EverydayInvestor (< 20)

Saturday Morning Means French Music Videos and a banker beatdown!

June 28, 2008 – Comments (6) | RELATED TICKERS: PRK , BKUNA , FITB

This is what y'all get for not giving me enough recs on my last blog post on Park National Bank (PRK). Remember--I work for recommendations. Am I not good enough to deserve more recs than the Hypnotoad? Your lack of recommendations means that I won't even translate these lyrics. BTW, Nana Mouskouri has a great version of this song, not available online.

Disclosure: I am short PRK. 

Voici le mois de mai
Où les fleurs volent au vent
Voici le mois de mai
Où les fleurs volent au vent
Où les fleurs volent au vent
Si jolies mignonnes
Où les fleurs volent au vent
Si mignonnement.

Le fils du roi s'en va
S'en va les ramassant
Le fils du roi s'en va
S'en va les ramassant
S'en va les ramassant
Si jolies mignonnes
S'en va les ramassant
Si mignonnement.

Il en ramasse tant
Qu'il en remplit ses gants
Il en ramasse tant
Qu'il en remplit ses gants
Qu'il en remplit ses gants
Si jolies mignonnes
Qu'il en remplit ses gants
Si mignonnement.

Il les porte à sa mie
Pour lui faire un présent
Il les porte à sa mie
Pour lui faire un présent
Pour lui faire un présent
Si jolies mignonnes
Pour lui faire un présent
Si mignonnement.

Tenez tenez, dit-il
Tenez voici des gants
Tenez tenez, dit-il
Tenez voici des gants
Tenez voici des gants
Si jolies mignonnes
Tenez voici des gants
Si mignonnement.

Vous ne les mettrez guère
Que quatre fois par an
Vous ne les mettrez guère
Que quatre fois par an
Que quatre fois par an
Si jolies mignonnes
Que quatre fois par an
Si mignonnement.

A Pâques à la Toussaint
Noël et la Saint-Jean
A Pâques à la Toussaint
Noël et la Saint-Jean
Noël et la Saint-Jean
Si jolies mignonnes
Noël et la Saint-Jean
Si mignonnement.

Umberto Tozzi & Cerena - Tu

Want more? How about La Complainte de Pablo Neruda, by Jean Ferrat?

A la Claire Fontaine (French folk song)- from the movie The Painted Veil

You want to see why I think bankers are morons? Take a look at this exchange from my other blog in response to my article on protecting assets in case of a bank failure:

Andy said,

June 27, 2008 at 7:54 pm · Edit

wow…you really don’t know what you are talking about. Sorry for the sarcasm but I think you need to be a little more realistic. Banks are not going to be dropping like flies, and I would like you to articulate the last time an uninsured depositor lost their money before indicating you should not have over $100,000 in any institution. First Integrity Bank in Staples, MN was recently closed by the FDIC.

Did uninsured depositors lose money? No.
Was there difficulty in accessing funds? No.
Was it a seamless transition to the new owners? Yes.
Did the FDIC know what they were doing and have it planned weeks in advance? Yes.

Please provide more facts to support your assertions.

*As a disclosure, I work for a community bank. A real estate bank, and we are doing quite all right. Are margins tight? Yes. Are there more asset quality issues? Yes. But that brings more blocking and tackling and less business development. I think you are over reacting. Usually there are unusual circumstances that create the bank failure.

If you are getting in the market now, it is not a good time to short banks, the risk return is not there right now. You missed the boat…

michael said,

June 27, 2008 at 8:35 pm · Edit

Even if an uninsured depositor receives all their money, it is likely that they will have to wait to get access to it. While some failed banks have all deposits (even non-FDIC insured deposits) transferred to an acquiring institution (like the bank you mention), it is not uncommon to have to go through the FDIC claims process (as with banks #2 (ANB Financial) and #4 (Hume Bank) on the FDIC failed bank list. In that case, uninsured depositors had to file claims with the FDIC.

Oh, and this Marketwatch article lists two recent bank failures where some uninsured deposits were lost. These were Netbank, where 30% of uninsured deposits have not been paid, and Miami Valley Bank of Ohio, where only 94% of uninsured deposits have been paid (these data are from February).

This recent balance sheet for Netbank indicates that there will be real losses for uninsured depositors. Same thing for Miami Valley Bank.

Are you still so sure that I am uninformed? It is simple for depositors to spread money out across accounts to minimize their risk and ensure that all their deposits are FDIC-insured. Arguing as you do that losing uninsured deposits is “unrealistic”, is wrong and it discourages people from acting in a prudent manner.