bookie71

Sears reminds me of Montgomery Wards, it was the powerhouse and then Sears came along. Sears has Costco amd Walmart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Ward

I liked that he is willing to tell Gates that he is wrong on farming in Africa. He tried Gate's way and it didn't work.

From way back in the dark ages when I did some feed lots, ranchers and packing houses, the bottom line isn't based on the price of beef but getting their x.xx per pound for cutting the steer up. If they know what they are doing they can hedge the price. The poor ranchers can't.

Why? The balance of a mortgage with a 25 year amortization declines by about 3% in the first year of the mortgage and a higher percentage in subsequent years as the principal progressively declines. If the market value of housing declines by roughly the same percentage over the course of a year (ie, 3%), is it reasonable to believe that bank reserves would be any more or less adequate at the end of the year? Or am I missing something obvious (wouldn't be the first time )? SJ If you review what happened in the oil bust in the 1980 in the oil states (Alaska, Texas, Oklahoma & Louisana), the weak banks failed and that dumped houses on the market which then lowere the value of the collateral of the other banks, then the marginal banks started failing and dumping house (collateral) which lowered the values much more until even the strong banks started to get very worried. For awhile you could buy houses for less than the land cost and the bank threw in a house as a bonus. That's why I like local small banks as I have a better idea if there reserves allow for the "100 year flood" - with the big guys I have no idea of the values.

As an Alaskan who supported Ms. Palin in her run for governor, be careful in believing anything she says. She could have been one of the best governors we have had, but she quit when the going got tough. She rails against government, but her only employment has been in government. Believe me she will disappoint you. I will say no more.

Should make you wonder about the adequacy of the big bank's reserves.

If it is a true depression, then the ins co's and brokerage houses could fail and we could lose it all. I don't think there is anything Joe Blow can do to hedge, especially if the brokerage houses and the brokerage insurance companies fail.

WSJ on BAC http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/11320384/1/bank-of-america-may-face-regulatory-warnings.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Maybe he is simply tying to get the people who seem to not understand the company to at least get a basic understanding.

Forbe also had an article on the fellow http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2011/11/12/dwolla-the-dollar-that-keeps-its-value/

"Sadly, that's all it seems to take these days to make it in the financial advisory business." . Several years ago, Forbes had a picture of a monkey on the cover, and the theme of the magazine was anyone could be a financial advisor.

Integrity!

down .00617 (.617%) for year - amazing the difference a month makes.

Thanks for sharing.

BUT you are missing my point, if all the repo's are put on the market at once then the value of all collateral drops and suddenly more people walk away and again the values drop. I believe that the big banks and Freddy and Fannie are very vulnerable in this area.

He also discounted the effect of Greece, which he said is "only a $350 billion economy. China will import another Greece this year." That puts things in proper perspective with a vivid sharp contrast that shows how HUGE China's economy actually is by comparison.

They have no moat, the local newspaper and a tv station now offer the same type of deal. (KTUU and ADN).

BUT the big question is, "Is the value that it is shown on the bank's balance sheet realistic?" I know that when we had our crash in the 1980's (in Alaska (we lost almost 25 % of population)) it took almost 10-12 years to clean out the inventory, because the banks refused to realize that prices had dropped so much, then when it got through their thick heads, they panicked and gave it away to get rid of it.

The following article should be of interest. It makes me wonder how good the reserves are at the big banks, which is why I like small local banks (not as much smoke and mirrors) http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/10/16/127042/millions-of-homes-lurk-on-bank.html

Are you sure that Wells owns the loan or are they simply servicing it for an investor? There is a lot of earnings for banks by simply acting as a collection agency for investors (state retirement funds, etc)

You might want to check out a waiver of premium feature in case you should get disabled. You might consider getting 2 policies and when the first is through school, you can drop one of the policies since you might not need it.

I have been looking at Meadowbrook Insurance Group (MIG), but am still wading through the 10K

You might want to check "Consumers Reports"they had a good article a couple of years ago. The biggest problem is the salesman will try to switch you to whole life, because it carries a bigger commission.

I'm not an economist but I don't think the recession ever ended

When I bought Office Outlook 2007 it said i could use on 3 computers, thus laptop and office computer, theni store all doc's in the cloud.