September 2008

1. Where does the government suddenly find hundreds of billions of dollars to give to rich bankers and traders? 2. And we're sure we should risk hundreds of billions of dollars to keep the markets up for what might just be a day or two? None of these interventions have worked at all so far. Central Banks Pump Cash Into Market Dow Gains After Coordinated Moves to Head Off Crunch European ... read more

Wow, it is really awful out there. Stock markets in the US are down double digit percent in just the last three days and down nearly 30% from their highs last year. The red on the screens is all-consuming and sure looks like digital blood in the streets of my monitor. I've just spoken to several hedge fund managers and/or money managers, almost all of whom are panicking. The long only guys ... read more

Easy does it.  I have not put any more money into the market since the down 500 day on Monday.  Goldman's down 30% in a straight line since I bought it.  That's not fun, even if it's just a toe. As I've said all week -- you might want to START buying here.  Don't draw a line in the sand. We are living through some of the hardest times in our financial markets' history.  Be careful, but ... read more

And I ain't no communist And I ain't no socialist And I ain't no capitalist And I ain't no imperialist And I ain't no democrat Sure ain't no republican either I only know one party, and that is freedom I am, I am, I am... I am a patriot, and I love my country Because my country is all I know -- Steven Van Zandt as performed by Pearl Jam It's so infuriating how hypocritical these ... read more

You can't be in this city this week and not feel the pain. Nerves are frayed everywhere you go. In the last few weeks, after hundreds of years of collective business and trillions of dollars in collective earnings, Lehman disappeared and Merrill disappeared and Bear Stearns disappeared. The guy at the bodega feels it too though. The secretaries here at Fox feel it. Legal assistants at the ... read more

You realize that Bill Gross finished his September Outlook newsletter with the following paragraph? The bill for our collective speculative profligacy, obvious in the deflating asset markets, can be paid now or it can be paid later. Those aspiring for a perfect 800 on the Wall Street policy exam would conclude that the tab will be less if paid up front, than if swept under a rug of moral ... read more

Headlines jungle is the only rule, front page roar of the nation cool Turn it up, this is my attitude, take it or leave it I love it loud, I wanna hear it loud, right between the eyes Loud, I wanna hear it loud, I dont want to compromise -- KISS I'm long something besides cash for the first time in a very long time. I took a tiny bit of capital I had left in a brokerage account and ... read more

I've long said on Happy Hour that you probably can't buy the financials until the first big one goes bankrupt. Taking $2 billion and giving it for free to Bear Stearns shareholders didn't count. Neither did nationalization of Fannie and Freddie and our entire mortgage industry. But Lehman just died today. Outright bankruptcy. It's tragic and scary, and the crisis has gotten out of control. The ... read more

1. Paulson, the Arbiter of Survival 2. Commercial Banks Next? 3. Calling All Moms 1. Paulson, a guy who made hundreds of millions of dollars at Goldman Sachs (which he sold tax free of course), and who has sent several hundred billion dollars of mine to his cronies on Wall Street so far, apparently is the arbiter of financial life and death in this country now as he and Bernanke say ... read more

I've long warned against chasing the supposed capitalistic boom in China, as I don't think the American companies who have put so many hundreds of billions of buildings and factories and distribution centers and so on in China are thinking about how badly they might end up screwed if the Chinese are to start doing what we're doing here in the US right now with Fannie, Freddie, et al -- changing ... read more