johnhaskell

31 Comments

    • Naked Shorting Needs to Be Stopped [view article]
      I advocate adoption of the Pakistani model, under which trades cannot take place unless they are at a price higher than the previous trade. Under this system, hard working American families who invest in the stock market will be guaranteed a profit, and shorts will be crushed. Sep 18 11:39 AM
    • Lack of Integrity: 10th Bank Failure of 2008 on Poor Risk Management [view article]
      It's nice to know that Integrity management spent a lot of time praying to Jesus. Too bad Jesus forgot to tell them not to make high LTV loans in the Atlanta area. Sep 03 10:54 AM
    • MBIA Reinsures $184 Billion from FGIC’s Public Finance Book [view article]
      Buffett and MBIA aren't really competing- Buffett has a AAA rating in contrast to MBIA's "off brand" reinsurance. Aug 29 12:39 PM
    • Japan's Largest Private Equity Firm? The Mob [view article]
      if the yakuza are getting out of drugs and prostitution to become day traders, the profit margins in drugs and prostitution must have fallen to near zero.

      BTW I am wondering what is the competitive advantage for a trader moving over to a yakuza controlled firm. Do such firms have better pension plans or benefits than "legitimate" firms? If you make a mistake writing up a ticket do they cut off your pinkie? Presumably Japanese headhunting firms (now that's an interesting pun) would have the answers.       Aug 29 12:37 PM
    • As Japan Considers Lowering Capital Gains, U.S. Is Yet to See the Light [view article]
      "hopefully it won't take 10 years of bad stock performance" to bring about a change in US tax policy...how does a 1% real return 1998-2008 strike you?

      Anyway this doesn't matter because a cut in the capital gains tax, although it might increase Federal revenues, would not help "fairness" and "equity," which are Obama's stated goals for the tax system to achieve.       Aug 27 01:56 PM
    • Why Thornburg Mortgage Will Survive [view article]
      Per Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com/apps... Thornburg management is seeking a "new business model" either as a generator of conforming mortgages or as a bank. In other words management concedes that there is no value in their previous business model. How much would you pay for Thornburg's office supplies and furniture? Because that's pretty much what they've got.

      I worked up an earnings model for Thornburg, it goes like this:
      12% cost of funds > 7% interest rate collected on mortgages = TMA.BK.

      As for the "pop" from $0.25 to $0.35, it has been my experience that penny stocks "pop" all the time, but it's usually because of a spam blast.       Aug 22 02:53 PM
    • The Hedge Fund Hustle [view article]
      Aaron Krowne- you say that there are widespread shortages in the gold and silver markets.

      Can you please identify any gold or silver smelters, or jewelry manufacturers/ distributors/ retailers that have ceased operations because of their inability to purchase gold and/ or silver for dollars? Thank you.

      As for the crybabies who keep saying that 40-to-1 levered companies long US mortgages and dope-smoking CEO's could only go bankrupt because of a conspiracy, please just stop talking. The adults here are getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over again.       Aug 18 01:40 PM
    • Don't Believe the Lies: Ride the Bank Stocks Bull [view article]
      anyone who disagrees with Chopin is a "liar." How much more proof do you need?! Aug 15 11:33 AM
    • WaMu: Intensification of Stealth Buying [view article]
      Aus banks have many of the same problems as US banks (house price appreciation in Aus 2002- present makes California look like it was standing still). But Aus and NZ banks have no deposit insurance! So their depositors may also be "sleeping like babies."

      Certainly the investors in their bankrupt brokerages (who woke up to find that the broker had gone bankrupt, taking their retirement money with them) are.       Aug 13 04:01 PM
    • Financials To Resume Meltdown Momentarily [view article]
      it's worth pointing out that it has never been acceptable for non-market makers to sell naked short. It wasn't acceptable before mid July and it still won't be tomorrow and next week. The SEC said they were going to pay more attention to shorts and check more frequently to see if shares were in fact borrowed. This was the financial equivalent of "rounding up the usual suspects" when the markets are falling and you have to do something.

      Mr Schwarz has himself rounded up the "usual suspects" by telling us that this one month "ban" is ending (anyone with a calendar could have told you that), repeating information well known on the street (#2,3) and speculating (#4).

      The only information that matters in finance is information that surprises the market. None of these four points qualifies.       Aug 13 01:51 PM
    • WaMu: Intensification of Stealth Buying [view article]
      This stock is down 90% over the past 12 months and it's not because anyone has been seduced by short sellers, Al Qaeda or whomever else. It has fallen because people who were long the stock sold in response to increasingly bad operating results that came about due to the gross errors of WM management.

      As for spotting Toscafund's purchase, you didn't need "painstaking analysis" but rather access to Yahoo Finance. Well, OK, maybe you consider that is the same thing.

      BTW I hear the smart money is pouring into WCI- with Icahn as Chairman of the Board and Steve Cohen also buying how can you lose? Oh and here's another one- I hear Leon Black really likes "Linens 'n' Things."

      Whenever you get ready to analyze WM's balance sheet and explain to us how they will get through the crunch without raising any more capital (which they can't because of the TPG deal) I'll be glad to read it. (However repeating mgmt's assertions to that effect do not count.)       Aug 13 12:44 PM
    • NYT Dilemma: Cut Dividend or Get Junked [view article]
      This is the first time I've ever heard returning money to owners described as "gobbling up cash flow." Next we will hear that cutting taxes "costs money." Aug 13 10:13 AM
    • WSJ Chooses Spin Over Precision [view article]
      It would have been more appropriate to say, "In a broad vote of confidence in President Bush's Iraq policy, stocks moved dramatically higher, with gains across the Dow Industrials. Thank God George Bush is our President." Aug 07 10:27 AM
    • Is David Einhorn Smarter Than I Am? [view article]
      the answer to the question in your title is "absolutely no doubt, yes." Jul 31 11:28 AM
    • Why Merrill's CDO Sale Doesn't Mean Big Writeoffs Elsewhere [view article]
      recall that these CDO's were supposed to be "super senior." sure there are many kinds of CDO's, just as there are many kinds of portfolios of anything. But if the "super seniors" are being marked down to 22% of par, wouldn't it stand to reason that less senior tranches would be perhaps marked even lower?

      Second, Thain was a new broom in mid January when he supposedly "kitchen sinked" the balance sheet. After multiple assurances that MER was well capitalized, and six months at the helm, it's a little late to say "oh what a surprise! how did this junk get here?!"       Jul 31 11:25 AM
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