And BTW...since I'm one of the first posts I thought Sheila Bair would notice this. How about a $100,000 reward for anyone that finds "irregularities" in Sheila's resume...how ironic, eh? CR, can we find some money for this in the tip jar?
Those empty malls will be convenient (and cheap) holding/housing places for foreclosed homeowners (we could concentrate them in camps!). And put them to work to pay for their housing (Work makes you Free!)
Had fond memories of going to the Wilkes-Barre store growing up. Their restaurant is still a good place to get a cheap breakfast and a decent conversation.
Once vendors start withholding shipments, it's pretty much all over. The vendors don't want to be caught with invoices outstanding when bankruptcy is filed. You can stick a fork in this company.
The local Boscov's parking lot has been nearly emtpy for about a year, compared to nearly continuously full two years ago?
The change? In my personal opinion, many people in this region became addicted to using HELOC money from their houses to pay off their credit cards which they had maxed out by buying needless junk at places like Boscov's. Now everyone has plenty of needless junk, and the HELOC spigot has been shut off...for about a year.
By the way, Boscov's is a nice store, picked up a couple of suits there...about two years ago on a 'clearance' sale (using my own cash money, thank you).
this facade of "things are ok" may continue for a few more months but the reality is our currency, which is 100% to blame for the current crisis, cannot sustain any form of stability in light of all the dollar negative news coming out. in short, the us dollar is INCREDIBLY vulnerable right now. the gse bail-out, the taf, tslf, stimulus, fed discount window, two wars, 10.6 trillion debt ceiling now, 5-6 trillion in us dollar reserves in foreign countries..the list of dollar troubles goes on and on. dont forget that every bail-out to date involves money our govt simply doesnt have. so these constant pledges for more stimulus, gse bail out, fdic bailout are empty...the dollar is worth nothing. i know the euro is no better nor is the yen..but they are all a part of the same fiat family..it seems to me that foreigne central banks are still clinging to their present pegs and treasury investments
what if 60 mins did a special on the fdic and how it only has 0.3% of reserves set aside for insured deposits. the fdic is more insolvent than our banks are..communication of such troubling facts to the public would be devestating to our banking system..people simply dont know this ultra important fact..the fdic has about $3 set aside for each insured $100k..
Out in California, I've got my eye on Gottschalk's, another regional department store chain that hasn't been doing so well. They were an old-time (100-year-old) Central Valley chain that decided to expand 20 years ago, and it hasn't worked out so well for them. They're selling stores, same-store sales down 10 percent YOY, struggling to pay debt. They're not on the ropes yet, but things don't look good.
I've often wondered that myself. It makes me laugh that people have so much faith in what is presented as a bottomless pit. It isn't....and the sooner the next bank goes down it will become readily apparent. However that doesn't mean that the public will know.
It's wonderful that these banks are offering such "great rates" on depositors.....try thinking that way when you have zero access...
In addition, big commercial lenders including CIT, GMAC and Milberg have stopped guaranteeing deliveries to Boscov's stores, the report added. Sources say Boscov's management is still looking for alternatives to a bankruptcy filing, including the closing of up to 10 money-losing stores, and the family that runs the store injected $28 million into it three weeks ago.
Kona's Bigger Fish writes:
US CREDIT-CIT caught as wide spreads restrict debt sales An Error has occured | Reuters.com go...259227120080702
CIT Group Inc (CIT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) may be
caught in a Catch 22 situation as improvement in its credit
spreads may depend on the commercial lender showing it has
economical access to the unsecured debt market.
CIT's credit default swaps barely budged after the company
said on Tuesday it would sell $10 billion of mortgage assets in
a deal that removes problem loans from its balance sheet.
CIT Group Inc. said Tuesday it will sell its home lending business to Lone Star Funds for $1.5 billion in cash, plus $4.4 billion of assumed debt, in a move to exit the troubled mortgage arena and focus on its commercial finance operations.
The company also is selling its $470 million manufactured housing portfolio to Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc. at a loss, for about $300 million. CIT expects to see combined cash proceeds from both deals of about $1.8 billion.
*** CIT Group Shutters Student Loan Xpress, Lays Off 124 Staff 404 Not Found 1.html
Student Loan Xpress, a college student lender in Carmel Valley, said it is shutting down operations and laying off 124 employees.
SLX, which got its start in the early 1990s, has been hurt by tightened credit markets and a change in the regulations covering the student loan business.
Kona's Bigger Fish | Homepage | 07.21.08 - 3:23 am | #
so these constant pledges for more stimulus, gse bail out, fdic bailout are empty...the dollar is worth nothing.
The dollar is worth something but 'less than it was worth not long ago'... it may some day 'approach nothing' but we have a lot of inflation to do before that happens.
I think you are right - the root of the debasement will be serial bailouts accomplished via monetization of the debts involved.
The Boscov stores are boring and the back of the house is a mess. They should have bought 5 instead of 10 stores, and dumped $$ into existing stores. Corporate management standards are low, often ignoring prime real estate within the store. The also do not know how to get out of a declining business or take advantage of emerging trends (typical of all traditional department stores including Macy's. People shop AT Boscov's for price (newspaper ads or mailings) and customers leaving the stores only come out with only the advertised special.
I worked for these guys as a waiter in the early '90s during college in their restaurant. I'm absolutely praying for this place to go under.
Y primero?
And BTW...since I'm one of the first posts I thought Sheila Bair would notice this. How about a $100,000 reward for anyone that finds "irregularities" in Sheila's resume...how ironic, eh? CR, can we find some money for this in the tip jar?
Those empty malls will be convenient (and cheap) holding/housing places for foreclosed homeowners (we could concentrate them in camps!). And put them to work to pay for their housing (Work makes you Free!)
I wonder how many headaches cerberus has?
Jim,
The "holding" comment may end up being closer to the truth.
Don't worry, the Fed will bail them out.
Had fond memories of going to the Wilkes-Barre store growing up. Their restaurant is still a good place to get a cheap breakfast and a decent conversation.
Once vendors start withholding shipments, it's pretty much all over. The vendors don't want to be caught with invoices outstanding when bankruptcy is filed. You can stick a fork in this company.
The local Boscov's parking lot has been nearly emtpy for about a year, compared to nearly continuously full two years ago?
The change? In my personal opinion, many people in this region became addicted to using HELOC money from their houses to pay off their credit cards which they had maxed out by buying needless junk at places like Boscov's. Now everyone has plenty of needless junk, and the HELOC spigot has been shut off...for about a year.
By the way, Boscov's is a nice store, picked up a couple of suits there...about two years ago on a 'clearance' sale (using my own cash money, thank you).
giacutters,
They should be having a really good clearance sale soon.
this facade of "things are ok" may continue for a few more months but the reality is our currency, which is 100% to blame for the current crisis, cannot sustain any form of stability in light of all the dollar negative news coming out. in short, the us dollar is INCREDIBLY vulnerable right now. the gse bail-out, the taf, tslf, stimulus, fed discount window, two wars, 10.6 trillion debt ceiling now, 5-6 trillion in us dollar reserves in foreign countries..the list of dollar troubles goes on and on. dont forget that every bail-out to date involves money our govt simply doesnt have. so these constant pledges for more stimulus, gse bail out, fdic bailout are empty...the dollar is worth nothing. i know the euro is no better nor is the yen..but they are all a part of the same fiat family..it seems to me that foreigne central banks are still clinging to their present pegs and treasury investments
what if 60 mins did a special on the fdic and how it only has 0.3% of reserves set aside for insured deposits. the fdic is more insolvent than our banks are..communication of such troubling facts to the public would be devestating to our banking system..people simply dont know this ultra important fact..the fdic has about $3 set aside for each insured $100k..
Out in California, I've got my eye on Gottschalk's, another regional department store chain that hasn't been doing so well. They were an old-time (100-year-old) Central Valley chain that decided to expand 20 years ago, and it hasn't worked out so well for them. They're selling stores, same-store sales down 10 percent YOY, struggling to pay debt. They're not on the ropes yet, but things don't look good.
Goose-
I've often wondered that myself. It makes me laugh that people have so much faith in what is presented as a bottomless pit. It isn't....and the sooner the next bank goes down it will become readily apparent. However that doesn't mean that the public will know.
It's wonderful that these banks are offering such "great rates" on depositors.....try thinking that way when you have zero access...
Ciao
MS
"About half of the major suppliers to the 97-year-old, family-owned chain"
after 100 years they don't have enough cash to pay cash for merchandise? I must be listening to too much dave ramsey.
This goes back to CIT and Mervyn's:
In addition, big commercial lenders including CIT, GMAC and Milberg have stopped guaranteeing deliveries to Boscov's stores, the report added. Sources say Boscov's management is still looking for alternatives to a bankruptcy filing, including the closing of up to 10 money-losing stores, and the family that runs the store injected $28 million into it three weeks ago.
This summed things up a few nights ago:
Kona's Bigger Fish writes:
US CREDIT-CIT caught as wide spreads restrict debt sales
An Error has occured | Reuters.com go...259227120080702
CIT Group Inc (CIT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) may be
caught in a Catch 22 situation as improvement in its credit
spreads may depend on the commercial lender showing it has
economical access to the unsecured debt market.
CIT's credit default swaps barely budged after the company
said on Tuesday it would sell $10 billion of mortgage assets in
a deal that removes problem loans from its balance sheet.
** CIT Group exits home lending businesses
CIT Group exits home lending businesses - U.S. business- msnbc.com
CIT Group Inc. said Tuesday it will sell its home lending business to Lone Star Funds for $1.5 billion in cash, plus $4.4 billion of assumed debt, in a move to exit the troubled mortgage arena and focus on its commercial finance operations.
The company also is selling its $470 million manufactured housing portfolio to Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc. at a loss, for about $300 million. CIT expects to see combined cash proceeds from both deals of about $1.8 billion.
*** CIT Group Shutters Student Loan Xpress, Lays Off 124 Staff
404 Not Found 1.html
Student Loan Xpress, a college student lender in Carmel Valley, said it is shutting down operations and laying off 124 employees.
SLX, which got its start in the early 1990s, has been hurt by tightened credit markets and a change in the regulations covering the student loan business.
Kona's Bigger Fish | Homepage | 07.21.08 - 3:23 am | #
so these constant pledges for more stimulus, gse bail out, fdic bailout are empty...the dollar is worth nothing.
The dollar is worth something but 'less than it was worth not long ago'... it may some day 'approach nothing' but we have a lot of inflation to do before that happens.
I think you are right - the root of the debasement will be serial bailouts accomplished via monetization of the debts involved.
Its gonna get ugly before it is over.
JMHO.
Tom Stone writes:
I wonder how many headaches cerberus has?
Tom Stone | 07.25.08 - 11:34 am | #
Is Cerberus involved in this one? I didn't see how they were.
Also a problem if you work there.
Hm, just saw "75% off sale" ad for Boscov's while at the gym this morning.
So, has 1st. Nat. Bank of Az/Nev been FDIC'd yet as hinted by those who know?
Ah, yes... This was all part of the brilliant realignment in a local mall down here:
They are probably toast - maybe Macy's can buy them and stupidly blow more money moving back to their old location!
The Boscov stores are boring and the back of the house is a mess. They should have bought 5 instead of 10 stores, and dumped $$ into existing stores. Corporate management standards are low, often ignoring prime real estate within the store. The also do not know how to get out of a declining business or take advantage of emerging trends (typical of all traditional department stores including Macy's. People shop AT Boscov's for price (newspaper ads or mailings) and customers leaving the stores only come out with only the advertised special.
Everyone's asking: If we can put a man on the moon, how come we can't put broke HELOCers in a Boscov's?
Tom Stone writes:
I wonder how many headaches cerberus has?
Tom Stone | 07.25.08 - 11:34 am | #
Three
"fdic is more insolvent "
Not really. FDIC obligations are like treasury. They short circuit to your wallet (or more likely your successor generations)
Saw one of these in a mall in Philly area the other day. Was scratching my head as I had never heard about the chain. Anyhow, the solution:
IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THE FED DISCOUNT WINDOW