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Banned
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
Yes, I know. I was referring to your specific action, not the idea of public ownership. You would suggest that someone with the skills, talent, experience, and desire to head a utility/health care company should be a toilet cleaner? That doesn't sound democratic; it sounds authoritarian. Why don't we just execute them instead?
/hyperbole
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I think that the "specific action", is the opposite of "fascism", or corporatism. Corporatism is "fascism lite", the government taking direction from, and acts in unison with, at the expense of the best interests of nearly everyone else.
We've experienced, in less than the last 60 days, the spectacle of the largest US Bank, Citigroup, the largest financial brokerage, Merrill, and the largest industrial corporation, GM, all experience significant up moves in the prices of their common stock, on public assurances of their CEOs or CFOs, that "the worst is over". The stocks have all declined at least 25 percent in price, since, rocking the markets. Government regulators have done nothing in response, even though the false pronouncements of these giants greatly influenced the broader move up to new October 9 record highs on both the Dow 30 and S&P 500 stock indexes. Blatant manipulative, criminal fraud, and no federal regulators have announced objection or an inquiry.
This is the same stock market that president Bush attempted to feed the public's social security assets to, in the name of "privatization". Since the financially secure retirement of so many hinges on the soundness of the stock market, would not "toilet cleaning" be a generous punishment for the thugs of the top executives of the following corporations?
IMO, this is an episode more reminiscent of fascism. Nationalization of utilities and health care sectors is associated with socialists. My ideal platform would include an SEC investigating and regulating in a pro-public, instead of in the present, pro-business manner....
My example of deception began with the false assurances of a major, but lesser investment bank on September 19:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/business/19wall.html
By JENNY ANDERSON
Published: September 19, 2007
..Lehman is the No. 1 underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds, or bonds backed by pools of mortgages.
Third-quarter profit fell 3 percent, to $887 million, or $1.54 a share, from $916 million, or $1.57 a year ago. It declined 30 percent from a strong second quarter...
.... “It’s not smooth sailing,” Lehman’s chief financial officer, Christopher O’Meara, said, <h3>“but the worst of this credit correction is behind us.”</h3>
Mr. O’Meara expected merger and acquisition volumes would end the year up 15 to 20 percent.
Lehman’s shares closed up $5.87 to $64.49, on a day the overall market rose 2.5 percent after the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate....
Quote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/bu...0A&oref=slogin
Citigroup Warns of 60% Earnings Drop in Third Quarter
By ERIC DASH and JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: October 1, 2007
...Citigroup said it expects its third-quarter net income to fall to $2.2 billion from $5.51 billion in the period a year earlier as it books losses on loans related to leveraged buyouts, weak fixed-income trading results and the deterioration of complex mortgage-backed securities that contained bad subprime loans. It also said its consumer business would be hurt by higher credit costs.
“Our expected third-quarter results are a clear disappointment,” Charles Prince, the chief executive of Citigroup, said in a statement. “The decline in income was driven primarily by weak performance in fixed-income credit market activities, write-downs in leveraged loan commitments, and increases in consumer credit costs.”
<h3>“We expect to return to a normal earnings environment in the fourth quarter,” Mr. Prince added.</h3>
Mr. Prince faces mounting pressure from investors because of Citigroup’s sluggish stock price. Today’s announcement, in fact, comes four years since Mr. Prince took over as chief executive from Sanford I. Weill. Its stock price was in the $47 to $49 range in October 2003. This morning, it slumped at the opening bell before staging a rally as investors were cheered that the company was putting the worst of the subprime and credit crisis behind it. Its shares closed up more than 2 percent, at $47.72....
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/bu...5citi-web.html
November 5, 2007
Citigroup Names Rubin as Chairman and Plans More Write-Downs
By ERIC DASH
The board of Citigroup today accepted the resignation of its embattled chairman and chief executive, Charles O. Prince III, and appointed Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, as its chairman, according to a person briefed on the situation.
At an emergency meeting held today at the bank’s Park Avenue headquarters, the board also appointed the chairman of its European operation, Winfried Bischoff, as its acting chief executive, this person said.
<h3>Citigroup will also announce tomorrow that it will take another $8 billion to $11 billion in write-downs, this person said.</h3> That would be in addition to the $5.9 billion that it wrote down in early October, when it reported third-quarter results.....
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071006/merri...nce.html?.v=64
Merrill Lynch to Post 3Q Loss
Saturday October 6, 6:48 am ET
By Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer
Merrill Lynch to Post 3Q Loss Up to 50 Cents Per Share After Taking $5 Billion in Writedowns
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. said Friday credit and mortgage woes will lead it to post a third-quarter loss, as it takes almost $5 billion in writedowns in the wake of a credit crunch that paralyzed Wall Street this summer.....
....Despite the third-quarter declines, <h3>Merrill Lynch's chairman and chief executive, Stan O'Neal, said in a statement market conditions have shown improvement and are returning to more normal levels.</h3>
Shares of Merrill Lynch rose $1.89, or 2.53 percent, to close at $76.67 Friday. In general, shares of financial institutions have risen recently after warning of substantial losses, as investors take the caution to mean the worst of the credit crisis is over.....
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/071102/merrilllynch.html?.v=2
Merrill's credibility and stock take hit
Friday November 2, 6:10 pm ET
By Tim McLaughlin
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc.'s credibility and stock took a big hit on Friday after reports said the biggest brokerage sought to delay billions of dollars of losses on troubled assets by moving them to hedge funds.
Renewed worries about U.S. banks' exposure to subprime mortgage-related assets punished financial stocks across the board on Friday.
Merrill, which does not have a chief executive after the departure of Stan O'Neal earlier this week, led the declines, which knocked about $4.3 billion off its market capitalization.
Merrill had its biggest drop in 18 years, falling as much as 12 pct Friday morning, before the company said that it was not aware of any inappropriate transactions. Merrill's stock closed down 7.9 pct, or $4.91, to $57.28.
Its shares have lost 38.5 percent so far this year, shaving more than $35 billion off its market cap.
"We have increasingly lost confidence in the financials of Merrill, especially after the sudden increase in (collateralized debt obligation) write-downs," Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Mayo said in a note issued on Friday. He cut his rating on Merrill shares to "buy" and said the company might need to find a partner to restore credibility and financial strength.
In the fourth quarter alone, large U.S. banks and brokerages could suffer additional write-downs of more than $10 billion as deteriorating credit trends continue to undercut the value of subprime mortgages and related securities, Mayo said.
The spreads, or the yield premium over U.S. Treasuries investors demand to hold Merrill bonds, widened on Friday. Merrill credit is now trading as low as junk.
Merrill has been in turmoil after an $8.4 billion write-down in the third quarter caused a $2.3 billion loss, the biggest in the company's history. <h3>Analysts expect additional write-downs on collateralized debt obligations, with estimates of $5 billion to $10 billion.</h3>
ANALYSTS PUZZLED
Already, the company faces a shareholder lawsuit seeking class-action status over the write-downs and legal experts say more could be on the way.
Write-downs at Citigroup (NYSE:C - News), the No. 1 U.S. bank, could be $4 billion in the fourth quarter, Mayo said. Citigroup shares fell 2 percent, Bear Stearns Cos Inc (NYSE:BSC - News) shares lost 5.4 percent, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS - News) fell 4.4 percent and Morgan Stanley's (NYSE:MS - News) shed 5.8 percent.
Meanwhile, analysts are puzzled how Merrill reduced its net exposure to $15 billion from the $32 billion disclosed in its third quarter report, with only $6 billion in write-downs.
Mayo said that leaves the question of how Merrill reduced the other $11 billion.
Janet Tavakoli, a structured finance analyst, said in a note last week that <h3>Merrill had asked hedge funds to take its troubled assets for a year in an off-balance sheet credit facility. The effect of such a deal would reduce Merrill exposure to CDOs, but only temporarily.</h3>
"One fund claimed that Merrill was offering a floor return (set buy-back price), so this risk would return to Merrill," Tavakoli said in her note. "That would explain the magnitude of the exposure disappearance, but only if Merrill was able to find counterparties."
In July, as turmoil ripped through the global credit markets, analysts and investors began pressing Merrill for more detail about its CDO exposure. Merrill's point-man for those questions has been Chief Financial Officer Jeff Edwards.....
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Quote:
http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/gharib/070314_gharib/
One on One with GM, CFO Fritz Henderson
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Susie Gharib, NBR Anchor/Senior Strategic Advisor
SUSIE GHARIB: Earlier today, I talked with GM's chief financial officer, Fritz Henderson, and <h3>asked him if the worst is over for the auto maker.
FRITZ HENDERSON, CFO, GENERAL MOTORS: It's impossible to predict the future with certainty, obviously, but I would say yes.</h3> You know, certainly if you look at what was done in terms of reducing our costs in '06, that put us in a much better position to be able to weather storms to the extent that we face them in the market because you do face them in the market from time to time. But we lowered our risk. We lowered our cost, improved our liquidity, improved our product line, and we have done the sort of things that I think do make us confident that we have a good future and that we put the worst behind us.
GHARIB: Mr. Henderson, as you reported today, earnings were impacted by losses related to the sub-prime mortgages. To what extent will these sub-prime loans be a factor for 2007 earnings?
HENDERSON: We do think that it will be a constraining factor on the profitability of the GMAC level in '07, but we're committed to working for example with our partner, the consortium led by Cerberus to do what's necessary to take the actions in the business to repair it and to build a profitable future for (INAUDIBLE) and for GMAC.....
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB...rrons&ru=yahoo
GM May Have a Smoother Ride
General Motors (GM: NYSE)
By Banc of America Securities ($37.05, Oct. 3, 2007)
WE ARE UPGRADING GM TO Neutral from Sell to reflect the better-than-expected labor agreement the company reached with United Auto Workers Union (UAW).
While we expect GM's fundamentals to turn for the worse with a decline in their new product pipeline, the elimination of the UAW health-care liability at a better-than-expected 25% discount (including the higher pension liability) results in a higher valuation for GM stock.
We are raising our earnings-per-share estimates for 2008-2009 to $2.60 and $2.90, from $2.35 and $2.60, respectively. Our target goes to $37 from $25 and is driven by $6 in lower liability, $5 in a higher valuation multiple and $1 in higher earnings....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1192...oo_hs&ru=yahoo
Huge Loss, Bleak Outlook
Stand in Stark Contrast
To Toyota's Rising Fortunes
By JOHN D. STOLL and ANDREW MORSE
November 8, 2007; Page A4
<h3>General Motors Corp.'s $38.96 billion third-quarter net loss underscores a tough reality for the auto maker: Despite two years of restructuring, it can't seem to keep its turnaround on track.
What's more, the Detroit auto maker is giving little indication its performance will improve in the near term.</h3>
GM's massive loss stands in stark contrast to the performance of Toyota Motor Corp., which is threatening to supplant GM as the world's largest auto maker by vehicle sales. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the Japan-based auto maker reported an 11% rise in net profit to 450.9 billion yen, or $3.93 billion, its second-largest quarterly profit ever. It was helped by a doubling of operating profits in Asian markets outside of Japan and a jump in European sales, suggesting the company will be able to weather downturns in its key markets of Japan and the U.S.
The vast majority of GM's loss, which came to $68.85 a share, stemmed from a $38.6 billion charge related to the write-down of tax credits and doesn't affect its cash position. But even before the write-down, GM would have reported a substantial loss, the company said. It also reported a $3.5 billion gain from the sale of assets. The loss ranks as one of the largest quarterly losses for a public U.S. company, according to Standard & Poor's....
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If you've read the preceding excerpts, <h3>the following opinion almost seems muted:</h3>
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Originally Posted by Strange Famous
....When someone leads a private company we must understand that the wealth they have ammassed is directly the result of the exploitation of their workers and of society. To allow them to maintain any kind of power within the democraticised corporation would undermine it.
These capitalist fat cats have exploited sometimes millions and billions of dollars by exploiting the working class, pillaging the environment and ripping off the consumers..
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We also witness the spectacle of the US president urging congress to pass retroactive immunity to insulate the largest US telecom firms from potential damages of civil litigation after they secretly and unlawfully agreed to provide government intelligence agencies with the details of private domestic telephone, internet, and email communications, without requiring lawful search warrants from the agencies:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/...007-11-08.html
Last edited by host; 11-10-2007 at 10:52 AM..
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