Hello Fossil.

I’ve been around for awhile but not since ancient times. The prices I gave have nothing to do with my personal transactions, nor should they. I’m talking about making cool assessments and not being swayed one-way-or-the-other, according to reversals and vicissitudes. My point is: The judgment of comparative values is still an important and very valid part of investment due diligence; despite markets being depressed. If anything its relevance, presently, is all the more imperative, in light of the hurtful role that irrational emotions play in depressed markets.

I cannot offer you a scientific rundown to prove my immediate points because I’m simply, not presently, looking all that closely at all that many stock prices. The less-than-dozen that I follow do not statistically prove very much. As we all know, anecdotal observations do not add up to real proof. However, my anecdotal observations do tell me the relevant fact that not every single company has been victimized by death-spiral financing to the degree that we have.

Also the news is not universally and indiscriminately negative. It’s true bad companies failed and continue to fail. Probably, as well, perfectly good companies are wrongfully going-down-the-drain in the present environment. Despite that, there are examples of exceptional companies in our industry prospering; but not nearly as much as they should be.

Only looking at the handful of companies that I follow from time-to-time, I noticed favorable takeovers and favorable mergers are not events relegated only to the past. There even exist companies presently moving up. Again, I’m only looking at a handful. But, even there, examples exist (such as GSV and CRJ).