Warm_Paw

Goldman, Buffett Deal with Fannie Mae Inked a Month Ago

What can the taxpayer do about it.
A movement should be started confining the president to one term if he blatantly stands by while Goldman and Buffet profit from the tax payer subsidizing losses to the banks.
This can't be legal?!?!?!
Aren't their people handling tax dollars who are accountable to the public?
What prevents anyone from lining his pockets through this kind of action?

Crude Oil Inventories Show a Sharp Decline

Oil is getting a boost this morning following the weekly EIA inventory report which showed that crude oil stockpiles increased by 3,963K barrels (expectations called for a build of 1,500K). At a time of year when stockpiles are typically rising, today's inventory decline came as a big surprise.

3963 K > than 1500 K

That means an increase in inventory, not a decrease.

Oil prices at present are strictly tied to the value of the US Greenback. Everyone agrees the Fed is not going to raise rates, thus oil is not about to take a whipping.

Should the Fed raise rates, oil falls in price on the barrel.

I'm typing slow so you don't get this confused.... ;-)

How Much Did Goldman Know?

The Untouchables...
How do you go about changing the existing situation when companies like Goldman blatantly rip the govt off yet do it inside the law?
If it's legal, there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Goldman knows that and THAT'S why it's blatant.
Now GS friends in Washington will create law if need be, that can be exploited.
The masses can act with their money - spend your money on main street, not wall street.

The Secret to the Banking Sector's Success

When the greenback becomes the peso, I buy property.
By the time the greenback's on par with the yen , CEO's will be demanding their bonuses in euros.

Geithner to Blame for Outrageous Goldman Bonuses

Goldman claiming they're a bank when they're not a bank, isn't that fraud?

Fannie and Freddie: Not Worthless Yet

It's bullshit articles like this (FRE & FNM are in conservatorship) that keep giving hope to the uninformed public.
Speculating is fine, you'd have better luck in Vegas playing black jack, but after the next wave of Option ARMS coming to maturity it's going to be obvious the govt will bankrupt the country continuing to prop up the GSE's.

The Secret Paulson-Goldman Meeting

And if Paulson telling Goldman at a meeting in Moscow which would surely be disinformation, that all will be wonderful in America and that it should be fixed within a year, the Russian's now know it's worse than they thought and that the US is vulnerable.
How do we put such dim witted people into such positions of authority?!

The Secret Paulson-Goldman Meeting

Why would Goldman Sachs want to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev?
And who at Goldman Sachs wanted to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev?
And if Paulson and Goldman felt they could offer the russians disinformation, because the entire country is bugged, did they think the russians were that naive to believe everything they said at a meeting in Moscow?
The disinformation would be information to the russians.
I've heard grade school children with more sophisticated plot lines.

As Asset Valuations Soar, Earnings Wobble - How Safe Is Banking?

So many articles, so little actually said...

Let's start with question #1.
Of the top ten banks, how much toxic asset does each bank hold?

#2.
What is the book value for these assets?

#3.
What is the market value of these assets?

#4.
How many banks have suspended mark to market accounting?

#5.
If forced to sell these toxic assets, can these banks produce effective capitalization to meet their requirements?

#6.
Can these banks even calculate future losses on MBS' due to bundling?

#7.
When are the next wave of matuiry dates to occur?

There media people - answer these questions.

This should get GE on the ball and sell CNBC before the answers come out. hehe

Goldman Sachs: 'A Hybrid Hedge Fund and Bookie'

It was all bullshit from the get go.
Paulson should be brought up to discuss his obvious conflict of interest. His selling of shares right before the bailout was actually humorous.
Goldman saw a loss coming and FASB suspending mark to market rules put a finger in the dyke.
It's just a finger. Gave Goldman time to avoid a loss.
Warren Buffet wasn't long snapping up distressed GS shares.
Doubled his money in less than a year.
These kids are playing behind the curtain long before the investing public knows what hit them.
But is it legal for the Fed to just arbitrarily bail these banks out using tax payer dollars?
There was never any systemic risk.
Companies boom or fail - it's the way of true market capitalism.
Now we have systemic risk - a trillion dollar deficit owed by people without jobs and foreclosing on their homes.
And a president fiddling with healthcare while the country picks up the tab on the biggest scam in history.
It's a farce!
The global businessmen probably think we need more muzzled grizzly bears wearing tutu's for our circus.
From Bush to Obama, one forgot and the other never knew....

Too Big to Fail - Even Greenspan Is Speaking Out

Goldman Sachs runs the United States of America.
Obama's just this token black guy puppet.
I think Obama's coming to realize that.
When the REAL power says SHIT! he comes slidin'

Where Is the Line Between Conventional Banking and Pure Trading?

It appears the plan where the Fed dumps money into the financial system - while investors like Goldman Sachs reap the benefits of the stimulus, still aren't enough to get the banks to a state where they can unwind these toxic assets once and for all.
I doubt the toxic assets have even been dented.
Goldman has discussed purchasing these assets yet anyone stricken with them does not want to sell them at firesale prices for fear of the damage to the balance sheet and the mad scramble to increase reserves. Now if Goldman believes it can purchase mortgages on pennies to the dollar and that the real estate market will just jump back to the 2005 era, they're delusional.
Unemployment, govt defecit and the loss of billions of dollars of market value are going to keep that from happening.
The pre 2005 easy money era was stoked by crazy lending practices and if we repeat that mistake again the next hit will be hell to pay. The govt is creating legislation to make lending practices accountable.
The govt should never have bailed out anyone and let a free market system correct itself. The destruction of what doesn't work into the rebuilding of that which is more efficient and stronger.
Because the govt has subsidized the crooks going against logic and the natural order of such events in financial systems, the economy is going to hang in limbo, on life support, until a time when the next waves of destruction reset the financial system to a base level which is then ready to build itslef up from the ashes.
It's inevitable.

Why Did Meredith Whitney Downgrade Goldman Sachs?

Why did Meredith Whitney downgrade Goldman Sachs?
My guess is that so Goldman can short itself and make even more profit.
If they were to downgrade themselves, it would look too obvious.
And then once they've taken a hit for a strike date or two, why they could cover puts against themselves and as their share price once again climbs, they could pocket the premiums.
Did Meredith Whitney actuall say "why be greedy"???
This is investing - if one were not greedy, one would use their money to feed the homeless.

If a Bubble Bubble Bursts Off the Balance Sheet, Will Anyone Be There to Hear It?

I applaud the writers at Seeking Alpha for actually informing the public of the real issues confronting America. I'm surprised you have not been censored or your web site infected.
I doubt the powers that be wish to discuss the truth until the American public has taken these toxic assets off the banks books.
The FASB accounting rules are allowing the suspension of mark to market accounting until March 2010.
Jan 2010 is the next tidal wave of Option A loans and I doubt the Fed has another 700 Billion to deal with this wave.
Whoever thinks the recession is over may be correct in that the world may need to consume at a marginally higher rate, but the money and employment isn't there. The world will starve at a higher rate. The dollar falling apart may bring employment to America but only if textile mills and manufacturing return to the USA.
The bottom line - America, with unionized wages could afford big ticket items. Then manufacturing was offshored to China, India and Mexico for workers earning $2 a day. America lived on it's line of credit and home equity loan (second mortgage).
We import everything cheaper than we can produce it.
Now that we're broke - $2 a day workers are getting layoff notices.
All the big money Wall St. crooks reinvested the wealth amassed in shady back room deals and the resulting destruction has wiped out their profit. Now we're unemployed and can't live off the profits of the shady investing practices.
Bundling MBS's that weren't AAA grade and stamping them AAA has caused huge systemic chaos to the financial system.
I've heard the bundling and writing CDS's for these MBS's was legal.
There's a law which would deal with what has occurred.
Everyone involved should be charged with treason...

Bank Earnings: Reality Check Ahead

The bank earnings are going to be slightly positive but aren't true earnings. The FASB accounting rule changes are still in place. There isn't true transparency. Mark to market rules have been suspended. So for the average schmuck the markets will go higher and everyone will believe the worst is over.
Timothy Long has it correct about the credit cycle.
Unwinding toxic assets has been deferred.
The crisis is still underlying. The banks don't want to unwind them because they will have to find money to increase their capital reserves. The Fed isn't pushing the matter because only maturity of the toxic assets will indicate how bad the situation is and the hope is time will let these securities unwind themselves.
The next wave of Option Arm is Januaty 2010 so markets could go higher until then. It is a sucker's rally though. The higher the markets go, the more the unwitting fool is to lose come 2010.
What if the situation is ten times worse than forcasted?
No one truly knows what these bundled MBS are truly worth until they're unwound. The real estate market is in shambles and people are still foreclosing, only commercial properties are tanking now.
High unemployment is adding to the fray.
Of course greed is a strong emotion and the masses invest without a clue as to what is occurring around them. One would think with existing losses they'd stay away from markets.
It must be the desire to lose.