Monday, February 9, 2009
(Cont'd from above)...

Jim (cont'd):    Meredith Whitney has got the gravitas… the street credit… the swagger, like us, to quote Cramer fave the ridiculously pregnant MIA… as well as the always sagacious TI… and what will she say… I bet Whitney has got the speech written already right now… in accepting… the acceptance of her anti-bank award… two words… hated it… you see Whitney is the biggest bear on earth… now she is no Boo-Boo… she is no Yogi… she is no Gentle Ben… no Smokey the Bear… let alone one a baby polar bear… or one of those cute pandas…. no…. she is the real thing… one of those rabid grizzlies that traps campers and mauls them just for fun… without even the intention of eating them cause they have already been thru the dumpster… although they never seem to mind a little munching on a meaty thigh… or a jugular here or there… she is like a Mama bear protecting her cubs… those who would think about buying bank stocks… and she will do anything to stop them… including ignoring even the possibility that Geithner actually comes out and says something novel and clever… that could reverse the course of 21st century decrepit banking capitalism.

Just last week Whitney was interviewed on Bloomberg TV… knowing that Geithner was about to unveil the huge plan… and she said unequivocally, do be redundant… that investors should not even consider owning banks at this point on an equity basis… even the bank bulls have to admit that doesn’t sound like a qualified maybe… so what does Whitney want… she wants the banks to sell their crown jewels as she calls them… their best assets… and keep the bad stuff… that is basically a death sentence for the banks… it is also the exact opposite of forbearance/look the other way plan that I unveiled last week… that has been incredibly well received I should add… by real, actual bankers… but then again they are well paid… so what do they know… I want to give the banks money or more specifically a piece of paper that says that they have money… a net worth certificate pledging that they will return the dough after they get back on their feet… my plan has more horse sense… of course, it is the plan of the Federal Savings & Loan and RTC from 1989... but you know what… because it is coming from me… I doubt Geithner will heed… as he is too focused on the are you ready skee-daddy recommendations I make every night in the Lightning Round.

Whitney says the banks blew it… they are never going to get back on their feet… so why not amputate… hers is more of a Kings Row solution… where is the rest of me… mine is a win one for the Kipper, Reagan, the optimist Game Plan…

what if Geithner proposes creating an aggregator bank that uses private money and helps buy bad assets… no… she has already said that that is out… I kind of agree with her… yeah, why would anyone want to participate in that horror show… how about buying bad assets from them… she says it will deplete their capital too far… again, true… remember, she does have cold play like Cred… so what is going to happen tomorrow… okay, Geithner, so loved by everyone in the press except me and three New York Times writers… including Frank Rich, my newfound favorite financial writer, but I always felt that way about his political writing… and before that his showbiz beat… Geithner will get a grace period of maybe close to maybe 90 minutes… maybe 2 hours… I figure where the bulls will bid up everything from Bank of America to Comerica, from BBT to PNC… but behind the scenes Whitney will be dealing that outgoing network to sell, sell, sell… and then she will hit the airwaves and dynamite Geithner in true… yeah, she has got her mind on her money and she is not going away… Rhianna fashion… where the heck was Rhianna last night.

Of course, there is always a chance that Whitney has just been waiting for this moment.. this delicious moment to change skins… strap on a pair of horns… and charge into the bull ring… starting a new tune… a positive tune… like the land of 1000 bull dances.. that rocks the bear world and cores the short sellers… if she were to join the land of 1000 bull dances that would cause a 50% up in Bank of America and Citigroup… a 5 point gain in Wells Fargo… not to mention a definitive charge into the $30’s for JPMorgan… but she is no phony moroney and I do not think that is going to happen… just as the media loves Geithner… the investors love banking with Whitney… to paraphrase Uncle Joe Stalin… as opposed to great-uncle Vlad Lenin… the investors have the divisions… how many divisions does the media have… that means the bulls will be slipping into the lava and trying to keep from going under… and I think they will be burning up… while the bears laugh all the way to the bankrupt bank… I think all those bid up banks get hammered when Whitney goes to work… with the two banks that don’t need capital Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley being the only two left standing.. those are the only two that might be immune… might be immune to Meredith Jason Whitney… the only two that I think will be higher by… yes… Monday the 13th.

The bottom line…

▼   ▼   ▼   ▼   ▼

The Bottom Line!:     When it comes to the bank stocks it is Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney… not Treasury's Tim Geithner… who is wielding the axe… and that means you are going to want to duck and cover… or whatever it is you do to hide from a rabid bear… especially one who loves going on TV to bear here fangs… only she can prevent bull fires… and she is all about throwing gasoline on the campfire.

I think Whitney’s wielding the axe when it comes to the banks - not Geithner… I would stay away from the bank stocks as long as Whitney’s sounding off...

Oh boy, oh boy… swagger… but personally I like the Rhianna… I’ve got my mind on my money… and pant, pant, I love… good boy, good boy… Meredith Whitney... not Tim Geithner... will determine the fate of financials… tomorrow, Lassie gets his comeuppance.

[verbatim recap]

▼   ▼   ▼   ▼   ▼

Jim went on after this segment to take questions from callers, and responded with his comments...

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Q:    I got a question about a local stock for you, what is Bank of America (BAC), what is my stock going to do if there is a bailout?

Jim:    I don’t know Bank of America is really on the firing line… it is right there… this whole think tomorrow is about Bank of America and Citigroup (C)… the other ones will kind of look the other way… I think that Bank of America initially goes up on it… because the media loves Geithner and laps… the media is like a lap dog, he is like here, Lassie, here Lassie… and then Lassie comes and goes I love Geithner…I love Geithner… and then Lassie’s tongue is cut out by Meredith Whitney… she hold it up like this along with the ears and the head… and says sell, sell, sell… and Bank of America will go down… how graphic… how right…. pant, pant, pant, I love Geithner… like Lassie… does Lassie ever sweat?

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Q:    This stimulus program, Nancy Pelosi’s mystery stimulus plan is basically void of any infrastructure play. How can an investor gain a proposed stimulus plan, as proposed?

Jim:    Well, I gotta tell you I read that Pelosi told President Obama that it is one thing to run me over with a bus, it is another thing to back… she needs a little direction man, she is driving the bus… okay now here is the deal… I think that it is impossible to play any sort of infrastructure in the United States… because we do not have the political will to do the right thing… as a matter of fact, we don’t have any political will what so ever… but, our friends buddy pals in China… knows how to build a few walls or two… and that is where the infrastructure play is… and I am very gun ho on anything that has to be build from China… including steel, coal, minerals… copper… balk site… that is Alcoa.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Q:    Looking at Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (RAH), it looks like they had a pretty good first quarter, but I am looking for something that I can stick with. What do think about it?

Jim:    Well, you know I love that company… that is RalCorp by the way… that is a company that makes basically knock off cereals… this is a knock off kind of market… by the way, let me give you a two for one… Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) was way down too low last week… that is a knock off play… I was a Big Lots Inc. (BIG) yesterday.. let me just tell you something… that was a dog gone awful experience.. I am not kidding, I was in line… I think I am still in line at the Big Lots register.. I really am… I think I am still in line.

[verbatim recap]

[end of segment]

Read Jim's next Segment here  

Read Jim's next Segment here