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WSJ: “AMEX has been hurt by a slowdown in cardholder spending and rising losses and delinquencies in its fast-growing lending portfolio, which allows cardholders to carry a balance. To stem the losses, AmEx has been slashing credit lines and tightening its underwriting standards to a range of customers.
The company defended its strategy to expand its credit-card business even though those customers are responsible for the bulk of its woes, saying that it hasn’t lowered underwriting standards on these newer customers. “The quality of accounts that we’ve added in recent years is as strong as our traditional card members,” Mr. Chenault said.”
The company said it wrote off 5.3% of loans during the second quarter, up from 4.3% in the first quarter and 2.9% in the second quarter of 2007.

Looks like the new customers are causing defaults. Not as many new rich people as they expected and small businesses are feeling pain.

AmEx collects an average of 2.6% of customers’ bills, vs. about 2% levied by rivals. AmEx says merchants pay higher fees to gain access to its high-end customers.

Are there merchants who only take AMEX and not Visa/MC? These 2-2.6% fees are incredibly high in this electronic market. Heard that someone like Amazon wanted to come out without new payment card that would charge 1%, but these Visa/MC guys got special training from DeBeers to essentially lock market.

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I think we could survice without Fannie, Freddie and even the FDIC. Without the taxpayers subsidizing all the failures, the interest rates would go up 2% for best loans (more for others), but why subsidize bad loans, bad management so “innocent” parties in the RE Industrial complex can make great profits with no risk. Buffet would step up with his bank (WFC) and implicit guarantee that deposits are safe, credit unions with their conservative practices would flourish. See report from fed below:

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2005/el2005-20.html

Glad I got of out Moodys last year. Dont know why Buffet still holds 20% of shares, it is a company without any ethics. They ZERO accountability for their ratings. They can not be sued, they have hold harmless clause. They could have given Indymac AAA+ and they would downgrade the day after FDIC takever with NO consequences. WHY? Because pension funds, mutual funds dont give a hoot, its not their money. Since they are compared to peers, they can say well everyone was hurt, not my fault, business as usual. Fidelity and other mutual funds don’t vote on shareholder resolutions, etc.

[equalizer]

I think we could survice without Fannie, Freddie and even the FDIC. Without the taxpayers subsidizing all the failures, the interest rates would go up 2% for best loans (more for others), but why subsidize bad loans, bad management so “innocent” parties in the RE Industrial complex can make great profits with no risk. Buffet would step up with his bank (WFC) and implicit guarantee that deposits are safe, credit unions with their conservative practices would flourish. See report from fed below:

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2005/el2005-20.html

Glad I got of out Moodys last year. Dont know why Buffet still holds 20% of shares, it is a company without any ethics. They ZERO accountability for their ratings. They can not be sued, they have hold harmless clause. They could have given Indymac AAA+ and they would downgrade the day after FDIC takever with NO consequences. WHY? Because pension funds, mutual funds dont give a hoot, its not their money. Since they are compared to peers, they can say well everyone was hurt, not my fault, business as usual. Fidelity and other mutual funds don’t vote on shareholder resolutions, etc.

[equalizer]

I think we could survice without Fannie, Freddie and even the FDIC. Without the taxpayers subsidizing all the failures, the interest rates would go up 2% for best loans (more for others), but why subsidize bad loans, bad management so “innocent” parties in the RE Industrial complex can make great profits with no risk. Buffet would step up with his bank (WFC) and implicit guarantee that deposits are safe, credit unions with their conservative practices would flourish. See report from fed below:

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2005/el2005-20.html

Glad I got of out Moodys last year. Dont know why Buffet still holds 20% of shares, it is a company without any ethics. They ZERO accountability for their ratings. They can not be sued, they have hold harmless clause. They could have given Indymac AAA+ and they would downgrade the day after FDIC takever with NO consequences. WHY? Because pension funds, mutual funds dont give a hoot, its not their money. Since they are compared to peers, they can say well everyone was hurt, not my fault, business as usual. Fidelity and other mutual funds don’t vote on shareholder resolutions, etc.

[equalizer]

I think we could survice without Fannie, Freddie and even the FDIC. Without the taxpayers subsidizing all the failures, the interest rates would go up 2% for best loans (more for others), but why subsidize bad loans, bad management so “innocent” parties in the RE Industrial complex can make great profits with no risk. Buffet would step up with his bank (WFC) and implicit guarantee that deposits are safe, credit unions with their conservative practices would flourish. See report from fed below:

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2005/el2005-20.html

Glad I got of out Moodys last year. Dont know why Buffet still holds 20% of shares, it is a company without any ethics. They ZERO accountability for their ratings. They can not be sued, they have hold harmless clause. They could have given Indymac AAA+ and they would downgrade the day after FDIC takever with NO consequences. WHY? Because pension funds, mutual funds dont give a hoot, its not their money. Since they are compared to peers, they can say well everyone was hurt, not my fault, business as usual. Fidelity and other mutual funds don’t vote on shareholder resolutions, etc.

[equalizer]

I think we could survice without Fannie, Freddie and even the FDIC. Without the taxpayers subsidizing all the failures, the interest rates would go up 2% for best loans (more for others), but why subsidize bad loans, bad management so “innocent” parties in the RE Industrial complex can make great profits with no risk. Buffet would step up with his bank (WFC) and implicit guarantee that deposits are safe, credit unions with their conservative practices would flourish. See report from fed below:

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2005/el2005-20.html

Glad I got of out Moodys last year. Dont know why Buffet still holds 20% of shares, it is a company without any ethics. They ZERO accountability for their ratings. They can not be sued, they have hold harmless clause. They could have given Indymac AAA+ and they would downgrade the day after FDIC takever with NO consequences. WHY? Because pension funds, mutual funds dont give a hoot, its not their money. Since they are compared to peers, they can say well everyone was hurt, not my fault, business as usual. Fidelity and other mutual funds don’t vote on shareholder resolutions, etc.

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gousc,

that is so wrong 17M hits.

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gousc,

that is so wrong 17M hits.

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gousc,

that is so wrong 17M hits.

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gousc,

that is so wrong 17M hits.

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gousc,

that is so wrong 17M hits.

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I got a Inspiron B130 few years ago, heavy at 6.7lb, very sturdy frame with XP, Pentium, 1GB Ram and no problems. Cant do video editing, etc, but hey it was $500 (special discount). Comparable MAC at least a 1000. If its only PC then you need more, but if its 2nd computer, then something like this will work.

[equalizer]

I got a Inspiron B130 few years ago, heavy at 6.7lb, very sturdy frame with XP, Pentium, 1GB Ram and no problems. Cant do video editing, etc, but hey it was $500 (special discount). Comparable MAC at least a 1000. If its only PC then you need more, but if its 2nd computer, then something like this will work.

[equalizer]

I got a Inspiron B130 few years ago, heavy at 6.7lb, very sturdy frame with XP, Pentium, 1GB Ram and no problems. Cant do video editing, etc, but hey it was $500 (special discount). Comparable MAC at least a 1000. If its only PC then you need more, but if its 2nd computer, then something like this will work.

[equalizer]

I got a Inspiron B130 few years ago, heavy at 6.7lb, very sturdy frame with XP, Pentium, 1GB Ram and no problems. Cant do video editing, etc, but hey it was $500 (special discount). Comparable MAC at least a 1000. If its only PC then you need more, but if its 2nd computer, then something like this will work.

[Author]

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