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While more than 40% of borrowers who took out a mortgage at the peak in 2006 are under water, prices have dropped so much that some borrowers who took out loans more than five years ago also owe more than their home's value. Given this, it's hard to believe we've broken out of the housing death spiral.

If people walk away from underwater mortgages, en masse, where will they live? Are there any large apartment reits that will excuse mortgae default and rent to people who walk away? If so, is that an investment opportunity?

Some of Goldman Sachs' (GS) largest shareholders are peeved about the $717K-average bonuses the bank's staff are to get this year, and want the bank to disperse more earnings to investors, sources say. Despite record net income, analysts expect Goldman's 2009 earnings per share to be 22% lower than in 2007. A spokesman for the bank pointed out that, since going public in 1999, the company has generated a total return of 159%, while shares have more than doubled YTD.

My opinion is that GS went public in the first place just so the partners would have fools to pay their fines and legal defense bills, and create a corporate invisible shield against individual accountability.

Microsoft and SAP vs. Oracle - A Very Big Deal

Thanks for the insight. I did a little more net surfing and I gleaned that ACN people have been partnering infromally with Oracle for the last 15 to 20 years. I assume that this means that most of the ACN personnel are Oracle oriented. I don't know whether that would make ACN helpful or hurtful to Ibm or Microsoft and would Oracle try and defend against a hostile takeover? Does anybody have any speculations?

Microsoft and SAP vs. Oracle - A Very Big Deal

Acn and Sap are in the same business. Is acn in play as a takeover target?

Meredith Whitney: 'I Haven't Been This Bearish in a Year'

companies with real products, strong franchises, large capitalization, and self-financing should weather the storm and gain market share. Me too companies, one trick pony, low market caps with precarious financing should blow up

Time for the U.S. Economy to Reindustrialize

After watching a Charlie Rose interview with Warren Buffett, I reversed my suspicion that he was part of the problem, and now think he could play a huge role in the reindustrialization policy platform. Obama tried to reach out to the Chamber of Commerce, but they don't get it. I hope Obama will convene a conference of the 50 largest non financial corporations in the United States for a conference on job creation, headed by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. No invitations need be issued to GS, JPM, the Fed or the Chamber. Then maybe we can get the show on the road.

Three lunchtime reads: 1) The case for a weak U.S. dollar isn't strong 2) Small businesses, small banks, big problems? 3) A defense of capitalism

One assumption in your argument is that other people are providing for the have-nots. I disagree. Its not the "other people" . If the "other people" were removed, the land and factories would still exist and could provide for the have-nots. My argument is anyone can be replaced with anyone else. We all die and are replaced. Society goes on. Our children go on. The purpose of society is to provide a matrix for raising children. Unregulated capitalism just says to hell with your children to the have nots. the have nots will reply, "Oh yeah, the hell with you". I think you see the problem, now.

No bank - including JPMorgan (JPM) - is too big to fail, Jamie Dimon writes in a Washington Post op-ed this morning. "The term 'too big to fail' must be excised from our vocabulary,'" he says. Dimon's against artificially limiting the size of institutions, but says we need to develop a system that ensures even the biggest bank can be allowed to fail in a way that does not put taxpayers or the broader economy at risk.

Too big to fail bad. . . but except my bank. His stockholders didn't do very well. Most of them thought he was doing old fashioned banking until the crisis and reality hit. Then he cut the dividend and the stock plunged to as low as $15.00. It is only when it became apparent that the government wasn't going to let Jamie's bank go down (a political decision only insiders were privy to) did the stock recover. Meanwhile all the suckers who had invested for a safe dividend had sold at a big loss. Thanks Jamie.

Facing 10.2% unemployment, Obama announces a December jobs summit before heading out for a weeklong trip to Asia. "We're obligated to examine new ways to create jobs," the President says.

Let's do away with the whole "job" paradigm. Let's not only cut taxes on the rich, let's give them the whole treasury and with this recognition and upgrade to master of the universe status comes the responsibility to feed us and entertain us, and if they don't we get to abuse their children, use their organs for transplants, and devour them. (oh come on its not any worse than Jonathan Swift's comment regarding the Irish and their children).

Facing 10.2% unemployment, Obama announces a December jobs summit before heading out for a weeklong trip to Asia. "We're obligated to examine new ways to create jobs," the President says.

When the veterans come back from Afghanistan and Iraq, they could be employed by the banksters as personal body guards. That should be a growth industry.

Goldman Sachs' (GS) CEO explains why he pays more: It's because my guys make more money, duh. "What people fail to mention is that net income generated per head is a multiple of our peer average. The people of Goldman Sachs are among the most productive in the world."

Goldman was a key player in the massive "mortgage wrapped" fraud and concomitant government corruption that destroyed pension funds, college endowments, government funds, home values, jobs and trust in the markets worldwide. What does productivity per head have to do with anything?

David Weidner's advice for the government and [[AIG]]: Let Benmosche go. The CEO of four months has helped morale at the insurer, but by threatening to quit over pay restrictions, he risks making the AIG debate a battle between taxpayers and fat cats - and he's going to lose.

AIG is like a disgruntled computer geek that screwed up your system with malicious code and demands extortion payments to fix it. Ben is their "business" agent.

Bailed-out banksters complain (vaguely) that restricting bonuses causes their talent to flee, but Bloomberg nails down where they're going: Nomura and Barclays. Derek Thompson feels some sympathy for the poor devils - after all, a talent exodus will hurt taxpayer-owned institutions - but figures a solution may be to make the bailed-out firms back into retail banks where the brain drain is less likely.

"Talent" moves from the US to some other location. BFD, its not like these guys are patriots working to build our society. They're just larder rats; so it doesn't matter where they nest.

In a brief reaction to a "sobering" jobs report, President Obama said he's examining new measures to spur growth and ran off a list of five: road/bridge investment, energy retrofitting, additional tax cuts for businesses to create jobs, boosting credit to small businesses and support for exporters.

How about stimulating big industrial businesses to offer good jobs here in this country. All this small business crap is a lot of hooey. Nobody wants to work for a small unstable family dominated business. That's last choice. And small businesses do much better when they have big business clients. We should have given the TARP money to the 50 top industrial employers in this country on condition that they build plants and hire people here. But we gave everything to the partners at Goldman Sachs.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders introduces legislation that would give Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner 90 days to compile a list of banks, funds and insurers deemed too big to fail, and then break them up within a year.

Is it good to have a competitive disadvantage in a race to the bottom?