Rockford:
Well I have to say I'm surprised to see such an extensive post in response to mine, coupled with another extensive post on another similar thread elsewhere. I'm sorry to see that I have not lived up to your prior opinion of me.
First, you state the following:
you wrote that Apex didn't lie about me, and that he specifically quoted me. If you re-read this thread, more carefully, you will see that what you said is not true. Apex did quote me, but he also told lies which were not supported by his quotations of me.
You know, "lie" is a pretty strong word. Personally I reserve it for times when I think there was some type of "malicious" or "evil" INTENT involved in a misstatement. Because of course, a misstatement could be a result of an "error of knowledge", or a simple "mistake", or a "hasty conclusion".
For instance, in your original post you state that your RAM is of a certain size, which Apex then pointed out. This was one of the original areas that you claimed he "lied". Come to find out, you had posted that specific RAM, and evidently had made an error in posting it. Now, by your definition perhaps someone could say that you were "lying", except that most of us probably don't think that your "misstatement" rises to the level of "malicious intent".
Likewise, when you make the statement about your lack of activity in futures, it's easy to see how one could arrive at a conclusion that you had not traded them. Frankly this doesn't strike me as a "lie", I think that's way too strong of a statement for something which appears to be a misinterpretation of what you said. I've read what you said several times at this point, and would not know from the statement that you had ever traded futures before.
So no, the conclusion I come to is that Apex was not lying in his statements. He made one statement that turns out to have been a misstatement. The other statements appear to be true. None of the statements or your response have much to do with the main topic at hand.
Perhaps at the heart of the remainder of your response is the following:
My bottom line, Oldtrader, is that I have long respected your opinions, but I just can't imagine how you can be so trusting and optimistic in the face of the specific facts known, and the specific facts NOT known, about this company. I can't imagine why you don't share in what I think is a perfectly appropriate and necessary sense of outrage as to companies like Refco.
I suppose one might wonder how there could be a "fact NOT known"...your words....upon which one could base a conclusion, an opinion, or a feeling. How logical does it seem to arrive at a certain conclusion based on "facts NOT known"?
Sorry Rockford, but in my world I base conclusions on "known facts". Everything else to me is fancy guesswork.
Now, here's a fact: segregated funds in a futures account can be used to offset a large loss from a single customer. But in this case we do not know that it applies. Therefore, it is not a fact in this particular case. It's just something that happens to be true about all futures accounts. Yet, you seem to draw certain conclusions based on this idea.
You seem to believe that I am "optimistic and trusting" based on the limited post I made. But let me say this: I don't think "optimism" or "trust" are a part of this at all. I think this is about looking at the "known facts" and then acting accordingly. I think you have drawn yet another conclusion that is unwarranted by the post I made.
Instead of drawing all these unsuported conclusions, perhaps what you should have done is asked me a few questions. For instance, had I maintained a futures account at Refco I would have wired the money out. Not because of any of the idea that you have expressed though. I think you'll find that when this is all settled out that no one in the futures area will have lost a dime. However, I could see they could lose the ability to trade for a period of time, and that would have been the reason I would have wired the money out. Now, notice this isn't based on "optimism", "trust" or "outrage". It simply a business decision.
However, I don't have an account at Refco. There's a reason. I have most (not all) of my money at IB. The reason is that they are well-capitalized and more importantly, they have a "Universal Account" where my money is swept nightly into a securities account where it is insured on two different levels, with the exception of any funds left in the futures account as overnight margin. This situation is one that I thought about years ago. I have always kept smaller amounts of money (for me) in futures accounts, and when I finally had an opportunity to keep money in a "Universal Account", I took it. I know I could get cheaper fees elsewhere, but this is one of the prices I am willing to pay to get security.
At one point Rockford you accused me of "speculating" about Refco.
Your confidence in Refco futures is unfounded. Your confidence is based on pure speculation, about a company which has already, in the past few days, officially announced that none of its own financial statements, released in recent years, can be trusted.
You are 100% wrong here. "Speculation" would not describe it at all. I prefer to stick to the facts. For instance, one fact that we know pertaining to the futures acounts is that the exchanges such as CME, CBOT, and NYMEX have all issued statements that the segregated funds are correct and intact at this point. This would seem to contradict YOUR "speculation" regarding the possible "large losses" in the regulated futures area.
Hopefully this will clear up some of this.
OldTrader