Head Fakes Aside, What to Expect from Merrill Lynch

Upon reading: "When Merrill announced its second quarter results, Thain said: “Right now we believe we are in a very comfortable spot in terms of our capital.” Investors who piled into the shares at that time at $31, thinking the worst was over might feel justifiably feel blindsided." This reminded me of Bear Stearns - watching Scwartz from his palm beach home on Friday speaking with confidence "It's all speculation, we're fine". I do think these financial giants certainly don't want to go around getting hired help to clean the deck if or when they know the ship is going down. "Come get paid 5x normal wages, washing the deck of a sinking ship", nuh uh, no stock holder will buy into that, in fact, they'd panic sell I bet. So, JUST guessing, that MER said in 2nd quarter they were fine because they didn't want to go down in the third quarter from stock price meltdown due to TRUE rumors about their expected third quarter. Gee, people get point on MW for predicting right the day or week or months trends and stock directions, what do these corporations lose when they put forth either misleading information or incompetent information ? I really liked the statement on Thain from this article: "Be careful of these statements, as well as anything said in the future. " Somewhere we've accepted that through political correctness or SOMETHING that people never ever lie, nor would they - my gosh ! a lie ! never ! These executives in politics and finance are beyond being human to lie- heh, uh oh, maybe the beyond human part is there if you can honestly sit there in Palm Beach on a Friday and say 'we're in great shape, it's all speculation', then on Sunday have Bernanke over for coffee to sort out your BS bailout [appropriate acronym perhaps]. Now, the problem is - what do you do when you can't rely on the corporation itself to reflect it's true situation ? Such as we see here with MER in Q2 being WAY off, then Q3 surprise surprise surprise, and no doubt Q4. And yet, all is well ? This all makes me think of a scenario that just popped in my head - how to carefully evacuate a crowded theater safely I guess. Enron just stole, lied and then sought to destroy the evidence. I think the next step is to see MER explain why it's been unable to be relied upon for accurate assessment of it's internal affairs. You know ? I would say if someone in a relationship lied like this ? OR unintentfully was simply unrealiable as to analytic skills in promoting the standings on the family budget ? Sheesh, is this someone YOU'D invest in as a stock holder ? heck no. Maybe it goes like this, MER can say to the stock holders, okay okay, we'll release our losses, but if you run, we understand this, just don't run too far ? Thanks for another leading article. I do say, I get more ground zero insights and get a sense that Liz MacDonald is more interested in truth and justice than the SEC. I thought of a job MacDonald could go to - start a watchdog/investigative:auditing firm. First, maybe some ingress on new legislation that holds corporations accountable if they're WRONG TO their advantage in their internal review press statements, but then ? MacDonald could charge the SEC for her research and work ! I do say, people say drilling in the US, or off shore would only produce oil taking ten years to get to, that would last months or weeks and somehow THAT would influence oil futures ? I say no, that's ludicrous, but if you want to influence futures confidence in general, I bet putting Liz MacDonald in as head of SEC ? My god, you would KNOW - things are on track again and confidence would be restored considerably on wall street. It's amazing what happens when people lose confidence in their laws as well as with their economic future, no anti-depressant from Eli-Lilly will fix those woes, and they are real, oh what the heck, maybe it's not that I'm being lied to, I know, I'll try Abilify ! lol - UGH! I bring this up in that MacDonald continues to play air traffic controller as well as lawyer and judge in this complicated market place, and hopefully more people follow in her steps.

from article: The biggest issue for this firm, however, continues to be, ‘where will the new profits come from?’” Bove notes. “The answer to this question remains difficult to discern since most of the key revenue drivers of the past few years do not look very strong at all.” Gee - sounds like MY life. I do wonder what would happen if I ran my life like BS or MER or CW ? Why ? I'd be in the supermarket veggie aisle and I'd start with saying to everyone I see that I know "hiiiiiiii... how arrrrrre you" and then when they ask me I send off this phony "Greeeat, just great, everything is fine"\ I'd say if someone volunteers a point out of the blue SEVERAL times ? hey, the entire polarized subject is on their mind, so if a child volunteers out of the blue to mom at several points through the day "Mom ? I didn't steal any cookies yesterday" I'd say ? Someone has cookie stealing on the mind. The more firms like BS and MER continue to serve up super market veggie aisle nonsensical rumors intended to mislead people into buying your wrap covering the severe manic nervous breakdown that's really a daily challenge ('fiiiiiine, and you ? ') the more people will turn and go down the cereal aisle if they spot you at the store, happily avoiding anything to do with you... MER needs to study BS's case from Friday to Monday - all the way down to $8 a share. Here I see predictions above, but you know ? Schwartz of Bear Stearns had these grandiouse delusions too - served them up over the larger media outlets, and PROBABLY talked on an encrypted phone to off shore to dump anything he had ! heh.... Maybe it's all simply a matter of HOW MER wants to fall ? By doing it BS style ? you lie, then it's a quick fall, and you have a window to get out. Or, you go out and tell everyone on christmas eve day that there isn't enough money in the bank to cover all the withdrawls (BS it was not enough money to cover the options), and sure, you're bank is toast, but at least what ? you maintained integrity by telling the truth ? Tough call for Merrill - they either lie and say - all is fine, nothing to see here, keep moving, OR they say - okay okay - HERE is why we were SO far off in Q2 and Q3- and here is why you should trust us on our NEXT predictions - ha ha ha oh well- bigger question - how to stop gap any domino effect losses EITHER way MER goes. I wager MER relocates to Dubai ! jk

from article: “We have plenty of capital going forward, and we don’t need to come back into the equity market. The goal is to maintain our current ratings. No more capital raising; I’m sure we have enough capital.” (April 4, 2008) YIKES ! When people go "I'm sure ? " it bottom line beings in the entire polarity here - which includes the anti-thesis, I'm NOT sure we have enough. This was the hidden facet on Fox News anti-abortion diamond, they obsessed on Terri Schiavo - all the while ? Whether you realize it or not, but if you state or speculate on where life ends ? You're bringing in the polarized kitchen sink issue of where life begins too. So, if MER is saying we're SURE we have enough ? eeks - who asked for the 'assurance' ? Nervous there Thain ? All this connivery makes me twice think Paulson's stutter now.

All in all Merrill Lynch looks likes they are trying to prevent a panic run on sale of their stock. Why else lie about Q3 losses ? Or worse, if they are THAT far off on Q3 estimates MER ? They're probably less useful than a competent liar.

Perhaps what Merrill Lynch needs is a few taxpayer bail-out dollars. After what we have seen recently, what's a few more $Billion. Maybe that would help these poor investment bankers. Thanks!