Government

1. Ken Lewis is a Wuss 2. Bill Gross is a Propagandist 3. If Stimulus Passes, DJIA Goes to 6k 1. You read in the paper that Ken Lewis didn’t have enough balls to stand up to the government and save his shareholders from buying Merrill after he realized Merrill was worthless because somebody in the government didn’t want to let Merrill’s lenders and shareholders deal with their own ... read more

Last week it looked like the Socialist Republican/Democrat Regime in power were all ready to sign the outsized welfare checks for their cronies and best friends and big corporate donors. You know in the name of "spending" to "stimulate the economy". The Republicans tried for about six minutes there to pretend that they were actually "for capitalism" as they fought against the original stimulus ... read more

On Friday’s I publish Weekend Vittles — sorta just some random thoughts into the weekend.. * A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase says that the reason the company pulled its own money from Madoff last year was because they got suspicious about the Ponzi scheme the dude was putting on.  But she says, “we did not have the right to disclose those our concerns” to their own clients who had ... read more

You wanna get bullish. I know I do. I mean, the average stock is down more than 1/2 from its highs just a year ago or so. You know that it pays to buy low and sell high…and well, hey, down 50% is by definition pretty darn lower than higher, so what are we waiting for? You lie awake staring at the ceiling, wondering if your investments will get back anywhere near where they were in 2007. Or in ... read more

1. SpokeUp.com bookmark of the day 2. Welfare Banks Are Pure Evil 3. You Don't Deserve Welfare Either, OK?! 1. "We are giving a gigantic monopoly that binds together all the banks in the country, issues to them unlimited paper money from the Treasury on their assets, creates 12 great central banks, and puts a Government board in charge of the whole combination." That was Representative ... read more

* My SpokeUp.com Bookmark of the day: ” FDIC's Bair Says She'd Be `Very Surprised' by U.S. Bank Nationalization”. When the largest bank in the US, Citigroup has taken in half a trillion in welfare and the US government is now telling it what assets to buy and sell and when, including forcing Citigroup to sell its brokerage practice to Morgan Stanley which can pay for it with the ten billion in ... read more

A couple quick takes on some stocks in the news: Apple -- Let's assume worse case that jobs is going to, heaven forbid, pass away. -  the stock probably drops to the 60s?   Where it'd be a screaming buy for both a trade and especially for the long-term investment.  They have $25 per share net cash and no debt...but in the meantime, remember that right now, Steve's just on hiatus, the ... read more

1. Peter Meet Paul 2. Headline of the Day 3. Traders Should Stay Sidelined 1. The Independent Bank of Michigan has gotten $72 million in TARP welfare so far, but they’re not able to lend much out yet because as they tell the NYTimes today – they’re using all of it to shore up its balance sheet and pay back loans to the Federal Reserve. Take from Treasury, give to the FED? This makes ... read more

GE's the shining beacon of all things American -- industrial, technological, medical, financial, Hollywood-al -- is down 30% in a straight line.  And down another 6% just today. Most traders will tell ya that the stock losing another $10 billion in market cap ain't no big deal, but I think we all know it's not that easy. GE's got GE Capital, and GE Capital is totally levered up and full of ... read more

Here's what I'll be speaking up again about this weekend:

*  NY Post: NYers Thought Bubbles

*  Obama Taps Killefer for New Post - ... read more