Comments on: Larry Doyle’s (LD’s)Dollars and Sense “Central Station”

By: lark

lark — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:45:47 +0000

stagnant economy=argh

All engineering is basically working to meet the code. The Code. Code enforcement. Government. All engineering is basically working to meet government requirements.

By: lark

lark — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:39:30 +0000

Yeah, truly reflective of our entire economy. Poor engineering at all levels. When was the last time you spoke with a mechanical engineer that said to you, “That’s no problem.” Actually I know you don’t know at this stage any engineer that has solved any problem that you know of lately. No?

By: lark

lark — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:36:36 +0000

That is funny because if some manufacturing would be allowed in those spaces, then they would fill up in a flash. And what is needed is an enhanced fire protection system that works well and is able to contain any fire produced by any of the chemicals that may be used in production. And how hard for a society like ours to design and deploy a fire protection system that can assure fire containment. Not to hard. I mean not to hard if we could graduate mechanical engineers that know what they are doing. Too bad that universities cannot graduate mechanical engineers worth a damn.

By: LD

LD — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:30:45 +0000

I definitely believe that. Paulson and Bernanke have been largely orchestrating this because they knew that most of them were toast or a semblance thereof.

GS is being saved because AIG is propped up.

Off to a college hockey game with the 10 yr old boy!

Have a good night.

By: fiscalliberal

fiscalliberal — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:02:57 +0000

LD – Interesting ediorial in WSJ about “Mugging Bank of America”. Paulson pushed Merrill on BOA because they were big and could absorb them. Lewis wanted to back out of Merrill to protect his share holders. However his biggest share holder ( US Govt) vetoed it. Wonder if this true or what really happened.

Some how Goldman Sachs seems to be able to escape all of this.

By: Chris Martin

Chris Martin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:24:38 +0000

In the absence of “strong, capable, competent leaders filled with integrity”, how do we get weak, ambitious and incompetent leaders to do the right thing?

I ask myself that question every day.

By: cathnealon

cathnealon — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:54:55 +0000

I totally agree we didn’t need a socialist at this critical time, we needed a true free market capitalist. Carl Jung talked about the socialist society that infantilizes its citizens, they’re all like Oliver Twist holding their bowls up to the arrogant, America hating liars and begging, “Give me more,please sir.” Now that’s power. Get ready because it’s survival time, by this time next year unemployment will probably hit 30%. Not one sector will be left unscathed, Bush opened the door to this inferno and now BO will lead the entire country down to the depths. The money’s gone, the jobs are going and the union of Wall Street, the media conglomerates and the political scum has been consummated to give birth to the One, not in a manger but in the White House the former symbol of freedom and democracy for all.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:48:32 +0000

Obama saids you good people “SACRIFICE’ so i haven`t got to.I got to have 150 million for my party!!!!!!

By: rolling_thunder

rolling_thunder — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:58:01 +0000

By: rolling_thunder

rolling_thunder — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:40:57 +0000

Should certain banks literally be allowed to fail and open the opportunity for private capital to start new banking institutions? Meredith Whitney is proposing that concept.

YES! It's the only way to get the money flowing again. Current banks and lenders are just too burnt-out and scared to lend. Banks will take the bail-out money and sit on it while the economy tumbles down further. If new players are on the scene lending, they won't have shell shock or fear to lend. Yes. New players will be only too eager to lend and get the sluggish economy going. "Borrowers lie and banks die" is my new motto. With the advent of technology, it is far too easy for borrowers to create clear professional looking documents that are fraudulent and lenders are scared to make a move. Lack of morals from the bottom up is crushing USA. Will we follow the fate of corrupt Mexico? Clean up your act people. Cheating has a payback.

By: LD

LD — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:38:07 +0000

Having worked at JP Morgan for 6 years I saw plenty of things that needed addressing but ultimately when they brought in Jamie Dimon he addressed the issues.

We need strong, capable, competent leaders filled with integrity in Washington, NYC, and throughout our economy.

By: fiscalliberal

fiscalliberal — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:31:49 +0000

LD – WSJ article regarding Bank of America today titled Bank of America goes on Offense. Complexity is amazing

More interestng – in the comments one writer has a extensive coment on how BOA had derivatives on Contrywide paper ( I think). So they had to buy them to protect themselves.

This “Shadow Banking system” really got out of control. CNBC commetators were wondering if Grahm-Leach-Baily should be repealed.

By: rolling_thunder

rolling_thunder — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:56:25 +0000

I pity the owners of the vacant buildings, knowing they can’t meet the mortgage payment with vacancies. And victims of bank failures where the note balloons, can no longer get extensions under their loan contract because the contract for extensions is null and void once the bank fails and FDIC takes over. They then end up losing the property to the new note buyer because they can’t get a new loan because the credit market is frozen. Sheila is right. There needs to be money for the private sector or this is likely to blow up into a catastrophic mess beyond anything we have ever seen. The top down bail-out is not the way to go. They need to start with bottom up bail-out and they need to do it now. Credit is in the DEEP FREEZE with no end in sight. If an owner of a vacant building could get a cash-out refi with loose vacancy rate guidelines, that cash-out could buy them time and save their property until the market comes back or until they get new rental leases.
The whole thing is sickening and we need to stop comparing this to the crash of 1929. This is so huge it’s nothing like anything we have ever seen. But the whole truth is not out there yet. The media will peddle what they want you to believe and all along it’s much worse than the average American knows. I have to speak up because no one is paying attention. The Housing credit market went bust long before anyone admitted there was trouble in the market (besides Hillary). Now they are doing the same thing with ignoring the plight of Commercial and this is going to affect everyone unless there is a bottom up bail-out. They need to tighten unsecured credit card lending and loosen mortgage lending. But lenders are too scared to lend on secured credit and are loose with unsecured lending. It’s insanity plain and simple. So there you have it. DEEP FREEZE.
No credit=no refi or purchases=loss=stagnant economy=argh!

By: LD

LD — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:54:06 +0000

MrMike…Good point. For that very reason people who have gift cards at other retail outlets may want to use them sooner rather than later.

By: LD

LD — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:48:55 +0000

Rolling….I hope that people focus on the CRITICALLY important point raised in your post that individuals should not have more than 250k in any single banking account.

Thanks for sharing.