Banking Crisis -- Selling Assets

I previously wrote of Fortis Bank and their abandonment of piggy banks. The little piggy offended some clientele. Now Fortis is back in the news because they are in financial trouble like everyone else who sought profits in financial paper. (http://www.onenewsnow.com/AP/Search/Business/Default.aspx?id=266028) The promises on this paper has done more than pop like a bubble, it seems to be the ocean eroding foundations. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o = I just like the music...)

Fortis seems to be like everyone in this financial crisis, "Where can I find something to sell so I can have some liquidity to meet my obligations?" Haven't we all had a few thoughts of whether we should sell that music equipment (or whatever...)?

But where does a BANK go to sell it's assets these days? What assets does a bank have? (Besides all those unused piggy banks?)

In the background of my "black & white Christmas movie thoughts," I can hear George saying, "It's not here! We don't have your money HERE! It's in your homes, in your businesses, it's in all the things that we've helped you to build. We don't have CASH! We've invested in your lives, and you are paying it back over time with interest."

Well, guess what? Everyone's homes and businesses and lives are worthless now!! They we're valuable assets at one time, but now they are devalued and since everyone has THIS kind of asset, only someone foolish like the government is going to buy them! STUCK LIKE A PIG!

PS. Seems like the video sites are compiling their perspectives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSqhrHIfJV0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QBRIsCkGQ0

Even SNL got it right!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3igb71c_XI

If this is True...

"Not to oppose error is to approve it, and not to defend truth is to suppress it, and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them."

- Pope St. Felix III



THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT THIS...?

"The Roman Catholic Church teaches that it is a mortal (spiritually deadly) sin to not attend Mass with the exception of those who are too weak to get there and further that the Roman Catholic Church teaches that if one dies with unconfessed mortal sin they will be condemned to hell for all eternity."

This Little Piggy is... GONE!

Have you seen this little piggy? Just try to find him anywhere! He's Knorbert, and he's been removed, whole hog, from the Internet. Why? He's offensive. Just look at him, a little hoodlum actually, and formerly a mascot for Fortis Bank in Europe. Someone determined that this little swine was bad for business. Maybe so. If your business is to cater to money, and a potential pot of money is held by folks who don't like pigs -- axe the pig! After all, the Jews have considered the pig unclean for... wha? Huh? Excuse me... Not the Jews? Another group doesn't like pigs? Well, whatever the case, business is business. Reminds me of the time that the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas had to reconfigure their entire entrance because a particular clientele found it "unlucky" to walk into their lobby through the mouth of a giant lion. Hey, if your casino is considered 'unlucky,' who's going to gamble there? Slay the lion!

Two Points:

Start collecting piggy banks NOW because they are on the way out! A neighbor told me he was going to throw out a piggy bank he received from his bank. Being the savvy speculator, I casually said (masking my thrill to acquire a true collectible), "Oh, my kids would use it." MINE!

Secondly, "As Pastor Martin Niemoller might have said, "First they came for Piglet and I did not speak out because I was not a Disney character...Then they came for the Three Little Pigs, and Babe, and by the time I realized the Western world had turned into a 24/7 Looney Tunes, it was too late, because there was no Porky Pig to stammer, "Th-th-th-that's all folks!""" (Thanks to Mark Steyn for that one.)

Wallowing,

BAAAAAAAAACK!

Wow, after how long? But it's all due to the changes that Blogger went through, leaving me stranded... I know you have all waxed, waned, and lost direction without me. But now I'm back to release the tirades!

With love,