captainccs

Blankfein Defends Goldman, Is Flippant with Facts

If AIG was not a bank why did The Fed save AIG? Could it be as a favor to Goldman Sachs?

CIT Group was a bank, why did The Fed not save it? Could it be as a favor to Wall St. banks?

I don't know the answers but it sure smells fishy.

CDS Regulation: Just One Simple Rule

>>>Warning: this post will require you to be able to intelligently ponder philosophical concepts and theories, and perhaps try to forget some assumptions you may already have. <<<


Say there are 100 houses worth $1 million each and you expect 1% (one house) to burn down each year. To come out even, you need to collect $10,000 per house per year.

Insure one house twice, collecting an extra $10,000. If that house burns down, you have a loss of $990,000. The solution is to never pay more than the real loss which in this case would be one house, $1 million and not $2 million.

Suppose you insured every house twice thereby eliminating the loss. It would not be insurance, it would be gambling. Insurance is defined as the transfer of risk. If you don't have an insurable interest if you don't have risk to transfer.

In Defense of Executive Pay Caps

Just let the damn banks fail. That cuts executive pay to the bone!

The Price of a Pound of Banking Flesh

Just let the damn banks fail. That cuts executive pay to the bone!

Kenneth Feinberg, Pay Warrior

Why does the gov not cut the pork in the bills it creates in Congress? That would save trillions not just a million or two.

Better yet, let failing banks fail and stay out of business.

It's all posturing and nonsense.

End the Fed!

Diana Farrell And The White House Theory Of Bank Size

The problem with excessive size is that large banks organized as a cartel, i.e. the Fed, can hold the taxpayers hostage. It's corporate socialism, the profits go to the bankers and the losses to "We The people."

It's time to call out the trust busters. Breaking up Ma Bell did wonders for communications. Breaking up mega-banks would do the same for the realm of finance.

What Really Moves the Stock Markets (And How to Take Advantage)

Beware, "They" is back! A conspiracy under every stone. hahaha

If specialists were that powerful they'd own the Vatican by now. But no, they have to go back into their pits work-day in and work-day out. Just a lousy, stressful, 9 to 5 job.

The Looming McMansion Attack

Good grief, what a bunch of pessimists! :(

The BofA / Merrill Mess - A Misguided Mob Goes After the Wrong Guy

Don't ever forget that Ken Lewis has "empire building" blood in his veins. I can imagine him salivating at getting his hands on Merrill Lynch. Of course, the lack of transparency tripped him up like it tripped up the whole financial community.

I just wish they would let all these lousy banks fail. Why should the taxpayer bail them out? Nobody bails me out when I mess up.

Goldman Sachs' AIG Collateral Demands Behind Company's Implosion

>>>“Goldman is to be congratulated for seeing the problem ahead of others and protecting itself from the impending failure of AIG,” said William Poole, former president of the St. Louis Fed, in an interview last week. “It’s not the responsibility of any private firm to determine what the public interest is -- that’s why we have a government.” <<<

That is absolutely right! But the trust busters should break up banks that are too big to fail and that probably includes Goldman and AIG along with Citi and Bank of America.

Does the Administration Care About Executive Compensation?

If you don't like exorbitant executive pay, bonuses and stock options just don't buy shares of the offending company. With enough like minded people the stock options will become worthless. :)

Give markets a chance!

Now, if you own the company, like Uncle Sam owns AIG, Citi, BAC, GM, Chrysler, etc. then you have the option of voting on executive compensation which is what Uncle Sam is doing. Uncle Sam is now the owner and calls the tune which is why some banks wanted to get out of TARP.

On Second Thought, Obama Drops Pay Regulations

>>>It looks as if there may be some respect for the free markets still alive and kicking within the Obama administration.

Who do you think you're kidding? Lobby won out over political zeal. Still, it's good news. Let's hope that the Obama administration turns out to be pragmatic, but I'm not holding my breath.

Tracking TARP Funds

Moral of the story: Taxpayer beware, Citi, BAC, (American) Autos and AIG are back holes. Best not to do business with these unreliable companies.

The Nationalization Debate: Confused by Surowiecki

>>>3. I plead partially guilty to this one (I wrote that section of the post). $4.1 trillion is the IMF’s aggregate estimate of all writedowns by all financial institutions globally. To be honest, I used it because that was the number I remembered, and I was writing fast and late at night. (I do this in my spare time, remember?)


Because you write this in your spare time you are not to be held responsible for errors and omissions. That, I must admit, is an interesting defense. Fine, I'll just make sure to skip your spare time writings.

Taking Issue with David Dreman

Look at the numbers! These five financials have been two, three and four baggers in March alone.

Ticker Low High Bags
AIG 0.33 1.46 4.4
ACAS 0.58 2.49 4.3
C 0.97 3.16 3.3
BAC 2.53 7.99 3.2 Feb 20
FMD 0.71 1.40 2.0