BSCLossMan

AIG: The Mark-to-Lehman Market

There's a good article on Forbes today about AIG. AIG has many assets it can sell, real assets, not voodoo securities.

How Cheap Are U.S. Bank Stocks?

I'm no expert, but I look at the 2007 highs in bank/brokerage stocks as false highs based on voodoo securities. So to say C, for example, is about 50% off its high does not mean that it is cheap and will rise to those levels for a long time. With earnings very questionable going forward, book value almost a meaningless number, and write-offs every quarter (depending on what the bank wants to divulge), a still huge housing problem, I just cannot believe why people keep buying these stocks. The more they cut earnings and the more voodoo securities they admit to (& write down), the higher their stocks go. Other, non-financial stocks, miss earnings estimates by a cent, and their stocks get hammered. To me, a non expert, there is no sense to it.