Perhaps Dick will invite Mitt to go hunting.

One can always hope.

Almost too many facts and quotes in the article to pick out just one or two, that's why I think it's a must-read.

However, this stuck in my mind:

I thought that I knew something about their financial empire, but some of the things in this article are just mind-boggling.

No wonder it's causing such a storm of controversy.

This has probably been posted here already, and if so I apologize, but beg, borrow or steal a copy of the new Bloomberg Businessweek Exclusive, Inside the Mormon Empire.

Just amazing.

Yes, you officially have my permission.

I'm in the process of retroactively correcting every personal and financial mistake I've made in the past 64 years.

I have high hopes for the project, will let you know how it goes.

Well...besides his tax records, all the details of his actual business and financial history, various shady family deals and connections going back generations, the reality of his religious beliefs and practices, and everything he's ever said or done that doesn't quite jibe with what he's saying and doing now...not much.

Really.

I've heard people compare buying a share of stock to buying a lottery ticket my whole life, and it's never made the slightest bit of sense to me.

You actually invest your money that way?

On second thought, you're probably right.

Best of luck next week!

Fed knew about Libor cheating in 2008:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-york-fed-knew-of-libor-cheating-in-2008-2012-07-13?link=MW_story_latest_news

More and more, we see that the Bush administration motto was "Just blame it on the next guy."

Perhaps, but I tend to reject over-complicating simple business decisions or reading too much into them.

Occam's razor: A principle urging one to select from among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor


(OT: Why in the world don't the few rational, coherent, and informed posters on the YMB come over here? Do they actually enjoy all the "library" nonsense or the spam?)

Changes happen frequently and regularly in all companies.

With 4 reports spaced evenly through the year, a change must occur near one.

IMO, just routine. Best of luck.

gb- Sorry to butt in, I realize you were asking D.A.

CEO has been guaranteeing a return to profitability this year. They just moved their Q2 earnings announcement up one week, next Tuesday, IMHO it will be very good news.

Very sorry to hear that, hope it wasn't too bad.

I'm a bit surprised. I know that there's been some gloomy forecasts lately, but with the dividend and IMO still wonderful opportunities in emerging markets it seems a natural for any long-term portfolio.

I've had it since about '95 or so, I think at around $16 originally, two splits since then, it's been a good one and I'm going to hang on for a bit longer and see what happens.

Best of luck.

Latest poll: Obama lead widens.

Gee, I guess Hate & Lies isn't the answer.

"90% of the people in the stock market, professionals and amateurs alike, simply haven't done enough homework." -Bill O'Neil

My crystal ball is in the shop, so all very much IMHO, FWIW:

1. A minor run-up, maybe mid-$0.90's, to July 17 earnings.

2. Decent news: +$0.01

3. Some profit-taking (this has to be expected, perhaps even for the next year or two, much less the next month or two) but not the sharp retreat we've seen after the past few CC's.

4. Totally guessing here: trading in the $1 to $1.10 range.

5. Not enough to cure the deficiency, we see a RS.

Best of luck.

.

I'm not exactly sure why there is so much confusion about this, since all the info is publicly available and can be verified with a call to FBC Investor Relations (248-312-2000).

1. They did not "have until August." The original delisting notice was issued on August 24, 2011. It gave them 6 months--until February 18, 2012--to cure the deficiency. On January 25, 2012, during the Q4 2011 CC it was revealed that they had received an extension through the 2012 Annual Meeting:

"Mark Steinberg - Dawson James

What is the timeframe, sir? How much time do you have?

Mike Maher

We initially had a six months period following the time period, when we first received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange. We since contacted the exchange to discuss with them on some of the different strategies in an initial discussion and what we plan to do and we're still formulating that strategy. They're working with us and so we don't anticipate any sort of delisting activity in the near term. And a minimal we expect that we would have enough time through our annual meeting in order to either execute on the strategies to which Joe Campanelli was referring or be able to propose action for a shareholder meeting.

Mark Steinberg - Dawson James

Are they giving you an extension?

Mike Maher

There is an extension that's allowed and that they've allowed us to take advantage of through the annual meeting."


http://seekingalpha.com/article/322140-flagstar-bancorp-s-ceo-discusses-q4-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=2

2. The Annual Meeting was originally scheduled mid-May as usual. The company is deliberately delaying the meeting in hopes of curing the deficiency by maintaining a $1+ closing price average for 30 consecutive trading days.

3. Still another extension is highly unlikely.

1. The NYSE gave FBC until the 2012 Annual Meeting to cure the listing deficiency.

2. The deficiency can be cured by maintaining a $1+ closing price average (not daily) for 30 consecutive trading days.

3. The company is deliberately (completely legal) delaying the Annual Meeting until the latest possible date, which should be in August.

4. If they can't cure the deficiency organically(a natural rise in the PPS) they will have no choice but to do a RS. CEO Campanelli very reluctantly admitted this during the last CC.

5. A RS is not automatically the kiss of death as with many small biotechs. It might actually be the best course of action. Read up a bit on CRBC, similar story.

Best of luck.

FWIW, possible FBC play:

Since last year, and most recently during the QI CC in May, the CEO has said that the bank will return to profitability in 2012.

The Q2 earnings report has been scheduled for July 25. Yesterday, surprisingly, they moved the report up to next Tuesday, July 17.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/flagstar-bancorp-announces-second-quarter-210000053.html

Usually companies are in no hurry to release bad news.

Currently $0.80, still looking for $1+.

I have no idea, but I believe that my daughters accounted for half of it.

And I'd like to see world peace and free pie.

Let's hold our horses until the end of this year and see what happens.

Best of luck.

You mean that there isn't such a system in place now? I'm surprised.

I'm taking a more cautious approach on the earnings, and I'm expecting the much-promoted-by-Campanelli Return to Profitability not to occur until the last quarter of this year.

Most importantly, however, is that IMO it will occur.

The last part of your post is just crystal ball stuff, and mine is in the shop.

Suffice it to say that sooner or later this bank will recover. I've got one of the largest positions I've ever had in 40+ years of investing, so I'm obviously making a large bet on it.

Best of luck to you.

FWIW: Since the NYSE gave them through the annual meeting to cure the listing deficiency, the company is obviously delaying the meeting, hoping that the stock will trade for an average of $1 for 30 consecutive trading days.

Doable, but challenging.

Of course they were, as we who actually own the stock and those who post merely with a personal axe to grind know quite well.

Question: Wouldn’t a planned sale at a lower price than expected be just as annoying—if not more so—to the seller as to a shareholder?

I'm as far from a statistician as a person can be, but it seems to me that assigning probabilities to things like this, with so many variables and for so far out, is less mathematics and more—as you yourself said—wild guessing.

At this point in time I’d guess that the estimable jbog believes that you—and most of the MNTA longs here—are running a veritable fudge factory.

We shall see.

Stephanie- That is very kind of you to say. I didn't mean to come across as too preachy or heavy-handed, especially since in real life I'm something of a joker! -Gary

Susie- I like iHub precisely because of the diversity.

Now if someone would just invent a simple device that gives the keyboardist a mild shock every time he or she posts some ridiculous, illogical, unsubstantiated nonsense as a fact, why we'd have one hell of a site. -Gary

I honestly don't, not specifically. But perhaps something along the line of a "Board of Directors"? That might allow for all sides--at least the reasonably sane ones--to have a say and feel included.

It's that terribly human feeling of exclusion, of being on the outside, of powerlessness, that drives much of our political and social turmoil. A representative, elected group, might help.

I’m only an occasional visitor to this board, and so I’ve probably missed many of your finer moments (I’ll pause for a second to allow the regular posters to gag,) but this is the first time I’ve ever seen you or most folks like you even come close to making sense. And I’m not saying that because of what you said—it may or may not be true, I’ll leave that for later—but more because you have inadvertently stumbled upon the correct approach.

Compromise. Discussion. Civil debate. Reasonable, informed and intelligent, motivated legislators representing a diverse population but working towards a common cause: the betterment of our country. That’s what our much-discussed Founding Fathers really had in mind.

Not labeling, not name-calling, not deliberate twisting of facts; not racist or homophobic or xenophobic filth aimed at one man; not a continual shitstream of useless and destructive lies based on time-wasting nonsense about someone’s birth certificate or their religion. Not screaming poorly-understood curses like “Socialism!” every time an idea or a plan comes down the pike that might upset the status quo applecart.

I’m very unhappy with President Obama over quite a few things—his continuance of the war in Afghanistan being first and foremost—and I don’t blindly agree with everything that he or other Democrats say or do. But I appreciate the fact that we’ve got a highly intelligent, well-educated, extremely sophisticated negotiator and compromiser at the helm.

That’s the kind of person (again, not just this one particular man) who must have the position of CEO for the incredibly complex organization we call a nation. Not a raving ideologue, not a theocrat, not a demagogue.

Cosmologically and geologically speaking—trillions and billions of years—we’re a newborn species; recorded history goes back only 10,000 years or so; 1776 was an eye blink ago. Our form of democracy is changing, evolving, far from a perfect creation.

Personally, I think that there’s great merit in at least considering if the one-person, presidential form of government—even with our built-in checks and balances—has run its course and we should move on to something else.

What? I have no idea. But I’d be willing to respectfully, civilly, open-mindedly talk about it.

Actually, he got about half and Manchester United--the team that sold him--got about half.

Yes, their skill level is amazing. They can almost literally put the ball on a dime from across the pitch, much the same way that an American baseball player can hit the catcher with a throw from left field.

I'm a big fan and regularly watch the English Premier League; it's the best European soccer and contains the teams that most of the players you're seeing--regardless of nationality--play for.

Ronaldo was the best player in the league until 2009 when he signed with a Spanish team for...wait for it...$131 million for six years.

Good day for normal people, bad day for morons.

Re "Young Republicans": I live in a fairly upscale area and I'm basically surrounded by Republicans of all ages. It's almost impossible for me to keep even a small Democratic-candidate sign in my yard, they keep magically disappearing, even though my neighbor's Republican signs remain.

The older ones (my age!) realize that I'm on the same economic level as they are but I'm not a Republican, something they seem to view as some strange ex-hippie aberration to the natural order of things. I greatly enjoy their discomfiture.

I understand them: they will not go beyond their long-held beliefs. Perhaps they cannot.

But we have a steadily-growing influx of younger (30 to 40) successful professionals who buy the houses of those Republicans who move on to Republican Heaven (are there blacks there? Poor people? Liberals? But I digress.)

These folks are the staunchest, most conservative Republicans that you can imagine. They amaze me! One recently told me, in a condescending tone of voice, that it has been unquestionably proved that Obama's birth certificate is a forgery, so nothing that he does as President is legal. I kid you not, this crap from an educated person in their 30's. When I said that just the opposite is true, he gave me a withering look and walked away.

I personally knew Young Republicans in Nixon's day, and thought them a strange and exotic breed back then. I assumed that they'd gone extinct, but as it turns out they're great breeders and seem to be flourishing.

ROTFLMAO x 2!

I took the liberty of posting that on another site, although I'm sure that it will be deleted by the conservative mods on the grounds of obscenity, even though it has been and will be perfectly OK to call the President every filthy name in the book.

I've been monitoring another site that I use only for business, chock full of Young Republicans (an oxymoron that has always perplexed me: how can there be such a thing?) and older ultra-conservative businessmen.

The overwhelming opinion there: Socialism wins again! Socialism is taking over our country. Our country is now officially Socialist. Evil Socialist Obama is continuing his Evil Socialist Agenda.

On and on, you get the picture.

Most of them, without Googling, would not be able to write a correct, lucid definition of the word.

A great day for all Americans, even for those that don't realize it. A beginning, just a beginning, of health care reform.

Since this is probably the most right-wing Supreme Court in U.S. history, this is a huge blow to those conservatives who opposed the law.

An absolutely perfect, classic example of how a disturbingly large proportion of our population fails to understand even basic junior high school civics.

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." -Winston Churchill [Note to poster44ny: he is some dude from history...uh...Google him.]