Posted by
James Burns on Monday, October 06, 2008 6:58:11 PM
As the Dow slips, I turned on CNBC and found commentators freaking out at what was going on in the markets. Like they knew it wasn't going to happen. Asking everyone and their brother what to do about it. The common answer, The Fed needs to do something.
Didn't "we" just "approve" over 700 billion dollars worth of "do something?" What do you want now, hand holding and singing Cumbayah on the NYSE trading floor. Get real, all you Wall Streeters screwed up, and now are wanting handouts left and right so you can keep your shirts. Like another interest rate cut will work. With the rest of the worlds markets in the crapper like ours, the American dollar is actually going up in value. Why cut rates to save a few. But let the market clean itself up, it seems to be doing that now and no matter how much help you give it aint going to get any better until it's done.
On a good side I saw a news clip this morning about Bank Of America. Bank of America is starting a program to allow people with sub prime loans through them as well as the ones they bought when BOA aquired Countrywide. These sub prime mortgage holders can go to BOA and negotiate a rewrite. BOA is waiving all fees for this service. Better yet the IRS is also helping out, believe that. This is how, when a mortgage is rewritten like that, say its original value is $400,000. The bank takes off $100,000 in principal to get the payment down. The mortgage holder would have to claim the $100,000 as income. But in the crisis we are in the IRS is not enforcing that rule any more. Here is a perfect example of an institution doing something to A, help its consumers and cut losses before it gets real bad for everyone involved, and B, an institution actually not asking for a hand out, but rather fixing its own problems.
I wish the rest would do that, so things could get better. But who can turn down free money from Uncle Sam?