dropped Brinker's Sunday broadcast and I was in and out of his Saturday show. I've heard that he also bashed Bush by touting Kevin Phillips' diatribe against the Bush family and another anti-Bush book, whose name escapes me. Maybe O'Neills?

My subscription to Brinker's newsletter has not given me one bit of useful advice. "If you are going to invest in the stock market, dollar cost average". Duh!

He also has a "Bulletin" page on his web site, for subscribers. There hasn't been one since I subscribed - over six months ago.

The advice that he's given that has helped me has been on his program. Although he has recently limited his specific advice, he does eventually give it out. It may be a week or two later than the subscribers get it, but it's still timely.

I doubt that I'll lose much by unsubscribing and it will save me $185 a year.

His call on (I believe) Jan. 10, 2000 was extremely valuable. I don't know of anyone who timed the market as well as he did. I didn't get out as much as I should have, but I can't complain.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Actually his sell recommendation was more in the Fall of 2000 and he only missed about 5% off the peak of the S&P.

His politics is not as consistant as people might think, and he does credit Bush with the correct calls in the tax cut arena and the war on terror. (He blames Greenspan for the depth of the recession.)

Bob, in my view is one of those people who believe the label is not as important as the action. He liked the situation in the Clinton Administration after the Republicans took back the house of representatives. He believes "gridlock" is good for the economy because it limits what the congress can do. He does believe the national debt is a serious thing, but he knows that it should be looked at as a percent of GNP.

Bob advises people who invest in individual stocks to limit their investment in any one stock to 4% of their total investment portfolio. Part of the advice that I followed that was good was to ease myself out of stock market mutual funds as I approached retirement.

Bob also made a call in the QQQ that was a total disaster. A web site that carries discussion of Bob Brinkers radio show is at: http://www.begininvesting.com/

The owner of the site, David Korn charges for his investment interpretations, but it may be worth it to look into his site.

[KC_for_Freedom]

The other muse I heard about that election was that democratic operatives were suspected of passing a thin rod through a stack of ballots voting for Gore while at the same time making votes for Bush and Buchanan double punched and therefore invalid. This would also make a Gore vote out of a no vote and provided an easy way to make small changes in the outcome of the election. Especially if this were done in heavh Gore areas, and if not done on all the ballots. Of course, this would also create some hanging chads.

I am glad to see the punch card ballot going the way of the punch card computer input system. The new scanners will give a voter a chance to correct double votes, (something that will allow more careless voters votes to be redone.) But on the whole will make poll place vote fraud harder to get away with.

[kitkat]

I am SO glad you wrote that letter to Brinker. He's been making me scream at the radio for the last few months. And, hey, I can't even afford to invest! LOL! But I like his show, especially when he gives tips to fixed (or lessening) income people.

I'm bookmarking your letter for future reference. Thank you.

[Alberta's Child]

Ping.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Stick to the financial stuff, Mr. Brinker. Nobody wants to hear a whining malcontent on the air.

OMG! LOL!!! That's great, AC. Kick him where it hurts, LOL!

[Alberta's Child]

LOL! I think I should have left that part out -- in fact, if I send it to him I probably will.

[Victoria Delsoul]

LOL, that was the best part. OK, whatever.

[Alberta's Child]

I couldn't resist that one -- LOL.

Thanks for reading through that whole thing! ;-)

[Tailback]

One of the things that many people forget about election 2000 was that the (illegally) rejected military absentee ballots have still never been added to the official certified vote total.