StreetScooby

You sound guilt ridden. What a ridiculous statement. Winning could also mean more money for advanced projects. Another ridiculous statement. Have you ever worked in the financial area? We are all engines of karma

Let's keep this thread on topic, please. Thanks. We are all engines of karma

Absolutely not! You MUST borrow the shares. This is widely abused in the industry. It needs to stop. We are all engines of karma

billvon does seem to be an expert at that. I'd be impressed if I didn't know better. We are all engines of karma

I read several papers a day. I haven't seen anything that describes what you're claiming. Any links you can share with me? Coming from you, this made me laugh out loud We are all engines of karma

Interesting article in the WSJ last week. They showed data which says the Democrats have been responsible for outrageous spending increases in the last two years. What happened in the last two years? Democrats won control of Congress? Remember pay-go? Well, it's turned into pay-no. We are all engines of karma

They already do, and significantly so in actual dollars paid. We are all engines of karma

So, you've actually received bills for these bailouts? I doubt that. In every case where Paulson has put govt money on the table he has done the following: 1) The Fed/govt now owns 80% of your company. 2) All of the company's assets are pledged as collateral (i.e., Fed is first in line if bankruptcy) 3) Senior management is completely removed. 4) The Fed is in charge. Once the Fed has unwound assets in an orderly fashion, I expect them to sell that 80% stake to private/coporate interests. The green paper made in the transaction will be returned to the Treasury, probably at a profit, since those corporations being bailed out have very low stock prices at the time. Only if the corporation goes completely belly up, and is left with no assets, will be tax paying public be on the hook. That's unlikely to happen since the Fed will actually be in charge of the company's operations, while it's being wound down. You're hearing worst case scenarios, which is what our media is good at hyping. We are all engines of karma

So, do you think those corporations are still in business after the bail out? What's being bailed out is the rest of our financial economy. That corporation's senior executives are fired, golden parachutes are being rescinded, stock holders are wiped out of their position, bond holders get to be first in line for what's left over. You make it sound like things don't change when you're bailed out. We are all engines of karma

Don't forget that McCain plans on reducing government spending. There's where he plans for the balancing to occur. Obama will not be able to deliver on his ideas. We are all engines of karma

All firms are required to do this, assuming their is a mark to be found. Usually for insider trading. Their trades typically don't have an impact on market pricing. Obama doesn't know what behavior he will deem "manipulating the market". He simply doesn't know. He thinks people want to hear him say that. Next thing you know, he'll ban short selling, stock buybacks, and generally using a company's cash to support their stock's price in the market. We are all engines of karma

The structure you had described had its foundation in accounting activity (i.e., creating the off balance sheet entity, which wasn't a true arms length relationship). That's where the problem started. You can't solve a problem unless you define it properly. But, you know that. We are all engines of karma

I doubt he'll do that, again... We are all engines of karma

Do you realize I was referring to financial audits? That's not trading activity. That's accounting activity. As regulated by GAAP, not SEC or its equivalents. You realize these strategies actually started by limiting the amount of power? This then spilled over into the secondary market. Agreed. Bush is not the sole reason for this, nor did he have any significant causal effect. No, it doesn't. Losing your money 1 for 1 is fine. Lose all you want. It's when you starting losing another 10 for every 1 you put up that things can start getting out of control. We are all engines of karma

Uhm, aren't you forgetting more people are required to effectively execute that? Note the emphasis on trading activity None of what you discussed is trading activity, i.e. where white paper is bought/sold in a secondary market. Whose economic strategies? The President's? Congress? Speculators are an essential part of efficient markets. They must be allowed to fail miserably. Likewise, they shouldn't be allowed to lever themselves 10-to-1. We are all engines of karma

From the NYTimes: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/obama-scoffs-at-mccain-economic-panel/?hp These two are contradictory. Plus, trading activity is supposed to "manipulate" markets . That' why they're markets! Not some centrally planned "thing". Is this a condemnation of capitalism? Obama was #2 on the list of money given by FNMA to congressmen. Dodd (D-CT) was #1. The more details he gives, the better for McCain. We are all engines of karma

Opaque markets for sure. Not so much for efficient markets, though they still do wield power there simply because of their balance sheet. We are all engines of karma

That was good! We are all engines of karma

Sounds like he got booted. We are all engines of karma

First time I've ever read this author. While he did skit around a bit, I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for posting. We are all engines of karma

FT is well respected. It's effectively Britain's WSJ. Thanks for posting this. Obama will be an unmitigated disaster. The reforms the financial industry needs to undertake (e.g., Barney Frank and friends) are going to be serious. Obama will drive them in a socialist direction, to the everlasting detriment of our county. McCain will keep it market oriented. We are all engines of karma

Bernanke stopped printing money. That's why this is happening. We are all engines of karma

Actually, the FNMA/FHLMC situation is a direct result of the Democratically controlled Senate Finance Committee. Barney Frank and friends insisted that those agencies use their cash flow to actually buy Alt-A and subprime loans and put them on their books, in addition to their P&I guarantee. And, Mr. Frank and friends turned both agencies into political institutions. FNMA was levered 70-to-1, and kept telling everyone that things were just fine. The Morgan Stanley guys, at Paulson's urging, went in and concluded the FNMA guys didn't know accounting. Thus, the takeover. We are all engines of karma

It shows that Republican appointees have a respect for stare decisis. My feeling is Democratic appointees have less respect for that. IMO, Democrats want to make "all of our decisions easier", and they know best how to do that. It's laughable. We are all engines of karma

Great advice here. Thanks much! Here's what I'm taking away from this: 1) I'm wearing the weight belt, on the outside. 2) I'm leaving the dirt alert at home. Thanks again! We are all engines of karma