Archive for September, 2008
Investors and people holding accounts with AIG (American International Group) are calling individual offices to see how safe their money is. One couple said they were worried about $90,000 in their retirement account. If these people studied before investing they would not be involved with AIG. Reasonable concerns would dictate that important financial assets should have been moved away from AIG long ago. Would you buy a used car from these guys?
Speaking to the issue of regulators and the crash of Wall Street, “They just haven’t done a particularly good job,” said James Barth, a senior finance fellow at the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Los Angeles. The same can be said for the entire Bush administration.
Did you see price gouging before and after hurricane Ike? Do you also think predatory mortgage lending is a form of price gouging or deceit? Regarding gas prices an intelligent statement was made. With regard to the lending crisis, no effort was made. “It’s critical that we go to the source. A number of gas stations are claiming that they are only passing on increases that they have had to pay, so it is vital to examine where these price increases originated.” Why not do the same with mortgages?
On July 19, 2007 Lehman Brothers rejected suggestions that they are exposed to subprime problems. Many companies made statements in the summer of 2007, in part because their shock and disbelief caused those companies to say just about anything. Remember Countrywide in July 2007? But we had a problem with Lehman Brothers rejection of exposure to subprime as soon as soon as they said it. Lehman Brothers always loved subprime and companies like Household International. How could they possibly NOT be exposed to subprime, as their 2007 statement suggested?