herbert hoover

GMAC has taken $12.5B in TARP money and has gone back to the well a third time to ask for $5.6B more. Meanwhile, its Ally Bank offers depositors best-in-the-nation rates, hurting other banks, despite terrible financial condition. Maybe it shouldn't have an ally in government, says Rolfe Winkler - and should be put out of its misery.

Sure, kill the one bank that is actually giving back something to the American public who are paying the bills.

Dow leaders: MSFT +1.5%. WMT +1%. MRK +0.8%. CSCO +0.8%. XOM +0.7%. Dow laggards: HD -3.4%. CAT -1.5%. MCD -1%. BAC -1%. AXP -0.9%.

BASED ON THE LACK OF VOLUME, I PREDICT ANOTHER 100+ POINTS ON THE dOW

Eight months after President Obama began prodding banks to increase small business lending, numbers continue to move in the opposite direction. The 22 banks that got the most help from the Treasury's bailout programs cut their small business loan balances by a collective $10.5B, according to a report Monday.

Reason #12475 why they should have just nationalized the banks when they had the chance

Italian confectionary giant Ferrero is considering a partnership with Cadbury (CBY), which could help it fend off a hostile takeover bid by Kraft (KFT). According to media reports the head of the Ferrero family, Michele, is against the idea, while brothers Pietro and Giovanni are in favor of considering it. (source)

"Never takes sides against the family - ever!"

Vito Corleone

Another indicator that after last year's overstock, retailers will have much smaller inventories for the holidays this year: Inbound cargo container volume at Los Angeles and Long Beach is 14.7% below October 2008, while outbound traffic was 1% higher. (see chart)

See, trashing the dollar works!

The Dollar Approaches Critical Levels

Does Bernanke win approval for his second term if he continues the dollar freefall? That determines what happens next.

Fitch warns of downgrades to come for regional and smaller banks, who aren't able to manage the risk from commercial real estate losses as well as big banks. The firm estimates a potential CRE loan loss rate of 11-24% at its rated companies.

Maybe they should get in bed with Benancke and Geithner. It worked for the big boys

Why the Stock Market Should Crash

Just becasue I don't know when he's gonna run off the road doesn't mean I'm going to get into a car with a drunk driver who speeds incessently and doesn't have brakes.


On Nov 16 01:46 PM CoverIsBetter wrote:

> "bricki" is right.. These death forecasts are useless if you cannot
> say when.
>
> When has the housing market ever not been skewed by government involvement?
> Ever hear of the Community Reinvestment Act? People need to grow
> up and realize we have never had a perfectly competitive, government
> free economy.
>
> "Patterns repeat themselves, until they don't". - somebody

Why the Stock Market Should Crash

There's no way anyone can invest in these markets unless they are naive, delusional or have more money than brains. if this market goes up another ten percent, the DJ is at 12000! With these fundamentals, that's insane

China says the Fed is endangering global recovery with its insistence on keeping domestic interest rates near zero for the next 12-18 months. China's chief bank regulator rebuked the U.S. for fueling speculative capital flows that may spur asset-price inflation, which he said has already led to massive dollar arbitrage speculation.

So who knew? After all these years I find out that I'm Chinese?

AIG (AIG) may borrow additional money from its five-year Fed credit line in order to make $5.8B in payments on a commercial paper program expiring in January. The insurer owes more than half of the $10B still outstanding in the Fed facility, while other companies that took part have found private-sector alternatives or scaled back short-term borrowing.

Gee, all that "talent" that needs to be compensated and they are still losing money.

Bank of America (BAC) may miss its internal deadline of naming a new CEO by Thanksgiving, due in part to its inability to zero in on a clear frontrunner, and amid worries that the process must be approved by the Fed.

Any liar will do.

AIG (AIG) CEO Robert Benmosche tells employees in an internal memo he remains "totally committed to leading AIG through its challenges" despite his frustrations with government curbs on compensation. Benmosche also called the government's limits a "barrier" that "stand in the way of restoring AIG's value" and repaying its debt.

I wish someone would remond this asshole that the government is not a "barrier"; the goverment is their "saviour."

Wal-Mart Executives: There Are Families Not Eating at the End of the Month

AIG needs the money to pay their employees a living wage - screw those poor people

Wall Street notices today's unusual rush in volume on 3Com (COMS) call options (highest since September 2007) before the after-hours announcement of the company's acquisition by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). OptionMonster has a picture of November calls going for $0.65 at 11 a.m. today that should go to $2.90 tomorrow - 350%, nice work for a day.

Of course no one suspects that there might be someinsider trading right? This isn't capitalism, it's cronyism