January 23, 2007
From the desk of Jane Galt:I just got woken up by a text message from someone purporting to be reporting to his mother that his company was merging with Boeing tomorrow so the share price will go up--don't tell anyone! But the ticker is F!
Some thoughts:
1) Wasting my text messages and waking me up when I'm on holiday should be federal offenses carrying stiff sentences, separately and together
2) I would feel better about the whole thing if the scam was better constructed. On what exchange is this ticker? The text message doesn't mention. I'm pretty sure that the Ford motor company is not going to merge with Boeing tomorrow, and it seems a little too well capitalised to be used in a pump and dump scam.
Posted by Jane Galt at January 23, 2007 10:33 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links"); ?>Drats! And I have spent the entire morning calling Ford headquarters trying to find out when I can buy the Flying Explorer.
Posted by: Yancey Ward on January 23, 2007 11:33 AMIf some solution could be reached regarding Ford's massive pension and retiree-health care obligations, a merger actually might work.
Posted by: Peter on January 23, 2007 11:55 AMIf some solution could be reached regarding Ford's massive pension and retiree-health care obligations, a merger actually might work.
Here's how it's going to work: Ford is going to use Boeing's airplanes to drop all of its retirees on an ice floe in the Arctic.
Posted by: alkali on January 23, 2007 12:02 PMIf some solution could be reached regarding Ford's massive pension and retiree-health care obligations, a merger actually might work.
That's easy. Just draw on the assets held by the pension plan to pay benefits. You won't even have to touch car sale revenues!
Wait ... you mean that's not enough? But ... but I thought a pension was guaranteed! I thought that's why they're better than defined-contribution plans! That must mean ... its assets aren't worth enough that liquidating them could purchase third-party annuities to cover all obligations!
*worldview shatters*
Posted by: Person on January 23, 2007 12:26 PMPerhaps there could be a kernel of truth to the message. Boeing CEO Alan Mulally is taking over as the new CEO of Ford (replacing Bill Ford).
He could be missing his old office ...
Posted by: dcpi on January 23, 2007 12:34 PM"Programme" is one thing, but "on holiday"? And quit with the bragging!
Posted by: AT on January 23, 2007 12:51 PMCall your carrier and complain about the spam-SMS.
(Theoretically the FTC might be interested, but in practice, I really doubt it.)
Jane,
This will become even more a problem as time passes. I already had one cell phone that got 5-6 spam text messages per week. And I payed $0.06 per message sent to me. Only way to stop it was to block all text messages. On the plus side it was the first time my carrier had seen this, I got to talk to some fairly high supervision, and got a $1.50 refund.
Wait till the spammers really get into this - its just a matter of time since these new phones can interact with the internet...
Posted by: buffpilot on January 23, 2007 1:32 PMFord and GM will solve their pension and labor contract problems by the same method utilized by the airlines- they will go bankrupt.
Posted by: Yancey Ward on January 24, 2007 11:29 AMWhy are you getting charged for getting text messages? Is this some American thing?
Posted by: Tracy W on January 24, 2007 2:20 PMedwdwedwe
In Video, Al Qaeda No. 2 Al-Zawahiri Taunts President Bush's New Iraq Plan
Posted by: qweddq on January 24, 2007 10:53 PM