Dow up 450 points!!!

[Driven1]

WM up 56%!!!
ETFC up 22%!!!
WB up 64%!!!
BAC up 15%!!!
AIG up 16%!!!
C up 24%!!!!
KBE up 14%!!!
GE up 8%!!!
S up 8%!!!

(glad i bought these yesterday!!)

gov't will create entity to hold bank's debt...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080918/wall_street.html

[thelakelander]

The federal government is discussing buying foreclosed homes from the banks.  Of course Wall Street will love that.

[Doctor_K]

WM up 56%!!!
ETFC up 22%!!!
WB up 64%!!!
BAC up 15%!!!
AIG up 16%!!!
C up 24%!!!!
KBE up 14%!!!
GE up 8%!!!
S up 8%!!!

(glad i bought these yesterday!!)

gov't will create entity to hold bank's debt...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080918/wall_street.html

My question is this: (and yes, it's a question, not meant to stir the puddin')

Dow Down 5% one day, then up 1%, then down another 4%, then up another 4.5%.  Basically, is this just fear setting in, creating widespread panic and irrational activity??

The federal government is discussing buying foreclosed homes from the banks.  Of course Wall Street will love that.

Nationalizing (Socializing?) private debt?

[Beloki]

We will see a lot of volatility in the months to come; big drops and big gains........

[RiversideGator]

The federal government is discussing buying foreclosed homes from the banks.  Of course Wall Street will love that.

And so will property owners everywhere.  I do question the long term wisdom although it will probably help in the short run.

[RiversideGator]

WM up 56%!!!
ETFC up 22%!!!
WB up 64%!!!
BAC up 15%!!!
AIG up 16%!!!
C up 24%!!!!
KBE up 14%!!!
GE up 8%!!!
S up 8%!!!

(glad i bought these yesterday!!)

gov't will create entity to hold bank's debt...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080918/wall_street.html

My question is this: (and yes, it's a question, not meant to stir the puddin')

Dow Down 5% one day, then up 1%, then down another 4%, then up another 4.5%.  Basically, is this just fear setting in, creating widespread panic and irrational activity??

It makes you wonder about the wisdom of crowds...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_crowds

[RiversideGator]

The federal government is discussing buying foreclosed homes from the banks.  Of course Wall Street will love that.

And so will property owners everywhere.  I do question the long term wisdom although it will probably help in the short run.

are you kidding?

River, you have spent two and a half years on these boards, calling every bill that a democrat mentioned in a sentence a 'socialist/marxist' shot in your imaginary 'class warfare' fantasy.

Now here we are, with a republican regime nationalizing everything in sight, with the Federal Government that you hate so much using OUR TAX DOLLARS to pay for it.

Don't you think its time to admit that you are actually a socialist?

Actually, socialists are supporting Obama.  He is the man of the left, not me.

And, re the potential home bailout, I stated:

I do question the long term wisdom although it will probably help in the short run.

[RiversideGator]

Meanwhile, the smart money is buying:

Buffett's Berkshire Accelerates Pace of Acquisitions (Update2)

By Erik Holm

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which today agreed to buy Constellation Energy Group Inc., is increasing the pace of deals as debt markets freeze up and stocks fall.

The deal to pay $4.7 billion for Constellation is Buffett's eighth acquisition announced since October, compared with six in the prior 12 months, when the largest was a $350 million purchase of an underwear and pajama company. Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, which had $31.2 billion in cash on June 30, is acting as buyouts by competitors slow amid a worldwide credit crunch.

``This is the kind of environment that opens up more opportunities for someone like Berkshire who does still have a lot of cash,'' said Gary Ransom, an analyst with Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller. ``Opportunities to put it to work are expanding right now.''

Berkshire's recent deals include the $4.5 billion purchase of Marmon Holdings Inc., the Pritzker family's collection of 125 companies, completed in March. Buffett agreed in April to provide $6.5 billion to help Mars Inc. buy Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. in a deal giving him a discounted stake in the chewing gum maker and in July he pledged $3 billion to Dow Chemical Co.'s $15.4 billion purchase of Rohm & Haas Co.

Buffett is making deals at a time when others can't. A yearlong contraction in global credit markets has choked funding for leveraged buyouts and reduced corporations' ability to acquire rivals, shrinking the value of announced mergers 29 percent to $2.29 trillion this year from the same period in 2007, Bloomberg data show.

`Extra Money'

``When there are market dislocations, we're always going to take advantage of them,'' Buffett said during the company's annual meeting in May. ``Berkshire will make some extra money out of this.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahgsBrJatCso&refer=worldwide

[Charleston native]

Stephen, enough with the nationalism diatribe, please. What do you think should be done with the crisis? Should we let the institutions fail? You have offered nothing in solutions, from what I've read. If you have a better solution, by all means, let's hear it.

[Driven1]

Meanwhile, the smart money is buying:

why, thank you!!    the port was up 7.1% today (after being down cumulative 9% since Monday - i had some in cash earlier and started buying more on the drop days).

[Charleston native]

Well its tricky isnt it?

I say let them fail.  Prosecute every last one of the profiteers and executives who took their golden parachutes.

Take away their ill gotten gains and begin paying back the taxpayers whose money is bailing them out.

When the positions were reversed, they visited the same attitude on their own investments and debtors.

Perhaps there is presently capital in the world besides the easy chinese money.

If we are going to borrow however, then dont borrow from an economy strong enough to overpower us, and thereby put our nation's competitive future in thrall.  Its poison.

Let it fall, restructure, and start again from scratch.

The things that made this country prosperous and great are still there, and with our strategic alliances with NAFTA and NATO,  we will go through a hard time, a VERY hard time, but at the end of it we will be stronger and wholly self sustaining.

The Japanese suffered just such a humiliation at the end of WW2, and they recovered.

Pretty good points overall, Stephen. The only problem is that considering agencies like the FDIC, I don't think it's possible to let them completely fail like we did in the Depression. Good point about Japan, except for one thing: the US helped the country rebuild and thrive. I doubt any country in this world will help us in this case.

Letting them fail; isn't that what we did with Enron, or was that a different issue?

[civil42806]

Well its tricky isnt it?

I say let them fail.  Prosecute every last one of the profiteers and executives who took their golden parachutes.

Take away their ill gotten gains and begin paying back the taxpayers whose money is bailing them out.

When the positions were reversed, they visited the same attitude on their own investments and debtors.

Perhaps there is presently capital in the world besides the easy chinese money.

If we are going to borrow however, then dont borrow from an economy strong enough to overpower us, and thereby put our nation's competitive future in thrall.  Its poison.

Let it fall, restructure, and start again from scratch.

The things that made this country prosperous and great are still there, and with our strategic alliances with NAFTA and NATO,  we will go through a hard time, a VERY hard time, but at the end of it we will be stronger and wholly self sustaining.

The Japanese suffered just such a humiliation at the end of WW2, and they recovered.

Well if they have actually broken any laws then by all means prosecute them.  Unfortunately it doesn't appear that anyone actually has broken any laws.  Ethics possibly, common sense certainly.  But I'd like to see the inditements before we haul them into a star chamber.  Being a profiteer in and of itself is not a crime.  I'm a profiteer, self employed and maximize my profits with no apologies.

The public bailout is a major mistake, witness the auto makers getting in line now.

[RiversideGator]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYI0mHWQeD8

[BridgeTroll]

exactly civil.

I got this in my email, dont know the original author:

How many times do we have to hear:

We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Social Security.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Medicare.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to provide health care to ALL Americans.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help out Americans losing their homes.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help all our veterans returning from war.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to rescue "no child left behind".

BUT...

We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Bears Stearns.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out AIG.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to pay for an unnecessary TRILLION DOLLAR war.

When the LITTLE GUY needs help, they scornfully say, "GET A JOB!"
But when one of their BIG GUY CRONIES need a bailout, what do they say? SURE, NO PROBLEM. Where's the checkbook?

"But what about the debt we're leaving on the backs of our childen and their future?"
"Children? WHOSE Children? OUR children won't have to pay for this. YOUR children will."

The Administrations has had their hands in our pockets for well over 8 years.
Now they are robbing us blind IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and smiling about it!!!!
The same players have shown their true colors and now they expect us to vote them back into office?

The problem with this Stephen is the Clinton or Obama administrations would have had NO choice but to do something similar to save these institutions.  They would not have let them fail either.  To claim that this is simply a bailout of Bush cronies is false and YOU know it Stephen.  YOU Stephen should be ashamed because you know better.  You are using this crisis to promote your political views and candidate.  For you to state that you prefer these institutions to fail is disingenuous because you... of all people... understand the extreme consequenses of that action and why it must be avoided at virtually any cost.  The democrats in congress are now falling in line with the administration to find solutions to this crisis.  Apparently THEY feel the same way.  These institutions cannot be allowed to fail.

[heights unknown]

The federal government is discussing buying foreclosed homes from the banks.  Of course Wall Street will love that.

And so will property owners everywhere.  I do question the long term wisdom although it will probably help in the short run.

are you kidding?

River, you have spent two and a half years on these boards, calling every bill that a democrat mentioned in a sentence a 'socialist/marxist' shot in your imaginary 'class warfare' fantasy.

Now here we are, with a republican regime nationalizing everything in sight, with the Federal Government that you hate so much using OUR TAX DOLLARS to pay for it.

Don't you think its time to admit that you are actually a socialist?

I think a better word is "socializing" not "nationalizing."  I think Bush would love to start a war or have something else catastrophic happen so he can stay in office; he signed a bill a couple of years ago enabling him to have all power in the event of a major crises.  Then everything would be socialized.

Heights Unknown