Just a little late ...

In the news today ... Financial-services giants Citigroup, Lehman Brothers Holdings, and Bear Stearns were down 1.5%, 2.6%, and 2.9%, respectively, after Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the stocks to “neutral” from “buy.”

But the industry has clearly been hit by the credit crisis. The stocks were already hammered. What gives? Are the lawyers holding things up?

"Fair" Tax? Not with up to 89% sales-tax rates

Would an 89% nationals sales tax be "fair"? Bruce Bartlett says proponents of the "Fair Tax" have no clue what they're talking about.

Eveillard in FA mag

Financial Advisor magazine has an interview with Jean-Marie Eveillard, and Chuck de Lardemelle, the First Eagle funds' associate portfolio manager who is scheduled to succeed Eveillard next year. The story says many U.S. money managers have told Eveillard they would love to be a value manager, but somehow they don’t have the discipline or patience in America’s frequently extended bull markets. Now, “The largest discounts we see are in Japan and South Korea, two nations where private equity is not a presence,” said de Lardemelle. “When a private equity firm takes us out of an investment, very often we are not happy about the price.”