Comments on: Moody’s Downgrades of RMBS

By: AGG

AGG — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 09:25:35 +0000

Barry,
This is off topic but it is part of the bigger picture:
It’s time for Mr. Obama to go on the offensive. Above all, he must not shy away from pointing out that those who stand in the way of his plan, in the name of a discredited economic philosophy, are putting the nation’s future at risk. The American economy is on the edge of catastrophe, and much of the Republican Party is trying to push it over that edge.

So as the big jumbo began the climb,C0-pilot Biden asked Captain Obama if that cloud looked like a bunch of Republicn GEESE.

By: How the Common Man Sees It

How the Common Man Sees It — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:51:49 +0000

and another front is continuing to expand on the mortgage war:

Rep: Foreclosed owners should squat in their own homes

http://tinyurl.com/anlzza

By: Steve Barry

Steve Barry — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:11:01 +0000

ATTN: Anybody with a Bloomberg Terminal:

Can you tell me where Financial Sense is getting the data that shows the Nasdaq P/E is 79? Last week they said 46 or so. It could be that they are using data that includes all “one-time” write offs rather than pro-forma operating results…either way that number is ridiculous. The WSJ has it at 26 (still bubble-like given a possible depression)

http://www.financialsense.com/monitor.html

http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3021-peyield.html?mod=topnav_2_3000

By: Steve Barry

Steve Barry — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:01:34 +0000

@Andy: And don’t forget, Celebrity Jeopardy has easier quaetions than standard Jeopardy.

@Constant: I read through tall those arguments and saw nothing from CSFB that made any sense (granted I think I was only reading piecemeal excerpts from the report). It does strike me as odd that practically everything I have seen or read says we are in the worst crisis since the Great Depression, yet this will somehow magically stop well short of being that bad, or will be at worst a “mini” depression.” How are they so sure?

Anecdotally, car sales are down 40% or so…home values down 25% and falling. I believe that anything over 10% drop is a depression…we are well over that and still falling. The effects of recent job losses haven’t even been felt yet. I see massive commercial RE vacancies in Westchester NY that haven’t been filled for a year. Now what happens when anchor tenants such as Linens n Things, Circuit City, Borders and Fortunoff are closed for good? There is nobody big enough, expanding fast enough to fill those locations…what about tons of WaMu locations right across from Chase that will be consolidated away? This has all occurred, despite falling interest rates and recently the plummeting of oil prices. What happens if rates spike and/or oil spikes back up?

By: constantnormal

constantnormal — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:07:42 +0000

Off Topic -- Infectious Greed has picked up the story from Clusterstock about a dissing of Steve Barry's favorite chart -- although the revised version looks plenty ominous to me. I don't think Henry Blodget is entirely convincing that our debt problem has been resolved. Somehow I think he's missed a few trillion in recent borrowing.

By: Andy Tabbo

Andy Tabbo — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:23:12 +0000

steve barry. thanks for that Maria B. Jeopardy link….that is really, really funny. Talk about getting “undressed” on a national stage. I don’t think it’s fair to judge someone’s intellect on their knowledge of “trivia,” but Computer worms? WTF. She’s a big blank.

By: russell1200

russell1200 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:22:11 +0000

As I learned recently the insurance industry used mbs (and not even top grade) as the basis for a number of their CAT bonds. Since the CAT bonds have something like a covered bond feature to them, the investment banks who are acting as their agent are going to be ponying up some more money.

The amounts involved are not huge by some standards, but they are pretty important with regards to insurance companies being able to pay for losses on the next big one. It’s yet another can of worms in the unfolding drama.

See here:

http://slabbed.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/slabbed-lets-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-is-allstates-reinsurance-program-worthless-ask-the-weeping-willow-tree/

(A friend of mines blog).

By: rww

rww — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:30:11 +0000

AGG — they are not delusional. Secretly, they are amazed that they were ever able sell their finance fairytale.

By: AGG

AGG — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:20:05 +0000

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/125566/naomi_klein%3A_public_revolt_builds_against_rip-off_rescue_plans_for_the_economy/
Like Leftback says, credibility requires trust. Trust is hard enough to earn. When the very ones who destroyed that trust think they still have a future as leaders, they are delusional. All those wonderful PR tools to keep us channeled and caged aren’t working because of blogs like this one. People not only see through the BS, they realize this has been the same tired response for generations to elite economy trashing. This is really interesting. Can we really stuff a bunch of assholes in the shitpile this time? I hope so but I don’t deny the tenacity of those with the money. We’ll see.

By: Steve Barry

Steve Barry — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:10:49 +0000

@Mannwich:

See for yourself…I first posted this last year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRE1Wi9nr1k