Thursday, September 18, 2008

As the sky grows


ever darker…


(From Reuters:

Morgan Stanley has held Wachovia talks

By Jessica Hall and Joseph A. Giannone

Wed Sep 17

Morgan Stanley (MS.N), which saw its stock pummeled Wednesday on worries it may not survive the credit crunch, has held preliminary takeover talks with Wachovia Corp (WB.N), a person familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Separately, CNBC reported that Morgan Stanley was having deal discussions with CITIC, the China-controlled conglomerate that owns brokerage firm CITIC Securities (600030.SS). Morgan executives could not be reached immediately for comment on these talks.

These moves come as Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack takes steps to ensure his firm remains one of the survivors of the ongoing credit crisis.

Mack received a call on Wednesday from Wachovia, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, expressing interest in a deal with the second-largest Wall Street firm, the source said.

No deal with Wachovia is imminent and the talks can still fall apart. But as recent days showed, a number of surprising deals have come together quickly as banks and brokers scramble to do whatever it takes to survive the ongoing credit crisis.

Morgan Stanley is considering other options, the source said. Other banks also have expressed interest in a deal, according to media reports late Wednesday.

Both Wachovia and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on whether it was having takeover talks.

Morgan Stanley said it was doing everything it could to help its stock price. "The smartest people at this firm are focused on solutions," a company spokeswoman said.

If a deal with Wachovia did go through, Morgan Stanley would be the fourth major investment bank to disappear from the scene since June as the year-old credit crisis builds momentum. In the past four days, the U.S. financial services industry has been through the biggest consolidation wave in a decade.


"Two wrongs don't make a right," said James Ellman, a fund manager and president of SeaCliff Capital in San Francisco. "Hasn't Mr. Market been saying both companies possibly are going to fail? If you put them together, how does that make a better company?"


…the candidates weigh in (all quotes for entertainment purposes only.)

Senator McSame leaps boldly into the fray:
“I Can Haz Always Been An Deregulator! Capitalism 4Evah! Wall Street Roolz! You know, back when I was a guest of the North Vietnamese, I too knew what it was to be heavily regulated!”


One of his minders takes him aside.

Again.

Senator McSame (spitting Wall Street’s dick out of his mouth):
“I Can Haz Always Been An Regulator! Populism 4Evah! Main Street Roolz! You know, back when I was a guest of the North Vietnamese, I too knew what it was to be in the hands of unregulated power!”


Assessing the McCain statement, Team Obama meets to plan its response:



And finally, sensing a chance to burnish her foreign policy credentials, Perky Sarah pounces:
Like the people of American, the people of Morgan/Stanley have a proud tradition of freedom and democracy. And should Senator McCain and I be blessed by God to lead our great nation, a McCain/Palin Administration would make sure despots around the world know that America will always stand up to bullies, whether they be tyrants in far-away Wachovia, the so-called “Zappa Terrorists” just across the border in Hispaniola, or the Darwiniosocialist Christ-haters right here in Jesusland.


McSame isn’t the problem.

Palin isn’t the problem.

The fact that on November 4th, somewhere between 58 and 62 million Americans are going stand in line to vote to deliver our hobbled, pauperized nation into the hands of the Party of frauds, liars, Monarchists and imbeciles once again?

That is the fucking problem.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

a-fucking-men

Imaginista said...

We're going to win, Drifty, the vote anyway. They'll have to pry it from our cold dead hands by cheating again. Honestly, I think the more Palin opens her idiot pie hole the more grating her voice becomes. I think McCain will be putting her selection into the FAIL column.

Anonymous said...

I think you misquoted Caribou Barbie. Don't you know that it's now a "Palin/McCain" administration?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/palin-puts-herself-on-top-of-ticket-its.html

Also, don't lose all hope just yet. Even the slopebrowed-and-slackjawed crowd starts to pay attention when the dustbowl comes-a-rollin' into town. The economic implosion that they have enabled is breaking a bit sooner than they thought, and it's going to take great gobbling mouthfuls of chomp out of their asses. Even Bill-O' has abandoned the altar of Bush over this, seeing the ship sinking, or perhaps just feeling his damp ankles.

There is much bludgeoning to be done, and albatrosses to hang. Thankfully, they're doing most of it themselves. The "media" even seems to be waking up. Notorious goat-blower Mickey Kaus has gone all-in with his newest bit of fishwrap, going so far as to use the word "liar" repeatedly to describe McCain. Amazing, really.

That it takes something of this magnitude to make people realize that they have been being robbed and raped for years is truly ridiculous. I have said for ages now that it would need to get worse before it got better, perhaps Great Depression worse. Much as I enjoy being right, there are times that I would welcome proof of error.

nunya said...

Tom D'AntoniPosted September 18, 2008 | 02:14 PM
Can Obama's Ground Game Beat GOP Vote-Robbing?

Questions for McCain and Obama on the Economic Carnage
By Nieman Watchdog.

PBS pt 1 voter caging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyO_9pbBwqU

PBS pt 2 voter caging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxlLYjtqHps

voting machines lose votes

High Turnout, New Procedures May Mean an Election Day Mess
By Mary Pat Flaherty
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2008; A01


Blogged by Mark Crispin Miller on 9/16/2008 11:45AM
Mark Crispin Miller: Why They Chose Sarah Palin
...And What to do About it...

Anonymous said...

Palin for President!!!

no, not that Palin, the good Palin, nudge nudge..

drbopperthp said...

I wish I had three Brobdingnagian cocks (instead of just the one I do have) so that I could slap a fierce DP and a savage cornholin' on Palin & McSame, respectively (but with no respect for their pain thresholds).

Anonymous said...

Drifty,

You should riff on how this "Palin/McCain" trainwreck is rapidly becoming an All About Eve scenario for the old man.

Anonymous said...

dirfty- you have yet to weigh in on on response to Ike and how far we've come since Katrina.

the fact that even ONE American will vote for these thieves is a problem...

Anonymous said...

usblues be right -- the problem is that this old man and his vacuum-headed inflatable doll of a running mate is all the repugs have, and that the fossilized remains of long discredited me-first policies are still good enough for some folks. it's a severe indictment of the collective intelligence and morality of this nation.

BUT it sez here it's not even going to be close. despite whatever latent racism finds its way into the voting booth, and whatever sleight of hand is practiced at the republican-run boards of elections across the battleground states, obama and biden win going away.