Are you disgusted yet? This week MBIA (NYSE: MBI) testified -- no they lobbied, hmm, actually they complained -- well the truth is they whined to Congress that short-seller William Ackman had trashed its reputation, and its stock for personal gain -- gee, no kidding -- but the big problem is he seems to have been correct to a major extent. For more on this see MBIA asks Congress to fight its battles with Ackman by Peter Cohan or MBIA plays the spooky short-seller card by Zac Bissonnette.
I own MBIA shares and recently "adventured" into more, but it was not based on management crying foul and everything being just fine. I did it because I think the company will work through the mess over time and that it is oversold now based on fear. MBIA needs to focus on cleaning up its exposure to risk and underwriting standards and stop looking for scapegoats.
Others are in the same boat. There are times the squirming around the truth is painful to watch. This week we watched a baseball pitching icon, Roger Clemens, remind us once again of the first rule of holes: "If you're in one, stop digging." I'm afraid this truism that I often refer to will continue to be a recurring theme in my stories every so often, because some folks just don't get it.
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