Totally Unconfirmed Rumor Of The Day Part I

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:50AM

I think Warren will be quite happy to sit on the sidelines this week

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:50AM

I think Warren will be quite happy to sit on the sidelines this week

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:53AM

AIG is deep doodoo...they still haven't marked down subprime MBS and Alt-A MBS properly...still 30 cents on the dollar higher than what LEH marked theirs at recently...

AIG is just shitting the bed trying to avoid this...PwC should've forced them harded on the M2M value of these assets.

Its a huge shit sandwich and everyone is taking a bite.

MBS/CDS is a bitch - its like a hooker that has herps...was pleasure and bliss that one time and now it just keeps causing trouble and flaming up...

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:53AM

AIG is deep doodoo...they still haven't marked down subprime MBS and Alt-A MBS properly...still 30 cents on the dollar higher than what LEH marked theirs at recently...

AIG is just shitting the bed trying to avoid this...PwC should've forced them harded on the M2M value of these assets.

Its a huge shit sandwich and everyone is taking a bite.

MBS/CDS is a bitch - its like a hooker that has herps...was pleasure and bliss that one time and now it just keeps causing trouble and flaming up...

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:54AM

Buffett is sitting in his Nebraska sweatsuit, with a bowl of popcorn watching the game replay for the 40th time. He will plug is phone back in on Weds or Thursday.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:55AM

Too long, didn't read.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:58AM

Long whores, short financials.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 8:59AM

True/False: Buffett loves complex, incorrectly marked derivatives.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:07AM

Buffett won't be taking any of the toxic stuff on AIG balance sheet. Not after Lehman's demise.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:08AM

Yeah Right, not a chance he buys them

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:16AM

i don't see why buffett wouldn't make bids for individual parts of aig

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:16AM

It's so easy a caveman could do it.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:20AM

So, when does the Fed open the window for AIG?

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:27AM

@14, since when did it open for investment banks? Since they needed it.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:27AM

@14, since when did it open for investment banks? Since they needed it.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:32AM

All the executives and big traders should give back all the $ they made. Don't feel bad for any of them. The back office people will be the first laid off.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:36AM

Buffett has a VERY long history with AIG and even post-Greenberg still has a lot of relationships with people here. It isn't easy to imagine him buying obligations he's not sure he understands and it's impossible for anyone to understand AIG right now, but assets are definitely possible and I wouldn't rule the whole shebang out.

Doesn't help that there's a new CEO though.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:47AM

I think now it a perfect time to quote David Brooks in what was probably the most lucid and thought-provoking column in the history of the new york times...

There is roughly a 100 percent chance that we’re going to spend much of this year talking about the subprime mortgage crisis, the financial markets and the worsening economy. The only question is which narrative is going to prevail, the Greed Narrative or the Ecology Narrative.

The Greed Narrative goes something like this: The financial markets are dominated by absurdly overpaid zillionaires. They invent complex financial instruments, like globally securitized subprime mortgages that few really understand. They dump these things onto the unsuspecting, sending destabilizing waves of money sloshing around the globe. Economies melt down. Regular people lose jobs and savings. Meanwhile, the financial insiders still get their obscene bonuses, rain or shine.

The morality of the Greed Narrative is straightforward. A small number of predators destabilize the economy and reap big bonuses. The financial system is fundamentally broken. Government should step in and control the malefactors of great wealth.

The Ecology Narrative is different. It starts with the premise that investors and borrowers cooperate and compete in a complex ecosystem. Everyone seeks wealth while minimizing risk. As Jim Manzi, a software entrepreneur who specializes in applied artificial intelligence, has noted, the chief tension in this ecosystem is between innovation and uncertainty. We could live in a safer world, but we’d have to forswear creativity. [. . .]

The Ecology Narrative is not morally satisfying. I wouldn’t bet on its popularity as a backlash against Wall Street and finance sweeps across a recession-haunted country. But the Ecology Narrative has one thing going for it. It happens to be true.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:47AM

@17 back office people are the most replaceable

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 9:54AM

Erin Burnett just called the past 24hrs a "colonic of the markets" !!!! cramer almost threw up on the floor

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 10:04AM

EB's comment was juvenile - that's journalism? Very happy that she was not on the CNBC special last night. Give me Melissa Lee or Melissa Francis any day over EB's snarky snippets.

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 10:07AM

who does GS think they're fooling they're going to Zero

Posted by guest, Sep 15, 2008 10:07AM

Yeah,thats an asshat comment...i'm sure LEH employees feel worse than a colonic would've...