C.elder

Corporate Fraud + Government Intervention = Bailout Nation

Instead of another article seeking to blame the banks,and portraying others as victims,why not state the truth?The truth is that deadbeat Americans won't pay back all the money they borrowed on their mortgages,credit cards etc.Yes,they borrowed all that money to buy cars,houses,plasma screens etc, and now are walking away from those obligations to repay and they expect the banks to take the hits.But meanwhile they keep those plasma screens etc.Those are the poeple responsible for the losses in the banks,not the banks themselves.The banks lent them the money expecting to get repaid,when that doesn't happen you criticise the banks!It is too easy in America for unscrupulous borrowers to walk away from their obligations with no consequences to them.Those who declare personal bankruptcy,or don't repay their loan obligations should be forbidden from taking out any further loans for at least 10 years.People would think twice about not repaying,and even better would not get into so much debt to begin with.

Predicting the Financial Sector Rebound

Clearly we all agree that the analysts don't know anything more than we do.For those with short memories Whitney was pushing Bear Stearns as a great company a year or so ago!.So we should ponder why the analysts are slamming other banks?A few ideas for us to think about-it distracts attention from their own institution(note Whitney always slammed someone else just as her own parent co.CIBC was announcing horrendous problems);are these analysts truly independent?Or are they issuing statements to generate more volume of trades that their companies make money on regardless if the stock goes up or down?Note that Citi is the most heavily traded stock in the DJIA,and has been for months-does this make any sense in an economy as big and diverse as America's?Surely industrial companies should dominate the DJIA trading volumes?Well, they don't.It's good old Citi,and this is fueled by...you guessed it the analyst reports;and where do all those volumes get traded...you guessed it,the brokerage companies.As for Goldman's,everyone knows they compete with Citi across the investment banking spectrum,and anything that does Citi down is good for Goldman's.
I wonder though why Citi does not cut its credit lines on Goldman?Without these Goldman would soon disappear.
Anyway,just some thoughts for you all...