Jake Berzon

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Looks like there are some inflationary signs already starting to emerge. Yet, recession is in full force. Looks like stagflation of the 70s has a good chance for a rerun, except deeper, stronger, longer.

We will need a new term for this mess that we are in. Here are some suggestions: "deepshitation," "bushobamation," "starvflation" and the listy goes on...

Nationalizing the U.S. Banking Sector: There's No Choice

Oh, there is always a choice and usually there are many choices. You just happen not to like any of the other choices.

If it was up to me, I would let all the bad banks go through a structured bankruptcy process. The process would include past and current executive teams over the past 8 years (including risk managers and anyone else with bonuses totaling over $500k), who would be required to pay restitution.

America's Banks: Are They Really Insolvent?

I'd rather take my pain quickly and know that I am on solid footing than to be tortured for years with the same loss results. I say, wipe them out and start over!

TARP Accountability: Bankers Say 'What, Me Sorry?'

A nice and colorful obfuscation cloud - I love it!

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Some of those earnings results are much better than my worst fears. Hope is alive! :)

Sorkin's Questions to Bank CEOs, Answered

Capping leverage is definitely the way to go. The question is how can this be done without banks finding yet another way of getting around the regulatory limits?

Bank Lending Declines Just 1.4% in Q4: Was the TARP Instrumental?

What I generally see looking at that chart is that the banks that benefited the most in $ terms from TARP have increased their lending the least in % terms. I see this as a gross inefficiency in the way that TARP has worked.

Top Brand Names and Stock Returns

First of all, a novice (or any other) investors would have had a hard time knowing in 2000 what Business Week will rate to be a top brand in 2008.

Furthermore, very few investors (not even psychic ones) can efficiently directly diversify into a portfolio of 100 equities. This is especially true of self-directed novices.

Thus, by following the simplistic advice of investing "in the brands you know and love," an amateur is more likely to loose virtually everything with companies like Citibank - a declining brand over this time period, than to gain with the likes of Google - hardly a household name in 2000.

Nationalizing Bank Losses

From afar, it certainly looks like there is no good reason for taxpayers to take on the losses and pay for mistakes a select few have made. Responsibility should fall on the shoulders of those who created the problem.

How best to implement this or how to properly structure bankruptcies of the failures so as to minimize the hurt that falls on the shoulders of the innocents are simply details that need to be worked out.

Turning Japanese: The Audacity of Reality (Part 3 of 3)

The best article I have read in a very long time - it was long overdue. Well thought out, great job and thank you!

Should We Relax Capital Requirements?

Lower capital requirements to 0? What a great idea! This way banks could have infinite leverage. But wait, isn't leverage exactly what got us into this mess in the first place? I would like to respectfully suggest that we close down the Central Bank, instead.

Cramer's Stop Trading! Will the Banks Be Nationalized? (1/15/09)

Banks that are not solvent should not be kept on governmental life support, funded by taxpayer dollars.