Here's an article in Men's Health that confirms what I always believed: debit cards were invented for the benefit of the banks, not the consumers: http://www.menshealth.com/fitinvestor/carmendebit.html .
The banks debacle is definitely not over. BMO just announced a 325M$ write down. My guess at this point is that other banks will announce new write downs in a not too distant future.
That coupled with more and more recession talk in the US does not spell good news for short term investors. Long term value investors will see a good opportunity to buy stock on rebate ...
Going back to the article, here's a scary quote on how BMO is playing the SIV game:
Bank of Montreal also said it would provide financial support capped at $11
billion for the structured investment vehicle Links Financial, and as much as
€1.2 billion, or $1.77 billion, for Parkland Finance. The assets of both SIVs,
which sell short-term debt and invest the proceeds in higher-yielding
securities, have been reduced since July 31.
"Rather than putting the SIV
issue behind it, today's announcement sets the stage for it to migrate onto
BMO's balance sheet over time," a Blackmont Capital analyst,. Brad Smith, said
in a note, in which he downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy". "This action
increases the potential for additional losses should asset sales prove more
challenging than currently anticipated."
