Bill Herbert

Berkshire Hathaway: Proof That the CDS Market Is Irrational

>>ECONOMIC TERRORIST: Let us destroy those companies that are essential to the US economic survival. A few hundred millions of capital might be enough in order to bring down that giant into it's knees. We will only have to learn how to use CDS to destroy those companies. Once we succeed with one small prey, we will make a lot of money and we can do it over and over again until we can do it with the biggest companies.

Will the unregulated CDS market need to be investigated, regulated, and controlled if necessary in order to prevent such a scenario?<<

aarc,

You've really hit the nail on the head. I can't believe we are still allowing this ludicrous, highly damaging, company-wrecking game to continue. It is definitely in the realm of "financial terrorism" if you ask me - and so are a number of other loosely-regulated and quite nefarious practices on Wall Street.

I believe that we should see action very soon to reign in this garbage, or just shut it down altogether. If we had better people running the Fed, instead of a bunch of chalkboard economists who are all in awe of and bought off by the Wall Street colossus, we would have shut this crap down several years ago.

That might have saved the honest citizens of the USA a trillion or so; now they are being held up at virtual gunpoint by the minions of the banking sleaze machine.

It's time to hold the Federal Reserve accountable for the swindles in which it actively participates.

Mr. Market Has Spoken

Bill,

Excellent article.

You're right, we have been hosed by the bankers beyond belief.

I for one would like to see the entire racket busted for good, never to return in its present form.

General Electric: Not Quite a Value Trap, More Like a Value Pit

I think GE will really struggle this year - it could go as low as $5 in a worst-case scenario. That's the legacy of Jack Welch - the poster boy for ridiculous over-compensation for mediocre executives.

But by then, it may be a strong buy, depending on how the prospects for true global recovery are shaping up.

I wouldn't touch it until it sinks under $10 - that will shock a lot of idiots like Bill Miller and Vince Farrell - and lead to a blowoff to the downside. But GE is not a zero (at least, I don't think so) and could be a great trade from $5 back to $12 or whatever, depending on your gambling spirit. Be very patient with this one, and wait for the $5 range - it is coming, for sure.

GE: Not-So-Good Things Come to Light

>>As long as the customers repay their debt to GE, the funds will be used by GE to repay its creditors. Have trust my man in their underwriting. <<

Ever heard of Lucent?

They went bust in a real hurry, as soon as the tech bubble started to burst.

Now, I'm not saying that GE has been as foolish as Carly Fiorina and the gang of idiots at Lucent. It is rare to see a company put a thoroughly unqualified person in as head of marketing - which is what Lucent did with Carly - and GE is known for having very good financial controls.

So it could go either way - but the clouds are a lot darker than they were six months ago.

General Electric: Genuine Risk of Collapse?

>>took over from icon Jack Welch in 2001<<

Yeah, Immelt took over from Welch, who is wrongly credited as some sort of management guru.

The truth is - GE amassed a HUGE amount of leverage under Jack Welch, almost like a hedge fund. Lots of risky loans and huge debts. But it was a big bull market, and it didn't blow up in his face.

Now it is ready to blow up, and Immelt gets blamed??

Puh-leeze! Jack Welch is perhaps the most overrated CEO in the history of American business. He is, without a doubt, one of THE most self-aggrandizing. The fact that this joker took about $1 BILLION of compensation out of GE is truly disgusting, and shows how very corrupt and distorted our business systems are here in the U.S. - from executive pay to a wildly distorted stock market that overvalued GE for the last twenty years, at least.

Hedge Funds Threaten to Block Mortgage Modifications

Let's face it, Paulson is just another Wall Street parasite, sucking juice out of the system with everything he's got.

He has been an enormous failure, and a national embarrassment, as Treasury Sec. He should resign ASAP - I don't think we will be able to endure another three months of this guy at the helm.

I would say ditto for Bernanke, but he never had a clue to begin with. I think that Paulson may be able to do better, but refuses to do the correct thing because of narrow and selfish interests.

I believe we will soon get radical reform of our extremely crooked and conflicted "financial system" that has raped the American middle class, impoverished millions, disgraced our country in the world's view, and made a bunch of financial gangsters obscenely wealthy, at others' expense. Paulson is one of those creeps, if you ask me.

The hedge fund industry will start to look a lot more like the Financial Terrorism problem that it truly is, once Congress peels back the veneer and exposes what has truly gone on over the past five years on Wall Street. And it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys!