November 2008

Does the stock market fare better under a Democratic Administration versus a Republican Administration? Answer: No--saying it does mistakes coincidence as fact. Read on. Expect the economic arbiters charged with officially calling economic slowdowns to announce after the election that we are in a recession. October is always the toughest month of the year for the stock market, it's ... read more

Acting as an anvil on the neck of the Dow Jones Industrial Average is General Motors (GM), one of 30 corporate leaders thought to represent the U.S. economy. Citigroup (C) too. Time to dump both of them from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Both are in desperate need of capital, and I expect both will have to  seek government help. I've told you plenty about Citi's rotten balance sheet. ... read more

Dear Dazed and Confused, Why not declare to the Federal Reserve that you and your family now face "unusual and exigent circumstances" and that you would now like to register with the government as "Home Sweet Home Bank"? You deserve a break, you deserve some government money just like every other sector now holding out a tin cup to the government, right?  Why not, as the government's ... read more

The Big Three automakers' chief executives testified before Congress today, blaming the credit crisis for their downfall.  But Richard Wagoner, CEO of General Motors (GM) did not use the credit crisis as an excuse for the company's poor profits when he wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal in December 2005.  In his opinion piece, which came amidst record sales, he blamed not the ... read more

The Federal Reserve, the US Treasury Dept. and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have agreed to help bail out $306 bn in risky loans and securities backed by residential and commercial real estate assets at Citigroup, in an unprecedented intervention to rescue what was once the country's largest bank. Insiders say the bank may have no choice but to break itself up in a dramatic ... read more