Good thing that 8.5% unemployment rate, which is now the driver of credit losses, will be falling soon, right?
----
"no one is pricing in low, mid teens unemployment in any of their assumptions." - Meredith Whitney
Ways to view comments on this thread:
Dead simple, read only interface at: http://users.thelink.net/bobn/CR
CRC-like interface at http://realize.org/cr/crcizer/
Full Blown Interface at http://www.hoocoodanode.org/
For live chat, join us in IRC.
To access IRC with firefox, install the chatzilla add-on and go to irc://irc.realize.org:9996/calculatedrisk.
Or set your IRC client for server irc.realize.org port 9996 and /join #calculatedrisk.
Feed back via bobn
Fortunately, the value of Citi's debt is falling faster than the value of their loan book. There's a sound strategy for long-term profitability...
CR - not sure why you are looking into the numbers. Stop being a spoilsport and start focusing on the top line number (along with the CNBC crowd) showing Citi made a profit (after marking $2.5 billion from marking to market its liabilities - because its a weaker credit, and excluding preferred dividends).
It's all good!
CR - not sure why you are looking into the numbers. Stop being a spoilsport and start focusing on the top line number (along with the CNBC crowd) showing Citi made a profit (after marking $2.5 billion from marking to market its liabilities - because its a weaker credit, and excluding preferred dividends).
It's all good!
Moin from Germany,
here are today delinqeuncy charts ( commercial, consumer martgages / cards ) from GE...
http://www.ge.com/pdf/investors/events/04172009/ge_webcast_presentation_...
It will be fun to watch if their math shown on page 19 for their reserve ratio will stand the test of the coming quarters.....
These losses will only increase Citi's profits!
Moin again,
chart is on page 17......
They are only losses if you willingly decide to recognize them.
OT:
Germany: Gov't Offers To Buy Hypo Real Estate
The German government has offered to buy 100 percent of mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate (HRE), Agence France-Presse reported April 17. Shareholders in the company have until May 4 to accept the offer of 1.39 euros ($1.82) per share, what the government has called an "attractive price". The government said in a statement that it intends to take "full control" of the mortgage lender, out of concern that HRE's collapse could trigger wider chaos.
------------------
sacrealstats
I can't wait to see what the delinquency rates when U-3 hits 10% and then 12%.
Unless mp is right and they go boom before that point is reached.
homedad43
I think that I'm going to apply the FASB guidelines to my tax returns for next year...
homedad43
C'mon now, like JPM and GS, C made money from "trading" (i.e. marking the position of their trading inventory to model instead of market).
"Sprinkle a little TARP on em."
I mean, really, what's it matter? Just add it to the national balance sheet, that's what we do with everything else.
Yep, just toss it on the national balance sheet, listen for about 1/100th of a second for the sound of the camel's back breaking, and forget about it.
Oh, one other thing, based on what I have been told they aren't paying their traders based on the nice markups in their books, that fiction is reserved just for the GAAP financial statements, as now allowed by FASB.
Nothing illegal at all, just returning to the legalized fiction that is accounting in the good ole USA.
Those rates of increase are eye popping...the QoQ increase in Card NCL's is 26.6%, annualizing that is a 157% increase...for the 90+ DPD it is a 25.2% increase with an annualized rate of 146%.
Best case scenario, the 1Q numbers are double that next year, baseline 1.5x, downside 2x or worse as my WAG is non-performing loans increase in a non-linear fashion with increases in U-6.
Unemployment, the new leading indicator.
These phonied up bank earnings reports are getting downright embarrassing. I'm going to have to dig out my Canadian t-shirts again and go back undercover.
Comic or Tragic.. you decide.
______________________
Europe Is No Model for Our Banks
We need a financial system that supports innovation.
By DAVID SMICK
Barack Obama is facing a policy civil war within his party. One side is led by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. The other is led by the president's top economic adviser, Larry Summers. The battle is over the future of Wall Street banks.
The president's dilemma is that both sides offer credible arguments but both also miss an essential point.
As the Krugmanites argue, we got into today's mess because of a lack of financial transparency. Yet everything about big banks still seems murky. Their undisclosed off-balance-sheet exposure remains a mystery, and the Treasury's public/private scheme to clear balance sheets risks transferring yet more taxpayer wealth to banks.
The Krugmanites' solution is to return banks to the simplicity of the 1960s -- a world without derivatives or securitization, and only minimal leverage.
It's not so simple, say the Summers Democrats. Eliminating derivatives would hamstring risk management for most U.S. corporations. Ending securitization would prevent vast sums of capital from being used for business expansion and strip funding away from U.S. export markets.
The Summers Democrats add that today's liberalized capital markets were not some distasteful Ronald Reagan invention. They were a successful late 1970s Democratic response to a decade of stagflation and included reforms for pension investments, among other things. Out of those reforms came a diverse array of vehicles for managing financial risk and deploying capital in ways that allowed the economy to be restructured.
Interesting layoffs here: http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=65866&catid=13
Less freight is being moved by rail
I think that I'm going to apply the FASB guidelines to my tax returns for next year...
homedad43
Why would you want to do that? Isn't it a good thing to have a bunch of losses come tax day?
PS - I once had a Citi credit card, but canceled when they decided against me when I disputed a hotel overcharging me. Apparently if the merchant sends them any paperwork at all, Citi will take their side. It doesn't matter if the paperwork supports your claim. To top it off, they tried to give me a credit for the same amount as the disputed charge ($40) in exchange for not closing the account. I told them that calling me a liar and then making good in a side transaction is not acceptable. Either agree that I'm right or close the account. They closed the account.
Shh!! That is one of the main canuck secrets used to making their banks look good!
Their other secret is outright fraudulent bookkeeping... and a population that wants to believe such c**p.
//They are only losses if you willingly decide to recognize them.//
Operative quote from the story I linked above:
"CSX volumes are down by double digits in every part of the economy we serve. We have no choice but to act swiftly to adopt our resources in response to the significant decline in volume. We have had to furlough 2,400 employees (as) we have about 30,000 cars in storage and 500 locomotives sitting idle."
I'm becoming more seriously tempted by the day to let my 2nd with Citi join in the growing delinquency party. To just stop paying the damn thing and see what happens.
It's only forty grand, and my philosophy to this point has been that my credit rating (north of 800) has been worth more than whatever percentage of that I'd be able to wring out of their Loss Mit guys once it shows up on their 90+ day list.
But now? Especially when it comes to Citi, I'm getting closer to the point where I think I'd accept some collateral damage to be able to jam a writedown up their backsides ... even if it's just five figures.
I think my basic problem is that I haven't been thinking amorally enough to really understand the Big 19.
In matters financial, I'm gonna start asking myself a new question.
WWTDD ... "What would 'Tricky Dick' do?"
CITI COMMITS LEGALIZED FRAUD
Citi reported $1.6 billion in "profits" today. Before you get excited we have AT LEAST one non-cash bogus accounting to gain to strip out. I say "AT LEAST" because we won't be able to put together the rest of the LIES until they release their 10-Q (They have 45 days from the end of their quarter).
Citi recognized a NON-CASH profit on a DECLINE in the market value of their debt. HUH? Some moron at FASB (most-likely some whore Congressman who received large donations from Wall Street who forced this on FASB) decided that if the market value of a company's bonds and bank debt declines, the company might buy them back at a discount and thus save some money vs. waiting to pay them off at par. FASB decided that because of this remote buyback possibility, the company can recognize and accounting gain (not a bona fide economic-based, cash gain) by the amount that value of the debt declines.
Let's do an example. Citi issues $100mm of bonds in December 2008 at par (100). The market value of those bonds declines to 90 (i.e. falls to 90% is issue value) because of the perceived risk of Citi's business model by the market. Vik Pandit, Citi CEO says to his CFO: "hey man, if we were to have any TARP money left and we bought back that $100mm of debt of $90 million, we could recognize $10 million in profits."
See where this going? To begin with, Citi doesn't have the cash available to spend 100's of millions required to buy back their debt, let alone enough to buy back the amount of debt required to generate a $2.5 billion accounting gain. THAT $2.5 BILLION, LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE ON WALL STREET AND ESPECIALLY WITH CITIGROUP, IS PURE FANTASY.
In summary, Citi has actually lost AT LEAST $900 million this quarter ($1.6 billion less the $2.5 billion accounting fantasy/fraud). I would bet anyone anything that Citi's real loss is closer to the $5 billion loss they reported in Q1 2008. Citi's earnings are emblematic of the fraud and fairy tales being perpertrated at the highest levels of our system, beginning with the White House and Wall Street. Vik Pandit is a complete fraud, the Company he runs is hopelessly insolvent, and the best we can hope for is that the individual investor does not get sucked into buying Citi stock thinking it's a great buy here, because I guatantee everyone reading this, that the smart money is dumping their Citi stock and I will be we will eventually see millions of shares dumped by insiders.
There are lies, damned lies and then there are bank accounting standards.
But Citi and JPM are doing exactly what canadian banks did to appear OK..
//Gareth G wrote on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 8:30am.
These phonied up bank earnings reports are getting downright embarrassing. I'm going to have to dig out my Canadian t-shirts again and go back undercover.//
CSX volumes v Labor resources
Whoa, that is over-capacity if there was ever a greater example.
Bet CSX wishes if were a bank
The German government has offered to buy 100 percent of mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate (HRE), Agence France-Presse reported April 17. Shareholders in the company have until May 4 to accept the offer of 1.39 euros ($1.82) per share, what the government has called an "attractive price".
Every time I did an internal investigation on some shady company selling shitty assets I saw HYPO just gobbling that shit up. It became a joke among us.
-------
http://www.afterthecrash.net - After the Crash, a blog shared by the CR Commenting Community. Hoopajoop on over.
Yen cracked 99 convincingly to the downside (which is to say, strengthened vs the dollar) - been a fair amount of chatter about the return of the carry trade - could be an interesting opex...
Mook, I'm with you.
Citi CC is the first thing I'll do delinquent on if I get furloughed again by my employer this summer.
This makes no sense.
C beats the estimates, makes PROFIT and the stock is down?
What do you people want? What's the number that would make you happy? Just say it and we'll make it happen!
My mortgage was bought by Citi last summer and if I end up unemployed, I'll be doing the same. That the mortgage is with Citi makes it easier to justify IMO.
Lucifer
--that quote you posted is interesting:
The Summers Democrats add that today's liberalized capital markets...[produced] a diverse array of vehicles for managing financial risk and deploying capital in ways that allowed the economy to be restructured.
Does he mean "restructured" as in "imploded"?
If some Citi crony is reading this board to gauge the temperature of the citizens and is getting terrified by how many people are PLANNING to go delinquent on Citi in the next 9 months (if necessary) ..... WELL YOU SHOULD BE TERRIFIED.
Unsafe Money Market Guarantees Expire in April
http://www.geldpress.com/2009/04/money-markets-unsafe/?ref=patrick.net
Just a friendly heads up.
Terrified of what? Of being funneled more of your future tax payments to float their business model?
Disgusting. I am ashamed to say I am an American businessman. Worse I don't dare say I am an ex-banker.
Rally on.
I should have gone to college and learned how to cheat!
The ECRI Weekly Leading Index decreased to 107.2 for the week ending April 10 from a revised 107.4 (previously 107.9). The smoothed, annualized growth rate increased to -19.7% from a revised -20.9% (previously -20.6%). The growth rate has leveled off since the beginning of the year, and started to gain ground in the last several weeks. However, past significant declines in the ECRI over the latter part of 2008 suggests a severe downturn that will last deep into this year.
This makes no sense.
C beats the estimates, makes PROFIT and the stock is down?
What do you people want? What's the number that would make you happy? Just say it and we'll make it happen!
I tell you what I want. I want a full accounting of the TARP money. I want a full, objective investigation of why they begged for TARP funds and an uncovering of all the backroom deals that took place to enable this charade. I want the TARP funds returned and I never want the gov't to use my tax money to bail out banks again, or any industry that's too big to fail. I want laws enacted and enforced that prevent this bullshit from happening again, and I want to dismantle any company that's too big to fail.
I will never own any of these institutions' stock, but I find it amusing anyone would purchase it, considering. It just proves Jas right.
C's business model has been living on borrowed time for awhile. The patient might get one or two more last-ditch infusions, but it's not going to survive. C will die (or be absorbed).
Has ANYONE ever been prosecuted under Sarbanes Oxley for certifying an inaccurate financial statement?
-------
Rosebud Junk Co
Well, guess that we can now safely say that moral hazard is alive, well and living amongst the American people.
Never thought that I'd see ruthless default as civil disobedience.
homedad43
Has ANYONE ever been prosecuted under Sarbanes Oxley for certifying an inaccurate financial statement?
Are you joking? We don't have enough prisons. SOX is a gravy train for accountants, and lipstick on a pig. It accomplishes nothing other than that, and is a royal pain in the ass.
Rufus:
Yeah, someone will get the bright idea of going after some small-time and defenseless Mom&Pop just to prove a point about how serious they are about Sarbanes/Oxley.
homedad43
See that rise in 90+? THAT is your shadow inventory. Thanks to the government, no one has been allowed to be kicked out of their homes for the past 4 months. So they sit their and fester.
A great interview, and eye opening
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article10078.html?ref=patrick.net
Goldman Sachs....Paulson,Kashkari,Chris Dodd,Obama.....all spleep togeather.
Goldman Sachs....Paulson,Kashkari,Chris Dodd,Obama.....all spleep togeather.
Yikes there goes my breakfast
With the BS accounting tricks by Shitibank, it's more like Citi's credit is losing rapidly. They obviously believe the public is too stupid to catch on, or simply don't care since they have gov't backing.
Is spleeping anything like teabagging?
Used to be pay your mortgage first. I'm not so sure that's still operative. If your cards are going 90+ NCL that's a monster cash crunch. Remember, we are talking about paying the minimum to get off that list. At 18% usurious rates that's less than $20 per $1000 outstanding per month. If consumers can't scrape that together or worse, won't scrape it together then... well you know.
The irony of all this is that Citi is publicly advising to short its stock, and yet the BBAD continue to do the opposite.
Mook--see my posts about my client with the 25 Cents on the dollar B of A offer.
The letter even entices with saying what we will tell the credit bureau is not-so-bad.
But he's in foreclosure on his first. B of A knows it will get nothing if it's foreclosed.
You could bargain, but I doubt they'll do anything till your credit rating is shot.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Is spleeping anything like teabagging?
------------
That all depends on where you place the tea bag.
That all depends on where you place the tea bag.
Where else could you place it?
If Teabaggers are something OTHER than right wing nuts, it would behoove them to contact Sean Hannity and inform him. I briefly listened to his program on the tea parties last night. According to Hannity, teabaggers are at least in league with the right wing if not it's new leaders.
.............................
If you don't take your profits, someone else will.
Where else could you place it?
------------
Way to early I won't go there........yet.
Why don't the Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch jump start the recovery by lowering ratings, decreasing the market value of existing debt and increasing "profits" across the board?
Shill, the Treasury extended the money market fund guarantee through September 18, 2009,
Treasury Announces Extension of Temporary Guarantee Program for Money Market Funds
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg76.htm
Ahh thank you I was searching for this.....apreciated
"Nobama" No recovery, no change until we get someone new in the white house.
although originally used as a hedge I am more confident the market is clueless as to what has occurred and what is coming looking at the GRZZX and BEARX. I'll probably go with Bearx since it made money even in "up" markets.
I've got a 1st and 2nd with Citi, no other debt, cars paid for and no need to access debt possibly ever again - so my 760 FICO is irrelevant at this point.... I have decent career/job security, but feel inclined to join the ranks on the >90 NCL list to see what I can weasel out of them..they've done enough weasle-ing...maybe it's my turn
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see any improving 'second derivative' in those chart lines.
I have a rule of thumb developed watching feckless clients/businessmen/lawyers fail.
They keep on keeping on for about 1 1/2 years after I was sure they would go under immediately. I think that puts the total bust in about next September.
Alas, I have very little to default on, ruthlessly or otherwise.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Mortgage is the last thing I'd lapse on. Mortgage, car, taxes, insurance and utilties. Keep those paid up. .... If we get into trouble, let the CC payments (starting with Citi) lapse. Then they'll introduce the penalty APR of 32 percent for the missed payment, which will make it even more unlikely that they'll ever get their money from me.
For some reason I am just not comfortable with this level of corruption and deceit no matter how transparent it is....
Tom Stone
sam.2.
Weasel on the 2nd only. It may come to pass that they will do nothing but ruin your credit.
Given enough time--quite a lot, depending on what state you are in--you will pass the statute of limitations on collections.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
3.76 from 3.66 on 30y yield in 24 hours.
Figure 0.10% rise in yield over 3.66% .1/3.66=2.75%
3.66% yield = approx. .01% interest daily
24 hour return on speculation = 2.75%
Systeming gaming returns 275 days of Treasury interest in 24 hours
Fed purchase of 300 bill within 6 mo's; they are going to run out of money too soon.
Mortgages are very difficult to obtain as gov't can't fund them all and private capital won't take a 15/30 yr. risk with artificially low and manipulated returns. Market clearing prices aren't being allowed discovery. Gov't price setting and manipulation is the cause of credit lockup. Does gov't really think they can outwit those still with capital?
ALERT
CA UE rate now at 11.2%
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-caljobs18-2009apr18,0,2996186.story
Borocco Mama wrote, "I want...I want...I want...
Sorry, but if your want isn't accompanied by cash or checks to a congress critter, than it's wasted effort.
MGM bankruptcy by June?
Dicing with debt
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13496383
Down 30% in 3 days
sam.2 (member) wrote on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 8:17am.
I've got a 1st and 2nd with Citi, no other debt,
Why not ask them about rolling both into a new smaller balance 1st? Depending on your CLTV you might extract some serious coin and lower your rate. All they can say is no.
Thing is, with the 2nd mtges, the lenders finally and totally realize they are screwed. They have given up hope, and don't want to spend the money to hire people to see where they have some equity to chew on and where they don't.
I wonder if any helocs at all are being granted.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Wow, C & C, just wow.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Here's the gig I need to get: Former U. S. Sen. Rick Santorum is collecting $1,750 a shot for the columns that appear every other week in the Philadelphia Inquirer, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The checks are sent to a post office box in Great Falls, Va.
Tim waiting for 2012 wrote on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 8:24am.
MGM bankruptcy by June?
MGM was bankrupt in 2006. Since then it has been all deck chair rearrangement and looting the passengers. Blame the bondholders who don't want to become casino owners.
Is MGM the casino related significantly to MGM the movies people, financially?
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Rob Dawg +1
Liquidation by June. I have been told that you can get a night at the win for 60 bucks. That won't even pay the union housekeeping staff
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a007FgIxzK8Q&refer=home
Consumer Index rises for second month. With this coupled with "profit" gimmicks accounted for by shuffling losses to the gains column, and manufactoring continuing to shrink, I think the consumer is in for some additional trauma to the head--finally.
--bh
The State of Fla legislature is now significantly messing around with widening Indian gambling. Seems if they don't pass the legislation the gambling will happen anyway and they won't get their tax share of the profits.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Wasn't the index y over y down last month for the first yearly decline since, ummm, '55?
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
"C beats the estimates, makes PROFIT and the stock is down?
What do you people want? What's the number that would make you happy?"
An actual profit would make the market happy. If you exclude the decline in the market value of debt Citi has to pay, they lost money. All FASB aside, the only way to keep showing profits if the current situation perpetuates itself is for Citi's debt to trade at lower and lower percentages of par. Eventually that debt is all written down to zero.
This is debt the Federal govt should be dealing with. If they had a pool which bought up recourse bonds issued by banks, it could keep buying whatever bonds were at the lowest % of par. There are some bank bonds trading with effective yields of 30% or more, and way below 50% of par. This would turn FASB recognized reductions in the market value of bank debt into realized deductions. No one would be forced into it. Just keep buying up the bonds as long as prices are low enough.
Otherwise, if you keep trying to keep banks like Citi afloat, you are really trying to get bonds worth much less than par to actually pay off at par. If you fail, Citi is taken over and bondholders might be wiped out. Why not just take out the bondholders who want to sell at low prices?
Here's my gripe for the day.
Exactly why is Henry Blodgett on Yahoo's Tech Ticker? Blodgett is a known scam artist. He has no credibility. Hence, neither does Yahoo!
Recall that Blodgett was banned from working in the securities industry after touting bogus internet companies. He was part a massive scheme to swindle investors. He was so stupid, his own e-mails were his undoing. Blodgett belongs in jail or worse. The man is a proven fraudster.
Boo on Blodgett and boo on Yahoo!
As I keep saying, anyone that gets their information from the MSM or Right Wing(nut) Radio is clueless. The MSM and RWR are shameful propaganda outlets.
Sorry Win=Wynn Night at the Wynn for 60 bucks
I'm in finance and believe in a normal world of everyday business what has happened in AIG, Citi and all the banks is criminal.
Shoot me.
Gambling legalization is skyrocketing. ... Gaming, video poker, casinos, sports betting, state lotteries, online poker. .... Everyone's desperate for new "revenue," which makes this the perfect time for lobbyists to jam everything under the sun through....
Wynn was on 60 minutes last week. He seemed relentlessly cheerful.
Maybe he'll have to sell the biggest pearshaped diamond in the word and the artwork.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said Friday that a bankruptcy filing is "probable" because of the restructuring goals GM must meet to get more government loans, but that isn't the company's preferred option.
In a conference call with reporters, Henderson said GM is working on two parallel plans: one that involves bankruptcy and one that doesn't.
"Contingency planning is under way," he said. "We are on several tracks."
GM has already received $13.4 billion in aid, and it must meet strict requirements to cut labor costs and debt by a June 1 deadline. Henderson says the company will be prepared to file for bankruptcy if it is unable to reach those goals out of court.
The decision to file for bankruptcy would be made with the Treasury Department and GM's board of directors, Henderson said.
If GM does file for bankruptcy, Henderson said speed is important. GM would seek agreements with creditors and union before filing, or go through a fast in-court process.
"It's all about speed," he said. "This environment is not helpful for us."
Henderson said GM has been focused on rebuilding its viability strategy so it hasn't yet launched intensive discussions with its bondholders and the United Auto Workers union.
He emphasized that GM's restructuring plan calls for the automaker to keep four core brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick - adding that GMC and Buick are highly profitable for the company.
Henderson also says the company will not sell its ACDelco parts division, despite having potential buyers.
"It's a highly profitable business for us, it's creating good, strong cash flow," Henderson said. "Our conclusion was that we weren't going to get the value for the business. We'd rather keep it and grow it."
Henderson also said the company's April sales were "OK," but he did not elaborate.
More adverse scenario U-3 Q1 '09: 7.9%
Real U-3 Q1 '09: 8.5%
Hope is not a stress test input variable.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A flurry of better-than-expected bank earnings reports this week, coupled with some tentatively encouraging economic data, suggest the economy and the financial system might not be quite as sick as many had believed.
Or are they?
Facing conflicting evidence, analysts are wrestling with whether the economy is making a fitful climb back up - or whether the crisis will get worse before it gets better.
"We're beginning to get a little visibility on how banged up corporate America has been," Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia Corp., said of Friday's earnings reports from Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Co.
But the better-than expected results from the banking giant and the diversified manufacturer - among the most beleaguered companies in their industries - buttress the notion "that just maybe we can see some light at the end of the tunnel now," said Vitner, who anticipates an end to the recession toward year's end but continued high unemployment well into 2010.
The number of Americans receiving jobless benefits has surpassed 6 million for the first time while housing construction unexpectedly plunged in March. Still, even those outwardly negative reports carried some silver linings suggesting the recession could be easing, namely a second straight drop in new jobless claims and some stability in new single-family homes.
Citigroup lost money and General Electric's profits fell, but both beat Wall Street's expectations. Their financial performance is being closely dissected for signposts of where the economy might be heading.
While actual gambling is falling. I guess I don't have any objection to suckers spending in Miami vs. Vegas.
Wynn said even big winners always gambled it all away again, so he didn't worry about big winners. None ever walked away.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
NEW YORK (AP) - Newspaper publisher and TV station owner Media General reported a wider first-quarter loss Friday on a deepening slide in advertising revenue.
The Richmond, Va., company also said it cut its work force by nearly 300 jobs in the week of March 31 and plans to freeze its pension plan at the end of May.
Its shares fell 33 cents, or 11.1 percent, to $2.64 in morning trading.
The publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Tampa Tribune lost $21.3 million, or 96 cents per share, in January-March period, compared to a loss of $20.3 million, or 92 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company said its loss in the most recent quarter included severance costs of $4.5 million, or 20 cents per share.
Revenue fell 18 percent to $159 million from $194.5 million a year ago.
Classified advertising in Media General's publishing unit was the worst hit, plunging 39 percent. Its broadcast properties saw a decline of 19 percent.
Helping to offset the slump somewhat was a better performance from the company's interactive media unit, which narrowed its operating loss to $1.1 million from $2.7 million a year ago and grew sales by 25 percent.
A 14 percent cut in operating expenses also helped results; Media General recently suspended its 401(k) match, imposed 10-day unpaid furloughs across the company beginning in the first quarter and suspended dividend payments.
The company operatess more than 20 daily newspapers and 19 television stations.
Lawyer Liz
Does that guy ever not smile?
http://cageboy.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/steve_wynn-small.jpg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/2006/10/steve%20wynn%20art%20cr...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/Steve%20Wynn.jpg
Anyways I hear that is the only casino with people inside. The rest are empty...
NEW POST at Calculated Risk.
Ways to view:
Dead simple, read only interface at: http://users.thelink.net/bobn/CR
CRC-like interface at http://realize.org/cr/crcizer/
Full Blown Interface at http://www.hoocoodanode.org/
For live chat, and the new Mishbot feature, as well as notice of new posts on other blogs, join us in IRC.
To access IRC with firefox, install the chatzilla add-on and go to irc://irc.realize.org:9996/calculatedrisk.
Or set your IRC client for server irc.realize.org port 9996 and /join #calculatedrisk.
Feed back via bobn
Note, humans: Per KCoop's request, I have backed off my first post algorithm by 5 minutes. Don't go getting all puffed up that you think you can 'beat' me. 
That's Ballgame:
Fast Eddie Rendell (Gov, PA) is pushing legalized slots w/proceeds supposedly to benefit education.
He pushed through casinos several years ago w/proceeds to benefit property tax payers.
In '70s, then-Gov Shapp pushed through the lottery w/proceeds to benefit elder programs.
Nothing new, move on...
homedad43
He's also going blind. But very cute for a guy his age.
lawyerliz--finance the REOs.
Well I am nowhere even close to underwater.
Value - 550K
1st mtg - 265
2nd - 50
Feel like doing something just to spite them, angry former employee here
Here's the gig I need to get: Former U. S. Sen. Rick Santorum is collecting $1,750 a shot for the columns that appear every other week in the Philadelphia Inquirer, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The checks are sent to a post office box in Great Falls, Va.
You are not a big enough a$$hole to get that gig.
Liz,
Smart thinking on Fla's part. They can collect the unemployment checks along with the SS checks. Local theft helps the community!
MW: Why is Treasury a revolving door for investment bankers that are tied to Wall Street?
Morgan: Because the American public allows it. Benjamin Franklin said . . . Well done is better than well said. Too many Americans gripe and moan, but when it comes time to doing anything . . . they sit back on the couch with a bag of chips and the TV. We think it is cute to use the TV to amuse our toddlers. Do you think it is any different for 75 per cent of the American public?
Mortgages are very difficult to obtain as gov't can't fund them all and private capital won't take a 15/30 yr. risk with artificially low and manipulated returns. Market clearing prices aren't being allowed discovery. Gov't price setting and manipulation is the cause of credit lockup. Does gov't really think they can outwit those still with capital?
Price fixing always leads to supply contraction.
Speaking of 2nd mortgages, I understand Wells Fargo has not written their 2nd liens down by more than a few percent.
WFC has a $129.5bn home equity portfolio. The loans in this book are largely concentrated in geographic markets that have experienced the most abrupt and steepest declines in housing prices (CA, FL, AZ). These 2nd liens are zeros.
No wonder the Citi never sleeps.
First, Citi has committed to "tell the market exactly" the results of the stress tests:
When Citi reports in May to tell the market "exactly" the results of the stress test, I'll bet it will feel like a "Princess Bride" moment. I don't think it ("exactly") means what you think it means."
Dave in SV
first?