Saturday, February 14, 2009

Think Stocks are Cheap? Think Again

Good Afternoon Folks!

I am sure a week doesn't go by without someone telling you that "stocks are a Cheap". Every stock broker that I know uses this line over and over again. I hear it on Bubblevision at least 10 times a day. What you need to realize is the reason these people are telling you this is because they have a vested interest in getting you to buy equities.

Stock brokers don't make any money if you sit in treasuries! Brokers only make money when they are putting you into stocks or investment funds. The only exception would be an accountant/financial planner that makes a flat fee based on a percentage of your total investment portfolio.

The problem here is that the brokers that most Americans go to for investment advice are ironically the last people they should be talking to when it comes to their nest egg because they have a vested interest in where you put your money. Whats sad is most advisors are probably looking to see how much money they can make off of where they put your money versus actually looking to protect and grow your life savings..

I mean how many of you were told to "stay the course, the market will come back" by your broker when stocks started dropping?


Anyone that listened to this "professional" advice now finds themselves 50% poorer. Their 401k's are now 201k's! Going forward, I think everyone needs to take ownership of their retirement portfolio's. Do you own research, read some solid financial blogs, and push back when your financial adviser's tell you to do nothing with your portfolio as the market falls off a cliff.

If you portfolio is down 50% and your financial advisor has you 100% in stocks, I suggest that you move your money because anyone that has you 100% in equities in this type of bear market simply isn't a good money manager.

Now, lets get back to the question: Are stocks cheap? Ahhh NO! Take a look:



My Take:

As you can see at the end of 2008, stocks still had a P/E ratio of about 20-1. Historically when stocks get this expensive, we usually BEGIN to have a recession. Yikes! Here we are 40% from the highs, and history is telling us that we should just NOW be starting to head into a recession.

This shows you how insane the market got over the last 25 years! In the past 140 years, no debt bubble even comes close to the one that we are now watching burst right before our eyes. This makes the 1929 bubble look like a walk in the park!

Equiries historically aren't inexpensive until P/E ratio's get underneath 10-1 from an earnings perspective. The reason for this is because corporate earnings fall dramatically during a recession because people stop spending. Stocks then need to ne repriced drop in order to reflect this.

The bottom line here is stocks are not cheap folks. They are actually expensive from a historical perspective! The PE's need to drop another 50% from here before they are actually considered to be"cheap". As a result, the market still have a long ways to go on the downside folks!

Bottom Line:

Just roll your eyes the next time you hear a "professional" on CNBC telling you that "stocks are cheap". Next time you meet with your broker, pull this chart out when he tries to pull the same stunt and see how he reacts.

I bet you that he won't have much to say. In fact, you might start smelling something because there is a good chance he might have an "accident" in his pants.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Bear Market Continues to Growl!

Good Evening Folks!

Today was an extremely interesting day. The bulls are now a complete mental case after seeing zero follow through on yesterday's sparkling reversal. I watched the beginning of CNBC's Fast Money tonight and they all looked completely drained. One of the traders admitted that he had lost money everyday this week.

The bulls are starting to get extremely frustrated as their bounces off the lows continue to shrink. Reality is beginning to slap them in the face. I say this because the smart bulls(there are 1 or 2 of them) understand that the markets will not turn around until housing prices stabilize, and Geithner's failure to come up with a housing recovery plan tells them that they may not be able to stop the housing price correction.

All I can say is: DUH! Everyone on THTB has known this on obvious fact for almost a year now! Once bubbles burst they cannot be stopped. Housing prices probably have another 20-30% on the downside and there is nothing anyone can do that can stop this. Period!

An interesting observation from CNBC today:

There was a major private equity investor on CNBC that said the banks have their loan books marked at .30 on the dollar above what their actually worth. He gave an example: Alt-A loans are now selling for around .45 on the dollar when a bank is forced to sell them due to liquidations etc. The problem he explained is the banks have them marked with a .30 cent premium which equals .75 cents on the buck. Yikes! It doesn't take a math degree to understand why they are all insolvent. And yet people wonder why they refuse to lend. You need money on order to do this!

Folks, whats scary here is this is what they are selling for today. What if housing prices drop another 25%? What are those Alt-A loans worth then? .25 on the dollar? .20? .15? The whole thing is so disturbing that I can't even think about it too much because it makes me realize how truly screwed this country is.

I think this is why we are seeing a lot of despair on the street. In some ways this may be a good thing. Remember, we will not see the lows until the bulls throw their hands up in the air and start to sell in a panic. This is the capitulation that we all talk about. We haven't had this yet folks. When we do you will know it.

Bottom Line:

I added some short positions in the Q's and SDS once I saw no real continuation of yesterday's rally. I also continue to hold my two positions in SPG PUTS and SRS. I also have 1 measly little call contract left on TBT. I sold most of this last week after getting burned badly, but I decided to hold onto one just for the hell of it. I have nothing on the long side right now in my trading account. I sold the SDS calls a minute before the close and took some profits. I kept everything else on heading into the close. My Q's ended the day pretty flat. Commercial real estate collapsed today so those trades worked pretty well. SPG was down almost 8%. SRS was up almost 12%.

I think commercial is falling apart because it appears that Obama's stimulus plan is going to focus on foreclosures and recapitalizing the banks. This does not bode well for the commercial guys. There is only so much money to go around and someone must be left out in the cold. Its looking more and more like its going to be commercial real estate.

Something to take note of: Stocks sold off hard in after hours trading. We lost another 6 handles on the S&P after the close to end up at 820 on the S&P. This just happens to be a key support area. If this breaks sucker breaks south Monday we will most likely retest 741. If 741 doesn't hold then god help us.

Closing at 820 also sets up a scenario for a potential bounce. I don't see this happening on Tuesday. Obama rolls out the foreclosure plan the following day so expect the long money to stay on the sidelines for the most part. The bulls were burned to the tune of 400 points on the first "recovery plan" announcement following Geithner's famous speech. Expect them to wait for firm details this go around.

Going forward, the ongoing sticksaves should result in smaller and less impulsive moves to the upside. The bulls have consistently been taken out to the woodshed and beaten since the beginning of the year. This has rattled their psyche and made them a little gun shy. The bears are growling and in total control.

Keep an eye on this story over the weekend:

"Britain's biggest high street bank shocked the City by announcing almost £11 billion of losses last year, more than twice what banking analysts had expected.

The Government already holds a 43 per cent stake in Lloyds after injecting £17 billion into the bank last year.

The bank's shares closed down 32.5 per cent last night. The fall leaves taxpayers with a paper loss of nearly £10 billion on the government's investment."

The UK is awash in debt and on the brink of default. Keep a close watch on this. There are basically potential shoe drops all over the world folks. We are about to head into a financial storm of the likes that none of us have ever seen. Be very very careful with your investments. Save some cash and get prepared.

A few last things to note: The DOW for the week closed at 7850 which is below November lows. I consider this to be extremely bearish. Also, as bearish as I am on the economy, I plan on selling my shorts heading into the Obama speech. I am sure he will not make the same mistakes as last weeks debacle. Front running this would be suicide. I expect a firm detailed announcement. We all know it won't work, but you need to respect the desperation for any news that could provide a bounce.

We are once again staring off the edge of the cliff everyone. Is this the week where we finally jump?

Stay Tuned.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Bailout Plan Saves the Market

Good Evening Folks

I hope everyone had a great week. Its good to be back.

Man oh man oh man....We dodged a bullet today folks. The market dropped sharply in the morning and actually broke through the key support level of 820 on the S&P before rallying back on news that the government was once again going to "save" housing. Gee...We've never seen this game this before have we? Yeah....right.

The market manipulation that is currently going on right now is really disgusting. Its obvious the market wants to test the lows as it looks to find a bottom. This is how the markets work: Finding bottoms are a natural healthy process that will eventually attract buyers because stocks will begin to be fairly valued. This process eventually leads us to the recovery that we are all looking for.

Of course the dopes in DC can't allow this to happen. God forbid the market drops! It might be painful for Americans if we drop to 600 on the S&P! These arrogant asses actually think they can prevent this from happen by continuing to intervene into the markets.

REALITY CHECK OBAMA: The market correction is going to continue wether you like it or not. You cannot stop it from happening because this is how the market works. Anytime you intervene and stop this natural healing process you are only making things worse! We have delayed this pain long enough. Its time for the government to get out of the way and let it happen!

Here was the government sticksave that rallied the markets:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is hammering out a program to subsidize mortgages in a new front to fight the credit crisis, sources familiar with the plan told Reuters on Thursday, boosting financial markets.

In a major break from existing aid programs, the plan under consideration would seek to help homeowners before they fall into arrears on their loans. Current programs only assist borrowers that are already delinquent.

Wall Street stock indexes quickly retraced earlier losses on the report, with the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average jumping 245 points, or 3.0 percent, to close just 6 points lower on the day. Earlier in the session, stock prices had been testing lows seen last November on investor worries about the economy.

Under the evolving plan, sources said homes would undergo a standardized reappraisal and homeowners would face a uniform eligibility test.

The administration may also lower the trigger level that decides who would be eligible for relief. Under an existing program, loans are reworked if a borrower is spending more than 38 percent of their gross income on their mortgage.

In an interview, James Lockhart, the regulator who oversees government-controlled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, told Reuters the industry was eager to have a standardized loan modification standard.

"I've talked to all the major servicers -- both the big bank ones and the big independent ones -- and they are all ready to go, they're chomping at the bit," Lockhart, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said. "The other thing they're asking for standardization."
However, he declined to speculate on any plans the administration may be considering. The Treasury Department, which is taking the lead role in financial rescue efforts, did not respond to a request for comment."

My Take:

Isn't this sticksave getting old? They need some new material. The news shouldn't have rallied the market. It doesn't do anything other than reward speculative behaviour at the expense of the taxpayer. Essentially folks here is how this plan works: Joe "speculator" spent 600k on a house that he never should have tried to buy. The bank gave him a bad loan and now he can't afford it.

According to the plan, the government would look at what Joe makes and will shrink the loan down to a level at where he can afford the loan. So if Joe can afford the house at 350k versus the 600k he paid, the government drops the loan to 350k and the taxpayer/government eats the 250k balance on the loan.

Isn't capitalism just grand?

You know I don't even know if I would be angry anymore if this program gets approved. I am beginning to feel like one of those women who marries a wife beater. I have been abused so many times as a taxpayer that I think I am just numb.

I mean you can only be punched in the face so many times before you start to just roll over. Lets be honest here: We will all be paying this debt back for the rest of our lives. Its not like we can payoff $9 trillion anytime soon.

Sometimes I think this is why there is no anger or outrage out there. I mean most of America just lost half of their retirement, 30% of the value of their home, and their jobs, yet you hardly hear a complaint from anyone. I haven't seen a demonstration of more than few hundred people on Wall St.

Why is this the case? Are we all too busy watching American Idol or have we just taken too many shots to the head from the wife beater?

My vote here is America is traumatized.

Bottom Line:

I don't know how we are going to break this cycle. These interventional bounces never last. The new housing program program will fail just like the 20 others before it.

From a market perspective, I think once we drifted down below 820 on the S&P, the market was looking for anything to stop from having to retest 741. Obama's plan was just what the market doctor ordered. Do we see some follow through tomorrow? Tough call.

I still think the general trend is down, but I also sense that we aren't prepared to visit Lucifer from a psychological aspect(just like the abused wife who took another beating but isn't ready to leave). I added no new positions. In fact, I wish I was home to sell the rest of my shorts when we were down 2-3%. I don't like the market at all here, and if anything going long here with a tight stop looks like a better play.

There is one trend that must be noted. We continuously pull back to 820 on the S&P after each interventional bounce. However, the recent trend here is that we continue to reach lower highs after each respective bounce.

The "going long" trade at 820 continues to work. At the same time, traders will tell you that the more times you retrace and test a bottom, the more likely you will eventually break through it. I don't think we pullback to these levels again without breaking through. The anxiety and lack of confidence is extremely high on Wall St. The soaring price of gold says it all from a fear perspective. I personally think we see no significant bounce until the 741 is tested. Intervention bounces cannot be respected.

I will sit on my hands and see how the market reacts tomorrow. The futures are flat and so is my trading account for the most part.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Turbo Timmy Tanks the Market

Hi Folks

I am about to head out on a business trip so I won't be able to post for a few days so I need to be brief. I should be back on Thursday. Today was ugly.

Here is today in a nutshell: The market was looking for some answers on how to get out of this mess and Turbo Timmy gave them nothing but proposals. If you are the Treasury Secretary and you plan on announcing a recovery plan to help get us out of the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, you better come prepared with solutions because that's what the market is expecting. The last thing the market wanted to hear was "We're working on it".

This has further shattered confidence that the current administration has their hands around this disaster. Its pretty apparent that they don't and are completely overwhelmed by the severity of the crisis.

I'll say it again folks. There is no answer to this economic nightmare. We don't have the money to pay for what the banks have done. This became crystal clear today. You are hearing nothing but rumors and proposals coming out of the Fed right now because they have no answers!

Expect more of the same in the oncoming weeks. I really don't know how we get out of this without some severe pain over a very long period of time.

Trading:

I kept all of my shorts on from Friday so needless to say it was a nice day from a trading perspective. TBT was my one loser. I dumped that in the early afternoon. I ending up closing about 70% of my short positions at or near the close. There is no sense in being a pig! One of the key reasons I did this was because 820 on the S&P 500 held. This is a key technical level. If we break through this in the next few days, we most likely retest the 741 lows.

I think a 741 retest is highly likely at this point given today's developements. Geithner looked very uncomfortable at the podium during his press conference. He seemed very unsure of himself and appeared to lack confidence. He seriously needs to work on this or he is going to have no credibility. At least Paulson looked like he knew what he was talking about when he was up there!

Today was a devastating reversal for the bulls considering they have had their way the last few days. There are many trading counts that were just completely blown to hell as a result of this destruction.

I kept a few shorts on in case we see some follow through, but they are light positions because I will be out of town.

Good luck trading the next few days. Lets all hope the market doesn't fall into the abyss as a result of the disasterous Geithner news conference. I am starting to get that Sept/Nov. feeling again and thats pretty frightening considering the DOW sits under 8000 this time!

Bottom line here guys and gals is we seriously need leaders in DC that can help restore confidence! I saw nothing of the sort today.

Monday, February 9, 2009

"Bad Bank" Dies/Private Equity Heist Lives!

Surprise!

The bad bank is now dead according to CNBC:

"The Obama administration’s wide-ranging plan to stabilize the financial system no longer includes creating a "bad bank" but will still contain measures to buy up toxic assets from financial institutions, according to a source familiar with the plan.

In addition, funding for the bank-rescue plan is unlikely to exceed the $350 billion currently available under the TARP, this source said.

A Treasury Department source said the plan was essentially complete with only minor “tweaks” being applied. The plan will be presented to members of Congress this evening, according to sources.

There’s been great speculation in recent days about both the measures and terms involved in the bank-rescue plan. In particular, there’s been great uncertainty about the inclusion of the "bad bank" concept, where the government would set up an aggregate bank and buy up billions of dollars of bad debt from banks.

At the moment, the idea of involving private capital in the purchase of bad assets “is gaining speed,” said the source, who is familiar with the discussions. In that way, the government might simply encourage firms to buy the assets or provide some sort government subsidy covering some of the costs.

“You don’t need as many dollars," the source explained, and “the market sets the price.” Such a model would also reduce the likelihood of bank nationalization by demonstrating that the “company is strong enough to attract private capital."

The latest version of the plan no longer addresses any immediate aid to insurance companies with thrift units that have applied for capital injections under the existing TARP. That idea appeared to be gaining support on Saturday.

In addition to asset purchases, the government will continue capital injections into needy firms as well as the "ring fence" concept recently applied to Citigroup and Bank of America which provides guarantees and insurance to cover bad assets remaining on firms’ books."

My Take:

Well its just about official ladies and gentlemen. We are about to get robbed for a second time by Wall St only this time its been approved and delivered by both the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. This pretty much confirms that what I wrote about over the weekend was all pretty accurate.

Here is the simple translation of the article above folks: This TALF will allow hedge funds/Private equity to swoop in and cherry pick whats left of the debt carcass, buy and hold it at a large profit until it inevitably plummets in value like every other "garbage" debt asset, and then dump it back onto the governments balance sheet. Or in other words: They dump it back ontoOU!

So essentially the TALF is the modern version of a "bad bank" except this time it will be run by private equity versus the government. However, this "bad bank" will be different than any other in history. This will become the first "bad bank" that doesn't lose money because it's losses are taken by the taxpayer!

Don't you just love the "change" that has occurred in Washington? The 2 million people that showed up at Obama's inauguration were all duped. He and his administration are just as crooked as all of the rest IMO. The fact that they are not only allowing but endorsing this program is beyond belief!

Do we now elect crooks to run our government? Is what its come to? This is a total heist at the expense of the taxpayer via a government guarantee.

Wall St now gets a second chance to line their pocket with gold while we sit here and continue to lose our jobs and wallow in debt. This is MADDENING!

This sticksave will do nothing to help our economy, and it also fails to produce true price discovery on garbage that sits on the banks balance sheets. Private equity will agree to gobble these assets up via leverage at a bloated price, and will then dump them onto the government once they make their money. The government/taxpayer then ends up with thousands of worthless assets that our grandchildren will be stuck paying for.

The reality here that the government refuses to admit is the value of these assets is ZERO folks. Maybe .20 on the dollar in some instances. This is basically a back door "bad bank" that does nothing but kick the can down the road. Its a total SELLOUT!

I think Turbo Timmy realized the bond market wasn't going to allow him to create a financial vehicle/bad bank that allowed him to put all of this garbage directly onto the governments balance sheet. If he had tried the "bad bank" yields would have soared.

So what does this slimeball decide to do instead? He creates a pot of gold for private equity by offering them sweetheart deal . At the same time, this deal also allows him to create a "backdoor" that enables him to get these assets off the banks books and onto the governments balance sheet. How does this occur? Private equity will force the Treasury to make good on their guarantee subsidy by forcing them to take back the assets once they are in the toilet and worthless. Pretty slick there Turbo!

Bottom Line:

So whats the end result with this deal? More fraud, zero transparency, more money for the pigmen, and no help for Main St. Don't ya just love capitalism?

Its time to stand up to these financial fraudsters. The fact that a DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT allowed Wall St to gorge themselves on another pile of money while the common man struggles is beyond belief. I am beginning to believe that the values and beliefs of both parties have completely vanished!

There are no longer Democratic and Republican parties in Washington anymore. The "Moneywhore" party is now in power and they own every seat in power.

The futures are red right now and I hope this market tanks on the news. In fact, if it wasn't for my fellow investors, part of me wishes the market would go to zero.

Perhaps only then wwill we ever rid ourselves of this obsession with greed. We better find another cure for this obsession because greed is about to take down our financial system.

DOW 1400? It doesn't seem so far fetched anymore.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

$1 trillion More for the Pigmen

Everyday I wake up hoping that our politicians will see the light and realize that we are heading down the wrong path. I woke up once again this morning with the same hopes. Today they were quickly dashed once I flipped on the computer and clicked onto Bloomberg.

I need to repeat part of my post from yesterday before I get to this because I am absolutely irate about the TALF. We need to torpedo the TALF. Wall St is once again going to be allowed make billions at our expense thanks to our friends in DC. My god, the founding fathers would roll over in their grave if they saw what was happening in this country right now.

The TALF could possibly become the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of this nation. I am totally appalled that the Fed/Treasury would introduce legislation that would allow hedge funds to make billions of dollars with literally zero risk at our expense. All of the risk is put back on the taxpayer after the hedge funds rake in their billions of profit. The fact that the Fed could even think of such an idea at a time when every American is struggling is absolutely piggish and disgusting.

Remember folks, here is the game. Via the TALF: The hedgie's are allowed to leverage up to 20-1 and buy securitizations that are worth close to zero at say .80 on the dollar. This allows the banks to get rid of the garbage on their balance sheets at artificially high prices which reduces their losses.

Any real capitalistic/moral nation would force the banks to take the losses now instead of passing the losses onto the taxpayer down the road. I guess our nation wants to head down a different path. I mean geez: why should they take the losses when we are dumb enough to sit back and take them ourselves right? Ok sarcasm now off

Back to the game:

The hedgie's make double digit returns on the securitizations that are highly leveraged. This leverage allows them to make huge profits in a very short period of time before the asset drops in value. So once the asset drops in value, the TALF sstates that the hedge funds can only lose what they put in. So if they put in $50 million and make $100 million before the asset drops in value their only exposure is the $50 million. So they basically walk with $50 mil in their pocket.

So what happens to these same securitizations that continue to plummet in value down to their real price of say .20 on the dollar once the hedgies are out? It goes back to the Fed/Treasury balance sheet: In other words the taxpayer.

So people, once again Wall St gets rich and we take the losses. How is this crap allowed to happen as our economy falls off a cliff? Is their any morality at all in DC or Wall St anymore? where are the cops? HOW IN THE HELL IS THIS ALLOWED TO HAPPEN?????

Ok Rant off

Here is the scoop on the pigmen's next potential $1 trillion pot of gold

It appears that Obama is going to ask Congress for an additional $1 trillion dollars in aide for the banks:

"Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s struggle to push an economic stimulus bill through Congress may seem easy compared to what he’ll encounter when he returns to Capitol Hill for additional funds to rescue the banking system.

Obama will likely need to ask Congress for more money to recapitalize banks, as much as $1 trillion on top of the roughly $300 billion remaining in the current Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to an estimate by former Federal Reserve economist Ward McCarthy. That will be an even tougher sell for the new president than the stimulus plan, which is headed for a Senate vote this week after passing the House with no Republican support.

That package, at least $780 billion of spending and tax cuts aimed at boosting consumer demand and creating jobs, is just a part of what it will take to pull the economy out of the 14- month-old recession. The stimulus will be effective only if credit markets, currently frozen by illiquid assets clogging banks’ balance sheets, begin to function again.

“It will take an enormous effort to build broader public support” for another bank rescue plan, said Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Had the stimulus gone through swimmingly it would have made it easier.”

Treasury will probably propose a combination of buying toxic bank assets, providing guarantees for other assets, and making additional capital infusions to banks, said McCarthy, now a principal at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, an economic research firm in Skillman, New Jersey.

New funding for the banking system will be all the harder to justify because the original TARP, which so far has provided almost $400 billion to more than 360 banks, hasn’t shown much in the way of tangible benefits.

“They continue to assume that if you do something and it hasn’t worked, you have to continue to do more of it,” said Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican from California. “That’s the definition of insanity.”

Obama and his staff struggled last week to win support for the stimulus package from several moderate Republicans in the Senate, including Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Support for another round of cash for ailing banks may be even tougher to win after reports last week raised new questions about the cost and effectiveness of the assistance provided already.
$78 Billion Overpayment

The chairman of the TARP’s Congressional Oversight Panel told the Senate Banking Committee that Treasury paid $254 billion of TARP funds for bank equity worth $176 billion, an overpayment of $78 billion. And even after the infusions of taxpayer funds, a majority of U.S. banks still made it tougher for consumers and businesses to get credit at the end of 2008, a Feb. 2 Federal Reserve report showed.

Such findings give ammunition to lawmakers such as Utah Republican Senator Bob Bennett of Utah who say they were misled about how the TARP would work.

“Can we believe what we are told next time?” Bennett said at the Senate committee hearing. “Those of us who decided we were going to take the political risk of voting for this the first time will be faced with a constituency that will say, ‘Fool me once, OK, but don’t fool me twice.’”

Final Take:

Here we go again! Notice the section that I highlighted above. Uhhhh...Haven't we already tried this before?

The banks burned through the first round of injections from the TARP faster than a hot knife through butter. Why should we throw another $1 trillion into this black hole?

I also see no mentioning of any repercussions or punishments being doled out to the fraudsters that created this mess. This is total bullsh*t. A march to Washington needs to happen and fast. The fat cat elites of this nation are going to rob whats left of our nation's wealth if they are not stopped.

My guess here is there is no chance this recovery package passes in its current form. You can read the quotes up above from some of the politicians. They are all agitated by the lack of transparency around the first TARP. Congress was fooled once, they won't be fooled again. I expect much harsher regulations for Wall St this go around, and Congress will want to know exactly how this additional money is spent(that is if they ever approve it).

I think there is a slight chance that this recovery plan never gets passed. There seems to be more and more resentment towards the banks in this country. I think Congress and the people will want blood before we give these fraudsters another dime!

Lets hope there is some sense of decency and morality left in Congress to put a stop to all of this. They need to stand up to the pigmen on Wall St. before they rob and destroy whats left of this country. The TALF and the bailouts must stop immediately. This money is all being wasted and we will badly need it down the road as we head into a depression

I wish I had a special potion that allowed me to bring back our founding fathers from the dead.

This nonsense would have been stopped in its tracks long ago if they were alive today.