Recent Columns Of Interest

First off, there's a terrific column called:"I Said What?" - a look back at nine regrettable comments by bank chief executive officers.

At #1: John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch

"We're very confident that we have the capital base now that we need to go forward in 2008." January 18, 2008.
"...Today I can say that we will not need additional funds. These problems are behind us. We will not return to the market." March 8, 2008
"We have more capital than we need, so we can say to the market that we don't need more injections. We can confirm that we have tackled the problem." March 16, 2008
John Thain learned the hard way that saying the same thing over and over won't necessarily make it come true. The truth is, Merrill was far from finished tapping the markets. Earlier this month, it raised $8 billion by selling stakes in Bloomberg and Financial Data Services. And on Monday it announced plans to sell $8.5 billion of new shares.

See the rest here

Next up, an outstanding column by a trader I have a huge amount of respect for, Todd Harrison. Todd is a very smart guy, well connected in the finance community, and amongst other things, the founder of the financial blog Minyanville.

His column at MarketWatch is very insightful. He writes about the potential consequences of eliminating the practice of shorting stocks, specifically financial stocks, and how eliminating these shorts also eliminates a layer of demand to purchase stocks in a downturn.


TODD HARRISON
Hanky panky
Commentary: Are we trading against Hank Paulson?
By Todd Harrison
Last update: 12:01 a.m. EDT July 30, 2008

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- They say the friction between opinions is where true education lies. If that's true, we've officially entered the realm of higher learning.

As both sides of the societal chasm haggle over how the market -- and, by extension, the economy -- is being handled, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has found himself in the center of the storm.

Perhaps that's a fitting role for the former chairman of Goldman Sachs a man who deftly sold his equity holdings tax-free when he took the position in 2006. If anyone knows how the game is played, it's Hammering Hank. When pressed on policy, he recently responded, "I'm playing the hand I've been dealt."

Fair enough and truth be told, there isn't a realistic solution other than the elixir of time and price. It just so happens that we've all got chips on this particular table as he draws his next card.

Sucker's bet
We can wag our finger that the writing was on the wall since the subprime simmer of last summer. See MarketWatch column.

We can point to Alan Greenspan, who sowed the seeds of cumulative imbalances during the Asian contagion and tilled them anew after the technology bubble burst. See MarketWatch column.

Wall Street, repackaging risk and masking the disease with years of financial engineering, deserves a dishonorable mention as we dissect the discussion. See MarketWatch column.