“I have been saying for about two years we’re looking at a 1929 kind of event. I think that we are really in trouble in this country. And what you have seen in the last four months is just the beginning of it.”
-Patrick Byrne, Chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, December 2007
“If home prices decline by [...]

The Contagion Spreads
If you want to talk viral, let’s talk about the disease of debt that’s spreading. What started out as a portfolio of subprime mortgages going bad is rapidly spreading to any financial sector that touches any form of credit or debt.
Last week, First Marblehead (ticker: FMD), one of my company’s partners, registered a [...]

A funny thing happens when there’s excess liquidity in a financial market, as has been the cases in the past 6 years due to housing. First, a quick primer. Liquidity is any asset that can be converted to cash quickly and with minimal loss of value. A blue chip stock - like Coca Cola - [...]

With the recent events surrounding imported products from China, such as cough syrup, stationery, childrens’ toys tainted with lead or coma-inducing drugs, mislabeled fish, fish treated with malachite and other cancer-causing drugs, tainted beef, bad radial tires, leukemia drugs, toxic pet food, breakaway hammocks, electrocuting palm tree decor, Craftsman electric saws with flying blades, and [...]

Jim Cramer’s not known for subtlety, but this was a whopper.