No one here cares about Lehman huh?

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Even if you are not an investor, this is big news. I have spent the whole day pre-occupied with it. It is shocking that this has happened. My views on financial matters are not important. I just think that perhaps we gaze into our own bellies a little too much. I know I do and it never gets me anywhere.

Since Lehman Brothers engaged in dishonesty and lying, I am glad they went broke, and am especially grateful that our tax dollars aren't going to be used to bail them out.

I did not cause the problem.
I can not cure the problem.

The only thing left for me to do is to prevent the problem from affecting me.

A month or two ago, Citibank was saying "PLEASE regulate us!" They're all very happy with deregulation when they're making money.

A commentator said, "How can you expect people who are allowed to make money doing illegal things to not do so?"

"For a guy whose astute counsel helped to make so many CEOs rich, Peter Drucker had an intense loathing of exorbitant executive salaries.

"He hated high CEO pay on every level: what it said about the individual as a leader, how it undermined the smooth functioning of the organization, and the way it tore at the fabric of society as a whole.

"Drucker's strong feelings on the subject -- he once termed sky-high CEO compensation "a serious disaster" -- are well worth revisiting in light of the news that the men who sat atop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - News) (BusinessWeek, 9/10/08) could be eligible for as much as $24 million in severance and other benefits after being ousted from their positions. Last week the federal government was forced to step in and rescue the faltering mortgage giants in a move that could cost taxpayers billions."

http://news.yahoo.com/story//bw/sep2008ca20080912186533

Seeing that the Dow lost 500 points, I am now very concerned.

I am worried that we will have a second Great Depression, and there will be more outsourcing, as in the 2001-2003 recession.

I was thinking of investing in lehman last week, because I didn't think the company would go under...

I put $5000 into the market 3 years ago and it's worth 8500 today, so I'm getting a pretty good return on my investment...

Instead of putting some money into lehman, i decided to put $900 into a bank called Bank United because the stock was selling ridiculously cheap, at a dollar a share (down from 30 a year ago), and the bank seems to have a solid balance sheet...

Today it's down to 65 cents, so I'm down $300 on that one...

Note to self... if a stock is selling ridiculously cheap, theres a reason, and banks should be avoided...

I'll still hold onto my 900 shares of Bank United, and if the bank fails, i'll have lost my $900, but I'll have gained valuable experience... if the bank doesn't fail, then theres a good chance that the stock price will eventually rise to it's former level, and my 900 shares will be wrth almost 30 grand...

First rule of investing- dont put money into a risky investment if you can't afford to lose it...

If anyone wants a hot tip on a stock, take a look at General Maritime, ticker symbol GMR... i have 200 shares of this, and I get a $2 dividend per share... at the end of the year, they will merge with Arlington Tankers, at which point they'll give 1.3 shares of the new company for every share of GMR... last year they gave a surprise one time dividend of $15 per share, on a stock that was trading at the time at $32... this company loves to pay dividends... I put $2500 into it 3 years ago, my position is worth $4500 today and will probably be worth well over $6000 once the merger goes through...

It probably won't be that bad.

I think stocks will recover half their lost value later in the week. People are panicky today, but the bargan hunters will pounce starting tomorrow. Like I said, buy stocks now while they're cheap, preferably through mutual funds. My regularly scheduled buy occures tomorrow.

AIG, the world's largest insurer might be next. If they fail, it will ripple through other financials too. Financials (banks, credit card companies) are pretty good in the long run, but it's hard to say right now which ones will survive this mess.

These are the folks that backed the corporate looters, as they chopped up the economy, and sold the parts to China.

Like Worldcom they inflated the books with sub prime debt, hollowed out real value, and are dumping the result on the stockholders. They looted themselves.

No one who worked there owned Lehman stock.

The same people who caved in the market sold naked shorts.

Short sales can be endless. Short against the box, is stock you own, naked is nothing, sold, collected, now debt based on stock that never was. As the stock falls to near zero, the debt is erased.

Nothing has been learned, deregulation first took the savings and loan, now it is the street and the banks. If the government steps in it will be the dollar too.

Banks wrote bad paper knowing they could sell it to fanny and freddie, no questions asked.

Now banks are failing?

At the top of the capital structure there is a ten trillon dollar hole. Compare that to record US debt, next year, $450 Billion. A hole equal to twenty years of record debt.

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was to stop just what deregualtion allows. Looting.

Banks who loan money, and Investment bankers who sell stock, can never be the same people, or depositors and stock investors get taken for a ride. Losses will always be passed on to the customers.

The whole idea of a bailout is wrong, taking real money and throwing it in an ever widing hole.

It is an unregulated money hurricane, take shelter, FDIC insured accounts, and wait till the storm passes. Do not push sound structures into gaps, wait till it passes, write off the losses, continue with what is left.

I do note it is campaign finance time again, 535 people in Washington do not bite the hand that feeds them. They will do what they always do, blame the people, and bail out their friend$.

This is nothing new, during any ten year period half of The Fortune 500 ceases to exist.

Tossing the old on the scrap heap opens the way for the new.

That goes for fanny and freddie, they are private, they took risks, let them go.

I stopped caring about big business when:

Several years ago I had to order a part from GE and Sears and they switched me from one 800 number to another all on their expense where nobody understood which part I was referring to because none of them had ever held a screwdriver in their hands. Now you’re lucky if you don’t get someone from India who has never even touched an appliance let alone a screwdriver. Compared to them yes I am a Narcissist and justifiably so.

The toothless Confederate cattle herders who think like their herd does, elected Bush TWICE who in turn deregulated his cronies who proceeded to cash in their companies and head for the Caribbean on their yachts while their employees headed for the unemployment line. Compared to them yes I am a Narcissist and justifiably so.


I got laid off because the owner of the business I was working for wanted to give my job to his wife’s cousin even though he knew nothing about the job because he had so much money, he didn’t care if he made a profit or a loss. Compared to them yes I am a Narcissist and justifiably so.


Anyone want to add, please feel free.