FromHK

The Last Days of Morgan Stanley

Having dealt with Japanese for significant amount of time, one thing for certain is that they take a long time to make decisions, but they are unlikely to go back on their word easily, if ever. It is more than a face issue, but more a honor issue--sadly not many Americans can say the same nowadays. With the agreement in place and UFJ's official reaffirmation yesterday, I doubt that the money is not coming in. Btw, with Yen up something like 5% in the past week, they are getting 5% discount to their original agreement already! Also, MS' balance is the same size as AIG? Need to check your facts.

Next Up, an Ownership Share in Banks

The communism doctrine believes the society progression from slavery, to feudalism, to capitalism, to socialism and eventually the nirvana state of communism. The failure of capitalism is inevitable and the raise of socialism is just around the corner. The greed of capitalists and the deprevation of workers (or mortgage borrowers) are the root evil of the system. It looks like Marx is well on his mark:-) The irony is that at the brink of the capitalistic West is collapsing, the socialist countries like China, Russia and the Eastern Bloc are jumping headlong towards Capitalism. How funny. And did you note that China just announced last week that it's going to allow margin lending and short selling! Some guts to encourage leverage when credit problem is bankrupting the system around the world...