Google Mannkind Pharma. You’ll find some really interesting stuff. <\/span>Cramer interviewed Al Mann last night. Fascinating man — Mann, not Cramer. Some interesting stories — The Fate of Mannkind; <\/strong><\/a>and Will the FDA approve Mannkind’s Insulian Inhaler.<\/a><\/strong><\/span> Why I hate funds.<\/strong><\/span> Funds are for dummies. Hand your money over to someone you don’t know, to do whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like.<\/p>\n My experience with funds has been 100% miserable. With many I’ve actually lost 100% of my money. With others, the verdict is still out. Some verdicts have been “out” for so many years, that it would be better if they simply declared “the end” and put me out of my misery.<\/p>\n Funds are founded for the founders to get fees, fees and more fees. The longer the fund drags on, the more the fees. To be totally perverse, fund managers have a real incentive never<\/strong> to do well by their investors.<\/p>\n My biggest bitches with my funds:<\/p>\n 1. I go in because of a brilliant manager. He leaves. I’m stuck. Thank you Citigroup.<\/p>\n 2. Investors don’t fill the fund. The fund gets “filled” with short-term, hazardous borrowings. Thank you, Broadway Partners.<\/p>\n 3. The fund comes with impeccable credentials. But still blows up. Lost 100%. Thank you Jim Wolfensohn.<\/p>\n 4. The fund’s investments get screwed by the the next business cycle downturn or the next technology revolution upturn. Think real estate, media, print, etc.<\/p>\n 5. You can’t sell them when they go awry — the brains leave or they do something ultra-stupid. There is no realistic secondary market for interests in private funds.<\/p>\n 6. They don’t listen. When telecom was hot, one of my leveraged buyout funds decided to invest in telecom. It was an area it knew zero about (and I mean narda, nothing, zero). I rushed in and said “Don’t.” They told me to go fly a kite. Ultimately, they lost every penny of what they invested in telecom. Every penny. Of course, I participated (unwillingly) in that loss.<\/p>\n 7. You can’t get out of capital calls. The only pleasure you as an investor get is the pleasure of dumping hundred dollar bills down the nearest toilet.<\/p>\n What got me thinking was last night’s six months report from Goldman Sachs Vintage Fund IV to June 30, 2010. I got sold this fund years ago because of a great sales pitch: It bought “cheap” interests in private equity funds. An investor in a fund needs urgent money to pay his taxes, or his divorce, or whatever. He sells his interest for 50% (or so) of what it’s worth. He got screwed. I get rich. Ha!<\/p>\n Several years later the fund which bought at a 50% discount is showing that my money is worth 0.97x what I put in. In other words, I’m losing 3%. Which is better than losing 100%. I’ve been there, done that.<\/p>\n My favorite part of Goldman’s six month report is the “Condensed Statement of Portfolio Investments.” A whole page showing investments of $2.1 billion. And “detailed” as follows: Project Hopper, Project Jefferson, Project Judson … all the way down to Project Warhol. In other words, Goldman won’t even tells investors in Vintage Fund IV what the fund is actually invested in.<\/p>\n Oh, yes, bonuses are up big on Wall Street. I wonder why.<\/p>\n Latest email scams:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Your UPS package wasn’t delivered. Click on this attachment for more.<\/p>\n 2. Your bank account is screwed up. Go to this web location.<\/p>\n 3. I need to move money out of my garbage country. I’ll give you 30% if you help.<\/p>\n 4. Here’s an email link. No explanation. Nothing.<\/p>\n Don’t.\u00a0 Don’t click on the email link. Don’t click on attachments. Don’t go to suspicious web sites. Don’t help anyone move money out of anywhere. The scam here is — send money first and then we’ll send you money. You’ll never see your money or your “commission.”<\/p>\n Latest tax scam.<\/strong><\/span> New York State has a new tax. The form which I just signed today says<\/p>\n Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax Return — for self-employed individuals (including partners).<\/p>\n I\u00a0 sent them $206 for the full year 2009. I bet it cost me over $1,000 to have someone to learn it, find the paperwork, fill out the stupid forms.<\/p>\n And this from a State that hasn’t built one bridge or tunnel in my town in perhaps 60 years.<\/p>\n Should I tell them I do most of most of my commuting on a bicycle. I can’t wait for the new bicycle tax.\u00a0 It will give new meaning to “different strokes for different folks.”<\/p>\n Watch this video.<\/strong><\/span> Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n He got her car, purse and house keys without touching her, and she cannot describe the guy.\u00a0 Be thankful there wasn’t a child in the car.<\/p>\n Solution: Beware of parking garages. Take your keys.<\/p>\n The horror that is drug production.<\/strong><\/span> Merck last produced its shingles vaccine (Zostavax) called in June. The next batch will December, maybe. Meantime, if you want to be vaccinated you need to call every pharmacy within 100 miles of where you live and pray. Some states (like New jersey) allow pharmacists to inject you. Some you have to get immunized by your doctor. It’s all a total mess. Do not invest in Merck.<\/p>\n Meantime, this morning my daughter emails me:<\/p>\n For quite some time now, Dave (a childhood friend of our family) has only been receiving about 30% of the dosage of his medications that he needs because Genzyme, which holds the patent on this treatment drugs, has been experiencing servere shortages caused by dumb manufacturing problems.<\/p>\n David and his sister Michelle at her recent marriage.<\/em><\/p>\n A petition has been drawn from a law firm that is acting pro bono to support “March-in” rights to secure the release of the patent. It seems to be the only way this situation might be resolved. Please\u00a0 write to the\u00a0 NIH director and your senators and representatives. Dave’s lastest health evaluation indicates that some of the wonderful advances that his treatment engendered are reversing.<\/p>\n Form letters are at the bottom of the page of this web site:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n More on back problems. <\/strong><\/span>Reader Tom Bodnar writes<\/p>\n I had a back problem of my own in March of this year – triggered by Rule #1:\u00a0 Don’t do stupid things.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Mannkind.jpg\" "\\"Mannkind\\"")
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\ndragging a small downed oak down a hillside for use as firewood –\u00a0 and
\nafter lots of searching thought this web site<\/strong><\/a> had a lot of useful information:<\/p>\n
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