Pent up demand

Thinking the Impossible: Could Bank of America Go to Zero?

"The simple fact is the government currently won't let any big bank go belly up no matter how bad it is. If the policy was different Citibank would not be around any more. "

Irrelevant to shareholders. The author clearly states that there is a massive risk of dilution for shareholders. No, Bank of America will not go out of business. But for common shareholders I think there is a good chance they will be wiped out. I agree with him, which is why I have already unloaded my remaining BAC after the most recent disclosures about TARP funds.

If you are a US citizen, you already have much more exposure to financials than you want through the government. Why buy more in your personal portfolio?

Financials: How - And When - We Reached the Bottom

Oh, I knew it must be Bush's fault. What are you people with Bush Derangement Syndrome going to do next January? You'll have to start blaming everything on garden gnomes or water sprites I suppose.

You can lay all this at the feet of progressives, winslow. I mean the original progressives back at the turn of the 20th century who gave us the Federal Reserve system and the income tax. They set in motion the economic forces that are coming to bear on us today.

Financials: How - And When - We Reached the Bottom

Under what sort of accounting do we spend 60% of the government budget on the military?

As for the article, I would point out there was a similarly sized rally in financials from August to October last year, which has of course turned out to be a sucker's rally.

I think the scenario an investor needs to think very hard about is a situation where businesses start cutting jobs in a bigger way. What happens if official unemployment rises from these historically low levels? Then the other shoe would drop on the HELOC and credit card areas. Not a prediction; but in that scenario even the healthier banks will suffer badly.

Financials: How - And When - We Reached the Bottom

Don't count your money while you're still at the table.

Subprime Write-Downs More Than 50% Done? Write-Ups Coming Next?

Tony Soprano has been all over this site pumping stocks. Yeah, a negative consensus is a buy signal - except when it isn't.

This thing has been spun from day one as a subprime problem. That is what they are feeding the masses. As freedomrenter says, who cares if they wrote the subprime down to zero. Only after the Alt-A, option-ARM, and HELOC losses been counted will I think about becoming a buyer. In the meantime I stay in cash and watch my insurance policy (commodities) pay off, and keep my powder dry.