Mr.G

The Very Slow Thaw

felix -these measures were done firstly , to stop the market from sliding and to kill the " panic selling taking place "(it worked)- it was done secondly to get credit markets to thaw - which remains to be seen but I am thinking the markets are ahead of the game here too . They will thaw because you literally have the EU and US acting as banks right now and guaranteeing their debts.
Now that the EU will inject the GDP of France (a little under but not much) into their banks and guaranteeing loans - lets see what happens when the cds 's unravel and they have to put their money where their mouth is . From what I have read a loss of 7.87% in these derivatives is equivalant to the entire worlds output . If any large bank in any EU country goes under because of cds defaults there is no way any country
can guarantee a bailout without destroying the euro -so therefore I am not sure member countries would go along - I guess we will wait and see

Why Is Everybody Selling as Buffett Is Loading Up?

he is a bargain hunter -also he is well aware GE and Goldman are under the to big to fail list -and Paulson probably gave a secret guarantee that goldman will profit from his low oversight when he starts dishing out checks for billions of dollars - what you dont see is Buffet running into regional banks - as for the energy companies the bailout has an alternative energy clause in it to give the industry a lot of money maybe these companies are on the list

Why Mark to Market?

the m2m will help the financials in this case as soon as the bailout is passed - why because Paulson is going to overpay for illiquid assets in order to get those m2m way up -it will be a smoke and mirror job but it may work -I cannot see Buffett going in the market for the economy's health- he sees profit and goldman and GE are his bets - citigroup looks like a gem in this scenario as well as chase and bank of america

Go For The Gold - Cramer's Mad Money (9/22/08)

He was irresponsible not to tell people they should be in gold for the past 3 months(30- 50%) -and to sit out the storm - and he is still irresponsible by telling them to go into gold stocks -physical gold or silver should be the bulk of the portfolio with gold and silver stocks taking 2nd -agriculture and food stocks are also a safe bet (I personally choose not to invest directly in ag commodities right now for moral reasons ) if there is inflation or melt down this is the first choice consumers are going to make -

Prepare to Sell Monday - Cramer's Mad Money (9/19/08)

-cramer is a broker who sounds exactly like a broker trying to sell his firms new IPO -screaming on the television that you must buy this or that -he probably picks from hats each morning what his stocks will be to buy sell and hold -the guy is clueless with hype and confidence which makes him seem like he knows what he is talking about . Another overpaid telemarketer. he is right on one thing sell monday take profits cut losses .then take that money and sit it in physical gold until this roller coaster plays out .

Trying To Find a Buyer for WaMu

I think WAMU is the start for retail banks to be shorted heavily -Banks have been asked for the last year and a half to show more transparency on their books(by investors) and go above and beyond regulations to prove they are not insolvent -Not one has done so therefore it assumed they all are insolvent - (this is why overnight lending has ceased) - every bank CEO in america is stating they are healthy. Investors are asking they prove it - These closed door weekend retreats where the select few get to see books and no one else does is enough to suggest that many are insolvent even though their public earnings are cooked legally to suggest otherwise -
If any bank does not want to be shorted to death , they need to do one thing. Prove they are relatively healthy by showing every detail of their holdings - and not just saying everything is ok. Not one has done so . So what does an investor assume when companies are unwilling to prove they are ok? That they arent.

Is the U.S. Banking System Safe?

loved the article -very thought provoking -seems there are 2 camps here. camp1 who believes this article and camp2 the ones who continue to believe there is no inflation -everything is fine -indymac had it coming -faith in what the govt, the fed ,news and ceo's are telling them -I think both camps are so far from each others viewpoints that one has to be right -I would love to believe in fairy tales like many here but I have to say I agree with your article -the one thing which has others grasping to the fairy tale still is the credit crisis which is in reality just beginning hasnt really started to infect the general economy (overall) deflation of commodity prices (especially oil)have begun on the assumption the dollar is stronger somehow when in fact the price of oil dropped because of the enormous economic downturn about to occur within the next 12 weeks -right now everyones money is going to the dollar mine is going to gold because this is pretty much the last opportunity to get it on the cheap before huge price increases returns to commodities with the exception being with oil with the final dead cat bounce we are seeing .