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axelrod608 » Comments » AIG

  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    Come on, commenters, lets get at least a little accuracy and objectivity in the AIG controversy. Almost all of AIG was well run by competent employees. AIG was gutted by ONE division that played fast and loose with highly leveraged derivatives that went south, all the way to financial Antarctica.

    MOST of AIG continued to be well run and still is. MOST of AIG has been continuously profitable. MOST AIG emplloyees are good, competent people.

    I know you're angry about the bailouts. I am too. But let's keep the comments accurate. And the part of the AIG bailout that makes me furious is that the ONLY reason our "leaders" bailed AIG out was that Goldman Sucks was counterparty to many of AIG's derivatives and would have taken huge losses if AIG failed. The AIG bailout was really a GS bailout.

    The underlying belief of our "leaders" is that what's good for GS is good for America. It was wrong when they said it about GM and it's wrong about GS too.
    Nov 11 10:50 am |Rating: +8 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    More "misses" than a beauty pageant on expectations at historically low levels. And "earnings" are more bookeeping maneuvers than income. The risk premium driving this market upward is unbelievable. Unintelligible. Unsustainable.
    Oct 22 11:06 am |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    Get real. The "crackdown" is on GS and other megabank competition. With GS controlling the Fed, the Treasury and all the pResident's advisors, the real insiders will surely get a free ride.

    Get real. ZIRP benefits megabanks. And megagovernment. Interest rates are going nowhere as long as GS can use free money for trading and the Gummint can use free money for, well, every stupid thing they can think of.
    Oct 19 11:25 am |Rating: +5 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    It's not just the 3 or 4 banks a week that are failing. The FDIC's watch list ( of weak banks) has grown into the hundreds. It used to be less than 50 in good times.

    With commercial RE prices still falling and a new wave of mortgage resets starting in November the future for small and regional banks is not rosy.
    Aug 31 10:03 am |Rating: +3 -1 |Link to Comment
  • AIG Is Dead, Long Live AIG [View article]
    Considering that the ONLY reason for "saving" AIG was to funnel counterparty funds from the taxpayers to GS, one would have to say (tongue in cheek) that the result has been excellent. Just look at GS latest "earnings" most of which were provided by the taxpayers.

    Had our leaders/policymakers done "the right thing" they would have simply dissolved the casino division of AIG. leaving what was a strong, well run viable company. We need to not forget that AIG was brought down by one division - the rest of the company was doing well.

    Remember when the slogan was, What's good for General Motors is good for America?? The new slogan our leaders in DC are going by is What's good for Goldman Sachs (and the health insurance companies and Big Pharma) is good for America.

    I don't care who says it, there's NO CHANGE in DC. It's business (first) as usual.
    Aug 29 10:17 am |Rating: +3 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    ..."Can anybody explain why banks such as UBS are allowed to do business in the United States"...

    Ownership. A foreign corporation can own a subsidiary in any country which operates by the laws of that country, not of the foreign country. The IRS is using its bully power to make corporations in other countries follow US law.

    It is time to scrap the income tax and go to 100% sales tax funding of our government. Being able to bank anywhere in the world would be just one of dozens of advantages. Another HUGE advatange would be the IRS being made superflous. We maintain the tax collecting machinery of government at HUGE expense to everyone - individuals, and businesses.
    Aug 20 09:51 am |Rating: +9 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    C4C makes sense if a 12 mpg gas guzzler is traded in for a 30+mpg vehicle. But that's not what's happening in the real world. Here in Florida most of the new vehicles being sold are pickups, vans and SUV's that get half the mandated mpg of the next federal CAFE. C4C only requires a 2mpg improvement to qualify - what a joke. Another bad joke out of Washington, DC.
    Aug 20 08:58 am |Rating: +11 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    The reports that GDP is growing based on "stimulus" money being dumped into economies is misleading, at best. Reminds me of the "personal income growth" reported by adding refi proceeds to national income figures and "GDP growth" adding the same to GDP. If you backed the refi proceeds out of the GDP numbers, we had negative GDP "growth" most of the 2000 - 2007 period. It's smoke and mirrors accounting.

    Anyone who thinks you "grow" anything other than debt load by borrowing money or spending money you don't have just doesn't understand the basic underlying principles of economics or accounting.
    Aug 13 13:37 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    The Fed's ZIRP - zero interest rate policy - is the driver behind most of our economic problems. Florida's pension plan bought a ton of Lehman preferred with a 10+% yield, rated AAA and ended up eating it. Investors like pension plans that must make gains and individuals who want gains have to move out on the risk continuum to make gains that exceed tax and inflation costs. The Fed policy mandates that anyone who wants to make positive gains has to buy. riskier investments.

    There simply aren't any guaranteed investment vehicles that will pay more than taxes and inflation.

    Having said that, whoever buys any investment they don't fully understand is at least as liable as the seller. CALPERS should have done their due diligence and known better.

    And having said that, the rating agencies need radical transformation. They serve the interests that pay them - the sellers. Never a good policy.
    Jul 15 09:24 am |Rating: +4 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    >> "G-8 diverge on future stimulus needs. G-8 leaders said the global economic recovery is still too weak to..." >>

    This is the politically correct way to phrase this concept, "the recovery is too weak". The accurate phrasing would be there is no recovery, but the rate of economic decline has slowed.

    When one in four (perhaps one in three) Americans who used to work full time and want to work full time can't, "recovery" is an incorrect descriptor. The stats don't include the millions of workers whose work week has been shortened and paycheck reduced but their status remains unchanged.

    Yes, some corporations are making money, but they've done it by slashing employment and other costs and balance sheet maneuvers. So while there may be a "recovery" in some stock prices, there is no recovery in the overall economy.

    In a consumer driven economy, "Jobless recovery" is an oxymoron.
    Jul 09 08:58 am |Rating: +7 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    >> "The FOMC statement predicted "inflation will remain subdued for some time," >>

    Clearly, whoever makes statements like this does NOT buy the groceries, fill the gas tank, pay the utility bills or the medical expenses.
    Jun 25 09:19 am |Rating: +8 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    >> "People spending more than earning is to blame for losing their jobs and houses." >>

    Sure, but they couldn't have done it without the government policy of easy cheap unlimited credit for all, even the uncreditworthy. You must be a young person with a limited understanding of history. When I bought my first house, if you didn't have 20% down, they didn't take the application.

    As for your comment that it's not the fault of this administration, sure enough that';s true. But what';s also true is that both of the ruling parties and all their administrations is that there's no difference - BOTH have championed the stupid, shortsighted policies that have brought us to this sorry state of affairs.

    Finally, if you really, honestly think that pouring a decade's worth of tax receipts down the drain in an attempt to "fix" this mess is a good policy, all I can ask is "Do you believe in magic ?" In all of history, it has never worked before.

    A very wise man, Albert Einstein, once observed that the most powerful force on earth was the power of compound interest. The formal IOUSA policy is to go against this power by continually running the government as if this was not true. We have neverending deficits and an evergrowing national debt that we can NEVER hope to repay. NEVER.

    And the power of compound interest is 100% working against us. The IOUSA is unsustainable. There are only two options - default on the national debt or devalue the currency enough to make the natuional debt serviceable..

    We have two ruling parties that have ZERO control over spending and a policy of "cutting taxes". Both have conspired to bring us to unsustainability.

    Next time you go to the voting booth, remember - IF you vote for a Republicrat, YOU are the problem.
    May 22 21:28 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    I find it hard to believe that anyone took seriously the idea that the taxpayers could make any money on the bank welfare plan. From inception every facet of the plan was designed to benefit the financial corporations at taxpayer expense. Of course the government will allow them to buy back their warrants at a fraction of their market value. Duh.

    C'mon, folks. We all know how to tell if people in the government are lying. Their lips move.
    May 22 09:42 am |Rating: +8 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    Thank you Edward Liddy. You volunteered for a hopelessly difficult job that paid $1 a year, took the unwarranted insults of ignorant Congresscritters, and by my estimation have brought AIG through the worst of a difficult restructuring. You followed the instructions of the Fed and Treasury even though they were hopelessly flawed. You performed with professionalism and distinction.

    This nation needs more men like you and a whole lot less Alans, Hanks, Bens and Timmys.

    Thank you for your service sir. You are a gentleman and a patriot.
    May 22 09:26 am |Rating: +6 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    I don't understand the reason why higher gas mileage will add to the price of vehicles. The most effective ways to increase mpg are cut weight - less content, less cost - and reduce engine size - smaller engines are cheaper. It makes no sense.

    What the world needs is a modern version of the deux cheveau (sp ?), the minimalist do-everything vehicle. Light weight, no frills and will carry a ton of bricks. When we end our need for motorized living rooms with surround sound and our motorized family rooms with dual home theatre we will be on our way to a sustainable future.

    There, that ought to get a dozen or more thumbs down. That's the truth about an unsustainable reality - it's popular.
    May 19 10:24 am |Rating: +6 0 |Link to Comment
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