Articles

The disintegration of General Electric, once the nation's largest company, will be spectacular and it will be swift.

Sure, it is pretty impressive that America has elected its first black president. Sure, we are a country at the brink of a major depression and need to celebrate something. Sure, someone has to feed the media's insatiable appetite for glitz. But at the very precipice of financial disaster, to see our new leader turn a blind and unfeeling eye on the financial woes of millions of Americans is disconcerting at the very least.

I've been trying to move large amounts of money out of Smith Barney to the higher yielding online savings and CD accounts listing on this site. This week, Smith Barney made it very difficult.

What is one person's misery is another's opportunity. Billionaire Wilbur Ross just received permission from regulators to buy a majority stake in Florida's First Bank and Trust Co. Many believe this is a platform to purchase other distressed banks.

For some time it looked like Bank of America might fly over the banking crisis and actually prosper by vulture investing in Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Now, it looks like it is choking on the bones it tried to swallow. It's stock is at its lowest point since 1992 and the future doesn't look so bright.

I don't care whether Steve Jobs comes back or doesn't.

Amid news that the company is selling Smith Barney, its prized asset, and selling off the rest of its assets, the stock is down 20% and is below $5 again. is it possible that it has entered the death spiral?

The judge is keeping Madoff out of jail and comfy in his penthouse apartment in New York. This decision came down today even while everyone else, including the government prosecutor, is clamoring for his head and for burying him in jail. It is obvious what is going on.

Bill Gross of Pimco and many other anlaysts are saying that Treasury Inflated Protected Securities (TIPS) are very cheap and offer a good investment as the government's stimulus program begins to reawaken inflation.

Treasury bonds are at all time lows in yield as investors have fled to their safety and security. Many think the market is a bubble. For those that believe it, two ETFs allow you to short the Treasury market.

In a sad bit of news, German billionaire Adolph Merckle killed himself today by stepping in front of a train. The personal toll from the credit crisis continues to pile up.

Here is why I disagree.

Michael Lewis writes an interesting point in the NY Times that essentially says that conflict-of-interest brought down the US Financial system. It's an interesting read and one that has some plausibility.