Perhaps it is because these are the phrases that come to mind when I think of the plight of the individual investor who rode the market rollercoaster of the early 2000s. Yet, what I am discussing is not about them at all. No, they learned a hard and costly lesson when March of 2000 came in like a lion Saber-Tooth Tiger and continued downward with a bloody vengeance for the next two years. No, no ... they learned their lesson.

I am referring to the scores of poorly run banking and brokerage operations that have managed to make all of the combined post-depression market catastrophes look like a Sunday walk in the park. Maybe it is not entirely their fault, but they need to take a good portion of the blame for much of our economy's problems related to their poor decisions and lack of oversight on the millions of mortgages and loans that were improperly underwritten.

We already know that though. It is the most recent bit of news that is causing me to wonder how deep of a hole we are really in. This weekend, news for both Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) tells of desperate attempts by companies with big problems looking to bring in life-saving cash infusions. Unfortunately, both deals have the potential to really hurt shareholders. If you hold positions in either one of these fine messes, maybe it is time to consider alternative opportunities.

Call me old fashioned, but the weekend business news releases are starting to get to me.... While it is well known that Washington Mutual is in big trouble as its business is suffering the after-effects of all sorts of bad business practices, it did appear as if the TPG bailout would provide some relief until the credit markets regrouped. But as reported by the WSJ today, that deal stinks to high hell. Shareholders may wake to an ugly pre-market quote for WM as it is now being revealed that part of the TPG deal includes giving away somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.8 billion ... give or take a hundred million or so in order to get the deal done.