Wall Street

Goldman now a "regular"Bank

So is this really a ticket for them to do business as usual?  I'm reading on the Wall Street Journal this morning that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will be converted into regular banking holding companies.  So now they are to be like Citibank and Wachovia and Washington Mutual?

For sure, this will pair them down a lot.  The days of 40-1 leverage are over for them.  The boys and girls at the trading desks at Goldman might be hitting that aged whiskey a little more tonight.  No more being capitalist cowboys for them. 

The Bomb - McCain vs. Obama Plans on the Financial Implosion

Submitted by on

madison implodeNews moves at lightening speed.    One minute the story is Lehman Brothers going bankrupt, the next is Barclays is now going to buy some of it, in the asset fire sale in the bankruptcy court.

 

AIG is like watching a building implode, in slow motion.   Bank of America is buying Merrill Lynch, yet no one is questioning any of this, including their purchase of another in trouble mortgage firm, CountryWide.  

So, what specifically do these Presidential candidates plan to do about all of this? Right now, we have more finger pointing of the two campaigns with little details on actual policy plans or positions.

The Euphoric Drug of Profit

Submitted by on

Should the Pharmaceutical industry be for profit? The orthodoxy is profit motives new drug discoveries, research and without it most drugs would never be discovered. But is the dogma from the profit church true?

Despite prescription drugs having a market growth rate of ~4.5% per year and total US sales of $286 billion, global $745 Billion, in 2007, the press was all aghast at the market decline and blamed it all on the lack of new products.

I wonder if you look at medicine as a product? Well, in the current state of affairs life saving compounds are.

Losing in the Stock Market costs more than money

One of the amazing things I've run across in the research and promotion of "Crazyman's Economics" is that people who brag about how much money they've made in the markets don't care about those who lose money.

They claim it's their fault they lost their money. They didn't do the proper research, they trusted the wrong people. Look at the report Wall Street put out earlier this week. They said it was human nature that caused investors to be too greedy when things were going well and panic too soon when things got shaky. (Translation: It's not our fault, it was the investors' fault.)

In fact, we've asked dozens of people who made money one question: "Where did your money come from?" Almost every single one of them, from guys in the coffee shop in Veedersburg, IN to afternoon host Tracy Jones on 700 WLW in Cincinnati say the same thing..."I don't care." 

Wall Street issues report, concludes: "Oops! Our bad!"

According to the New York Times, a group of Wall Street executives have released a report detailing what went wrong and steps they can take to prevent it from hapening again. OK, quit laughing.

According to the article: 

"Wall Street failed to anticipate how wide-reaching problems with mortgage bonds would spread into seemingly distant corners of the financial markets, the report said. Awash in easy money, banks doled out credit without sufficiently charging for the risk. Wall Street also created complex structures that masked connections between asset classes as well as compensation incentives that pushed traders to take risky steps for short-term gain. The industry’s failings have now translated into pain for the broader economy, the report said."

Ya’ think?

Wall Street's Haute Con Job

Submitted by on

For those of you who are familiar with my writing, you've probably seen me use the term "Wall Street exists to separate you from your money."

It occurred to me the other day that I need to justify that opinion. Therefore here is a partial list of reasons why you should keep your money out of the hands of the Wall Street crooks and banksters. This article will not encompass every way that Wall Street steals from average people like you and me, but it might inform you of a few ways that you may not have been aware of.
As the old saying goes, "Forwarned is forearmed."

So without further delay, here's a list of ways that you are being robbed, day after day, year after year.

The Two Economies

Submitted by on

Waiting for the Wall Street implosion that didn't materialize, I watched the financial news. What emerged was a discussion of the two economies.

Bloomberg: Ben S. Bernanke's interest-rate cuts have touched off a vicious circle of doom for the dollar

Guess what? Now there are two economies, one for the investors, super elites and the real one for the rest of us. We should not pay attention to the paper economy according to financial advisers, it's just the place where the super elites create investment vehicles, derivatives, hedge funds, bonds...and all of that stuff which is simply the trading of paper. Nope, the real economy is just fine. The trouble is this paper economy.

Pages