March 2009

Last night on America's Nightly Scoreboard with my mentor David Asman, I put up the following graphic on the telestrator and went all John Madden on it: The upshot is this -- we've spent more than $10 Trillion protecting people who were rich enough but stupid enough to risk their own money: 1. owning bank stocks that have the rights to profits from the banks, 2. buying worthless real ... read more

Can someone tell me what the government’s definition of “Financial Institution” is? U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms Goal Is to Limit Risk to Broader Economy The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge ... read more

I mean...the Republicans can't be serious about pretending they care about deficits and dollar responsiblity now, can they? Sen. Gregg says Obama budget will bankrupt US 1 day ago WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee says the Obama administration is on the right course to save the nation's financial system. But Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire also says ... read more

Right now, the Fed’s buying assets probably for about 20-60 cents on the dollar from the Banks (I'll play along and call them "the Banks" in this column, even though they're actually now all outright welfare institutions) like Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JP Morgan (JPM). The Fed ... read more

They'll be preemptive so be pre-preemptive and strike with common sense for instance freedom of thought is the only chance fools can't control the force, Jedi's don't dance Speculate on armaggedon/ I'ma pull out my weapons a big book full of crooks and a history lesson on a rain slick precipice overlooking a deficit to fall for the traps is effortless Not paranoid 'bout paranoia ... read more

* I've been asked six times this week by people who "don't trade" or "don't normally buy stocks" who want to know what I think of buying a few hundred shares of Citigroup at a dollar or two. First off all, I think the fact that so many people who don't trade are thinking about buying C here is probably a good contrarian indicator. But more to the point, I'll reiterate what I've been saying about ... read more

Long-time and even new readers know that I've been bearish and have taken my price range on the DJIA from 7k-9500 down to 6k-8k. Well, the good news is that we're closer to the bottom part of that trading range right now. I am not going to call a bottom today. Or ever, frankly. I don't even like the idea of trying to "catch the bottom" of the market. And for years when I used to write a ... read more