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How GM Plans to Muddle Through

GM marketing chief Mark LaNeve sounds like the fat girl, with blotchy skin, bad teeth, bad breath, poor posture, bitten nails and acne.

She's gonna start a diet next week - and hey everyone's overweight right now. Her hair, well yes she's just changed her shampoo, look it's here in her shopping basket.

Teeth ? well they may be green and snaggly but hell she's still got most of 'em. Posture - well that's a problem of her weight which when her diet's sorted.. and her acne will clear up as she's read about a new hybrid treatment.

HER problem? Hell no it's everyone's problem.

Bad breath ? She cain't smell it's bad ? EXACTLY what is your problem ?

GM marketing chief Mark LaNeve , sounds like that guy walking to towards you on the down town used car lot with his hand stretched to shake yours.

"We ran some numbers last week" .. GM are in the hole.

Sad State of Affairs: Wachovia Calls in Goldman to Evaluate Its Loan Portfolio

2 points
1. Tips on Dog Grooming stocks ?

2. Jazz9650 is a smart guy with a very impressive analytic brain ... is he one of the staff that JP Morgan didn't hire with BS ?

3. Most major banks are going to enter their Balance sheets in the Booker Fiction Prize this year, they may not win but they wil be up there in the rankings.

Beware of the Allure of Ethanol Investing

You were not alone in scepticism about Verasun's IPO
tinyurl.com/6r5cw2

On first days trading the shares soared to US$30 a rise of 30%.

"This puts a value on the company of 200 times its annualized earnings from the March quarter 2006. Compare that with (say) 50 for Google.

Ethanol either from corn, sugar or so called biomass, is expensive, it has less calorific value than regular gas and is simply another method of keeping Iowa / Indy Congressmen and their constituents (briefly) happy.

Ethanol has been a hucksters paradise.

The best way to invest in ethanol is to buy a bottle of Wild Turkey.

NYT Smears David Einhorn, Again

The asset values can be argued about, but take a look at rcent major investments .. Archstone Smith .. Sun Cal that turned sour from the day they completed.

Probably they have made many a trip to the discount window since Erin said after Q1 results that they would of course be visiting it.

Too many and now they are toxic.

Mr Einhorn and his investors are on a one way bet and will soon collect.

Dollar/Krone Relationship A Sign Of Peak Oil?

"Could this be a soft signal that oil is now starting to reach the peak of its bubble? " You ask.

No.

Lessons from Lehman and Einhorn

The trajectory of the ordure hitting the airconditioning is becoming increasingly predictable - the Bonfire of the Vanities is upon us.

It is difficutlt to decide which is more unpleasant, the smug Einhorn lifting up the stones or the sassy and pretty Erin Callan orchestrating what looks like a leak fest ,to conceal ,rather than reveal ,what is underneath.

The more one examines some of the more recent "investments", SunCal , Archstone Smith .. followed by their subsequent swift loss in asset value , the more one has to question not the current asset values (which are scary enough) but the quality of management that plunged into them so recently.

Without a rapid and convincing tabulated and detailed eplanation of current assets and valuations it is difficult to see that Lehman Brothers will not suffer the fate of BS.

The worry is , that such a fit of transparency might precipitate such an ending ... but a little bit quicker.