<<First, as to returns, it seems to me in hindsight that one is being greedy when one <expects more than a 300% appreciation.

That's why I dumped the lynch brokers and started doing my own homework.

<Now moving on to the fundamentals, the problem is finding a company that sticks <to the fundamentals. It always seems to me that the managers are always coming <up with some scheme for merger or devolution that nearly always has as its sole <focus some kind of personal return for the management, and that company <directors are too often either sycophants or just bought off.

That's the nature of the executive manager trying to hard to get promoted and impress the stockholders when he/she doesn't have a plan to increase the companies growth with what products/services it offers.

<(I wonder how much the new HP management or their friends are making on their <proposed HP/Compaq merger - no one is writing about it)

I wouldn't touch that merger, let the HP family feud. I feel sorry for them.

<Of course, you can try to buy fundamentals only to have management take leave of <their senses. And if you manage to miss all of this, there's always the untimely <death of a company principal.
<In trying to find a company that does actually stick to fundamentals, bogus books <and bogus audits don't help much either.
<If you've missed all of the above, when the economy does take a downturn, those <companies that did stick to fundamentals are invariably affected by the extreme <difficulties of those which did not.

All the above is why I think long term investing isn't wise until the market gets over the craze from the .com boom.

<Domestically, we need a relay good energy policy, with both production and <conservation, and the states need highway money right now.

Agreed, our oil dependencies need to be addressed with change though.

<If the administration wants consumer confidence up, purchases up, and investment <up, I think that's the way to do it. In the meantime, unemployment benefits are <going to have to be extended yet once again.

ep

I think consumers and investors are going to be slow about it do to the upcoming world events and that's understandable. The companies involved with making military products will do well though, a blind person can see that we need to replenish our military stock piles of all materials.

Good luck
SteveS