Sentient Money

Finally, the government is doing the right thing.  First, it was Wagner being fired and now either GM makes real changes, or proposes real changes over the next 60 days, or they will be forced into bankruptcy. 
Hopefully, this will wake up all the banks and Wall Street firms who have been taking advantage of government [...]

Per Bloomberg, this is the biggest 10 day rally since 1938.  The relief is visible on the faces of our “vaunted” CNBC hosts and in the voices of the many financial pundits from the WSJ and other financial papers.  They are all acting like everything is fine, well, it’s not. 
On the outside, the recent gains [...]

This is what Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times advocates (you know he is cool because he uses his middle name).  We should just go ahead and pay the AIG bonuses and count ourselves lucky. 
“So here is a sobering thought: Maybe we have to swallow hard and pay up, partly for our own [...]

Is this the ultimate use of Buffett’s “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful” rule?
Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted its worst results ever in 2008, said the economy “has fallen off a cliff” and that efforts to stimulate recovery may lead to inflation higher than the 1970s. [...]

I have one word, and it’s a word you have heard over and over again…China. I know…I know, I’m not coming up with anything new and earth shattering, but it still needs to be said with conviction. Why? Because, even though everyone talks about China there always seems to be an air of non-committal or [...]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This wasn’t that hard to predict.
 
With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards [...]

As the markets continue to inch higher and more pundits are starting to say the worst is over, can we begin to believe this rebound is actually a recovery?
I hate being the bearer of bad news, actually I don’t if I’m right.  Anyway, all the hope being touted by “experts” on CNBC, CNN, Fox, etc. [...]

By now everyone has looked at their 401k and other investment accounts and thought to themselves, “Nice, the market is finally turning.”  It is turning up, but why and will it last?
What information is the market turning on?  The financial bailout?  Nope, that’s old news, if it was turning on that it would have already [...]

This is both a financial post and public service message…be very careful when buying gift cards this year.  In fact, I would suggest no gift cards this year for the following reasons:

Gift cards always suck.  Why is it a better gift to limit my options?  Just give money if you plan on giving gift cards. [...]

Bank Dividends
It appears that any bank that takes government money to recapitalize is not allowed to pay dividends until the borrowed government money is repaid.  Take a look at the Big Picture for more detailed info.
 
Baby Food
Wal-Mart is seeing spikes in baby food purchases based on when people are paid.  Per Infectious Greed this is [...]