Recs

20

25 Stupid Things We Thought in 1999

By Anand Chokkavelu | More Articles
December 31, 2009 | Comments (6)

Watch stocks you care about

The single, easiest way to keep track of all the stocks that matter...

Your own personalized stock watchlist!

It's a 100% FREE Motley Fool service...

Click Here Now

The following is a modified post from the Motley Fool Editors' blog. You can see all the posts here.

Taking some inspiration from Morgan Housel's "The Past Decade in 50 Headlines," we present 25 Stupid Things We Were Thinking on Dec. 31, 1999:

  • The Internet has eliminated stock market cycles ... this paradigm has shifted!
  • You'd have to be a moron not to invest in Enron -- it's revolutionizing the way we deal with energy.
  • Warren Buffett had a good run, but his investing style is obsolete. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A  ) is as played out as the original textile mill.
  • Gas sure is cheap. Stop -- Hummer time!
  • Are you Y2K compliant?
  • MTV's The Real World is kinda interesting, but this whole reality-TV thing is a fad. They'll go back to playing videos soon.
  • Alan Greenspan is an economic micromanaging genius!
  • Google (Nasdaq: GOOG  ) ? I had to Lycos it to figure out what they do.
  • You're darn right I want options instead of a higher salary. Mullets4Peace.com is gonna let us retire by 25. Who wants to be a millionaire? This guy!
  • Glass-Steagall was so Great Depression-era. We're more sophisticated now.
  • Clothing from the Gap ... pretty cool. Blue dress from the Gap ... heehee.
  • Home prices will never go down.
  • Forget Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT  ) . Netscape Navigator and WordPerfect are just too good to fail.
  • Thank God this is the last time we have to hear that Prince song.
  • There's at least a 10% chance the world ends tonight. Wanna go back to my place?
  • The better buy is Pets.com. Does Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN  ) really think it can sell books over the Internet?
  • Martha Stewart sure is a great insider decorator.
  • Have you sent your friends an e-meringue yet?
  • You can do anything with Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) . It's the Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT  ) of banking.
  • Dow 36,000? Heck yeah!
  • Name recognition test: Mortgage-backed securities ... nope. Snuggie ... nope. Derivatives ... I didn't take calculus. Napster … bingo!
  • I'm glad Bear Stearns didn't help bail out Long-Term Capital Management. After all, Bear Stearns didn't screw up.
  • Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) ? Solid fruit, but just a niche computer company left in Microsoft's wake.
  • Yeah, I know about social media. I love Katie Couric, but that Bryant Gumbel sure is persnickety.
  • This time it's different.

Let's hope 2009 doesn't give us as much fodder for 2019 as 1999 did for 2009. Not-so-bold prediction: It will.

If you forward this article to at least 15 people, great fortune will be in your future. Ziggy Mortenson only forwarded this to 14 people. His girlfriend promptly broke up with him, took his dog, and didn't share the million dollars Bill Gates gave her for forwarding a chain letter.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Anand Chokkavelu owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, and Microsoft. You can follow him on Twitter. Apple is a Motley Fool recommendation. Microsoft and Wal-Mart Stores are Motley Fool Inside Value selections. Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick. Apple and Amazon.com are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Motley Fool Options recommended a diagonal call strategy on Microsoft. Check out all of our investing newsletter services. The Fool has a disclosure policy.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On December 31, 2009, at 4:22 PM, socalsy wrote:

    I actually remember hearing the Gardner brothers on NPR in 1999. They said "15 years ago, you knew that personal computers were going to be the next big thing. Who were the key players then? Dell, Intel, and Microsoft. Now we know that the internet is going to be the next big thing. Who are the big players now? AOL, Yahoo, and Amazon. Those are the stocks to buy." I guess hindsight is always 20/20.

  • Report this Comment On January 04, 2010, at 9:01 AM, BMFPitt wrote:

    "I'm glad Bear Stearns didn't help bail out Long-Term Capital Management. After all, Bear Stearns didn't screw up."

    What is wrong about that? They were right in '99 and the Fed was wrong in '08.

  • Report this Comment On January 07, 2010, at 4:01 AM, nivekluap wrote:

    I still have a Y2K candle in the laundry room,in the basement, that I run across once in awhile....and still smile about the end of the world as we know it.

    KD

  • Report this Comment On March 04, 2010, at 9:50 AM, TMFEditorsDesk wrote:

    @BMFPitt,

    Better a late response than never? It was more the irony I was hinting at.

    @nivekluap,

    ...and I feel fine.

    -Anand (TMFBomb)

  • Report this Comment On March 04, 2010, at 9:55 AM, Dobbes wrote:

    Laughed at the Prince one. Thanks for that.

  • Report this Comment On March 04, 2010, at 9:56 AM, Dobbes wrote:

    Laughed at the Prince one. Thanks for that.

Add your comment.

Compare Brokers

Fool Disclosure

DocumentId: 1075683, ~/Articles/ArticleHandler.aspx, 5/25/2012 11:13:18 PM

Report This Comment

Use this area to report a comment that you believe is in violation of the community guidelines. Our team will review the entry and take any appropriate action.

Sending report...

Today's Market

updated 1 hour ago Sponsored by:
DOW 12,454.83 -74.92 -0.60%
S&P 500 1,317.82 -2.86 -0.22%
NASD 2,837.53 -1.85 -0.07%

Create My Watchlist

Go to My Watchlist

You don't seem to be following any stocks yet!

Better investing starts with a watchlist. Now you can create a personalized watchlist and get immediate access to the personalized information you need to make successful investing decisions.

Data delayed up to 5 minutes

Related Tickers

5/25/2012 4:00 PM
GOOG $591.53 Down -12.13 -2.01%
Google CAPS Rating: ****
MSFT $29.06 Down -0.01 -0.03%
Microsoft Corp CAPS Rating: ****
WMT $65.31 Up +0.24 +0.37%
Wal-Mart Stores CAPS Rating: ****
C $26.47 Down -0.19 -0.71%
Citigroup Inc CAPS Rating: ***
AAPL $562.29 Down -3.03 -0.54%
Apple CAPS Rating: ***
AMZN $212.89 Down -2.35 -1.09%
Amazon.com CAPS Rating: ***
BRK-A $119500.00 Down -717.00 -0.60%
Berkshire Hathaway… CAPS Rating: ****

Advertisement