Bill Ackman For Treasury Secretary?

The Pershing Square founder and manager announced today at the Value Investing Congress that if he had Bald's job, he wouldn't buy CDOs or derivatives, and would instead purchase delinquent mortgages for .50 on the dollar. Ackman said he got the idea from "a guy in Florida who emailed me."

Comments

1

Posted by Seaman Bodine , Oct 06, 2008 1:55PM

he is awesome

2

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 1:56PM

Firsty. Give him the job.

3

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 1:56PM

Interesting! But how will it work?

4

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 1:57PM

Damn it.

2

5

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:03PM

So then can I purchase my mortgage at 50 cents on the dollar?

6

Posted by MarshallStack , Oct 06, 2008 2:04PM

Is this being offered to those of us that are current on our mortgages?
No?
OK - then fuck you Bill.

7

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:06PM

Mike Morgan?

8

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:06PM

pershing has been right all along on the short side (of mbia, ambac, fnm and fre, but even they are only up 2% this year. shows how tough a year it has been. they should bring him in front of the committee to show the clowns that some people got it right.

9

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:07PM

the mother of all moral hazard. Let's give everyone an incentive to stop paying their mortgages. The dictatorship of the mortgage-holder proletariat begins.

10

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:14PM

I may be missing something, but if he buys a $300,000 mortgage (from Citibank, Countrywide, etc.) for $150,000, how does this benefit the homeowner? They still owe $300,000; they just owe it to him instead of the prior party. I might be reading this the wrong way, but I think the idea would be that the market is pricing these mortgages too cheaply, and he could make money by either restructuring the mortgage (which, admittedly, does pose moral hazards) or by foreclosing on property that is worth more than his $150,000 purchase price? Seems like a fairly straightforward business idea; not sure where the moral hazard comes in (since the current mortgage holders have the same choice between restructuring and foreclosing that he would have).

11

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:23PM

I want to buy my own mortgage. If I do that then I will be even with what my house is worth. I put way more than 25% down. Even with good credit they demanded my blood. Now I find out minorities of every color and language were getting mortgages on houses they couldn't afford, at times driving the price of my house up, and so I'm beginning to realize that I was wholly discriminated against.

12

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:25PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs&NR=1

13

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:25PM

Who the fuck cares about this.

Was the guy in Florida who emailed Ackman Jeff Epstein?


Suck. Balls.

14

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:26PM

Wait Cashin is looking for a "big sell off" tomorrow moning. Is he serious? Guess he is not like me, your average investor, whose broker told them not to worry. I'm not in cash, I'm in he market. These fuckers are all in cash.

15

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:32PM

@8

That's because this year has been a bad year for long positions

16

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:39PM

My ten cent bid for all MBS is officially withdrawn, seeing as how this guy COPIED ME.

And 10 is right, this affects HO not at all. They left out option 3, however, which is just to sit on the mortgage and take the cash flow. All of this panic is about a small disruption in objective PV because of a few defaulters, but multiplied times leveraged-to-the-idiot-power.

That was my plan with the nefarious ten-cent offer. Unless some combination of factors causes greater than 50% net default, any bundle comprised of mortgages with rates above inflation make this a no-brainer. It's free fucking money.

And if we get >50% default rates on large bundles, it won't matter what you're holding, unless it's guns 'n ammo.

17

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:45PM

My ten cent bid for all MBS is officially withdrawn, seeing as how this guy COPIED ME.

And 10 is right, this affects HO not at all. They left out option 3, however, which is just to sit on the mortgage and take the cash flow. All of this panic is about a small disruption in objective PV because of a few defaulters, but multiplied times leveraged-to-the-idiot-power.

That was my plan with the nefarious ten-cent offer. Unless some combination of factors causes greater than 50% net default, any bundle comprised of mortgages with rates above inflation make this a no-brainer. It's free fucking money.

And if we get >50% default rates on large bundles, it won't matter what you're holding, unless it's guns 'n ammo.

18

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 2:59PM

Glad you guys still have time to talk about mortgages...go to the bank and buy t-bills your $$$ will be worth
10x as much after the grand fizzle...
when you buy those homes at 10c ....
Fact is, this "commie aid" for the banks is self serving it will not free up a single dollar for retail.
Where is Ben's heli? Or is it just meant to hover above Wall St rather than main street? That's what happens when you let profs and opportunists run the money!

Get out guys and you will be fine, you'll have ample time to chatter in the chatrooms thereafter....

19

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 3:09PM

Sounds something like what this guy was saying weeks ago...
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/09/22/daily70.html?ana=from_rss

20

Posted by fxquant , Oct 06, 2008 3:13PM

Fuckin' idiot

21

Posted by guest , Oct 06, 2008 4:17PM

If you need to get rid of your frustration take a room other than a chatroom!

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