Do American capitalists still exist?
All of this jargon, discussing the “greatness” the government bailout of Fannie Mae [[FNM]] /Freddie Mac [[FRE]], is making me sick and ashamed to work on Wall Street. As a matter of fact, I would like Hurricane Ike to make a quick turn and come up here (NYC), in order to wipe out the exchange. Wall Street needs a good category 5 hurricane to “clean up” the garbagio.
How is it a “good thing,” when the U.S. government is now the proud owner of your house? Directly, they now own more than 75% of the mortgages, implying they own the land too. So, has anyone thought through the long term ramifications of this? Anyone?
Abuse of powers, land grab, you name it—it stinks to high heaven.
On top of that, no one is going to want to work at Fannie anymore. From here on, Fannie and Freddie will be operated by the same bureaucrats who run welfare, medicaid and social security: fargin’ losers.
On top of that, President Paulson has subordinated the tax payers money to the GSE bond holders, such as Russia, China and oh yeah Bill Gross and the Pimco pimps. This all sounds like a grand idea, if you are a sovereign wealth fund or have a net worth north of 2 billion.
However, for the average Joey Bag o Mortgages, this is a disaster. In time, Fannie and Freddie will become so corrupt and so gay, credit will seize up—due to unavailability of loans. I wonder if the government will elect to tap the Fannie/Freddie surpluses (providing they will ever have one), just like they “tapped” our social security fund, over the decades?
Heck, if the government is right, and housing bottoms, they can make a fortune owning both agencies. With the profits, they can buy all sorts of stuff and fund exorbitant amounts of “pork barrel” projects.
In other news, the basic resource stocks are bouncing hard here. I am still “deeply out of the money” on my positions; but it’s nice to get a little respite, nonetheless.
I would not add to any basic resource positions yet. If anything, I’d wait until 3:30 to execute new positions.
Finally, the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. [[LEH]] news was so non-eventful I feel like shorting the stock again. They have nothing. They are trying to douse the flames; but it’s too late. Once LEH is out of the way, all guns will aim to Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. [[MER]] . Regardless of what Cramer says (he’s just a Thain jerker), MER blows.
Top pick: [[SKF]]
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agreed today is a day to sit on the side lines.
this buys LEH some time.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aJqjGhGaxDsM&refer=home
I still think those koreans will invest in LEH.
Korea Development Bank seeks to become global player, chief says
The Korea Development Bank, the lender that’s considering buying a stake in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., aims to be become a global corporate and investment bank, chief executive officer Min Euoo-sung said yesterday.
Min, who’s state-owned bank will be privatized by the Korean government by 2012, declined to comment when asked by Bloomberg News about the progress of talks with Lehman.
“Along with our privatization, we’ll actively make inroads into the overseas markets to take off as a global corporate and investment bank,” Min said in a speech to bankers at a seminar in Seoul.
“Considering the limited size and the profitability of the domestic market, KDB’s globalization is not an option, but a must.”
Min, the former Seoul branch chief of Lehman, faces opposition from the nation’s top regulator, which said Monday that it would be “inappropriate” for the KDB to pursue an acquisition of Lehman.
Korea’s top regulator Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, reiterated his earlier comments on Monday, cautioning KDB against taking over Lehman, the securities firm that lost 78 percent of its market value in 2008.
“I applaud the effort by the KDB to become a global player, to branch out overseas,” Jun told reporters. “That said, I would advise careful consideration on timing, on whether the move makes sense in the long term, makes sound business sense for the KDB.”
Lehman has renewed talks with the KDB about a capital injection of as much as $6 billion, the Sunday Telegraph reported Aug. 31, without saying where it got the information.
Lehman and the KDB haven’t yet struck a deal because the two sides disagree on how much the U.S. firm is worth, Min said on Sept. 2. Min hasn’t said how big a stake in the firm he would like to buy or how much his company would pay.
“To start with, we will enter the Asian market, including China and Southeast Asia, to position ourselves as the leading bank of Asia,” he said in his speech yesterday. “Then, we will expand our presence in the Americas and in Europe.” (Bloomberg)
2008.09.10
http://www.jimcramerswallofshame.com/
thain is on his wall of shame
AMEN!
-DT
Please. Cramer was ironing Thain’s hanky when he was at NYX—lost a bundle. Then, as soon as he went to MER, Cramer shined his shoes.
At the end of the day, Cramer shined his shoes and ironed his hanky, lost money doing it—then begrudgedly put Thain on his little wall of shame.
LEH is fini, monsieur fly.
WM appears finished, but i give them more of a chance of survival than LEH. faber made a good point on cnbc this morning: why bother buying LEH, if you’re a GS, when you can just hire away the talent.
interesting that they’re shooting at GS now.
Where’s Donny?
He must be out buying a new Lexus. His reversed from DUG to DIG yesterday with precision.
hahahaha goddamn i love mark haines
‘these numbers are definitely wrong. don’t pay attention to these.’
..as he goes back to reading the comics in the post. hahahahaahha
haines for president.
Sarah plans to lever the Frannie portfolio to complete a bridge in Alaska.
medicade (sic)
Depressed is depressing. 🙁
“Once LEH is out of the way, all guns will aim to Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (MER: 24.239 -2.10%).”
GS is next.
WAMU…. sorry, WM or Washington Mutual…
-DT
Now fellas, don’t get all in a tizzy over your pal Bill Gross making a little coin the old fashion way. Everybody knew the government was going to bail out Fan and Fred. I just got in front.
Besides, you wouldn’t want me to take a haircut on all that GSE debt, would you? If there’s one thing I hate, it’s haircuts.
Ha.
See you ’round boys. I’ll be out driving my new solid gold sports car, license place “TXPYR-B0T”.
Rut Row, roll over … might be time for some of that SEC anti short stuff
That hand feeling around in your pocket? That’s your governments dirty paw.
We are seeing American capitalism collapsing right before our eyes. Nobody has to be accountable for results or make wise decisions.
The Politbureau/Treasury/Fed stands ready to make good on any and all bad decisions and losses. Financials? No problem. Everybody has a mortgage. Everybody needs a mortgage. Automakers? Need a subsidized loan? No problem–everybody drives cars. We all would be more than happy to keep the Pontiac Vibe in production….etc., etc. etc.
Where does it end?
This whole fiasco pisses me off.
Roll over! Roll over!
So they all rolled over and one fell out
Eight bears in the bed and
The little one said…
Roll over! Roll over!
These bears are forcing me to grab some TSO around here, I don’t understand this.
Anyone have any thoughts on MBI? Thinking of unloading my puts here.
The theme for today is…”erratic”. There must be some sort of medication for this shit. Not that I’ll take any of it. I’m not gonna be someone’s science project.
Bennet Sedacca
10:18:45 AM
positions in GDX, XLE, GDX and XLE options
Spreads Still Widening
Despite what the stock market may be saying today, with a slight bounce, spreads in financials across the board continue to blow out.
And many companies need capital. Lots of it.
But either they can’t get it or if they can, they can’t afford it.
Risks remain high.
That said, my firm is initiating positions in XLE and GDX.
How about an Airline bailout too?
After that, market my words, an Infrastructure bailout!!!
It’s already in the cards for a November vote. Municipalities did not appropriate their budgets correctly. So, VMC and TXI would like Congress to approve a “stimulus” package, of 300 billion dollars, in order to pay for their receivables.
And, VMC would like to keep jacking prices up, in the face of startling lack of demand.
It’s Costanza Capitalism!!!
Is PACW still on your reverse horsemen list Fly?
I was only saying to save SOME money. Not to stop trading.
I know how the FLY feels about the abvice he gets. This is the FLY’s BLOG and I will stop posting ideas with respect to him. Talking trading is bad luck. I should follow my own rules first!!! After all the BPOE is LUCKY LARRY.
This is ridiculous… Where is uncle Sam getting so much money to buy crap after spending so much on Iraq, other wars, FRE/FNM? I guess, after some time, it will no longer be the US government that bails them out, it will be Chinese and Russian govts that hold ‘precious’ American assets.
Sorry Fly, but both you and I know “fargin’” IS a swear word. We never hit 11,000.
WE can keep it between ourselves! But I expect a free bottle of Smirnoff Vodka in the mail. Especially for that “Medicade” spelling mistake.
,
Fly,
My wife wanted to know how I happened upon your site. I told her I was looking up an unusual looking bug I found in the back yard.
Appropriately named “Robber Fly”.
Take glee its a predator.
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Nature/Horrors/RobberFly.jpg
seriously, what the hell is going on with the way the market is trading?
very loco, no?
“He must be out buying a new Lexus. His reversed from DUG to DIG yesterday with precision.”
Fly … no Lexus. I do not buy Asian vehicles … I own BMW (2).
I sold DIG this morning for 66.61.
Thanks for the advice/encouragement yesterday to take profits. Sometimes when you’re drunk with profits, you need outside advice, and when you get that advice from a Pro, you got to take it.
I still hold SKF and few other ultra-short ETFs.
FED finally rolling over again, as is its wont.
Die at last, fuckers.
_
Alpha,
“Nobody has to be accountable for results or make wise decisions. ”
That’s not true.
If you little guys make mistakes; rest assured, you will not be bailed out.
fcx…im buying even more when it gets over 69.40
what do you think of THAT?
“Lehman posted a preliminary net loss of $3.9bn in the third-quarter, after expected negative gross mark-to-market adjustments on assets of $7.8bn.
The firm is to spin off 55% of its Investment Management Division (which includes asset management, private equity and wealth management), and is currently talking to a number of interested parties about a deal. The IMD business will continue to operate under the Lehman Brothers and Neuberger Berman brands.
Lehman is to spin off to its shareholders $25bn to $30bn of its commercial real estate portfolio into a separate publicly-traded company, Real Estate Investments Global, in the first quarter of 2009. The spin-off is designed to strengthen the firm’s balance sheet while preserving the value of the commercial real estate portfolio for shareholders.
The firm also plans to cut its dividend 93% from 68 cents to 5 cents to conserve cash.
CEO Richard Fuld said: ‘This is an extraordinary time for our industry, and one of the toughest periods in the firm’s history. The strategic initiatives we have announced today reflect our determination to fundamentally reposition Lehman Brothers by dramatically reducing balance sheet risk, reinforcing our focus on our client-facing businesses and returning the firm to profitability’.”
Neither I nor my boss is accountable for any egregious corporate downturn.