Scoop’s Views

Back in the mid-to-late 1980s, when Daddy Bush, George H.W. Bush, or George Herbert Walker Bush, was running for president, along with his, “No new taxes!” chant that caught on with many people like a wild fire in a parched forest, there existed another expression favored by many. It was: “It’s the economy, stupid!”

Yes, it seemed to be a generation of idiotic slogans, but for some reason, much like today, stupidity worked.

Breaking news out of New York right, as being reported by The New York Times, is:

JPMorgan Raises Bid for Bear Stearns to $10 a Share

The sweetened offer is intended to win over stockholders who vowed
to fight the original fire-sale deal, struck only a week ago at the
behest of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.

Despite already being rewarded for bad behavior and bad business practices by means of a bailout by the Federal Reserve, Bear Stearns‘ stockholders are getting rewarded this time by its buddy, the Federal Reserve, as well as the U.S. Treasury Department.

One day after the Federal Reserve engineered the historic weekend bailout of investment banker Bear Stearns, President George W. Bush said the United States’ “capital markets are functioning efficiently and effectively.” It just goes to show just how out of touch he is, which is horrifying on many levels.

Just over a week ago, JPMorgan made an offer to buy the failed Bear Sterns for $2 a share. Sure, it was bargain basement pricing, but hey, when the company, supposedly a world-class investment firm, drives itself into a 100-foot deep grave and then wallows in the slop that hogs wouldn’t consider, asking for a handout from the Federal Reserve until “it can secure” financing, it better take what it can get.

The Treasury Department’s intervention, causing an increase in the per-share price for Bear Stearns, now in shambles, is a pathetic shame.