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Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release

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Posted by:   bobo 4/20/2007 8:25 AM

I've been deluged with stuff requiring my attention over the last few weeks, thus have been MIA on the blog for the most part. I expect the load to continue to be heavy, although a couple of significant events require some comment.

First, there is the damaging and self-explanatory press release from Overstock.com. Not a lot of explanation required on that one. The system has failed us, and this is yet more evidence of just how badly out of whack it has been allowed to get, and how obvious the SEC will allow the abuse to become without doing squat.

Next, there is the NCANS letter to the SEC. Tommytoyz had a large role in it, with some editing thrown in by the elves. Commendable and easy to comprehend. The basic idea is that the SEC has violated the rules governing its passage and creation of rules, therefore must abolish the rules passed without adherence to procedure. Given that no data to support the SEC's "concerns" has been presented or is in evidence, the rules are arbitrary, capricious, and violate the SEC's mandate from Congress, as well as the plain language requirements of the APA. Tough to argue against that one, and nobody will try, is my bet.

And finally, Oklahoma is passing anti-NSS legislation that should cause serious heartburn for the NY crooks who have been given a hall pass to rip off the rest of the country. More on that to follow. I'm short on time and long on commitments, so will advise one and all to watch the news for this one. I'll try to do a full blog on it next week, toward the end of the week, which is the next time I will have time to breathe, much less write.
Copyright ©2007 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (16)
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By bbhindyou on 4/20/2007 1:22 PM
I seem to be having trouble acessing the NCANS letter on the sec website as well as having problems with your above link.
HHHHMMMMMM....
I also seem to be having a problem posting on the sec website...Darn...
I just polished up a piece about the similaritys between the gutting of the stock market and the gutting of the auto industry.
I know ,I know, what could the the auto industrys losses and the stock markets have in common.The weakening of america for one.
It was a left field search ,but the results suprised me as to their 'coincidences'.
Chrysler is a empty hulk ,throughly emptied out from within and now for sale with no offers.
I could see wall street the same way.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By troydian on 4/20/2007 3:34 PM
who are the folks responsible for this TREASON!! http://land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/federal_reserve.shtml
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By InTheKnow on 4/20/2007 3:35 PM
JAG Media Holdings, Inc. (JAGH) SqueezeTrigger Price Over The Past 5 Years is Approximately $0.61, With Potential Total Short Volume of Nearly 75 Million Shares. Approximately 2.8 million Shares Shorted at a SqueezeTrigger Price of $0.27 Since Regulation SHO Enacted, According to BUYINS.NET Research Report

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JAG Media Holdings, Inc. (OTC: JAGH) announced today that BUYINS.NET, www.buyins.net, is initiating coverage of JAG Media Holdings, Inc. after releasing the latest short sale data to January 2007. BUYINS.NET went back to April 2002 and used a proprietary algorithm to calculate the potential total short selling over nearly 5 years. The Total Volume traded in JAGH from April 2002 to January 2007 was 215,308,078 shares traded for a dollar value of $131.6 million. Using a figure provided by one of the stock exchanges (and verified by actual short selling trade data collected by BUYINS.NET) stating that short selling can account for approximately 35% of all trading in US stocks, BUYINS.NET projects the possibility that nearly 75 million shares of JAGH have been shorted in just under 5 years (215 million shares multiplied by .35 = 75 million). More recently, from February 2005 to January 2007, approximately 36.7 million total aggregate shares of JAGH have traded for a total dollar value of nearly $10 million. The total aggregate number of shares shorted in this time period is approximately 2.8 million shares. The reported Total Short Interest on December 12, 2006 was 26,342 and accounts only for reported shares shorted but not yet covered on December 12th. The JAGH SqueezeTrigger price of $0.27 is the volume weighted average short price of all short selling in JAGH. The first of several potential short squeezes began when shares of JAGH closed above $0.27. To access SqueezeTrigger Prices ahead of potential short squeezes beginning, visit http://www.buyins.net.

Month Total Vol. Short Vol. Avg. Price Short $ Value

February ’05 262,708 20,229 $0.40 $8,142
March 1,029,493 79,271 $0.28 $22,394
April 1,500,003 115,500 $0.26 $30,319
May 758,055 58,370 $0.22 $12,550
June 260,823 20,083 $0.13 $2,567
July 333,161 25,653 $0.12 $3,143
August 1,331,054 102,491 $0.08 $8,456
September 1,343,986 103,487 $0.15 $15,264
October 1,018,248 78,405 $0.20 $15,681
November 1,839,036 141,606 $0.25 $35,401
December 2,514,215 193,595 $0.30 $57,594
January ’06 2,146,745 165,299 $0.42 $69,839
February 1,184,510 91,207 $0.41 $37,167
March 1,085,884 83,613 $0.31 $25,920
April 1,517,016 116,810 $0.36 $42,344
May 1,151,986 88,703 $0.37 $32,377
June 1,632,372 125,693 $0.31 $38,638
July 1,177,599 90,675 $0.25 $22,669
August 1,854,942 142,831 $0.19 $27,252
September 1,889,727 145,509 $0.20 $29,102
October 2,108,772 162,375 $0.19 $30,445
November 4,865,577 374,649 $0.26 $97,858
December 3,620,207 278,756 $0.33 $92,686
January ’07 312,165 24,037 $0.40 $9,555

Total: 36,738,284 2,828,848 $0.27 $767,362

*short volume is approximated using a proprietary algorithm.
**average short price is calculated using a volume weighted average short price.
***short volume is the total short trade volume and does not account for covers.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By Bobo on 4/20/2007 3:36 PM
Go read Mark Faulk's update on the OK bill at Thefaulkingtruth.com .
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By repost on 4/20/2007 8:29 PM
How can instutitons own more than 100% of so many well known companies? What's going on?!?

http://financial.seekingalpha.com/article/32910

Unusually High Institutional Ownership Stocks
Posted on Apr 20th, 2007 with stocks: AVID, JTX, Q, SGR, Y

Stockerblog submits: I was doing some research on something totally unrelated, tax stocks, when I discovered that institutions and mutual funds own 98% of the float and 98% of the shares of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service (JTX).

I thought that was an extremely high percentage. Do individual investors own only 2% of the JTX shares?

I decided to do some further research and found some other very high percentage ownerships. For example, Qwest Communications International (Q) has 90% of the shares owned by institutions, including mutual funds, and 107% of the float owned by institutions. Alleghany Corp. (Y) has 65% of its shares and 103% of the float owned by institutions. Look at Shaw Group (SGR). Institutions own 97% of the shares and 118% of the float.

Now for the most amazing ownership percentages. Avid Technology Inc. (AVID) has 112% of the float owned by institutions and 104% of the total shares owned by institutions. How is this possible? How can institutions own over 100% of the shares? Other than a calculation error, there seems to me to be only a couple ways this could happen. If there is no double counting involved, then either some of the institutions own shares on margin and/or there are naked short sellers that are shorting shares that don't exist. I am tracking these shares on stockpickr.com to see if there is any effect of the high institutional ownership on the stock price.

If you are aware of any other very high institutional ownership stocks, please post in the comments.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By frustrated on 4/20/2007 8:28 PM
Bobo:

Wanna bet that OK law will meet with similar fate as the other ones? It's so predictable, it's just another way, in opinion, for state lawmakers to jump on the NSS band wagon and make some quick bucks--courtesy, of course, SIA and WallStreet crooks! It's sickening! Expect more states to follow suit, not with good intentions to advance market reform, but just to enrich themselves and line their own pockets at the expense of small investors!
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By Kuma on 4/20/2007 8:29 PM
Can anyone put up that quote from a long time ago where the newspaper writer says that all the press is bought and paid for? Thanks if anyone knows what I am looking for.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By Both Oars in the Water on 4/22/2007 12:31 PM
Despite the understandable frustration most people here feel, I just want to say WE"RE WINNING! I think the opposing powers, while they may still be showing some pockets of resistance, have come to realize that we will not give up or go away UNTIL WE GET THE STOCK WE PAID FOR! Look at where we started and look at how far we've come. The momentum continues to build as more people become informed and outraged by the blatent corruption. The internet is the most effective weapon in our arsenal. We have and will continue to provide the transparency that the criminals and incompetants try to hide from. GO TEAM! HURRAY FOR US!

I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of the people who are making positive changes in our market place. While Patrick Byrne may be the most visible, there are many others whose determination have made this happen.

P.S. Time is running out on the SEC.gov comment period. I want to encourage everyone to go on record there and let them know we deserve much better protection and will settle for nothing less.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By Biggest loophole see last paragraph on 4/22/2007 12:32 PM
Rule 105 -- Short Selling in Connection with a Public Offering
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Unlawful Activity. In connection with an offering of securities for cash pursuant to a registration statement or a notification on Form 1-A filed under the Securities Act, it shall be unlawful for any person to cover a short sale with offered securities purchased from an underwriter or broker or dealer participating in the offering, if such short sale occurred during the shorter of:


The period beginning five business days before the pricing of the offered securities and ending with such pricing; or


The period beginning with the initial filing of such registration statement or notification on Form 1-A and ending with the pricing.


Excepted Offerings. This section shall not apply to offerings that are not conducted on a firm commitment basis.


Exemptive Authority. Upon written application or upon its own motion, the Commission may grant an exemption from the provisions of this section, either unconditionally or on specified terms and conditions, to any transaction or class of transactions, or to any security or class of securities. By the Commission.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By InTheKnow on 4/22/2007 12:33 PM
The Oklahoma bill was written to withstand the legal assault that Wall Street has unleashed on legislation introduced in other states, and is clearly written to conform to federal legislation already in existence. Of course, since the SEC can’t seem to even enforce their own regulations, maybe that’s why the securities industry is claiming that proposed state laws are unenforceable as well.

We need your support for SB979. If you are from Oklahoma, or even if you are just interested in protecting our economy, this affects you. We need very single person who believes that the rampant corruption on Wall Street has turned the stock market into a money grab for the rich and powerful to contact the Oklahoma Securities Commission and Administrator Irving Faught. We need let them know in a respectful way that America is watching their actions, and that they have a chance to change the very direction of our entire nation’s future. Let them come into the office on Monday morning to find themselves buried in phone massages and emails asking them to do the right thing….before it’s too late.

And that’s the Faulking Truth.

Oklahoma Securities Commission

Phone numbers:
(405) 280-7700
(405) 280-7742 (Fax)

Email:
general@securities.state.ok.us
Website: http://www.securities.state.ok.us/

Director:
Irving Faught
Administrator
(405) 280-7706

Email:
ilf@securities.state.ok.us

To learn more about SB979, read "Wall Street vs. Main Street" at:
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/Investing101/1073.html

Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By Steubenville on 4/22/2007 12:34 PM
Kuma, i thought the same thing. "Bought and paid for!" until this morning. Our Saturday edition of Steubenville Herald Star featured Rod Young's story on the front page. It included an interview with same and the complaint filed on April 10. My faith has been restored.business Editor Paul giannamore wrote the article. My hat's off to him.
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By For Kuma on 4/22/2007 12:34 PM
One night, probably in 1880, John Swinton, then the preeminent New York journalist, was the guest of honour at a banquet given him by the leaders of his craft. Someone who knew neither the press nor Swinton offered a toast to the independent press. Swinton outraged his colleagues by replying:
"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it.
There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
"The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread.
You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press?
We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Source: Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955/1979.)
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By bobo on 4/22/2007 12:35 PM
For Kuma: Seems like not a lot has changed in the NY press scene in the last 127 years, huh?

Maybe another 127 will do the trick?
Re: Overstock Releases Amusing and Sad Press Release By snoozern on 4/23/2007 5:56 PM
One thing has changed relatively recently in the NY press scene.

Citizen journalists using the internet have access to an ever growing readership.

It remains to be seen whether the citizen journalists will be able to effect the ability of the professional journalists to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, etc.

But we remain cautiously optimistic that truth and justice will prevail.

Regards,
Rick
Re: Goldseeks' Bob Chapman response to naked short selling By apieceofmymind2 on 4/23/2007 5:56 PM
Goldseeks' Bob Chapman responds to a callers question about naked short selling in the equity market place. Not a big deal, but all positive comments help. If you want to cut to the chase, pull slider bar between rewind and fast forward tab. He mentions that wonderful organization DTCC as well as the Plunge Protection Team . Caller (Alex), directed question towards perceived future interview with Jim Rogers that had already taken place. Alex was off the mark as far as the Jim Rogers' Interview, but on the mark as far as naked short selling. Excellent session talking about the collapsing real estate, the New World Order, Gold and Silver (obviously) and the powers that be, Bilderberger Group. Here is the link: http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1177300800.php
Re: pissed off in sd By rmr on 4/23/2007 5:57 PM
heres something from an unrelated chatgroup where the investor reflects his distress at his investment being on reg show for 13 DAYS.
would that we could mobilize all the outrage that's out there. i'll bet there's plenty.

"Can I buy the software? I would love to find out who, when and where..... I can't believe these people are allowed to get away with this.... It has cost myself and people I know in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. AND NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.... This is my number one beef for the next election, F%&k Iraq, F*$k Social Security when I get older (it's not going to be there anyway). If the government is not going to help police the SEC and in force SHO then I'm going to start cheating on my taxes in order to make up the difference.

Maybe we should start a National campaign to contact those same people in our respective states.

I wrote letters three years ago when SHO first came out and I received nothing but canned responses from all of the elected officials I wrote too. THEY DON'T CARE.. but how can we make them care? Make it an issue now so they talk about it, but how?

Cheers,

Pissed off in SD"

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