ATWshop

Why I'm Short So Many Financials

Extremely well done article with excellent back up information. I, too, am amazed that we broke up AT&T yet no one is crying for the break up of the banks...actually the opposite...they are helping them to become even bigger!
I doubt that I will short the industry but rather simply invest elsewhere with a better "more stable" future. Sooner or later the banking industry will come to terms with the massive debts they have taken on.
I still remember the S&L crisis... not sure what they learned as this one is just as bad or worse... Bankers > argh!

Citi Is a Dog: Go Long at Your Own Risk

Excellent point nobby73! The biggest concern for any common stock owner should actually be that the government will cover their exposure and leave the rest of the shareholders holding the wrong end of the stick.... this should be a red flag to individual investors.

More on Pay Caps and Populist Rage

Your argument in favor of continuing the current Salary and Bonus system is just more regurgitation of the same old shallow thinking that is ruining America.
The people you are defending are the ones that lead the US into the extreme mess we are in. To continue to defend and reward them is totally Un-American.

The thought that we can not find Quality Talent to lead is sadly mistaken. This thought process is akin to the MLB saying they can not find a baseball player that can hit .300 unless we pay him Million$. Very shallow thinking, short sighted and Very far off base.

It isn’t that average citizens reject the idea that risk-takers should be rewarded. But this situation is different.
Even failed risk-takers are being rewarded: that’s something that will not go over well in coffee shops across the 50 States. The idea that “we need to pay people to retain them” is just poppycock in this situation. The company is insolvent — you don’t have anything to pay them with. And, since the rest of Wall Street & Bank Street also took TARP funds, they probably can’t hire these teams away from you, either. The notion of pay-for-retention is a hollow argument.
Time for people to remove their heads from the sand...If I were one of the people that lost 100% of my income due to the incompetence of management, I would certainly be in favor or limiting top exec pay...maybe then the company could afford to hire me back so that I would be able to pay the mortgage and feed the family.....note the number of people losing their jobs every month and then tell me again why we should not use the big bonus money to help them rather than enrich the already over paid Under Achievers?