Investing in Plan A

by

Leo Crocker Rogers

Concerning Boeing's military contract and ethical scandals. The company in 2003 was barred from bidding on certain military contracts for two years. In a second scandal involving a government contract for 767 refueling tankers, Boeing's former CFO was sentenced to prison. Prison! Thou shalt not steal.

Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigned after the scandals. His replacement, Harry Stonecipher, installed to shore up Boeing's integrity, resigned 15 months later because of an extramarital affair with a female colleague. You get the idea.

But Boeing is outselling Airbus. What does this say for Airbus?

Okay, here is investment news. It is especially for a friend I know who is an x-Pepsi employee. This should brighten her eyes.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 of the original $1000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of Pepsi one year ago (buy it by the Keg), drank all the contents, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND (Depends on the state), you would have had $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to play hard, drink heavily (Pepsi), and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg Plan.

Two things. The world is not flat.

A good plan A never requires a plan B.