Baltimore – (TFN): Hallelujah, the markets work! You have no idea how happy I was this morning when I opened the Wall Street Journal and found an article detailing Goldman Sachs shareholder anger at the recent bonus payouts.

Now, I don’t care who makes what. That’s between bosses and their worker bees. But I do get a little peeved when Uncle Sam tries to tell some worker he can’t get paid per his contract.

Before you go shouting about how Washington saved Wall Street and therefore we, as taxpayers, get a say over pay, let me ask you this. Does your mortgage company tell you what color to paint little Johnnie’s room? Does your car loan provider tell you how fast to drive? Does your health insurance provider tell control your diet?

Didn’t think so.

If some congressman came barging in this office right now, demanding I slash my pay, his goons

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Baltimore — (TFN): If politicians would get their heads out of their re-election campaigns, they would not have to make hasty, thoughtless decisions that cost you and I money.

In the days following Obama’s inauguration, Washington quickly passed a wide set of tax reforms. Part of the legislation included a $400 tax break for the country’s working class and increased healthcare funding for the country’s poor, unhealthy children thanks to increased taxes on the tobacco industry.

It is no surprise neither measure has worked out as planned.

According to reports today, more than 15 million of us will have to pay back the $400 we saved in taxes over the last few months due to an error on Washington’s end.

I hope Uncle Sam doesn’t expect interest on his loan come April.

The news out of the tobacco industry helps us continue our discussion on regulations. The good and the bad.

Winston Churchill once

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Baltimore — (TFN): It’s confirmation! On Friday I wrote how I may have a touch of the flu or some other mind-altering ailment because my thoughts were far more liberal than I am comfortable with admitting.

Well, it turns out my ultra-liberal, straight-ticket voting, French-guy marrying sister has a verifiable case of the pig flu. And guess who I had dinner with on Thursday night? You betcha, big sis.

There we have it: cause and effect.

Fortunately, my head case was short-lived. By the time my venison sausage and eggs were off the front burner on Saturday morning, I was back to my old self, almost knocking my O.J. off the table stomping my fist over a local political battle.

In Friday’s edition of notes, I quoted the following paragraph from Callum Robert’s book The Unnatural History of the Sea:

If any trawling ground be over-fished, the trawlers themselves will be the

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Baltimore (TFN): I cannot say with total certainty that duct tape has ever saved my life. But I can say it has saved the day on more than one occasion, like the time I fell feet first into a frigid river, roaring with the power of Alaska’s springtime snowmelt.

In the woods, you have to dry off fast or risk any number of calamities. Living in temperate rainforest, an emergency fire was a challenge. But thanks to duct tape’s inherent desire to burn, I was re-warmed in no time.

But my mundane story has got nothing on the bush pilot that returned to his Piper Cub (the plane, not one of Palin’s kids) to find a pissed off grizzly had utterly destroyed the craft’s ability to fly as the hungry beast searched for the scraps of meat hidden inside.

Just like any savvy outdoorsmen, the pilot’s first thought after seeing

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This morning’s New York Times has an important article on the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA has stepped in to back up mortgage loans as the private sector has stopped making them. Essentially, it is playing the role of a sub-prime lender, and appears to be making many of the same mistakes the fallen or defunct sub-prime lenders made. For starters, it is allowing people to buy with down payments of only 3.5%. Further, people can use the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit for that 3.5%. Buy a house and walk away from the closing with a check in your pocket. The historical record of people who bought houses with the assistance of charitable down payment assistance programs (DAP) is not a pretty one when it comes to default rates. The tax credit is acting like a massive DAP. The agency now insures 5.4 million mortgages worth ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 8, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Bank of America Corporation (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Citigroup (C) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

BofA Vows Not to Hike Card Rate

Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Tuesday that it will not raise rates or change terms on consumer credit card accounts before the new law (CARD Act) intended to reform industry practices takes

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Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Tuesday that it will not raise rates or change terms on consumer credit card accounts before the new law (CARD Act) intended to reform industry practices takes effect early next year. To manage costs in light of the sweeping new reforms to the credit card industry, in August 2009, BofA along with JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM) switched most fixed-rate cards to variable rates. Discover Financial Services (DFS) moved some of its cardholders from fixed to variable rates in June. Since most of the cards of Bank of America carry a variable rate, customers could still see rising interest rates as the interest is tied to the rise and fall of the prime rate. BofA also said that it will continue to re-price customers who are late on two or more payments in a one-year period....

On Wednesday, Wells Fargo (WFC) became the latest large financial institution to announce a reshuffle in its policy towards overdraft fees. The bank will eliminate overdraft fees for Wells and Wachovia customers when they overdraw their accounts by $5 or less. Wells will not charge customers more than four overdraft fees per day. In addition, customers will be able to opt out of overdraft coverage. Henceforth, customers can specify that they don't want their transactions authorized into overdraft if funds aren't available to cover the transaction. Wells Fargo is following the footsteps of other large banks, Bank of America Corporation (BAC) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM). While JP Morgan has decided to automatically remove all its customers from the overdraft service, and allow customers who want that protection to opt in; BofA and Wells Fargo will leave it to customers to opt ...

Looks like another government arm will soon be knocking on the Treasury’s door: “We are currently considering all options, including borrowing from the Treasury,” said FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair. As we’ve forecast many times, the steady collapse of banks around the U.S. has put an irreparable dent in the FDIC deposit insurance fund.

Now likely less than $10 billion strong and with more bank failures sure to come, the FDIC faces two choices: Raise their taxes on banks to bolster the fund or tap the Treasury. Given the health of the U.S. banking system and the tendencies of our government over the last decade, you can probably guess which Bair will chose. Here’s another hint… Barney Frank, leader of the House Financial Services Committee, has already publicly opined on what Bair should do.

The FDIC has the authority to borrow as much as $500 billion through 2010.

“Stock market bulls aren’t concerned about

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Currencies have strong rally!  Trade Deficit jumps 16.3% in July!  HR 1207 Gets a hearing!  Gold gets back to $1,000! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! Today is Patriot Day in the U.S. and a day that brings back memories of cowardly attacks on our country 8 years ago. I remember the shock and horror on everyone’s faces, and that image will remain with me to the grave. I also remember trying to write the Pfennig the “day after”… It just didn’t seem that important of a thing to do, but a reader told me that to keep things as “normal” as possible was the best thing I could do… So… I wrote…

OK… The currencies, and this time I mean the majority of them not just euro and yen, added to their gains this week VS the dollar yesterday… The Big Dog, euro, is once again

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