jjason

Lehman Brothers Take-over: Implications for Financials

I don't know what LFI means either.

I do know some helpful ratios and statistics like: book value, tangible book value, debt to equity, total debt to equity, return on assets, return on investment, gross margin, net margin, dividend yield, etc. They are all important to understand. All of this data must be taken into account...as well as the valuation of the underlying assets on the balance sheet and the liabilities before making an investment decision.

I am only familiar with ACAS and I do believe Malon Wilkes when he said that FAS157 has resulted in the decrease in asset values and that without a market for these assets they are hard to value but since these assets will be held to maturity, ACAS will get their money back.

I trust he is right. ACAS has a total debt to equity ratio of less than one and is selling for less than tangible book value ( ACAS has no goodwill or intangible assets on the balance sheet ).

Long ACAS, no other positions, no short selling at all ( I think short selling should be made illegal ).

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Anyone vote yet at:

www.stopoilspeculation.../

TO HELP BRING DOWN OIL PRICES????

Please do it now.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Eli, In 1974 I did my MBA at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. In finance classes, we did not study Index Funds, Funds of Funds, CDO's, derivatives, futures trading, etc. etc. Some of these "products" didn't even exist in 1974.

Now, we have had salesmen selling stuff that has caused a horrible mess in the world financial structure and as Warren Buffet recently said " It has to take time to work itself out" In the meantime, shareholders and foolish investors around the world are suffering.

How terrible that there is no responsibility in all of the Corporate offices around the world. Even the CEO of Countrywide has not owned up to the fact that CFC's business model was deficient.

Ethics are part of the problem.

We did not have to learn ethics in 1974. Everyone was honest in my class. No one was able to B/S their way through the two year, case study, program. Neither the students or the professors or the dean would allow B/S or a breech of ethics.

Although I enjoy SeekingAlpha for the good information, I too often find terrible articles ( and worse comments ) regarding "products" and behavior that is misleading and downright wrong as well.

You and Judy give us good information. Thanks.

I hope others will follow your good example.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Dear Eli, Rep. Bart Stupak is right when he says "Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are manipulating oil markets...and they may be doing something illegal". I read the report that the economist, Jeffrey Harris, of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, gave to a Congressional Committee and his report was terrible. The CFTC has either not been doing their job or the CFTC has been lying to Congress and the American people.

In another report ( which can be accessed through an article written by Anthony Schneider titled "Greenberger's Testimony-I Banks Control The Energy Market", on SeekingAlpha published June 4, 2008) you can learn how this is being done and what Congress needs to do to stop it.

"WE ARE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR OIL" Greenberger says...and I agree with him.

If enough people read Greenberger's report and complain to their Senators and Congressman then the investigations will start and the result will be similar to what happened in the Enron scandal...people will go to jail and oil prices and commodity prices will come down.

This trouble started with the Enron loophole, around 1999, and has cheated us just like Enron was caught cheating us.

Please help to stop it Eli. Thanks.

Why We're Still in the Early Innings of the Bursting of the Housing and Credit Bubbles - And Implications for MBIA and Ambac

To Whitney, I have figured out what the problems are by reading articles on Seeking Alpha and other news sources. I don't have to download your report or waste my time in Pasadena. I'm going on another vacation. Most of the people shorting stocks benefit from other people's problems. I would make short selling illegal.

There are many, many small businesses in the US that never go public. These businesses provide us with goods and services that we need. It's called CAPITALISM. We do not need short sellers. Short sellers do not produce anything except heartbreak for the poor souls who own stocks in companies that are in trouble.