OT-- I completely agree food4thought,
Jim Cramer and mad money have made me nothing but MAD this past year.
I work with a gentleman who swears by Cramer and has made 2007 a "banner year" for himself. This guy has held Crox at it's bottom and rode it thru a "split" and sold some shares high and played with house money. He sold his remaining shares last week still at a large profit. He actually made a lot with Jones soda as well. I can't even think about the profit he has recently taken on Rimm, Apple, FWLT, and many other stocks he got from Cramer.
I watched Cramer "beg" people to buy 1 share of sears holdings since it was the next Berkshire Hathaway and I took a bath with that stock. I believe in Global infrastructure and owned "lots" of Caterpillar (CAT) because of Cramers 80-120 belief and ended up selling in the low 70's. I purchased his "can't miss" IPO Superior offshore (DEEP) and sold at a 50 percent discount. There were other loses I took as well this year thru Cramers advice.
Of course all decisions I make are my own and I can only blame myself(although Cramers SHLD recommendation almost appears criminal).
Like yourself I am not cash heavy due mostly to Cortex. The other losses I've taken are sound decisions gone bad--- COR was a speculative play that thus far played me and I was too heavily invested in.
I own a fair amount of MTW and was in the "green" nicely until this past week. Are you still a firm believer? I think it's a great company with a great product(cranes) but their seems to be a lot of volitility in any infrastructure plays that can be remotely tied to housing. I realize Manitowac has nothing to do with housing--- yet they seem to be thrown into that category.
I'm going to hang in there with MTW, but I'm not happy about my 49 dollar per share purchases and the dividend is so low.
I'm hoping for a great 2008 also--- including Cortex!!!!
Sincerely, JD
