Top Gun

What CIT's Troubles Really Mean

These guys must be allowed to fail if we are to have any hope of credibility left for our system.

Stock vs. Bond Performance

Yields should go up as Fed's balance sheet is cleared into public hands. This should keep inflation low as excess cash is sopped up.

Don't see any "real" drivers for stocks, like new important drugs, need for housing, computer or internet development, road expansion. Needs are met, so strong companies will thrive and those with weak finances will be bought by the strong.

Years of normalcy with good quality of life. Few get rich quick schemes, so wealth will have to be created the old fashioned way, by being earned. Sounds like a good ad slogan for an investment house!

Singing the American Express Blues

Maybe you should pay your cards on time, duh! In case you haven't noticed, the "credit crisis" was caused by cascading debt default by people who over leveraged, borrowing to pay borrowing costs. Just the sort of thing your missed payment signaled.

In you first paragraph you say you've never missed a payment in 25 years, yet you minimize the importance of missing one now.

Your bad, AXP doesn't need you as a customer with that attitude.

Is Honesty Important to Wall Street?

Safety and efficacy matter. If they are misrepresented, we have a problem.

Investors are secondary in all product communications, whether pharma or cell phones. If we treat the customer appropriately, the investor will have the proper information to make rational investments.

Merck Layoffs: From Rumor to Reality

Sadly, the job of pharma is to put itself out of business by solving the problems of illness treatable with medication. Hopefully the highly qualified losing their jobs will be able to help make the world a better place doing something else.

Fed, Treasury Propose the Dissolution of Capitalism

I agree that we are putting ourselves at risk for a Chavez like situation where a leftist dictator gains control. Then our constitution is at risk, innovation is at risk, our very well being becomes a concern.

Fortunately, as long as current technologies are used, our quality of life can remain high. It would be a shame to move backwards from the agricultural, transportation, energy, housing and medical gains we have made in the last 50 years.

Five Predictions for This Market

Bought GE yesterday. I suspect it is worth more now in pieces, which means they will emerge. Immelt took much of the blame, that in and of itself told me I had to own some. I'll just let it sit for a while.

Nice post.

Three Value Stocks That Appear Ridiculously Cheap

Trying to use a forward earnings stream has always been tough, and I have abandoned, years ago, those who use the technique with vigor. In today's world, predicting next month's costs is sometimes harder than predicting sales.

Please use something else besides the future, there is too much risk. To say the company has little debt and awesome free cash flow would be a good start, as would my favorite, cost of goods. If COGS are below 50%, a company has huge leeway to trim, even by cutting salaries in the short term. If COGS are 70% or greater, the company must cut production in order to continue cash flow. That's fine as long as large plants aren't involved.

Obama Placing the Economic Cart Before the Horse

I believe that the banks have sold the government a bill a goods here, that without their existence, we as a society will fail. In reality, we need to let the banks fail, then start over to a degree with new, properly priced, credit that allows a candlestick to be valued as a candlestick, not a bar of gold.

I firmly believe that the powers are trying to do this reset by devaluing assets, creating stimulus and and propping up the bank asset base. It will work, maybe, but where will inflation be? This is totally unacceptable.

Financial Stock Valuations: The Mirror Image of Tech Stocks in '99?

Wells is the only bank, one of the few stocks, that I own.

Congress will appropriately heavily regulate the banks. They have proven to be crooks. Instead of letting them fail, regs will be instituted to insure that capital remains at high levels and risks are manageable.

Economy is food production, transportation, building when actually needed, etc, etc. Banks merely facilitate by transferring money from one place to another. Any leverage is simply inflationary in the sense that it bolsters prices in the short term, just like helping out mortgage borrowers by the federal government.

We may eventually realize that leverage is the dumbest thing a mature society can allow. I don't know, but banks only benefit from as much leverage as they can generate. Tacit backstop by the federal government must be removed in order to reduce risk taking. Wells is the only major bank that I can see who never assumed they would get help from the government, and leant accordingly. And gee, they actually make money!

Santelli's Rant: A Watershed Moment?

Until the last few years, we had few giveaways. Social Security and Medicare are insurance programs we all pay for, that will be decimated by our discoveries that prolong life. Unemployment is insurance. Head Start and similar programs are investment programs. Welfare/Medicaid was the one area of free money, which the 90's saw greatly reduced. Now we give welfare to home owners, when the proper thing to do is move them into rental housing they can afford.

This is a very bad, slippery slope. The end game for the US is unimaginable. At least the pres has drawn a line in the sand on the deficit, which should help him stop.

American Negativity is Upside Down

Well said. The admin has done a good job of base building, moreso I think than dousing with lighter fluid.

The opposition continues to ignore the needs of our people. We are blessed to have Obama and team at the helm, not for their perfection, but for their desire to represent the people of our great land.

They will regain the trust of the world and americans. It will take months or years, not days. I can only hope those wishing them to fail get with the program.

Don't Kick Yourself Later for Not Buying Gold and Silver Now

With so much US debt being issued, I wonder if gold will rise quickly, or if we will suck all the cash from the world. It's a strange world out there

The Curious Case of the U.S. Dollar

Dollar index is relative. The other index members are hurt badly. Gold does well in all currencies.

M1/M2 increase without a decrease in the dollar shows just how big M3 had gotten - either M3 collapses or M1/2 grows to fill it with real $ until velocity restarts. If previous administration hadn't stopped publishing M3, I firmly believe all this mess would have been avoided by prudent investors understanding their risks.

Nationalizing the U.S. Banking Sector: There's No Choice

Agree totally with Drobezisi! Man, do I agree!