Pump and Dump

Words just fail me.

Treasury is going to overpay for Bank of America stock. We're going to pay "10% below the bank’s average stock price for the 20 trading days ending Feb 9" ("By the way, Feb 9 was the high point for all of these bank stocks during the month of February. What a coincidence.")

Guess what Bank of America executives were doing on the "20 trading days ending Feb 9"? Manipulating their stock price higher.

Oh, by the way, Obama has quietly signalled his intent to double TARP and give 750 billion more to the bankers (but we only expect to lose $250 billion of that, or over $800 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.).

This is Zimbabwe worthy.

Freight is "in a free fall"

So says FTR Associates

Truck purchases will continue to drop throughout 2009 due to overcapacity, and the first and second quarter will be incredibly difficult on fleets’ bottom lines, trucking industry analysts said today during an FTR Associates webinar.

“This recession, from a freight standpoint, started almost three years ago,” said Noel Perry, managing director of FTR Consulting. “There is a free fall right now, but it is also the effect of cumulative stress on the industry…We have such low capacity, as low as we’ve had since the 1970s—nobody working in the industry right now has experienced these levels.”

And railroads aren't doing so hot either.