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Small Businesses Call CIT's Bluff; Government Says 'No' to Further Aid

Great article, and I think the most important piece is: "I have a feeling that the regional banks are drooling over a potential CIT failure." --- I couldn't agree more. There are a lot of regional banks that were actually managed responsibly over the past decade. When the bailouts end, and when well run banks are allowed to take over where the behemoths have failed, then we all win.

Fiscal Policy: Obama Administration Isn't Making Much Sense

"Geithner said it was too soon to decide whether the U.S. economy would need the help of a second round of government stimulus"

No - it's not too soon to decide. At the present time, it is 100% clear that the Federal deficit is completely out of control, and that politicians could better serve the people by exercising some fiscal restraint.

Bankslaughter

@John, yours is by far the most intelligent comment on this article. Trying to legally define "recklessness" would simply lead to endless years of legal bickering at taxpayer expense -- this would be an enormous waste of resources.

Letting the market decide which managers should be allowed to lead is a much more efficient method. If you run a business miserably and need bailout funds, then you don't get to run anymore businesses - it should be that simple. There are banks that were actually responsibly run over the past decade, and the leaders of these banks should be allowed to take over and manage the resources and institutions that the reckless bankers have been overseeing.


On Jul 09 05:53 PM John Whelchel wrote:

> The criminal approach will not have the desired effect as juries
> will be reluctant to convict, except where recklessness is very clear.
> It would be better to avoid any court arguments over whether conduct
> was "reckless". Instead, if a bank goes bankrupt, or receives any
> federal bailout money, the top five officers and all the directors
> should be fired, barred from working at any other publicly traded
> company, and all their severance, pensions, and contingent compensation
> should be revoked or terminated, all in a civil action which could
> be brought by any shareholder. The real possibilty of massive loss
> of compensation will have the desired effect.
>

Google Drops a Nuclear Bomb on Microsoft. And It's Made of Chrome.

@FloridaBoy2 - have you taken a look at Chrome's security architecture? Processes are sandboxed. It would be very difficult to hack the system, and even if someone did figure out a way in - they wouldn't be able to go anywhere. ... It would be kind of like if a burglar broke into your house only to find themselves stuck in a closet with no doors or windows.

On Jul 09 06:50 AM FloridaBoy2 wrote:

> Hackers go after IE because of the huge user base. If Chrome replaced
> IE today the hackers would be all over Chrome. So what would really
> change?

Google Drops a Nuclear Bomb on Microsoft. And It's Made of Chrome.

I do software application architecture for the banking industry, and ALL the interfaces we develop now are web-based.

Google's Chrome OS fits in perfectly with this trend - its architecture is based entirely around efficiently and securely delivering web applications to users, and its file system appears it will be woven into the cloud.

I am platform agnostic (I don't get involved in the Windows v. Mac v. Linux debate - I just use whatever tool is best for the job), so I can objectively state that I foresee the Chrome OS being a very potent business workstation OS. Microsoft will either have to greatly innovate to compete with the Chrome OS, or perish.

4 Companies with Solid Dividend Growth Metrics

PAYX currently has a dividend payout ratio of 80%, which is more than 20% higher than its average ratio for the past 5 years. The PAYX dividend has been great for a long time, but with the payout ratio that high I question the sustainability of the dividend.

Bill Gross: Dividend Stocks and Bonds Make Most Sense Now

Bill Gross wrote, "Investors should stress secure income offered by bonds and stable dividend-paying equities."

That's true in this economy. But, I also believe it's true in more bullish times as well. In fact, I'm not aware of any market where investors (I'm talking investors, not speculators or traders) shouldn't stress bonds and dividend-paying equities.

Five Stocks Raising Dividends

It's also worth noting that NLY is primarily involved in AAA rated MBSs - and that, even though NLY is a REIT, stockholder equity has actually increased over the past couple of years.

Once you look at the big picture, this month's gains in auto sales don't really look all that great.

It often requires more (and costlier) maintenance to keep older automobiles running, and I think it is reasonable to assume that low sales of new vehicles may contribute to an increase in the average age of vehicles on the road (see: usa.polk.com/News/Late... ). For me, the question here is - how much more revenue will organizations in the auto maintenance and replacement part businesses earn?

As the oil slide pressured energy stocks today, Baker Hughes has noted the first real rig count spike in months, with U.S. rigs up 23 this week to 899 and Canadian rigs up 35 to 143. U.S. offshore rigs are down 1 this week to 46.

Jon Ogg wrote, "It seems that $70.00 is letting the drillers chase prices with ample profitability." ... What is that assumption based upon? Is he drilling in the Permian Basin?

The current rig count is over than FIFTY PERCENT LOWER than what we had a year ago; which may spell out lower reserves in future months - (and if the market is rational) higher spot prices at Cushing.

Rumors of the U.S. decline as a global economic superpower are greatly exaggerated, The Globe & Mail's Neil Reynolds writes. "The U.S. is not a colonial power ... And it has no credible competitor."

We have live in the Information Age, and many of the greatest innovators of this age are from the U.S. - for example: Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo. Regardless of all the doom and gloom theories, and predictions of "terminal decline", the U.S. still has innovation on its side.

An excellent article by Pimco's Paul McCulley explains why so many pundits are totally wrong about the Fed needing to soak up all those excess reserves, or risk inflation. They're forgetting the clincher: the Fed's newfound ability to pay interest on banks' excess reserves.

McCulley asserts that, in the present situation, the Fed will not necessarily have to tighten reserves while increasing the funds rate in order to curb inflation. This may be true. However, the fact that the federal government is deeply in debt, and the fact that inflation devalues debt - may lead politicians to put a great deal of pressure on monetary policy chiefs to increase inflation.