formerhawk

Buffett Endorses 'Mark-to-Market' as a Producer of Ways to Profit

Very interesting. As long as we have mark-to-market we will have wild market swings ref: Buffet's own statement about what MTM vs accrual did to derivitives held by BRK. Wild swings only increase market speculation which will further enhance the notion that Wall Street is just one big casino. Have fun rolling your dice Warren.

MTM has probably exasperated the downturn in property valuation and will continue to do so. Unfortunately the damage has already been done.

Will Obama Be Re-elected?

Wow, boats. For the first time in my life I have started considering living outside the US. The commentary between you and fireball is sad but sums up my feelings of late. Fireball, I quickly stop production when my perceived reward deminishes. I really had never considered researching a way to beat them at their own game though. Unfortunate for all of us isn't it. My best to both of you.

Will Obama Be Re-elected?

"Republicans start a "he just doesn't have the experience to get us out of this" conversation in 24 months, and to boast of their big business prowress"

So, you think its going to take 24 months......

What 'Wipe Out the Stockholders' Really Means

You are right. The price of real property continues to drop. Ever heard of a spiral in economics? Mark to market continues the spiral because the sale price of the asset is shown as now and not at the anticipated or actual sell point. Too bad lots of the damage is already done. Thanks Phil, glad you're back in Texas.

Bernanke Seems Clueless About the Real State of the Economy

Negative spin, negative spin. Create a crisis, make things really really bad then set yourselves up to be in power because "nobody else can pull the country out of this" or "you're the only one who knows what is going on." I wouldn't believe the left leaning universities or their political hack professors. The reason why Citi needed cash is the investors pulled their money out and the reason the investors pulled their money out was doom saying by too many politicians and so-called experts. I fear for our country and I pray for the real truth.

U.S. Rejects Nationalization of Citi and BAC

apppro, you are right. Somebody needs to do what you said!

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

eddie- that isn't out of the box, that is how money is normally loaned. Congress just doesn't appear to be normal.

Four Stock Picks for an Obama Administration

Long oil- agreed. The only Plan I have ever seen is T. Boone's.

GE: Not-So-Good Things Come to Light

Copperbaron:

I have recently been thinking about the comparison of Lucent to various companies in this "credit problem" economy. I was with AT&T at the time Lucent was flying and later worked for one of the local exchange startups that had purchased for 10% down with Lucent financing a central office. The problem with Lucent was that they leveraged their own product to keep sales higher but provided unneeded capacity, Most manufacturers are doing this, the real question is whether the product of service is oversold. The problem with Lucent's leveraging was that even before the local exchange startups came into being the local telcos in most cases had plenty of excess capacity mostly due to technological advances in fiberoptics. Of course the startups could not effectively compete with the local Bell companies so they defaulted their Lucent loans. Lucent has never recovered. In the GE case have they oversold their products (healthcare, nuclear, wind energy) so that capacity outpaces the creditors ability to pay the loan? I don't think so but who can say. I haven't heard of a competitor for the India nuclear project, is the demand there for that service and will the people of India have the money to pay? The balance sheet reflects previous performance and for this economy it is probably acceptable. The real question is can demand support the loans GE has made.

The Reagan Counterrevolution

Good post. We don't know what Obama will do because he doesn't vote on many issues. As you say the spend philosophy in Washington has never abated and is at the crux of our problems.

Free-Market Healthcare Falling Victim to Recession

Sorry Leo the dog, we all die.

The Honeymoon Is Over: Gauging the Market with an Obama Presidency

Clinton said it best-"It's the economy, stupid."

'The Shallowest Generation': A Rebuttal

I am a boomer who has no debt (yes none not even a house), I did not participate in this credit mess so I got no free credit, and I am watching my nestegg that must last me another 20 or 30 years dwindle down 30%. As for JGQ I did not appreciate your comments about boomers in general, I think they are unfounded although I do find many of today's youth to be shallow and unthinking (refer to mortgage brokers and others in finance of the last few years, we're making so much money). Did you teach them? If so aren't you partially to blame for this too? Did you teach them to be shallow? What about your colleagues in the other colleges and high schools and even elementary schools? They are to blame too. I too have a child that went to college. When he decided to cancel classes and lose the money I paid to put him in college I cut him off. He has student loans now but after 6 years of persuing a degree he was successful in obtaining that degree and finding a job in his field, something that most of his friends were unable to do. The whole episode was painful for both of us but he learned a valuable lesson. Many of us are not so lucky because we don't have parents and teachers that are able and willing to teach those lessons. Your rant really is an indictment of our education system both at home and in school. Our system teaches that its ok to lie (anyone out there ever read any of your childrens textbooks, history rewritten in most cases) and success comes with money and things so borrow your way to success. As for DVW, I never expected a luxurious retirement but I also did not expect to be on welfare. And are you sure the boomers caused this? Or was it one of your or later generations that had the great wisdom to come up with the CDO or the CDS? And certainly lets not forget the shallowest of all-congress and I don't care what the age is there. Don't believe me about congress, watch c-span for an afternoon then get sick. That is your tax dollar at work. Lastly Dennis, thank you for your rebuttal. With class envy and race envy we now have generation envy to deal with. And JGQ with your rant and subsequent lumping of all that is bad onto one group you prove that you are the shallowest of all.

Markets Upbeat After Obama Victory

If this is upbeat we are going to really hate seeing downbeat. Your bio says up to the minute news for traders, one has to ask do you take your own advice?

Things Could Be Worse...

Gee guys, can you just pull up a chart for the last 10 years and look at the trends. I did that for my portfolio. Wow, you either have those stocks that were depressed in 1999 and are trending up or those that have fallen off the edge and have not recovered (look at GE). I think we may be in the 14 year bear market cycle that started in the lae 90s and will continue into the early teens. If we are not and we do go off the edge.....buy guns, ammo, canned goods and learn to farm cause life the way we know it isn't going to be anymore. BTW gold isn't worth much if you can't find a buyer.