Ann: Becoming a substantial holder, page-93

I went to bed (we're 11 hours behind you here, NSW time) and have just resurfaced at 146-3.

Do I think they can win this test? Depends who you mean by 'they'. Anything is possible. SGH holders must be working on this theory too.

HNY to you and yours, Nick. You've started off 2018 on the ball. Hope you can use this to your financial advantage as the year progresses.

@Nick Miller - ASX:FAR wouldn't be one for me. It's African focused, there are nearly 5bn shares in issue, it's valued at close to half a billion A$ at current price and still seems some way away from making profits. It will take years to see recent discoveries come to the surface and there seems to be squabbling going on between the partners in the most interesting prospect in Senegal. The fundamentals of JOG and SQZ are entirely different. CLNR is a binary bet.

In any event, when these last three holdings of mine play out, that's it for me in the markets. There's way too much dishonesty now and I'm no longer prepared to accept the risks. The wheels are too badly rigged. The ordinary punter stands less and less chance of making decent returns that reflect the risks involved.

I've been working single-handedly for the past two and a half years to bring the fundamentally crooked directors and the investment manager of a UK AIM listed company to account for the theft of more than US$100m from the company by the US lawyer who managed the company's case portfolio. I can't say any more as the case is (allegedly) under investigation but it has provided proof (as if it was needed) that regulation is non-existent unless there's direct money in it for regulators who pocket the fines. There's no money left in this case. The chairman of the company (who doesn't like me at all because he's been forced to shut up shop in a hurry and they're all heading for the exits in a desperate scramble to escape - the US lawyer fled the scene almost immediately) is an establishment figure with impressive contacts. Do the regulators get the fact it's serious fraud and I've proved it? Yes. Are they behaving as one would expect them to in the circumstances? Have a guess.

People have lost their pension pots in the company I'm talking about. Although the case is exceptional in is dishonesty, more generally Governments like private investors losing out to investment banks and hedge funds with employees based on-shore who bend all the rules, because Governments can't lay their greedy and incompetent hands on money whilst it stays in the ownership of PIs (except through CGT and a few dividends - peanuts in the overall scheme of things) whereas investment banks and hedge funds (to the extent their operations and employees are based on-shore - Mayfair is a favoured area in London) and their grossly rewarded employees can be taxed - at corporate and higher personal tax rates. Cash is king to cash strapped Governments, politicians in which continue to buy votes with largesse countries like the US, UK and Australia can't afford - national debt just grows and grows. Fixing it is someone else's in the future's responsibility. Politicians care about the here and now. It is unfixable - eventually China will ask for its money back (it's already buying up most of the rest of the world - about half the energy infrastructure companies in the UK are Chinese owned; Chinese money has piled into ownership of US banks; whole areas of central Africa are Chinese controlled as to ownership of mineral wealth. They don't care about corruption. I expect China to be told to go do one when the big squeeze comes. Watch out for flying nukes when it happens.
http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/

When I'm done on the markets (might take 3 - 5 years for the three shares I've talked about to pay off to the extent I'm targeting (or not, although I've already made significant gains and have taken some money off the table to recover my investment cost so I can't lose overall) I'll invest the money in property and my kids. I expect I'll need a nymphomaniac nurse or two to look after me at some stage so I'll make sre I put enough aside to cater for this.

England haven't lost a single wicket all the time I've been writing this nonsense. Must be a record.

GLA