StimPack Clears Congress; More Banks on the Brink

Score one for the new Prez! President Obama's much anticipated, much maligned stimulus package just cleared the U.S. Congress. Both houses. W00t!

Now, to that pesky business of selling all those T-Notes...hmmmmm....
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In the meantime, even moar banks failed.
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Attn Park Avenue Bank, New York Customers:

The FDIC and the State of New York just issued a cease-and-desist order against your bank. As in, cease-and-desist "violations of Federal laws and regulations and other deficiencies discovered during a joint examination conducted by the Banking Department and the FDIC."
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A Florida Bank Goes Down, Too

To all you nice Cape Coral, Fla. Riverside Bank customers: you're now customers of the FDIC.

Husker Bank Fails

A big shout out to Nebraska! Where Loup City's Sherman County Bank became the latest U.S. bank fail.

According to MarketWatch, The FDIC hasn't seen a bank collapse in Nebraska in 18 years.

For those who don't know, here's some Loup City facts, courtesy of the fine folks at the U.S. Census Bureau.

As of 2000:
Total population: 996
46% Male 541% Female
975 White folks
0 Black folksa
1 Samoan
26 individuals who worked in finance, insurance, or real estate

Stuff is worth what people will pay for it

Yeah, so, how much are banks worth now? They're only worth what people will pay for it.

MarketWatch today hit up Marc Groz, founder and chief investment officer of Topos LLC. :

"What are these toxic assets worth? The correct answer is: It depends on what happens and what people do. We're heading into a long weekend, and [Treasury Secretary Timothy] Geithner is off to Europe, and still nobody knows how much these assets are worth."

He right. We don't know what it's worth. And Timmy G. has his hands full until we start seeing some sort of clarity in valuing financials.

But they gotta be worth something, right? The price of stuff drops until someone buys it.

It's just how things work.

Sweaters at Macy's are like, really cheap right now. Even I can afford that sweet, sweet cashmere.

But those sweet, sweet sweaters are a lot like those toxic assests Citi and friends are stuck holding. Excuse me, that you and me and Citi and friends are stuck holding.

Macy's thought they could make a killing selling $150 Club Room sweaters. Based on those awesome profit margins, getting big and expansive sure looked attractive. Turns out, people only really want to pay like $40 for 'em. And now all those stores they opened up are gushing wounds.

But hey, Macy's same-store sales weren't as terrible in January as anyone thought they'd be.

Maybe Citi and friends have a chance...

Stimululz

Senate agrees on their package. Dems still asking "is it big enough?"

Some folks say it will be.

Our president proceeded over one of the best press conferences evar. So much majesty. I'm so glad we got 4 years of that good good.

Today on C-Span, House and Senate Republicans swapped spit over the package. GOP warns of the consequences of massive deficit spending. Hey, I couldn't agree more. Where were ya'll for the past 8? Everyone's complaining about pork. But isn't all government spending pork in someone's eyes?

Eveyone wants to know what's in if for me? $789 billion is a lot of cheese. Well, according to CNNMoney, here's what we get:

For work: a $500 credit per worker and a $1,000 credit per dual-earner couple.

And for seniors/veterans who don't work: a one-time $300 payment.

Rich folks get a break too: a one-year provision break on the Alternative Minimum Tax. A nice little boost for middle and upper income households.

Get paid to buy a car: those who buy a car in 2009 deduct the sales tax and interest on the loan.

Please buy a home!: get a temporary home buyer credit. Goes to all home owners, and you might not even have to pay it back.

New college credit: a $2,500 credit for higher education expenses.

Your kids saving you money?: lower income requirement for the child tax credit. Got a big family? You might get a bigger credit for families with 3+ children.

There's also all kinds of extra benefits for the unemployed, those on Medicare, and generally anyone else hit hard by the recession.

Great haircut on Dimon; Pandit looks smart

Today, Congress ran the train on some banker dudes. These poor bankers, road weary from their uncomfortable commercial flight seats and standing on the Metro, got dragged out before the House of Representatives (you know, the big one), and it was, to put it bluntly, brutal.

Ball-breaking questions, tirades, polemics, oh, and mucho posturing from Congress. Same shtick , just bloodthirstier now.

Here's how the CEOs did:

JPMorgan Chase's James Dimon: Haircut, meticulous. Well-spoken, but at times he looked a little puffy. God I want that haircut.

Bank of America's Ken Lewis: Kinda frumpy.

Bank of New York Mellon's Robert Kelly: Boring.

State Street's Ronald Logue: Boring.

Morgan Stanley's John Mack: He's OK, but I dunno, seems like a cheap date.

Citigroup's Vikram Pandit: smart guy. His bank is doing the worst of all of 'em, but you'd think from listening to him that he was shittin' in high cotton.

Wells Fargo's John Stumpf: a damned grouch.

Goldman Sach's Lloyd Blankfein: now that guy's a BANKER!

Look, I have nothing but appreciation for what bankers do. I know these guys work all the time and whatnot. and most of the guys that really shoulda had their testicles in the Congressional vice today either left or got bought out (ahem Sandy Weill, John Thain. Ya'll better be thankful it wasn't your nuts stomped by a panel of angry House reps).

But come on guys, you're really gonna let Vikram show you up?

Do better. Prepare. And don't get risky with my money.

How'd the House do? Typical House. "Oh, my constituents are soooooo mad." Just imagine and repeat.

Next: Stimululz