Secretary Paulson and Jim Cramer from "The Street"

Secretary Paulson says "Many months" of trouble ahead (He's the head of the Treasure for the United States of America), but says banking system is sound

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25769121/

Jim Cramer (the eternal optimist) says to "Sell everything, come back later"
http://moneynews.com/streettalk/cramer_sell_stocks_now/2008/07/09/111259.html

These in and of themselves do not mean a disaster, but I thought people who have large 401k's or lots of financial investments would be interested in the news.

19 financial instituions one cannot Short sell

The government has basically admitted that these institutions are going to lose money by banning "naked short selling" on them. Given they are all financial institutions, I thought ward members might be interested in the list:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/07/sec-restricts-shorting-19-financial.html

Regular short sellers (not naked short selling) are betting $1 trillion on stocks going down

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=abz3Png6wvrM&refer=home

The difference between Naked and Regular short selling:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502829.html

First Post

This is the first post of the Parley's 5th ward Preparedness Blog.