You know, like saying the occupation is over while leaving 50,000 troops behind.
"Dow at two-week high on three-day rally" by Associated Press | March 13, 2009
NEW YORK - .... It's too soon to tell whether this week's upturn is the beginning of a bull market or simply a temporary rally within a bear market, but either way there has been a pronounced change in Wall Street's tone.
"How all this turned around in a week, I don't know," said Scott Bleier, president of CreateCapital Advisors. "But it's certainly a better outlook than how it looked two weeks ago."
The rally got an extra dose of adrenaline yesterday after an accounting board told Congress it may recommend an easing in financial reporting rules of tough-to-sell assets - a change that banks say would help their bottom lines. Upheaval in the banking industry has been dogging the market since 2007, and hope that banks might finally get relief in how they value their bad assets spurred a flurry of buying on Wall Street.
"We might find that the banks are not as bad, or not bad at all, if these assets are marked differently," said Doreen Mogavero, president of the New York floor brokerage Mogavero, Lee & Co.
--more--"
(Blog editor just shaking his head at the self-deception)
Here is more:
"Lewis offers a side of optimism; Bank of America CEO says recession under attack on many fronts" by Ross Kerber, Globe Staff | March 13, 2009
.... Bank of America Corp. has so far been profitable this year, and is poised to record earnings of nearly $50 billion in 2009 before taxes and loan losses.
Then WHY they get the HUNDREDS of BILLIONS from US?
Kenneth D. Lewis was hardly a lone voice of sunshine yesterday. Ailing carmaker General Motors Corp. said it would not need an additional $2 billion in US government aid because it was making progress on a cost reductions. Meanwhile, fabled Omaha investor Warren Buffett said in a television interview he sees buying opportunities in current markets, while another prominent investor, David Swensen, head of Yale University's endowment, called on investors to be "enthusiastic" about stocks at current low prices.
Lewis spoke before an audience hungry for good news about the economy - members and guests of the Boston College Chief Executives' Club - while another audience, the investment world, was also receptive to the banker's words. Bank of America's stock rose 19 percent yesterday, one of the bigger gainers on a day when Wall Street posted another strong rally.
"Everyone came out of the room feeling better that we may have begun to turn in the right direction," said Robert K. Sullivan Jr., managing director of the Boston office of national recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International.
Lewis was in friendly climes. The business audience, which included Patriots owner Robert Kraft, State Street Corp. chief executive Ronald E. Logue, and Partners HealthCare System Inc. chief executive Dr. James Mongan, gave him a warm welcome, strong applause, and no hostile questions.
Translation: RICHER SHITTERS are INSULATED from the rabble -- which is why we must eat them!
But Lewis and his bank have been a frequent target of politicians, labor leaders, and other critics who have questioned whether Bank of America has done enough with the billions in taxpayer funds to improve the lending climate.
If stuffing them in their pockets is enough then they did.
In the last quarter of 2008 alone the bank lost nearly $2 billion, figures that didn't even include its purchase of ailing brokerage Merrill Lynch in the fall. Moreover, Lewis has been criticized for refusing to provide investigators with more information about the hefty bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives before Bank of America bought it at the end of 2008.
Just last week a coalition of labor groups called for Lewis's ouster over the bonuses at Merrill and what they said was a failure by Lewis to promptly disclose more than $20 billion in pretax losses at Merrill.
He's what we call a prick-shitter!
Some economists and politicians have suggested Bank of America, Citigroup, and other troubled banks be nationalized, or completely taken over by the government, a notion Lewis sought to knock down hard yesterday.
Already are; public owns them with taxpayer-backed funds, even though lying looters still managing them. It's sort of the worst of both worlds right now.
Such a move would "immediately undermine confidence in the financial system even further and send shudders through the investment community. It would give the false impression that banks are insolvent, and investors would immediately start betting on which banks would be next," Lewis said.
Well, if they are SOLVENT then GIVE BACK the BAILOUT DOUGH because YOU DIDN'T NEED IT!
Bank of America bought FleetBoston Financial Corp. in 2004 to become the largest bank in New England and in Massachusetts.... In his talk Lewis also answered other criticisms swirling around the bank. On the hot-button issue of limiting executive compensation, he said that too many pay restrictions could drive employees to work for competitor banks.
Pffft! So what? You guys and your f***ing excusues!
Meanwhile, the bank's spending on sports marketing, including sponsorship deals with Major League Baseball, football, and NASCAR, returned $10 in revenue for every dollar spent - an answer to labor groups and others that have charged sports spending amounts to public subsidies for the teams.
Yeah, HOW COME the ENVIRO-NUTTIES NEVER PROTEST SPORTS or NASCAR!!? I never see them there. They only wanna crawl up your ass and install a fart meter!
"This is not wasted money. It's money that drives business results," he said.
And you can TAKE THAT to the BANK because THIS LYING LOOTER SAID IT!!!!
--more--"
Of course, advertising doesn't really work when advertisers get in trouble, but....
Yeah, never mind this, 'murkn:
WASHINGTON - The net worth of American households fell by the largest amount in more than a half-century of record keeping during the fourth quarter of last year.
The Federal Reserve said yesterday that household net worth dropped by a record 9 percent from the level in the third quarter. The decline was the sixth straight quarterly drop in net worth and underscored the battering that US families are undergoing in the midst of a steep recession with unemployment surging and the value of their homes and investments plunging.
Ah, but the stock market swinging up, problems solved says the corporate MSM.
Net worth represents total assets such as homes and checking accounts minus liabilities such as mortgages and credit card debt.... After five straight years of sharp increases in home prices, the housing bubble burst in 2007, sending waves through the financial system as banks were hit with billions of dollars of losses on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities.
--more--"
Yup, and the DEFAULT SWAPS and DERIVITAVES that DID THEM IN!!
