On A Personal Note

As dire as all the news portrays, there is movement of the sale of homes where I live.  Some have been vacant for over a year.  Within the last 2 months, 4 homes have sold.  I live in a mountainous area, in a community of about 1000 people in Northern California, with the nearest city about 35 miles away.  This indicates that the price of homes is now representing the fair market value of the quality of the homes.  I think what is happening here is happening elsewhere on a small scale. Keep an open mind and look for the bright spots in this financial desolate landscape.  They are there to be noticed.  

Also, there are great companies who are trading so low below their book value, that anyone who buys their stock will weather this nuclear storm well.  If there is an interest to interact with me on specific companies, please feel free to contact me at shirleyrwood@yahoo.com.  

The Unquantifiable Bailout

We are definitely living at a time of great change mirrored in the financial arena of the world.  The citizens of the U.S. are going to assume more debt, collectively, to rescue the financial sector due to dire consequences of what would happen if we don't.  When congressional leaders, the president, and the Fed got together last night and listened to what lies ahead, there was a stunned silence of 5-10 seconds.  When politicians have no words for that period of time, there is a landscape portrayed that none of them have experienced before.  The total liability is not measurable as this time, but 'hundreds of billions' means closer to two to three trillion.  I worked in the defense industry for 20 years and no contract met its original estimate, especially those funded for new design and technology.  We are dealing with the same here.  The ones deciding what to implement to save the U.S. financial system are having to be creative.  

This 'Plan' covers toxic mortgage-backed securities that banks hold.  The government would take these off their hands, hold them, and try to sell them again at a later date after they figure out the maze of who owes who. 

Today, the SEC put out a list of 799 financial companies that are excluded from the short selling list.  I think they should have excluded all companies like Britain did under pressure from us.  

Has anyone started talking about the bond insurers yet?  They are a new wrinkle in this financial fabric that is being sown.  Today ABK dropped 42% and it was on the excluded short sale list.   Our system has evolved to be so expansive and intricate that no one person or group understands the total ramifications of our actions.  Keep looking for the red flags like ABK.  There is a blind path here that takes a special dance.  We are only learning what the steps are.

We are only 11 days away from October, the month that has historically reflected major changes for the market.  What does October 2008 bring?