Over 200 protesters from a housing advocacy group made it inside Bear Stearns corporate offices at 47th and Park Avenue. The protest was organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, which was founded by union activists. (They were the ones in the yellow shirts.) After being ejected from Bear’s lobby, they headed over to JP Morgan Chase. And, a few moments ago, they seem to have wandered off to do whatever it is demonstrators do after a demonstration. (We're guessing: wait in TKTKS line for Xanadu tickets.)
The protesters object to the Fed-led rescue of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase and demand what they call “real solutions” to mortgage difficulties faced by homeowners. They advocate the implementation of a homeowners initiative which would stop all the interest rate increases, roll back the interest rate increases to the initial qualified rate, impose a moratorium on all foreclosures and require the mortgage servicers’ to pursue a loan restructure that reduces the interest rate and/or outstanding mortgage to a mortgage payment the homeowner can afford for the remaining term of the loan.
Update: Reuters now has a story on the protest up on its wires and CNBC has video of the protest.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:25PM
any cute or horny chicks in the protest? I'd be happy to buy them some drinks to discuss ways to improve their cashflow
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:26PM
It's not the homeowners fault for getting into something they can't afford. Nope. Not one bit. Maybe some of the iBankers who lost their jobs should protest to Porsche and Ferrari because they can't afford the their loan payments. Or maybe I should protest to those farmers who get subsidies because I can't afford my credit card bill and the grocery costs on there.
Idiots
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:28PM
The protestors certainly look like they have enough to eat. I guess they weren't good at math or didn't bother to visit A LIBRARY before SPENDING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AND DECIDING TO BUY A HOME. Which part of VARIABLE RATE and AMORTIZATION didn't they understand? You just know these were the protestors complaining about affordable housing, now they're complaining because they can't AFFORD THE HOUSING. Sheez! Bear Stearns SHOULD NOT BE BAILED OUT. And neither should these people! Like the soldiers supposedly said in 'Nam: Screw 'em all! Move in with your frineds, family, church, shelter - whatever!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:30PM
@2:25 If you're into BBW, some of them look like they could provide you some 'cushin' for the pushin'...
Sam Manilla
Protest Director/Evaluator of Talent
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:31PM
I'm a slave worker in a hedge fund - can one female protestor meet me in the men's room to help blow out my pipes?
Posted by Random Banker , Mar 26, 2008 2:31PM
@ 2:28:
probably "variable, rate and amortization" hilarious that you think people understand such things.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:31PM
God, the fucking reds marching in the streets again, with one hand on the banner and the other in the government's pocket.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:35PM
@ 2:30
The term BBW is often very misleading. It has been my experience that the women proclaiming this title are very often Big, but never Beutiful, and sometimes not Women.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:36PM
Really. Even your average prime homeowner does not understand "amortization" hell neither do most of the MBA candidates i have interviewed
Posted by NomadTrader , Mar 26, 2008 2:38PM
THAT'S IT!!!!! - I want free housing,no mortgage, free health care while were at it, money in the bank, golf where all the BSC jamokes played, and an autographed copy from his royalness - His Highness Cayne - of a picture to grace my free walls. Until then, I'M PROTESTING DAMN IT!!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:42PM
Reuters:
"Bear Stearns employees were alternatively amused and perplexed, taking pictures on their cell phones."
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:47PM
Hmm...maybe they can't pay their mortgages because they're busy protesting during the day instead of working??? just a guess....
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 2:54PM
@2:42 It's not as if BSC employees actually do any work anyway - judging from their operating results. The BSC offices are now like their bathrooms - you just sit around for something to happen before it begins to smell and you're seeing more 'stuff' coming out.
Sammy K. Edgefeld
BSC Critic/Evaluator of Talent
Posted by a dead horse , Mar 26, 2008 2:59PM
So, to recap...
The banks have found a way to temporarily offer cheaper loans. These loans will cost more later, following the concepts of there being no such thing as free money, the time value of money and common sense. It clearly states on the loan that the rates will change. People assume that the cheap loan will stay cheap forever. These same people are surprised when the cheap loan later becomes a more expensive loan, in line with the concepts discussed above. They also are surprised that the house that they bought, which they bought right when the market was at its' highest point and cost the most, is no longer worth as much as it was, so not only did they buy a house they couldn't have afforded at the old price, they now have a house that they can't sell to cover the loan and exit the agreement.
So people took loans that they were told would become more expensive and bought houses at their highest price in years. Unsurprisingly, they lost money on this. WHY IS EVERYONE ACTING LIKE THIS IS A BIG SHOCK? Overleveraged people bought overvalued houses at overinflated prices and now are losing money.
Should the government really be bailing out the homeowners?
Then, there are the banks, who supposedly hire people who graduated college. These college graduates could not foresee that people were paying more than they could afford for overpriced houses? Really? The geniuses at Bear couldn't look at the information in front of them and say "hey, if interest rates go up, these people will default and we'll be screwed"? Really? Nobody noticed this?
The homeowners shouldn't be bailed out and neither should the banks. They should all lose money and if they fail, they fail. Barings sold for 1 GBP - Bear should have gone for half that, not $10 a share. If the Bear employees lose their money in the process, I'm sorry, but you were the ones who screwed up in the first place.
"I'm not saying stupidity should require capital punishment but can't we take the warning labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:12PM
@ 2:59 You are partially right. The folks tht toook out ARM's knew about the rate reset in 3,5,X years and they probably understood the increase in monthly cost that comes with it.
BUT, and here is the rub, someone sold them on the idea that the house would be worth 25% (arbitrary big %) more than they paid, and they could then refinance at a fix rate and never get stuck with the increase.
The borrower did not understand that they were switching from home-owner to home-owner/real estate speculator.
All these ARM borrowers were supposed to be refi'ing right now, but there shanties in Ohio are worth less and less every day. B.O.O. H.O.O.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:15PM
JP Morgan executives have told Bear's employees that they will integrate the firm's prime brokerage and global trade-processing units, which include about 800 of Bear's 14,000 employees, according to people familiar with the situation.
- WSJ adds that the fate of Bear's employees remains unclear
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:26PM
If tax payers save Wall street's ass they have to have a share in future profits of these companies!
Finance 101!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:27PM
If tax payers save Wall street's ass they have to have a share in future profits of these companies!
Finance 101!
Posted by a dead horse , Mar 26, 2008 3:28PM
What do you mean, someone sold them? This isn't a buy one get one free deal at the supermarket. Loan originators are sharks and always have been. That is no excuse for normal people to become retarded. It's not.
If I told you you could buy a house for $200,000 with a cheap loan and that it would be worth $250,000 in 5 years, what would your response be?
1) Wow, free money! I'm glad nobody else bought this house first! I mean, free money! It's like I earned 25% of what I'm paying back for free! FREE MONEY!
2) Well, I do need a new house, the loan is cheap and it may change but it probably won't and there's a good chance the price will go up, so I should do it.
3) Home prices are higher than ever and the bubble has to burst sometime, this loan will reset to a ridiculous rate in a few years...and, oh yeah, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS FREE MONEY. I'm not retarded.
Group 1 is crying the loudest now because they never even thought about how retarded they were being. Group 2 is upset because they put some thought into it, but their thoughts were retarded so they made a stupid decision anyway. Group 3 used basic common sense and somehow managed to figure out that overpriced houses and loans with rates that can balloon out of control very quickly are not a good way to make money quickly.
I don't care who said what, none of that is an excuse for people to ignore common sense and logic. This was not a big secret - people had been saying the housing bubble would burst for years, yet here we are years later and everyone acts surprised that it happened.
You lost money. It's your fault for making a stupid decision. Get over it. At the end of the day, you signed the papers and you got the keys. That makes it YOUR fault.
The government should not take tax money from people who are not idiots to subsidize the failures of the idiots. Is that really such a novel concept? If you don't punish people for being stupid, they will continue to be stupid.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:28PM
These "community activists" should get jobs and pay their mortgages like us Wall Street assholes.
Posted by Random Banker , Mar 26, 2008 3:38PM
@3:28:
dude normal people are by definition retarded. these are the same people who think the virgin marry appears to them in grilled cheese sandwiches. We're surprised that people with a high school education don't understand complex legal documents with implied market assumptions impeded in them? These are the same people who thought they were going to get rich on tulips. I mean sweet jesus come on, someone has to have these people from themselves.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:48PM
these protesters are stupid.
default rate of bsc vs average sub prime home owner..
enough said.
case closed.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:48PM
Typical New Yorkers bashing protest! Jesus, initially you pussies didn't want to vote on the Declaration of Independence and your "pussy" representing you at that convention "abstained" on the vote. Now you want to bash protest. Man, you've grown some balls in 232 years!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:52PM
@RB its funny you say that because I thought normal people are by definition normal, they are the benchmark by which others can be deemed retarded. unfortunately even normal people aren't smart enough. so other than that small distinction, i am on board with your indictment of the mouth breathers that are "America"
@3:12 really? all the ARM buyers are in Ohio? that was the epicenter of the housing bubble?
anyway, this is all moot. Gov bailouts are not and have never been governed on the principle of what is "fair" or what people "deserve".
your righteous indignation shows the same sort of disconnect from the practical reality of what is going on as those protesters.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 3:55PM
@3:48 We are all very proud of you for watching John Adams on HBO but if you have any more blinding insights please kindly refrain.
Also, last I checked NYC is largely filled with liberals.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:05PM
@2:59, @3:12. It is not the residential mortgage failures in and of themselves that caused this crisis. Those things aren't big enough to bring down an entire financial system. It is the 32 to 40 times leveraged borrowing that all you shit birds on Hedge Street did to finance your gambling addictions when you bet on those very same mortgages. Have you ever heard the word 'derivative'??
In Gordon Gekko's time it was Leveraged Buyout. Now we have the Leveraged Sellout.
I read thru the 2007 Wall St Comps Survey. It is hard for me to feel sorry for the 14,000 employees of Bear when the average comp per employee in 2007 was $242K, and 2007 was down from 2006. Goldman was $661.5K. Scandelous. Shame on all of you. I hope those fucking protestors kick the living shit out of some of your sissy transvestite asses.
Posted by a dead horse , Mar 26, 2008 4:10PM
RB, what bothers me isn't that some idiot in a flyover state made a stupid decision. What bothers me is that there were so many morons on The Street who weren't content with all of the ways they fleece people of their money and made the spectacularly stupid decision to try and take even more money by selling mortgages that these people couldn't possibly pay at a time when they were overpaying for what the houses would be worth in a few months/years anyways, then taking those ridiculous assets and securitizing them. Really, Wall Street? We didn't have enough ways to take money from people?
Greed is good and all that but common sense is better. There are already so many ways for the firms to make money off of the average American that they didn't need to do this. Instead, they allowed their greed to cloud their judgment and made a stupid decision to leverage their bad loans and are now stuck.
The government is going to bail everyone out because that is what the government does. It's a putting a bandaid on a knife wound, and unless you take the knife away from the thug who stabbed him, the guy is going to get stabbed again anyways. Bear took a spectacularly stupid position and should go bankrupt, but they won't because the government is not ready to let a market correction, in the form of bank failures, serve as a warning and an example to the rest of The Street. Why would anyone avoid risk when the returns are skewed towards the massive rewards of success because failures are mitigated outside the firm? I can't wait for firms to start putting "Note - the Fed will bail us out if we f* up too much" on their 10-Ks.
I know it's unrealistic and I know everyone will be saved by the Fed, even though the rednecks won't realize that it's their own tax dollars that are saving them. That doesn't change the fact that banks are unfairly compensated for taking risks and, more importantly, took retarded positions when they shouldn't have.
Posted by Random Banker , Mar 26, 2008 4:15PM
How exactly can one's pay be scandalous? explain that to me? I mean no begrudges Eli manning his millions and he's a lucky thyroid case with down syndrome. Or how about dogs? What have they done?... lazing around, getting free food and shelter? While his brother wolf has to hunt for everything thing he gets! They're the trust fund babies of the animal kingdom. SCAN-DA-LOUS!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:18PM
The way I understand it, Bear's energy traders were making all the money and their mortgage group was losing it at 100 times the speed...
Posted by Onegin , Mar 26, 2008 4:23PM
4:05PM : please tell me that you understand that mean is different from median is different from mode. Average?
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:31PM
Random banker thinks living one hour from manhattan makes him a playah in finance....hahaha
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:34PM
I think we need to change "San Antonio, TX" to "St. Anthony, TX" because, after all, we won that war...Why should we refer to it by its enemy name?
Fake Lou Dobbs
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:35PM
RB, well said
s75
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:36PM
242k does not go very far to support a wife let alone a kid in NYC while that may sound like a kings ransom to you middle staters we are talking about a place where a decent 1br apartment costs $3500 in an okay neighborhood.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:38PM
@4:23 I believe that I understand those distinctions. But the numbers are what they are. $661.5K per 'Average' Goldman employee, and there are 30,000 of them? Come on. As I implied earlier, you fucktards hosed up the entire system for everybody. If half you pricks on Wall St lose your jobs over this mess, It will be a good thing. Maybe you might then relocate to flyover country and find that the world outside the NY financial district is a different place where people don't place any value on your particular talents. You might also consider Atlantic City, Vegas, Reno, Tahoe, or the up-and-coming Chester,PA.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:49PM
My favorite point on their protest fliers was "Impose a moratorium on all foreclosures"...
Sure, no problem, no need to pay to live in your home. Don't pay, stay. Welcome to the USSR comrade
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 4:54PM
@ 4:38
WTF - why the hell do u think everyone wants to work at Goldman... Your arguement is just dumb - "they got paid to much"... "they fucked up they system" ....therefore "i hope they get fired and have to move to a fly over country" (don't know what he/she means by "fly over country"). Who hosed up the system for whom?
Sounds to me like you are a Ninja mortgage broker in Ohio.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:03PM
Fake Lou Dobbs @ 4:34! Hilarious!
Much to my dismay, Carney has ignored my exhortations to hilariously invoke the Poors in the titling of this piece.
But the fact of the matter is that this entire crisis could have easily been avoided by Cayne and his lot. Tom Wolfe certainly wrote this story long before it happened.
We all know how it ends.
Have you actually seen this circus in the lobby of Bear Stearns, and now in the lobby of Chase as we speak? God has sent the wrath of the poors down upon Bear Stearns like a blight upon a crop of undervalued spuds.
In the case of Bear Stearns, it's the poors being harassed by the poorers. A most unsettling, yet somehow delicious irony.
Did I mention on another thread I'm buying a Lamborghini in celebration of these events?
I did. I didn't forget I mentioned it either. I was just joshin ya. It's just that assholes mention things like that repeatedly. The ironical permutations in the context of Bear Stearns' implosion satisfy me to no end
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:08PM
@ 4:38:
hey wanna ride in my new Lamborghini?
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:13PM
the average salary is skewed to the left
in a major way
it is unreasonable for you to judge the average employee at Bear or GS assuming he's taking home the average salary
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:16PM
@5:03
poetry
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:17PM
@5:13
I meant the distribution is skewed to the left, not the average
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:20PM
http://www.local10.com/news/9312515/detail.html
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:23PM
@4:54 Everywhere between NYC and LA is normally considered flyover country. In other words, anywhere outside of the NY financial district.
Also, you must be kidding about who it is who hosed up the system. Everybody knows that the current credit crisis is the result of leveraged gambling by the sicko parasites on the corner of Wall & Hedge. The victims are just about everyone who has an investment account and a job. Ask anyone on Main St if their 401K is up or down since last October. WTF do you think?
Dude, maybe you'll get lucky and land a job in the mail room at GS.
As for me, I'm a he, and I'm in Delaware. I'm currently waiting for the Bear lawsuit to arrive here in our Chancery Court. It will be here soon.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:27PM
@3:28:
Nobody thought that these were "overpriced houses" a year ago, or else the banks, asset managers and other holders of MBS would not have owned them, no? The holders were implicit in their belief that housing prices were going up; putting it another way I don't think they bought MBS to short the housing market. So you've got to include all the guys who are experiencing writedowns as "stupid" too.
Posted by Finnegan , Mar 26, 2008 5:42PM
@4:05 PM
The fact that Wall Stret uses leverage has nothing to do with the unrelated reality of millions of stupid people buying homes they could not afford. Leverage does not of itself cause failure.
And the little people's excuse? My mortgage guy told me it would go up in value and I could refinance or flip. Of course, the mortgage person, a salesperson, is not particularly a seer, and just goes by what the market and his own greed seems to indicate.
None of what's happening in the villages has any relationship to high Wall Street salaries, nor does a screwed up Wall Street help the average citizen.
It's a sign of ignorant bliss that you could even post such a thought. Apparently you are totally unaware of the scope of what Wall Street does and how much it greases the world in which you live.
There are places without variations on Wall Street. They are in Africa. Go, enjoy your bliss.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:42PM
I thought the prior Lamborghini post was just sad wannabe stuff. I started to comment to that effect, but I thought, "Why waste time?" Thanks for the confession, Mr. Lamborghini.
The comment about @3:48 pm watching "John Adams" was funny.
The protest at Bear Stearns sounds like utter madness. However, reading the Wall Street Journal about the April 3, 2008 Senate hearing on the Bear Stearns/JP Morgan merger is another manifestation of utter madness as well. Schwartz, Dimon, and Bernanke, happy deal-making partners, reunited again! They must be thrilled. Meanwhile, all interested parties must turn over the name of every negotiator and lawyer involved in the Bear Stearns/JP Morgan merger to Senators Grassley and Baucus. Maybe when it's all over, bankruptcy court is going to seem cheap and efficient.
What's happening in Delaware? And who is the guy that pops up and manfully yells out "The Delaware Chancery Court is a court of equity!" whenever it seems appropriate. (Most state courts of general jurisdiction encompass the powers of a court of equity, so it's not that big a deal, son.) Today is starting to seem like a Monty Python skit.
I gather a lot of Americans are unhappy about the mortgage crisis and the sinking value of homes. I guess this is what happens when a country has a financial crisis, an inarticulate President, and a dead-locked legislature.
Posted by Anal_yst , Mar 26, 2008 5:48PM
Agreed...the distribution is seriously skewed, of course, those who don't actually work in Finance or live in a financial center probably just assume everyone at Goldman (etc) makes $600 grand every year.
Of course, the reality is that a few rainmakers and executives pull down 7 and 8-figure incomes, while the vast majority of the rank-and-file make in the tens, to low-hundreds of thousands, much like every other middle/upper-middle class area in the country.
Only in NYC, $300k/year with a wife and 2 kids is like $100k anywhere else
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:50PM
props to 3:48 that is one of the best comments i've heard here in mos
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 5:58PM
@ 5:42
indeed sad, but not wannabe.
See, you are missing the point. I wannabe affected by this Bear Stearns fallout the way a couple people I know are. But I'm not. Instead, I'm financing a car I don't need in a recession we all helped create.
I read Greek and Shakespearean tragedies in my off time. I very much appreciate cosmic irony.
I've hated Bear Stearns and all its red flags of going down the tubes for quite some time, and yes, now, I am gloating.
So, to clear this all up:
a) I wannabe priced out at anywhere from 2-10% of my equity, but I'm not because I'm too smart. And
b) I wannabe in the lobby of whatever bastion of Wall Street will be picketed next week. Today was amazing lunch hour entertainment. And
c) I wannabe able to protest a moratorium on the lease of my Murcielago, just as unabashedly as the poors invaded my corner of the sandbox today. Got it?
Also, to the ninja mortgage broker in Ohio: *I know it sounds sexy, but Goldman Sachs is not all it's cracked up to be.* Just trying not to bear our stearns over here if you know what I mean
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 6:25PM
@2:30 What do fat chicks and mopeds have in common?
Answer: They're both fun to ride until your friends see you on them.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 6:28PM
Amazing.
Everyone here is bitching and moaning how stupid the typical American home buyer is.
But Wall Streeters earning big bucks off stupid homebuyers seemed to think the party was going to continue forever.
I have some sympathy (not a lot) for hillbillies who had no idea what they were getting into when they signed those mortgage papers.
But fuck you Wall Street dumbasses on their other end of their stupidity.
No sympathy from me. I hope your kids end up in public school. I hope your next suit comes from Men's Wearhouse. I hope your wives leave you because they didn't marry you to be lower middle class.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 6:31PM
Finnegan @5:42 You must be missing something or you must have misread my earlier postings. The leverage on Wall St and the 'stupid' homeowner are not directly related, that is true.
Making gambling bets with borrowed funds that are leveraged 30 to 40 times on the underlying subprime collateral, is that not stupid too? The big difference is that the bets have 30 to 40 times the negative impact that the subprime mortages themselves have when some of the subprimes falter and the bets go south.
As I said before, all the subprime mortgages are not big enough themselves to crash the banking system. Multiply them by 30 or 40 times or more, and now we're talking some damages. That is where we are.
Banks are hoarding money now and not lending it out. They are waiting to see what other shit comes out of Wall St. I expect that there is more to come. That is what all your genius has done for us.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 6:54PM
I'm just trying to imagine what the whole MBS market would have looked like if Brian Hunter had been playing those instead of natty...
Oh, and a comment about the comments on people not understanding the implications of an upward reset on an interest rate: With all the edumacated 4-year-degree and graduate studies people I know (in the hard sciences and in commerce), I would hazard a guess that, at best, 5 to 10% might have a clue about geometric progressions. Of that number, I've only ever met a handful that can actually talk reasonably well about the effects of large numbers as they extend across a large population. So if the solid number-crunchers still stumble now and then to understand and the bank economists can't agree, I can guarantee that a lot of people - from the bottom to the top - are still going to glaze over when confronted with the reality of the mathematics. It's going to be disbelief for a long while until it sinks in.
Now all of these thoughts about math have me reliving calculus with complex numbers and Maxwell's equations. I think I'm going to need a stiff drink.
--Schmooze
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 6:56PM
Guest @5:42 you obviously have no clue about what the Delaware Chancery Court is. There is no other like it. It is a major reason why more than half of the Fortune 500 companies incorporated in Delaware, including the Bear. It is also where all those corporations go to solve their disputes.
Check it out, son. We have the internet you know. Maybe then you'll understand why those corporate disputes don't go to the general jurisdiction courts in your town.
The Guy from Delaware
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 7:11PM
lol
the real fun is going to start when manhattan real estate drops 60%+ over the next few years.
i missed a 6500 sq ft. townhome on west 10th @ 700k in 1991 by an inch. i was too young and too scared to get caught up in a "bidding war". got outbid by 35k.
don't fell too bad for me, i bought lots of other places.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 7:15PM
@ 5:42 & @ 6:48
let me make clear my position. I am not a Wall Street dumbass. I am, in fact, a smartass. Believe it.
No one here is bitching and whining. Except ninjas like you (read: the poors.)
O Ye of little assets.
In reference to the "Mr. Lamborghini" comment:
If the following ironies are lost on you,
a) me financing a Lamborghini while BS collapses
b) me financing a Lamborghini in a recession
c) me financing a Lamborghini while some individuals who in a way helped me buy it protest 2 doors down
d) me gleefully financing a Lamborghini (read: a CAR) instead of a HOUSE in the midst of the subhuman lending crisis
then I have no hope for the future of the Ohio ninja mortgage broker and his mullet-sporting, protest-placard-hoisting debtors. I have no hope for you primarily for your failure to appreciate irony (which I value above all else) as well as for your obvious hatred of Wall St. types.
Say it with me. The Lamborghini is a tool of IRONY in the context of everything that is happening. An instrument of IRONY, not something to brag about. If I wanted to brag, there are maybe about 3 or 4 other things higher on the list I would brag about first.
Our divergent interests intersect only where Bear Stearns is concerned: I do scoff at them and their own stupidity during this crisis, just as I scoff at ninjas and the proletariat.
But you, my friend, you should lighten up on the whole "anti-Wall St." riff. Vitriol against Wall St., while entirely justified, is nonetheless misguided because these complaints ultimately identify you as and place you squarely among the ranks of the poors. The poors and the middle classes, who have no credibility and no standing on this issue, because they literally "bought" into it. A catch-22, no?
The most I can do is offer you a ride in the yellow Lamborghini. Or a leveraged buyout.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 7:49PM
all the fools are dancing.
but the greater fools are watching.
dance baby, dance.
Posted by redpandot , Mar 26, 2008 7:50PM
@5:17 you know, most people don't appreciate the irony...
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2008 9:53PM
Irony.
NACA-style.
http://www.destinybydesignministry.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=34
Posted by guest , Mar 27, 2008 12:18AM
Lamborghini guy -- are you the same one who claims to read "Greek and Shakespearean tragedies" in your spare time to develop your sense of "irony," which you feel compelled to spell out in capital letters?
If you do have the means to buy that Lamborghini, I hope one night while you are driving it, you find one small thing that is ... slightly annoying ...
cheers.
Posted by guest , Mar 27, 2008 1:03AM
Guy from Delaware:
I took your advice and checked out the Delaware Chancery Court on the ABA website and a few other sites.
Now I know why the Bear Stearns shareholder suit is pending there. The Delaware Chancery Court is fast, it is willing to grant temporary restraining orders in cases claiming shareholder stock dilution, the judges are experienced and knowledgeable in corporation disputes, there is a cohesive body of law already developed, and there is only one level of appeal.
Thank you. A lot has been clarified.
No offense to your justifiable pride, but Delaware is apparently not the only state to preserve the old English separation between courts of law and courts of equity. And as I pointed out earlier, most state courts of general jurisdiction combine law (money damages) and equity (injunctive) powers, which is historically the more recent approach. Being a court of equity is not what makes the Delaware Chancery Court the business court of choice: it is apparently distinguished by speed, efficiency, flexibility, scholarship, and fairness. I was unaware of these special features of the Delaware Chancery Court. Thank you for your persistence in straightening me out.
Posted by guest , Mar 27, 2008 2:14AM
Maybe people would understand personal responsibility if Dr. Representative Ron Paul "The Great" had been president.
We still have a chance to make America great again via write-ins. Everyone please show your support for the Doctor. He has the medicine to help this country.
Posted by guest , Mar 27, 2008 8:01AM
@6:28 But Wall Streeters earning big bucks off stupid homebuyers seemed to think the party was going to continue forever
Yeah, those guys took home millions over the years. What did the stupid homebuyers get? Severe losses that they are unequipped to handle.
Posted by guest , Mar 27, 2008 10:13AM
Guest@1:03AM Thank you for your kind comments about the Delaware Chancery Court. It is a real jewel that we have. The litigants may not get all they want, but they do get clarity, and they get it fairly quickly.
The Guy from Delaware
Posted by guest , Mar 29, 2008 10:19PM
Yeah, thanks to the Wall Street guys, guess who has to do EXTRA work in the actuary, subrogation and underwriting departments now?
The Insurance Guys.
Guess who has to put up with banks, loan servicers, and municipal courts threatening subrogation because of foreclosures, or that our insured REALLY want to set fire to their own properties?
The Insurance Guys.
Oh and what makes matters worse? Our REINSURANCE partner up and decided to invest with you guys in those AAA-rated products, which was basically shiny opaque Tupperware enclosing a casserole diarrhea of bad CDOs.
Now we got to spread out the RE because even now we're wondering if the RE is gonna be there if we get slammed with huge losses the courts will make us eat.
- Insurance dude in Philly