Tad Gage

NYSE Suspends $1 Stock Price Minimum

Don't forget the NYSE also absorbed the American Stock Exchange, which traditionally had many more micro cap and lightly traded stocks. Even in good times, a number of these companies wouldn't meet standard NYSE price or market cap requirements. Obviously, in today's market, small cap, illiquid stocks become moreso and even light selling pounds the price. It would be pretty stupid for the NYSE to not have suspended its traditional guidelines, which would have meant kissing goodbye to a lot of good Amex companies it just added.

Has a 2008 Stock Market Crash Begun?

Dan, I was surfing around and came across this. You sure hit the nail on the head right across the board. If you shorted financials in 2008 in any big way, as you said was your plan, you are now independently wealthy and running your blogs out of Aruba or your warm tropical spot of choice.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

"Banks face mixed messages" is quite an understatement. The Treasury appears to be in a state of confusion about TARP, now the Capital Purchase Program. It started as a bailout, then morphed into capital infusion for well-run banks. In the past two weeks the Treasury has started making funding recipients that were promised capital weeks ago jump through additional and borderline random hoops. Some banks are being asked to come up with matching capital to qualify for funding (wasn't the logic behind TARP to provide liquidity and capital in the face of illiquid markets and scarce capital??), or are being given unclear or no direction about what further assurances or information they need to provide to meet the Treasury's constantly changing target. What was good enough assurance two weeks ago is no longer so today. Sadly, it's many of the well-run community banks that seem to be bearing the brunt of this political fire drill. The big boys got their handout, no questions asked.

Obamamania vs. Reality Bites: Tensions Establish Historic Short Window

Certainly Rakesh makes some interesting points. Much is uncertain, as we've never faced something quite like this. In this economic situation, I see few parallels to the Great Depression except for the fact that, like the depression, it was nurtured by a incompetent, do-nothing Republican administration filled with yes-men and yes-women who legislated where they shouldn't (Sarbanes Oxley) and failed to oversee what they should have been (corporate financiers, runaway derivatives, etc.). The comments surprise me, especially on this site. Wouldn't it be more productive to focus on what we can do no rather than complain and say "wait until 2012?"

Great Depression? Nah, Great Reality Check

I'm certainly not feeling pie-in-the-sky optimistic by any means, but I continue to meet and work with many business people who are not going to give up because the "markets" are volatile or reflect the greed and poor decision making of a small number of individuals and corporations. However, the points above are well-made -- the real difference will be if Americans come to their senses and once again exercise discipline in their lifestyles. When I was a kid, if a family only had the cash for one television, that's all you had in the house. You didn't borrow for a second or third. And only "rich" people drove expensive foreign and US cars because people stayed within their means on financing. And therein lies my hope that things are rough enough for enough people that we might re-learn some more positive values. After all, we've enjoyed this incredible materially high level of lifestyle, and frankly, people seem angrier, more stressed out, less relaxed and more miserable than ever in my lifetime. Obviously, the illusion of a luxurious lifestyle doesn't equate to real satifaction with life.