August 2008

Being that I've been around the block now doing business journalism for two decades, I've seen my share of nonsense and impenetrable stupidity. There are very few experts I admire, respect and listen to. One of them is the economist Ed Yardeni, who I think is brilliant. Yardeni has a crack staff of economists, a really sharp squad, taking a hard look at the numbers for investors ... read more

The taxpayer bailout of the US mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) may not happen next year. It may happen by the end of this quarter. Fannie and Freddie either own or guarantee nearly half of all U.S. mortgages. The two have had a history of accounting misdeeds and of making political donations to elected officials in order to help ease regulatory demands. They ... read more

After being stonewalled for nearly a month, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) have sent an official request for an Ethics Committee investigation into "disturbing allegations," first reported in Conde Nast Portfolio, that Countrywide Financial gave illegal mortgages prohibited by House rules to members of Congress, congressional staff and other officials (see blog "Where are the ... read more

Did the SEC's plan to stop naked short selling abuses in 19 stocks work? The jury is still deliberating, the results so far are mixed. Stocks in many of the companies on the list actually rose during the ban, but the stock market took shares down in others due to problematic balance sheets and poor risk management controls. The Securities and Exchange Commission's emergency move to outlaw ... read more

Despite the initial burst of positive headlines, John Thain of Merrill Lynch, Vikram Pandit of Citigroup, Robert Willumstad of American International Group and Robert Steel of Wachovia are winning mixed praise, according to Wall Street analysts. These were the go-to guys, the rescue squad hired to ride steerage on the ocean liner of damaged, levered securities drowning Wall Street firms, the ... read more