I thought there would be more talk of the AIG/FRE/FNM surge from yesterday. SEC denies rumor of the short selling restrictions. Can anyone add any color?

today, like most mornings, i wish i could go back to 1997.

Good news in New York! Our brilliant leaders have decided to borrow our way out of our budget problems! Standard and Poor says we are a good credit risk, what could go wrong?

Regardless, analysts say New York, like many states, is considered a good risk for repayment. "It's a state that has a huge resource base," said David Hitchcock, a bond analyst with Standard & Poor's rating service. "It has a strong capacity to repay."

Read more: State bond to fill gap? -- Page 2 -- Times Union - Albany NY

Defaults Signal Bursting Muni Junk Bubble on High-Yield Surge - Bloomberg.com

Tasty munis..oh yes indeed.

YouTube - 1976 kate smith anthem God bless America

Why Me wrote:

Can anyone add any color?

YouTube - James Brown - I Feel Good (From "Legends of Rock 'n' Roll" DVD)

nova wrote:

Imagine, for example, a small town. Tax revenue drops enough that police and fire are cut severely. UE is very high. Unemployment benefits run out. Part of the town is right wing Christian. A smaller part is Green, non believers, who embrace different values. What could happen?

I've gone from being surrounded by over 10 million in the Big Smoke to a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of that number in really small town America, so small that we are unincorporated and have no services aside from county fire dept and a lone sheriff that if he isn't in town when you call for help means it's gonna be an hour before he gets here, and because of our lilliputian status, Corporate America hardly exists here, a motel and a few gas stations with names everybody would know, and that's it. The Central Valley leans hard right, as it's California's bible-belt, and our little burb has plenty of liberals, a caustic mix you might think, but there's no strife here as everybody loves where they live...

...go find yourself a little piece of America to escape to, it's not an easy task but i'll assure you there are a good many little towns in your state that are just like mine

sporkfed wrote:

YouTube - 1976 kate smith anthem God bless America

When I was a little kid in the early 50's my dad took me to see her show at the RCA studios in NYC. I watched and heard her sing God Bless America. I thought it was neat. Maybe that's why I have the "hots" for Anne Sofie von Otter.

After Financial Ruin, Plotting America's 'Comeback' : NPR 

Good piece on NPR.

I found a really nice home on Realtor.com that I am very interested in, it has been listed for 222 days, and the price does seem a very high, $300,000 but I know it must have come down seeing 222 days, so who do I really talk to about this? the bank the Realtor?

If you can find a good real estate agent (a big if), they can pull reports to show what the original listing price was and any subsequent reductions. I don't see why you would talk to the bank if it is just on the market and not a foreclosure. Plenty of houses have been on the market for that long.

Ocean Policy Task Force: Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning | The White House

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

Public input period for federal fishery strategy has ended - ESPN 

Morlock fears that "what we're seeing coming at us is an attempted dismantling of the science-based fish and wildlife model that has served us so well. There's no basis in science for the agendas of these groups who are trying to push the public out of being able to fish and recreate.

"Conflicts (user) are overstated and problems are manufactured. It's all just an excuse to put us off the water."

shill wrote:

Anyhow question for those with more knowledge on the subject, I found a really nice home on Realtor.com that I am very interested in, it has been listed for 222 days, and the price does seem a very high, $300,000 but I know it must have come down seeing 222 days, so who do I really talk to about this? the bank the Realtor?

Would you me the MLS# ? I'd like to take a look at it....

Morning, and Oh Happy Day, It's flip flop weather in my part of Merica today. Just believe spring has sprung and tuplips are about to bloom.

I arbitraged the past 2500 years of history for about 30 years...

There is obviously going to be much uneasiness in the Big Smokes and who knows what else, and my thinking is not really aimed at those still in the process of making a living, but we the living that want to avoid the really big show and watch from the sidelines instead.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

Tasty munis..oh yes indeed.

For most direct muni holders it's a ; you just have to do your homework and not be too much of a yield pig. At the start of the meltdown I unloaded any munis in Michigan, Ohio and selected Florida bonds(kept school and water, ditched the rest.)

As most hold munis to term or call, the only concern is a lack of interest payments. If they tank(especially hospital financing bonds) and go below par I'll be buying with both hands.

anonymous bosch
that sounds like a winner both congress and lobby industry but why not declare the critters e.c too and then we could do the trial thingie when we can afford it?

thats okay with me, cinco-x

Although I haven't seen the Pelosi clip, there is another side of the argument. There has been no meaningful change in health care legislation in 40 years, so any legislation may be a good place to start. When the American people get the bill, the will probably demand a lot more accountability the way health care is paid for including paying 30% margins to insurers who are exempt fro colluding and competing on price, for instance.

See: How the Senate bill would contain the cost of health care : The New Yorker

Cinco you got

I feel no need to ask...

Me neither, but I felt it incumbent on me to maintain a sheen of impartiality, or else I'd simply be

with no questions left to ask.

Ahha! Unexsnowpedly rears its merry head again!

Enjoy your days of for they are numbered:

FROM: Technical Analysis Morning Trader: stock picks, scans and ideas for day trading and short-term trading using technical analysis.

Options on federal fund futures contracts are frequently used to analyze the market’s expectations of monetary policy actions by the Federal Reserve. The Cleveland Fed publishes this information on a daily basis but their charts only go out to June. For expectations that extend further, traders usually turn to the Fed fund futures. According to futures contracts, the market is pricing in a 28 percent chance of a 25bp rate hike in August and a 42.3 percent chance that the rate hike will come in September. By the end of the year, there is a 68 percent chance that rates will reach 0.75 percent. Considering that one week ago, there was only a 16.3 percent chance of a quarter point hike in August expectations have increased significantly following the payrolls report. With these probabilities in mind, traders need to realize that most people only expect one and in the best case two 25bp rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year. In other words, there is a very strong chance that interest rates will remain below 1 percent come January 2011.

I need to find some park bonds on the cheap that are likely to default.

Then buy CDS (or whatever it is) protection, talk some $hit about the parks and you're in the big money?

My Realtor keeps mentioning about some home buyer credit that's about to expire. ...

REBear wrote:

My Realtor keeps mentioning about some home buyer credit that's about to expire.

Ya'; and several interested parties are also looking at the house you're interested in. Maybe you should wait till the credit expires and prices drop by ~8k?

That's a lot of house, but quite a bit of money too. Do you still have kids at home? Is the house near where you work/play? If you really want to go for it, I'd suggest you "low ball" them. However, with the Spring selling season coming up, they'll probably want to wait and see if they get better offers. Good luck-

Yes I have teenagers still at home, as well as a mother in law, as far as work travel time it adds another 15 minutes to my commute. Yes I hate the price thanks for looking cinco.

shill wrote:

thanks for looking cinco.

NP-

dum luk wrote:

I've just had my annual check up. While I was sitting in a Dr's waiting room, I overheard a guy asking the receptionist/billing clerk {not sure of proper title} what would happen if he lost his insurance. The receptionist told him that if he would pay cash in full on the day of service, they would reduce their charges. Oddly enough, the amount of the reduction was exactly 30%

Wow...just wow...

A friend has been making a living tazing trout in high country lakes in King's Canyon NP for about 5 summers now...

Fish Killer, Qu'est Que C'est

off topic and a heads up
just got off phone with at&t had them put a third party block on my phone line, it seems that nowadays other companies can charge your phone bill all kinds of interesting stuff.under other companies. i had a charge of 19.99 for something called debt toolbox.spoke with them and it will be removed. and it will not happen again.

According to my scientificalish perusing of premarket etf trades, is coming out loaded for ... yet again.

Strong the in that one is.

mook yep it is that,still got one

The fact that they can't offer that same discount to people willing to pay cash is obscene.

They can, but they don't want to. At least that's the case in my state (Texas). Cash should yield a better than 50% discount--payment now at nearly the same reimbursement level as insurance but they don't have to waste time on paperwork and hassle with collection from the insur. co.

Totally OT: My linguistic snark of the day. It cracked me up when I thought of it, so I knew it must be pretty good:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100310/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_overhaul

Dog the Balanoplasty Hunter

Cash should yield a better than 50% discount--payment now at nearly the same reimbursement level as insurance but they don't have to waste time on paperwork and hassle with collection from the insur. co.

Fixed costs. They've already hired the staff to process the paperwork, bought the extra computers, paid for the extra phone lines, etc. under the assumption that they'll have to do all that work for every patient they have anyway.

The smaller the practice, the better the discount you ought to be able to negotiate, for largely the same reason.

Question regarding the MBS purchases by the Fed: Is the Fed purchasing "vintage MBS" (anything prior to 2009), or just MBS issued in 2009? Thanks.

have another glass

dum luk
trying to fool you is global wide,you just do the best you can.

Maury the Credit Responsibility Panda wrote:

Totally OT: My linguistic snark of the day. It cracked me up when I thought of it, so I knew it must be pretty good:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100310/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_overhaul 

Obama using 'bounty hunters' to root out fraud

I hope it's not another way to funnel money to ACORN...

OT: Just in time for today's opening bell on the stock exchange, let us pause for a moment of remembrance:

Ten years ago on this very day - March 10, 2000 - the Nasdaq Composite hit its all-time high of 5,132.52 and its all-time closing high of 5,048.62.

Look on the bright side, though: only another 119% left to gain before the Naz gets back to that lofty pinnacle.

I'm breathless with anticipation.

Lotta short retail stops got wiped out in the first few seconds

WTF Is This All About? Senior SEC Policy Adviser Warns on Gold

Rick Bookstaber: The Gold Bubble

I am stunned by this commentary in many ways. I didn't know there was an SEC adviser out there commenting on the economy---much less a specific investment. I am stunned he is hinting that the major players are using SEC filings to deceive the average investor.

Anyone of these oddities is enough to sit up and take notice, when they are bunched like this, you really have to wonder what is going on. I don't have the answer, but I am paying very close attention.

CR, is there any data showing the number of mortgages issued as compared to applications? It would be interesting to compare the applications to completions.

Good morning everyone.

I recently purchased the Pink Panther cartoon collection. I watched a disc with my children yesterday afternoon. My eldest after a few cartoons stated he didn't like this show. I asked him why, he said it wasn't fair. I said life wasn't fair. He asked me why. Off the top of my head I said it was a mixture of entropy and free will, or the illusion thereof. Being almost 5, he was not happy with that answer but before he could retort, my youngest had scaled the back of the couch and launched himself (very panther like I might add) at his brother. He hit him square in the chest, knocking them both off the couch. We then had a discussion about action vs. reaction being a key element to survival in an unfair world filled with unexpected leaping panthers. I find it funny that he had issues with the Pink Panther, but not Coyote and Road Runner. I've been hoping Coyote would get that bird...but that is another can of worms.

So purchase applications are running at 1997 levels. If I had to guess a 30yr mortgage back then was 7.5% to 8.5% as compared to today's rates around 5.25% or so.

ZIRP seems to be here to stay, at least until the inflation genie gets out of its bottle.

Maury the Credit Responsibility Panda wrote:

shill wrote:
Senior SEC Policy Adviser Warns on Gold

Sorry guys, I just read the whole post and it seems rather balanced to me. Furthermore, he points out who is talking his book and where gold trades are reported on SEC filings. Could be helpful in determining what investors are actually doing as opposed to what they are saying.

Vonbek777 wrote:
I find it funny that he had issues with the Pink Panther, but not Coyote and Road Runner. I've been hoping Coyote would get that bird...but that is another can of worms.
Inevitably, the coyote eventually gets what's coming to him via the laws of physics. Which is very unlike the real world of , political pull, privilege and malleable laws.

vonbek777,

here: YouTube - Coyote catches Road Runner

Coyote gets him.

Traderwalt good read indeed.

And I remember sitting there at work, telling a guy who was daytrading Yahoo and Lucent at his desk, that his children would never see 5K again in their lifetimes.

But ... but ... sure, it's taken a decade, but we've doubled off the bottom and we're more than halfway back to the peak.

Surely that portends positive things for the Nasdaq, doesn't it? 

CNSNews.com - Sen. Inhofe: Basis for Senate's Ban on Drudge Report Was Bogus, We Encourage People to Visit Drudge
The Associated Press: Roberts: Scene at State of Union `very troubling'

Roberts decision was very troubling. Being a corporate whore I'm sure he doesn't "get" that. He might check the polls and see how popular his "decision" was. He might also watch his back when time comes around.

$VIX - SharpCharts Workbench - StockCharts.com

While the English did place horrible legal restrictions on the Irish I can find no documentation of a law to prevent fishing until after the end of the famine.

I'm certainly not an expert on the laws back then. I read it in the book Trinity. I assumed that guy did his research. I'm quite sure I remember it correctly because i was so pissed off when i read it. Guys were sneaking out at night in small boats to catch what they could to feed their starving families. I don't see why this should be surprise. The english had no problem letting the irish starve.