{"id":433408,"date":"2010-03-16T08:11:18","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T12:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/2010\/03\/16\/the-garrett-watts-report-march-15-2010\/"},"modified":"2010-03-16T08:11:18","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T12:11:18","slug":"the-garrett-watts-report-march-15-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/433408","title":{"rendered":"The Garrett, Watts Report (March 15, 2010)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/garrettwatts.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"garrettwatts\" src=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/garrettwatts5.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"garrettwatts\" width=\"461\" height=\"73\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>March 15, 2010<\/p>\n<p>To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends<strong>, <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have a client in the Columbus , Ohio area looking for someone to head up their Secondary Marketing Department. Expertise and experience in pipeline management, in making certain the data is accurate, is more important than the ability to be the world\u2019s greatest expert on where interest rates are headed.\u00a0 This photo shows a bit of what a great city Columbus is.\u00a0 We\u2019ve only been there in the winter, but we can easily imagine how pretty it must be in Spring and Summer.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"j5\" src=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j5_thumb.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"j5\" width=\"305\" height=\"228\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Investors tend to look at Price-to-Earnings ratios on big banks and Price-to-Book ratios on small banks. If we look at Price-to-Book ratios for the big banks, we find that many are trading below book value, obviously a reflection of investors\u2019 distrust of what the book value really is when you apply serious mark-to-mark on loans. Anyway, here\u2019s the ratio for a few of them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table class=\"MsoTableGrid\" style=\"border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; background-color: #ffff99; border-collapse: collapse; border-top-style: none; margin-left: 1.7in; border-left-style: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" bgcolor=\"#ffff99\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; border: windowtext 1pt solid;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">\u00a0 65%\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-left-style: none; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">Citigroup<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">\u00a0 75%\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">Bank of America<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">\u00a0 76%\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">Key Bank<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">102%\u00a0\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">Fifth Third<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">107%\u00a0\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">JPMorgan Chase<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">146%\u00a0\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">Wells Fargo<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 117pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"156\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">197%\u00a0\u00a0 of book value<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 99pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0in;\" width=\"132\" valign=\"top\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10pt\">U.S. Bank<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: medium 'Times New Roman'; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; letter-spacing: normal; color: #000000; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px\">The higher number for U.S. Bank is clearly a vote of investor confidence. By the way, there are tons of community banks whose stocks trade at big discounts to book, and many of these will be 10-baggers for investors with patience and strong stomachs.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>High school senior Hannah Garrett applied for a summer job as a horseback riding instructor at a summer camp, and the application specified that they wouldn\u2019t hire anyone with tattoos, adding that any camp counselors who got tattoos during the summer would be fired. Yippee.\u00a0 We still don\u2019t like tattoos on women, and maybe there\u2019d be fewer of them if more employers took this stand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>This past Saturday would have been Kirby Puckett\u2019s 50th birthday. Kirby has to be on anyone\u2019s All Star list for a combination of sheer talent and joyful love of the game. When he signed for $7 million in 1997, he said he loved playing baseball so much that if they hadn\u2019t offered him a contract, he\u2019d play for free.\u00a0\u00a0 He had a lifetime batting average of .318, played every single game of his career for the Twins, and averaged 603 bats per season.\u00a0 He won six Golden Glove Awards and was an All-Star ten times. What we remember most was watching him leap over the fence to rob A&#8217;s hitters of sure-thing home runs.\u00a0 He was only 5-7 but he jumped like he was 6-7.\u00a0 His eyesight went bad and he was out of baseball at 35 and dead at 46. Wherever you are, Kirby, we sure loved watching you play.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j42.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"j4\" src=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j4_thumb2.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"j4\" width=\"166\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>With all due respect to Killebrew, Hrebek, Carew, and Viola, Kirby was the greatest Twin of them all.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We periodically tell friends about the near-perfect food, Spam. We think the company that makes it is even better.\u00a0 Hormel (HREL) had revenues of $6.5 billion last year, raised their dividend for the 44<sup>th<\/sup> consecutive year, and if you look at their stock for the past five years, it\u2019s up 32%\u00a0 v. the S&amp;P 500 which, as we write this, is down about a half a point.<\/li>\n<li>By the way, Twinkies is another of nature\u2019s perfect foods, but how the heck do you invest in them?\u00a0 Any information would be welcome.<\/li>\n<li>It seems baseball managers are always saying of their star pitchers \u201cHe\u2019s a real stud, and we know we can always get seven innings from him.\u201d Seven innings? In 1933 New York Giant Carl Hubbell threw an 18-inning shutout.\u00a0 Who the heck came up with the idea of taking pitchers out after 110-120 pitches?\u00a0 Pitchers did just fine before the creation of the \u201cpitch count.\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j32.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"j3\" src=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j3_thumb2.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"j3\" width=\"298\" height=\"205\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Isn\u2019t it almost a clich\u00e9 that when people become really wealthy, they want to tear down their already-big house and build an even <em>bigger<\/em> one? In an interesting twist, Steve Jobs has a house near Silicon Valley with 14 bedrooms and 13-1\/2 bathrooms. and he just got permission from the authorities to tear it down and build a much <em>smaller<\/em> one!<br \/>\n<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00b7 When Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner engineered those huge loans to AIG, well over $100 billion, lots of people thought it was throwing good money down the toilet and that it would never be repaid. From the sale of one of its insurance units to MetLife for $15 billion, along with other moves, AIG will shortly be paying back $50.7 billion to the government.\u00a0 Governments should never pick winners or losers, so we hate the idea of bailouts, but this one looks like it will turn out okay.<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/magazine\/content\/10_12\/b4171060623256_page_4.htm\">The latest issue of Business Week has a great article by the fellow who told the SEC early on that Bernie Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme<\/a>. You\u2019ll be surprised to see how Madoff\u2019s feeder-funds in Europe thought he was getting such good returns.\u00a0 What\u2019s interesting is how most of these feeder funds knew he was doing something illegal (they thought he was front-running, not doing a Ponzi) but looked the other way as long as they benefited.\u00a0 Seriously, take a few minutes to read it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the most fun events every year is Gary Findley \u2019s annual dinner for bank CEO\u2019s.\u00a0 Gary \u2019s taking a break this year, but we look forward to attending in 2011. Great food, great wine, great cigars, and it\u2019s pretty stunning to sit there in one room with 50 or so presidents of community banks.\u00a0 His law firm\u2019s community bank client list is lengthy, and his clients extraordinarily loyal.<\/li>\n<li>There are still 460 banks left with Texas ratios greater than 100%.\u00a0 We think we\u2019re at the point where the number has stopped increasing and will now start to drop, a clear sign that banks are successfully dealing with their credit problems.<\/li>\n<li>One of the banks that failed last week was Park Avenue Bank.\u00a0 This Manhattan- based bank had a Texas Ratio of a whopping 447%.\u00a0 Holy mother of God!<br \/>\n<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re patriotic and you like steak, you\u2019d want to know the butcher who carved this cut of meat.\u00a0 You could call it the United Steaks of America.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j24.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px\" title=\"j2\" src=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j2_thumb4.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"j2\" width=\"347\" height=\"233\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWe\u2019re very proud to have done work for Farmers Bank &amp; Trust in Overland Park , Kansas , and we offer them this photo for them to use in their newsletter to bank customers.<br \/>\n<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>We have a mortgage banking client we advised on buying a bank in 2009. He came very close to buying one last year, was offered very attractive terms. We looked very closely at their Call Report, saw a rapid deterioration in loan performance, and argued as strongly as we could that he should <em>not<\/em> buy it. The bank just failed and we got a very nice note from him thanking us.\u00a0 Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don\u2019t do.<\/li>\n<li>We have a Phoenix client looking for a closing manager\/supervisor, one very strong on compliance.\u00a0 If you know someone, let us know<br \/>\n<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>We just read about the food shortages in Venezuela , and isn\u2019t it predictable that command economies never work?\u00a0 Fascist dictator Hugo Chavez wants to turn the country into the utopia and workers paradise that Cuba is, so the government has seized six million acres of farms and ranches as well as several big supermarket chains.\u00a0 Don\u2019t these people know their history?\u00a0 Stalin failed when he collectivized the farms, as has every other economy based on state ownership of production.\u00a0 Beef production has fallen 38% and soldiers are stationed in grocery stores when food arrives to keep order in the midst of massive shortages.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"j1\" src=\"http:\/\/mortgagenewsclips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/j1_thumb5.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"j1\" width=\"422\" height=\"230\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWe hope the people of Venezuela do to Chavez what the Italians finally did to\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mussolini.<br \/>\n<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>The Special Examiner has completed his report on the Lehman failure, and its 2,200 pages are a damning indictment of management deceit and Board cluelessness. Equally complicit is Lehman\u2019s auditor Ernst &amp; Young, which never raised questions about the financial and accounting shenanigans going on.\u00a0 As Alan Abelson wrote, it turns out that the accounting firms are not always accountable.\u00a0 Here\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/lehmanreport.jenner.com\/VOLUME%201.pdf\">the whole report.<\/a>\u00a0 We\u2019re hard-copy kind of guys, but we did skim parts of it. If you don\u2019t want to read the whole thing, there are some good newspaper stories on it.\u00a0 By the way, this guy Anton Valukas who wrote the report deserves an A++.\u00a0 We need more guys like him on the Boards of financial institutions, and maybe Obama should appoint him to head up the SEC.\u00a0 And while we\u2019re at it, someone should also appoint him to investigate what led to the failure of FNMA and Freddie Mac.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00b7 One of these days, Congress will have to decide on the deposit size covered by FDIC incurrence, the former $100,000 or the current $250,000. Banks want the larger amount to more easily get bigger deposit accounts, but opponents talk about imposing some degree of moral hazard.\u00a0 We\u2019ve noticed in our travels that many European governments offer only a percentage of deposit insurance over a basic amount, and we\u2019ve actually sat around thinking about this.\u00a0 We wrote about this once before, and we came up with something like this:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: medium 'Times New Roman'; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; letter-spacing: normal; color: #000000; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 252pt; border-collapse: collapse;\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"334\">\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col style=\"width: 80pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3876;\" span=\"1\" width=\"106\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 86pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 4169;\" span=\"span\" width=\"114\"><\/col>\n<\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 30.75pt;\" height=\"41\">\n<td class=\"xl24\" style=\"width: 80pt; height: 30.75pt;\" width=\"106\" height=\"41\">.<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl25\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">Amount insured<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl25\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">Amount un-insured<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15.75pt;\" height=\"21\">\n<td class=\"xl26\" style=\"width: 80pt; height: 15.75pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"106\" height=\"21\">Up to $100,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$100,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl28\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30.75pt;\" height=\"41\">\n<td class=\"xl26\" style=\"width: 80pt; height: 30.75pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"106\" height=\"41\">$100,000 &#8211; $150,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$145,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$5,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30.75pt;\" height=\"41\">\n<td class=\"xl26\" style=\"width: 80pt; height: 30.75pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"106\" height=\"41\">$150,000 &#8211; $200,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$190,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$10,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30.75pt;\" height=\"41\">\n<td class=\"xl26\" style=\"width: 80pt; height: 30.75pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"106\" height=\"41\">$200,000 &#8211; $250,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$235,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$15,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30.75pt;\" height=\"41\">\n<td class=\"xl26\" style=\"width: 80pt; height: 30.75pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"106\" height=\"41\">$250,000 &#8211; $500,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$230,000<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl27\" style=\"width: 86pt; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\" width=\"114\">$20,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>You can quibble about the exact amounts to be insured, but you get the point.\u00a0 We like is that this is the best of both worlds:\u00a0 The banks can now attract <em>largely <\/em>-insured deposits up to $500,000, but we get to introduce moral hazard.\u00a0 They\u2019ll only get the big deposits if they\u2019re safe and sound.<br \/>\nThe best story to bolster our point is when we were sitting at a restaurant right next to super-bank executive Tony Frank.\u00a0 His mom and dad were there with him, and the conversation we overheard (it was a very quiet night there) went like this:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo mom, dad, where are you putting your money these days?\u201d\u00a0 His elderly mother said \u201cWell, Tony, we know we should put it in your bank, but we\u2019re getting wonderful rates on our CDs at Vernon Savings.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMom, that\u2019s horrible!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was just a story in American Banker that laterally 98% of their loans had gone bad.\u201d His wise mom answered with \u201cTony, I heard something like that, but we have about $40,000 there and it\u2019s all FDIC insured, so what difference does it make.\u201d We rest our case.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n<p>Whether you like him or dislike him, President Obama might have a post-White House future as a stock market analyst.\u00a0 On March 9<sup>th<\/sup> last year, the markets bottomed out and took off for the races with great returns in all sectors.\u00a0 What\u2019s interesting is that on March 3, only six days before, Obama announced at a press conference that \u201c\u2026buying U.S. stocks is a good deal for long-term investors.\u201d\u00a0 On a different note, we\u2019re running a contest (but without prizes) for your favorite 3-4 albums of all time.\u00a0 But this one is only for people over 50!\u00a0 We can\u2019t wait to see what all of you send in!\u00a0 We\u2019re off to Florida and Utah this week, so send in those album nominations so we get them by Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/garrettwatts.com\/\">Garrett, Watts &amp; Co.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Helping <\/em><em>lenders increase revenues, control costs, and better manage risk.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mike McAuley\u00a0\u00a0 (<a href=\"mailto:MMcAuley@GarrettWatts.com\">MMcAuley@GarrettWatts.com<\/a> )<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Corky Watts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (<a href=\"mailto:CWatts@GarrettWatts.com\">CWatts@GarrettWatts.com<\/a>)\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Joe Garrett\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (<a href=\"mailto:JGarrett@GarrettWatts.com\">JGarrett@GarrettWatts.com<\/a> )<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?a=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?a=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?i=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?a=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:F7zBnMyn0Lo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?i=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?a=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe?i=dWrgqsEkJDw:R6zcbCLL1cU:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/mortgagenewsclips\/qTBe\/~4\/dWrgqsEkJDw\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 March 15, 2010 To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends, We have a client in the Columbus , Ohio area looking for someone to head up their Secondary Marketing Department. Expertise and experience in pipeline management, in making certain the data is accurate, is more important than the ability to be the world\u2019s greatest expert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}