The drama in U.K. financials this week highlighted the systemic division as to how different governments approach the "bail out" problem absent of an outright nationalization. The current two main options on the table, which Obama's administration will have to pick and choose from unless he decides to nationalize Citi, BofA, and others outright, are the "aggregator bank" and the "bad bank" models, as seen in the U.K. and in Switzerland, respectively.

Ladenburg analyst Dick Bove (who understandably underestimated the stupidity of the Treasury and on Sept. 12 stated his belief that "Banc of America will win the auction for Lehman Brothers.") has just whacked his target price for Citi from $14 to $6, and is projecting a 2009 loss of ($1.45), a whole buck lower than consensus estimates.

Circuit City will not pass go on its way to the garbage heap. Despite rumors that it had found outright buyers for its stores, including such PE companies as Golden Gate Capital and Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Circuit City today filed a notice in bankruptcy court that it has hired liquidators and is unable to reach a pact with creditors.

As our contango idea from a few days ago has caught some media attention we wanted to make some elaborations. The premise for that post was to show that based on 10 minutes of google searching and some DIY supplies, one can exploit the contango. If one is industrious enough, one could probably circumvent or cover the transportation, insurance and labor costs and still be at a profit. For industrial-grade profits however, Stamford, CT may not be the best location.

...Before it hits $0
17% down today. What is over/under days until Ken Lewis' resignation. We say 10

*******UPDATE********

$5.65 to zero now

The Governator Wasn't Kidding. California is on the verge of bankruptcy. Looks like not only will the state have to pay with IOUs, or worthless pieces of paper as they are better known, for all state purchases, but apparently tax refunds will be delayed as well. First by 30 days, then, indefinitely.