As you consider the new budget remember this. The point is that what the government gives it must first take away. John S. Coleman
Archive for February 26th, 2009
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Sell Ryland!
Posted by Tom Lindmark on February 26th, 2009
If ever there was a sell signal this is it. The CEO of the homebuilder Ryland Group, Inc. is retiring and this is what he decided to do with his rather outsized retirement package. Home builder Ryland GroupInc. will pay its departing chief executive, R. Chad Dreier, at least $27 million as part of a retirement […]
Is The Capital Assistance Program Structured Backwards?
Posted by Tom Lindmark on February 26th, 2009
James Kwak has an excellent post up on The Baseline Scenario about the government’s Capital Assistance Program. His contention is that Treasury structured its convertible preferred stock investment backwards. To summarize his position, he argues that the government gave the banks the right to put common shares to the government by forcing conversion of the […]
Tags: Obama Presents A Budget That Delivers Change
Posted by Tom Lindmark on February 26th, 2009
By now, no doubt, you have seen the outlines of the President’s new budget, and, no doubt, are still trying to absorb the enormity of the thing. Just to recap, he is proposing federal government expenditures of $3.6 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2010. The deficit is projected to be $1.75 trillion this year and […]
Can U.S. Banks Dig Themselves Out Of This Hole
Posted by Tom Lindmark on February 26th, 2009
If you read this blog regularly you know that late Friday evening I have a regular post called “Friday Failures”. It basically lists the banks that have been seized by the FDIC on Friday, the day they traditionally shutter banks. Based on this information, it looks like there will be plenty of future posts. The […]
Economists’ Thoughts On Today’s News
Posted by Tom Lindmark on February 26th, 2009
Here are some thoughts on the various pieces of this morning’s economic news from the WSJ Real Time Economics blog. Jobs The labor market looks even worse than our already weak read. Initial jobless claims increased to 667,000, easily the high for the cycle, and a break higher from the 630,000 range they had sat […]
More Grim Economic News
Posted by Tom Lindmark on February 26th, 2009
Let’s get all the bad news out of the way. Durable goods orders fell $9 billion or 5.2% in January. The following quote describes the situation in manufacturing: “There’s no forward-looking purchase, no anticipating next quarter being strong,” said Daniel J. Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. “You’re in a survival mode. You’re only […]
