As opportunity knocks on Wall Street, the vultures swoop

[flashl]

Almost two centuries ago, as Napoleon marched on Waterloo, a scion of the Rothschilds banking dynasty is said to have declared: The time to buy is when blood is running in the streets.

Now, as red ink runs on Wall Street, the figurative heirs of the Rothschilds — bankers, traders, hedge fund gurus and takeover artists — are plotting to profit from today's financial upheaval.

These market opportunists — vulture investors is the Wall Street term — have begun to swoop. They are buying up mortgages of hard-pressed homeowners, the bank loans of cash-short businesses, and companies that seem to be hurtling toward bankruptcy. And they are trying to buy them all on the cheap.

One Wall Street specialist in so-called distressed debt recently spent at least $450 million for assets of Thornburg Mortgage, the battered mortgage servicing company. Others are buying beaten-down corporate bonds and looking at car and credit card loans.

IHT

The vultures (distressed debt specialist) arrived months ago. No one is concern yet that some companies are literally buying up entire towns.

[Skink]

1. Avast

:evilgrin:

avast ye scurvy dogs. Yeah that's it.

[drmeow]

2. What happens if the vultures don't swoop?

I mean, the fundamental need of the market is for there to be both buyers and sellers. Just like the housing market, Wall Street is a buyers market right now. Just as vultures serve a purpose in nature, do they not serve a purpose in the market? Yes, they are kinda creepy and distasteful (unlike those in nature :)) but the really distasteful ones seem to be the ones who are still waiting for the prices to drop further. At least if there are people who are buying at 90 cents on the dollar, the prices aren't dropping to 75 cents or lower on the dollar. I'd rather have the vultures taking the risks with their money than the feds using my tax dollars to bail those people out.

As for companies literally buying up entire towns - isn't there a company that currently owns that town to sell it?

I guess that, while this does seem creepy to me (like people buying houses that were foreclosed on to flip them and make a bundle - people focused on getting rich on others misfortune has always creeped me out), it doesn't seem all that much more creepy than business as usual on Wall Street before this downturn.