More on Terror
From Europe: I can understand your grief and unease about the situation within
airports in America and the fact that terrorism isn't wiped out.
Perhaps
because I live in Europe I have a different perspective on the whole
world
scale of the war on the terror. I agree that terrorism must go and that the
events of September 11th were wrong, but I must say that I feel that
your
analogy with Israel and the Palestinians is completely biased and
wrong.
I
feel that you should condemn Sharon's actions. Also, the deaths of
Palestinians, if you are not aware, is in the hundreds as well as the more
casualties and deaths that are taking place in Jenine, where the Israelis
won't
even let cameras in and have buried bodies to cover up their
terrorist
actions. We also must understand that it is the Israelis who are
occupying
Palestinians and I'm sure you would agree that this is totally
unacceptable
and resistance is only natural.
To blame Yasser Arafat after all this
when
he has barely a room to live in without much water etc and to watch the
suffering and humiliation of Palestinians on an everyday basis is
totally
unacceptable. In order to end the suicide bombings Israel must realize
that
the only option for them is to end occupation which, Jason, I'm sure any
fair
individual would agree.
JK: Not this fair individual.
Our basic point of difference is the meaning
of "occupation". With the passing of the 1947
U.N. resolution, Israel has a legal right to
exist. When it was attacked within those
original borders, it successfully defended
itself and expanded those borders to prevent
further danger to itself in another attack
from nearby ground.
Do you feel that Israel's existence as a
result of the 1947 U.N. resolution is a
type of occupation? That's the first
question.
Secondly, do you feel that occupying hostile
territory to prevent another attack is unfair?
If so, do you believe Israel's agreement to
return the land it captured in previous wars
would end attacks on Israelis?
I don't think so. I think Israel would give
up tangible property in return for hollow
promises, then be forced to lose more of its
citizens in a subsequent war in which it
again recaptures the lands in question and
we're right back to the current situation.
If that's the case, then Israel has few
options but to stay within most of its
current territory and let its borders
smolder forever.
Technology Diversification
I read an interesting article in the April 15 Forbes in which
a pullout section looked back at the leading technology companies of
1977. The 30 with the highest market value included names like:
- Intel
- Martin Marietta
- Hewlett-Packard
- Texas Instruments
- IBM
- Eastman Kodak
- Xerox
The 30 posted an average of 12.9% per year over the past 25 years,
versus only 9.9% for the S&P 500. The best of the lot was Intel,
which turned a $10,000 investment into $3.8 million. That's an
average annual return of 26.6%.
The key to succeeding -- even in this power-packed line-up of 30
companies -- was diversification. Only 11 of the 30
outperformed the market; without Intel the remaining 29 stocks
lagged the S&P 500 by almost one percent a year.
This is why I constantly suggest index funds or ETFs.
If you had owned Intel, you beat the market by a lot. But you
probably wouldn't have owned Intel because it was relatively
obscure back then. Owning any combination of the other 29 "sure
winners" of the time would have resulted in your portfolio
underperforming the market.
Remember, too, that the S&P 500 is not the only index in town.
My own personal favorite is the S&P MidCap 400. Why? See for yourself:
- S&P 500 10-year average annual return: 13.2%
- S&P MidCap 400 10-year average annual return: 15.8%
Those results are as of March 31, 2002.
The iShare symbol for the MidCap 400 is IJH. Consider buying shares
every month no matter what's happening in the market.
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