07/10/2002 Archived Entry: "It's the Double-patty that's got the Beef"

By itself, the Harken scam might not have riden that long, but with a mk't going south from oversold, it offers an easy scapegoat. I've been reading some interesting articles on Harken today. First, BusyBusyBusy, then Scoop look at Bush's torturing of the word "malfeasance". Corn has a cutting read with George & Martha, and so much for the guy yesterday from Buzzflash that thought Dowd wouldn't cut into the Harken scam, she has, and deep too, Slouching Toward Populism. But the best continues to be RonK in Seattle, who writes President Violates First Rule of Holes In Effort to Save Self, Undermines Reform, and gives us some further necessary details of the deal surrounding Harken. He mentions that today Harken is selling for under 50 cents a share, though I saw a chart yesterday of the stock price in the 90's which portrayed that there was probably a reverse-split at some point in the stock since then. Anyway, combined with the mk't tanking, Head, shoulders, knees and toes, Harken has stick to it. Here's a few of the quotes:

Rafe Resendes at Applied Finance Group in Chicago asks, "If we start to see a lot of reverse splits, do you think people will sell those stocks since it is the opposite of a stock split that 'smart money' says investors should buy?"

George Byrski, and many others, see ominous signs in stock charts. "Take a look at the 5 year chart for the Nasdaq. Although I am not a technician, this sure does look like a five-year, head-and-shoulders chart that is about to break the neckline. That can't be good." See the chart.