Comments on: “Bonded Trusts — Bailout Loophole Creates Massive Windfall”

By: StockGumshoe

StockGumshoe — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:24:37 +0000

“Bonded Trusts” are master limited partnerships, the ones that are typically touted are the ones that own energy infrastructure assets, particularly storage facilities and pipelines. A few dozen are large and publicly traded, one easy place to see a list of them with basic information is QuantumOnline.com (you have to register, but it’s free). Some of the better known ones are Kinder Morgan, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (I own those two), Enterprise Product partners, Oneok, and there are many more that don’t come instantly to mind. Risk profile differs for all of them, but the ones that primarily own pipelines depend on the volume of natural gas or oil or refined product being shipped, and on the shipping rates they can get for the use of their pipes. In practice, they also move with the price of those commodities, though it’s arguable as to whether that always makes sense.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:03:07 +0000

So No One Else No’s Eighter ?

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:12:23 +0000

I Still Don’t Know or Understand , What a Bonded Trust is ? To anyone That Knows , Please Give Some Examples of Bonded Trusts . . . Ticker Symbols , Risk , Min’s , Etc. . . .

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:16:23 +0000

I am keen to invest in the stock market etc., but, as a non US citizen currently residing in a non tax paying jurisdiction, how safe is it to use an on line brokerage?

With companies going bankrupt regularly, How can one have faith in on line brokers in current market conditions?

Passwords and codes can easily be hacked and as such cannot possibly be secure.

Depositing relatively large sums of money (for me at least) with an entity with limited liability whose creation was established only a few years ago appears extremely risky.

They have not been in existence for that long so their reputations have not been able to stand the test of time especially as they are probably affiliated in some way to the very Banksters that have created the current crisis.

Is there any protection for ordinary citizens entering the shark infested waters?

What safe guards can one take to limit ones own downside?

By: StockGumshoe

StockGumshoe — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:46:54 +0000

Lynn,

I’m not a lawyer, so please don’t count on just my response. But my understanding is that General Partners have unlimited liability, but “Limited Partners” (which is what you’re buying, a share of a limited partnership) means that the liability is limited. General partners are the ones who actually manage the partnership, and sometimes GP companies are also publicly traded, but MLPs themselves are limited.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t any liability — there are potential liabilities for taxes, and I think there is the potential that some distributions could be called back if the partnership is liable for something, but in practice I’ve never heard of any limited partners actually being faced with anything like this. The national association of publicly traded partnerships tries to explain some of this here: http://www.naptp.org/Navigation/PTP101/PTP101_Main.htm