CAK

Ambac's Announcement is a Joke; Disagreeing with Whitman on Monolines

Just one more note - The irony of leadership, or lack thereof, and the havoc that leadership will wreak on the financial svcs industry is that it's coming from Barney Frank, not Bush. And that should have a lot of people sweating, considering the unbelievable rhetoric coming out of Congess right now.

Ambac's Announcement is a Joke; Disagreeing with Whitman on Monolines

When I brought up the brutality of forthcoming regulation my time frame was 4 YEARS, not 4 DAYS! If you are in the business, be it broker, banker, mortgage lender, well you had better get used to going to work wearing shoes and nothing else. The Feds are getting ready to shred open the books. Talk about hedge fund regulation. Let's not, because what we are going to witness is going to bring
tears (and fears) to a whole lot of folks.

Ambac's Announcement is a Joke; Disagreeing with Whitman on Monolines

WT is spot on about the inevitability of serious Federal intervention in the wake of what will end up being a cataclysmic economic event for this country. Just as FDR counterbalanced 3 years of flawed policy between 29 and 32 with tens of thousands of new government regulations so we will see that pattern repeated beginning a year from now. New rules and oversight, especially directed towards Wall St. banks & brokerages, will be nothing less than staggering. There won't be a trader, speculator, investor, banker, broker, hedger punching a trade for one share or a million without the hot breath of the US Government breathing down their neck. Truth is, when the economy gets wrecked someone's got to take the fall. And the fall guy is Wall St.

So, forget (or enjoy) what you have now because it will all be gone 3 years from now. And then, when you've reached the point where you think our Federal Government can't possibly hamstring things anymore, can't question or watch every single share of stock you buy or sell, well then you've reached the...2nd or 3rd inning. Because there's going to be a whole lot more.

Congressman Kanjorski can't say Wall St in the same sentence without using the word "greed". And that is the last thing you want to hear from a homespun hero in Washington. Hell, The Feds will be storming past Trinity Church like Stormtroopers under the Arch d' Triumph.


Tumbleweeds swirled at the corner of Wall & Broad for 25 years. It may seem quiet now but the winds are beginning to blow.

Ambac, MBIA: The Shorting Game is Over

Cap'n G & 34634 -

"In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.
Mark Twain

Ambac, MBIA: The Shorting Game is Over

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the post and good luck with your new blog. It's always interesting to get some perspective from the "inside", so to speak.
Hopefully, you will continue to shed light on what is happening
throughout the sector and perhaps answer questions that may
arise from time to time.

MBIA, S&P and What AAA Really Means

Oops, Moody's AAA

MBIA Could Be a Zero Faster Than Expected

Moody's affirmed AAA rating for MBI and AMBAC last night. MBI was put on negative "pending implementation" of the Warburg capital infusion. As that deal WILL go thru, this essentially guarantees the AAA rating for MBI. So, it's a very positive step in the right direction.