whisperonthewind

Why I'm Holding On to Citigroup Stock

Lightway, if you had read the whole article, Citigroup was talking about another bank. READ.

Exclusive: Big Banks' Recent Profitability Due to AIG Scam?

Although I don't doubt there is some truth to each and every comment, I believe the real answer is somewhere straight down the middle with this whole thing. ALL of the problem was not just in the banking industry, a large chunk was in the creeps who decided to either use the faulty loan mechanisms and the dumbos who knew they couldn't pay the mortgages and decided to scam the system, never thinking that they would be the ones to pay in the end. Daily we hear about how bad the banks are, and no one goes after those other idiots. So since we're ignoring half the problem, we aren't getting the whole answer either.

That means, basically, that with only half the answer, and the solution being somewhere in the middle of that half, we still don't really know what will happen when this is all sorted out. If we allow the idiots to get away with what they did, and only go after the banks, then we are the ones paying for everything and the idiots get off scot free. And they are probably shorting all the bank stocks and running away with all those profits. Silly us, to be so hung up with name calling and finger pointing when we should be facing the other half of the problem instead.

Are Citi, Bank of America Pushing Prices Up?

While all the banks are being made to pay and pay and pay, all those jerks who took the loans with no intention of paying, with plans to flip the properties and make massive profits, those jerks have been allowed to walk away from those loans and allow the properties to go into foreclosure. It no longer matters if the previous value was too high. Now those properties are junk that has little value. Same property, value 1/10 what it was. The truth is that the mortgages were bad, the buyers of those mortgages were not all honest, and those properties have a value higher than currently stated. Therefore, if the properties were accurately valued in relation to similar properties in those areas (instead of the reverse, which is what is happening in neighborhoods and communities across the nation), the book value would be higher. If your home/business is foreclosed, MY home/business should not lose value, and the banks who now own that foreclosed property should be able to value it at the going rate in the surrounding area.

Mark-to-Market Triggered This Recession; It Will Also Trigger the Recovery

TeresaE said, "The "cause" is greedy politicians and banks and a clueless public led by over-educated, yet idiot, "experts"."

Let's not forget that a great deal of those clueless public were not so clueless and could have been included as being part of the greedy idiots. You know the ones, they wanted to cash in on flipping houses, they bought several and then couldn't sell them. Or the people who wanted housing values to go higher to make money so they could retire on something other than just Social Security.

Everyone has the right to read the documentation given with a loan, and can even ask someone to explain it and can insist that it be explained clearly. Everyone has the right to have a lawyer look over the paperwork. If anyone chooses not to read that documentation, they become the fools. They are no different than the saps that bought snake oil.

The banks are not the only ones in this game and if they hadn't been forced to make loans available to everyone (including those who had poor credit ratings) this might not have gone quite so far. Perhaps we need to keep prosecuting those who took those loans without intending to pay for them.

Cramer's Mad Money - Unsafe at Any Yield (3/12/09)

GM actually said it didn't need that 2 billion THIS month. It WILL need it soon. And if the suppliers don't get some help pretty soon, it won't matter whether any of the auto manufacturers get money because they won't have any suppliers left. The manufacturers will be at a red light with no place left to go.

Don't Blame Mark-to-Market for This Crisis

I actually started to think perhaps you had something, that maybe you were going to educate me further. After all, I've read many articles, both pro and con, regarding mark-to-market. I've seen some good points and some bad ones in each of those articles. However, when your article reached the point where you said, "With all due respect... are you f#$%ing retarded?!" I just stopped reading, and decided if you can't discuss it on an educated level, then perhaps I'm wasting my time reading your article.

Financial Times Debunks Citi's Memo

If they can straighten out mark-to-market, we may actually get to see the truth. I don't believe the asset write-down should have been that huge. Sure, we had something like 10% bad mortgages (bad banks, bad users), sure, the housing prices crashed (through no fault of the GOOD banks and GOOD users). But there are still 90% of mortgages being paid. 90% of us are still making a go of it, with all the bad news. 90% of us are still working (except in Michigan where it's only 88.4%, but even that is still a lot). So I find it difficult to believe that all those assets are bad. Some may have been written down based on the strategy set up initially, but perhaps should not have been written down at all. That is the info I want to see, and if it is as I believe, that the modification will show a brighter, more accurate picture, then let's go for it.

Obama and Bush: Different Objectives, Same Results

The thing you forgot, tginomore, is that Obama's followers believed he WOULD fix it in a few weeks, and they said so over and over. And he hasn't, and they've lost more and more, just like everyone has. Some of us actually heard what Obama promised, and he has given us exactly what he promised. Change. That's all that is in our pockets now. Just change. And he'll go after that, too, wait and see.

Why Nationalize in 2016?

Since when has the government ever let go of anything, once they got their dirty little hands on it? If they ever did nationalize them, I'd change banks. IN A HEARTBEAT. In fact, maybe I'll do that anyway.

Dividend Stocks: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Several of those Canadian Trusts (and the American ones also) have been cutting their dividends lately. There is also the foreign tax, which they take before you get that dividend. This reduces the final yield. They are still not a bad deal if you get out before they have that tax change in 2011. Perhaps the benefit (for Americans) is in taking the cash instead of reinvesting.

Cramer's Stop Trading! What Do Cramer and Rush Limbaugh Have in Common? (1/29/09)

And just to be honest, I did NOT vote for him, or for Pelosi. I would love to see them step in that scat. But the majority did vote for them. and the majority will be just as guilty if these two don't do well. And therein lies my own personal pleasure.

Cramer's Stop Trading! What Do Cramer and Rush Limbaugh Have in Common? (1/29/09)

I won't comment on the spelling in these comments except to say that to learn the rules of spelling and to learn the memorization of those words that don't follow the rules indicates someone who cares about others reading their words. As for whether Pelosi or Obama is in control of this bill, we will soon learn the facts. The media will either agree with them or not, depending on which faction of the media you read. This brings us to Cramer and Limbaugh, which is really the same issue. Depending on your preference, they are either lord of the jungle or they are scat on the ground. In all of this, the important part to remember is that you have to look at all of it, listen to all of it or you'll never really know because if you aren't paying attention, even the lord of the jungle can step in the scat.

We haven't had enough time to see if Obama can be lord of the jungle. Just because everyone is looking UP to him, doesn't mean there isn't still scat on the ground.

Who Is Buying Financials?

JPM has been down before, and rose to take a stand easily. It is definitely way lower than it should be, and if I didn't already have enough in my portfolio I'd be tempted to buy more. Steady dividend. Strong background. Worth the trip.

Who Is Buying Financials?

JPM has been down before, and rose to take a stand easily. It is definitely way lower than it should be, and if I didn't already have enough in my portfolio I'd be tempted to buy more. Steady dividend. Strong background. Worth the trip.

Buying Up BofA: Booyah!

I agree that it is a buy, but I'm not quite ready to spend my money on it. Maybe when it makes it above $10, though.