Where is the bottom? Someone has to make the first step...may be the banks...I say YES ..I have the solution but a good idea could cost a lot....

Sheldon,

Apple will rise again, but why didn't you thank me for APH? Also, you couldn't see the drop in anything or anyone related to subprimes? Sticking with Countrywide is insane. The market isn't really that bad? We are seeing a fairly standard liquidity problem. Read the book, "The Devil in the Design." Very boring but a great textbook for understanding market excess and how sure things put large banks in the grave. Gentle Ben needs to have a conference call with all of the large banks and hedge funds and calculate the worst case scenario. The longer he ignores this the longer folks will remain fearful. He needs to make some type of public statement. I love APH because it gains when the dollar drops. Nevertheless, betting on a rebound in the banking sector is wishful thinking indeed considering that many of their near term profits may have been as a result of the cheap money.


Beltway Greg on vacation in Jackson Hole

I'm in wholesale mortgage business and I've seen first hand the stupid lending WAMA,Countrywide, and Indymac have done in the last several years. I'm seeing today that their borrowers can't refinance, because their credit is bad or they own more on the loan than the house is worth, can 't sell for the same reason. These guys are hiding a ton of potential losses and the blood is just starting to flow.

Oops, the book, "A Demon of our own Design" by Richard Bookstaber. Something about the thin air. Actually, not that dull....interesting inclusion of Three Mile Island, the meltdown in Chernobyl, and an interesting disection of the Dutch tulip bulb mania.

Beltway Greg
"My Heroes have always been fund managers"

I think you are too concentrated on one sector!

Check CFC's insiders
http://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/25191.htm

Good luck!

I was defrauded by the Washington Mutual Bounce Protection scheme. When I researched Washington Mutual, I found 1,000s of complaints of fraud, wrongful foreclosures, actions by attorneys general in many states, articles in the New York Times alleging more than $1,000,000,000 taken in fraudulent fees just in 2003, an article in Business Week entitled "Is this any way to Run a Bank, a local television exposé here in Dallas, an "F" rating for fraud by the Los Angeles Better Business Burea, etc.

All the while many analysts were gushing over Washington Mutual stock.

I would be intrigued to know how this enthusiasm among some analysts was sustained in light of well and widely reported accounts of the scale of Washington Mutual's fraud, etc.

Did the analysts not do their homework and were not aware of the information? Did they not believe the information? Did they discount the information and think Washington Mutual had become so big and strong it could get away with wrongdoing on this scale and still prosper? Were the analysts bribed?

It seemed clear to me that Washington Mutual would probably implode Enron/WorldCom style and I'm not even a professional analyst.

Any one understand what was going on?

Unfortunately, I have been a customer of Wamu for years, and yes, they overcharge their customers with all of their "free" services. I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on these fees, which could have been reversed by the manager. They are living on these fees, and don't care one bit about their customer base. I believe they are in total survival mode, and will take money out of anyone they can just to survive their poor portfolio lending. their customer service is an F. I would bet against them anyday.

Kristie, when you are right ...you are right. But what can we do?

Frank,
You are abso right.