I Hate Banks

STOCKS AND COMMODITIES JUMP AS DOLLAR DROPS -- LARGE CAP INDEXES HIT NEW HIGHS FIRST -- SILVER, PLATINUM, AND COPPER BREAKOUT -- COAL STOCKS LEAD ENERY COMPLEX HIGHER -- BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB BREAKS OUT -- CHINA LEADS EMERGING MARKETS HIGHER

This headline says it all. The market moved to tops of 10470 by noon on Monday. We are seeing higher highs, so consolidations are likely to be lesser, while the market moves to new highs.
Read our Dow projections for updates on my thoughts on yesterday's action.



The week before Thanksgiving the Dow has been up 13 of the last 15 years.

I have always hated banks, long before the debacle that we've seen. I do not keep any money in a local bank, never have, have always used brokerages, and refuse to do business with companies that appeal to consumers but keep "bankers hours." Now, you're seeing the many games they are playing. This is an ugly sector, filled with greed and avarice at the top, and a great deal of stupidity in the middle.
So, this brings me to John, my neighbor. He's a top banking official with Wachovia in Florida. He drives a very nice car, and leaves for work all suited up at 8 a.m. He returns each day no later than 5.30 p.m
Counting in that business lunch, this guy is working less than 8 hours a day. I'm sure earning 250k or more. He's a "lead dog" for a region.

And the poor guy knows Floyd.

Of course, he's a Republican. Big McCain signs, Bigger Bushy signs, during the elections, and strong on "no government intervention," and "too much debt" (Wachovia was swallowed up by another bank for having "too much debt," but that's beyond his scope).

John the dumb banker and I talk all the time. We both share having dogs, and the dogs are friends. So we talk.

And here's what I've learned:

*This top banker has no idea what cash or credit derivatives are.
*He believes that the over mortgaging was the fault of the American people going "over their means" and that the banks and mortgage companies were only responding to "demand"
*Wall Street will lose its top people if more controls are put in (but he has no idea what a credit derivative is)
*The USD is falling because Obama is a socialist. And this guy is a banker :)

Any trade, and any occupation, has its idiots. But John is a typical banker. When I tell him how hard it is for my consulting clients that own family businesses to gain any form of letter of credit or financing with banks he responds with "we have strong banking covenants to to control high risk lending."

And it's why I've never trusted banks, or the fraud of the FDIC, which doesn't have enough money (as we now know) to even fund the true bankruptcy of banks.

And what it leads me to...is this if John is the typical banker, is this whole debacle really down to a few thousand, that used many others?

These are my typical Floyd "how does this really work" questions. It's unanswerable.