Now it's time for today's Martha's Glimmer of Hope -- a daily indication that the economy that fell off the cliff -- may claw it's way back up...

Citigroup stock has doubled this week!

Okay a quick look at the chart tells you that if you owned it at 50, you're not exactly doing a St Patty's day jig over this -- it went from under a dollar to roughly a buck eighty.

Now the Chairman of the Board, Richard Parsons is speaking out --one wonders where he was when the country's biggest bank was spiraling downward -- but none the less -- at a business roundtable event -- he now says that while the government now owns 36 percent of Citi -- the bank doesnt need any more bail out money! He expects the bank to remain "private" not nationalized -- and says that particularly with the latest conversion... Citi is actually one of the better capitalized banks in the world."

Today's Glimmer of Hope comes from the tragic and ugly tale of Bernie Madoff. After Mr. Madoff "made off" with billions while floating around in his mahogany clad yacht - he will plead guilty to all of his deception tomorrow in court. This is just the beginning of the "justice phase" of the economic debacle. The market is likely to respond favorably to this and what's to come. People need to see somebody pay - like it or not when the public sees this it will go a bit of the way toward the healing and the rebuilding of confidence in the market.
The FBI is investigating dozens of firms in search of financial fraud. Most of it will center on how individuals responded when they started to understand that it was all about to unravel. The selling of stock before the public knew -- the cramming of bad securities into the portfolios of others. This is what's to come and it is a necessary step to recovery. So as small as it may be right now - -the "justice phase" begins tomorrow. And that's todays "Glimmer of Hope."

And now it's time for my "Daily Glimmer of Hope" -
Of course it has to be Citigroup today. Now take this with a grain of salt and the knowledge that this is a bank that lost 37.5 billion dollars in the last five quarters and has seen its stock price plummet to under a dollar!

But - Vikram Pandit the 52 year old CEO, says he is quote "most encouraged with the strength of our business in 09."  The stock jumped 27 percent in early trading.

The competition among banks has dwindled  and prices are rising -- contributing to what could be seen -- and I stress -- relatively speaking - a positive environment.
Watch first quarter earnings for Citi - JPMorgan - and Goldman closely.
Analysts are looking for approximately a 32 cent loss for CITI -- but at least one analyst says its possible they could turn a profit.
Interestingly, Pandit says the bank has submitted its numbers to its own "internal" stress test that it believes is tougher than the federal stress test and they are pleased with the results. So there's your glimmer of hope -- but I encourage you to be skeptical with it -- and wash it down with a BIG grain of salt.

Here's today's Glimmer of Hope in these dismal economic times...

Now the talk is that Henry Paulson, the former Treasury Secretary, was right. That buying up distressed properties was a good idea -  except that it never happened as part of the so-called TARP - or Troubled Asset Relief Program. The government was going to buy up properties in trouble to help the banks and the real estate market.
But now, we are starting to see evidence that some Americans - and yes some big investors from the UK and Australia, are doing it on their own! Dirt cheap deals in Detroit, California and New York  are among the places they are putting money to work.  Today's New York Post blares "HOME FREE - Well almost -- $12,500!" The story is about a home valued at 95,000 that sold at auction.
While it remains to be seen if these are good investments - it does indicate that as washed out as it is - when a buyer and a seller get together - there is a market.
So while some including the President believe that "only Goverment" can pull us out of this mess -- it appears that regular folks and investors are taking this one into their own hands. Yes -- perhaps "We are the Tarp we've been waiting for."

Today we'll be talking about why the WH seems unable to bring confidence to Wall Street.  One reason is that they are not letting Wall Street in on the process!  They've been made the enemy - in some cases understandably, but they also need to be at the table.

Wall Street is not completly full of idiots who blew your money. 

There are also lots of smart folks with years of experience who are not being listened to. I have asked myself two questions in recent days.

Where is Paul Volcker? The sage former Fed head who led us out of two deep recessions in the 70s and 80s. News during the campaign that Obama was taking advice from Volcker was well received - so now we ask - where is Paul Volcker?

And where is Jamie Dimon?  He could emerge from all of this as the JP Morgan of his day. He is working hard to hold things together and get out of the mud at JP Morgan -- but doesn't he have an hour or two to chat with Geithner?  Or is his input not welcome?  The WH needs to open the doors not just to academics, but to the folks who know what makes the money go around in this world.  Wall Street needs a stronger voice in this turmoil. Stand up and get involved -- if the WH won't listen - get your voices heard in the media!  Tune in to the LIVE DESK today!

Oh boy -- this will be good.  Wall Street thinks it's smarter than Washington and of course -- the Congressmen and women think they are smarter than the folks up there in New York City.  If you've spent any time in these two circles you know what I mean. If not, let me explain the dynamic.

In Congress, the good representatives like to espouse and point fingers and they love it when the cable channels give the good folks at home an opportunity to watch them at work.  On Wall Street - a beat I covered as a reporter for many years  - they don't generally like to have anybody watch them at work.  But now they are going to have to explain how they do things and they hate that.  But the American public does need a deeper understanding of what happens in that deep, dark place between the streets of Wall and Broad.

Both sides believe they are "the Smartest Guy in the Room" so disdain will be in abundance here today.

Wall Street is humbled - but they also know  there is  much about the way  markets work that most folks -- with a few exceptions -- in Congress just don't get.  And actually, they are right.

This economic debacle is has two fathers - government - the enabler and encourager of home purchases by people who could not afford homes, and the wily Wall Street guys who seized on this boatload of mortgages and figured out fancy ways to bundle them and trade them and weave them throughout the financial markets in a way that led to taking them down. 

So let's be clear there is blame that reaches from the Capitol to Wall and Broad. 

Also, realize that there are real people, who have families and college to pay for and bills to pay, who make their living on Wall Street.  They are hurting and suffering too. And in many cases they are  hard working folks who's daily business had little or nothing to do with these transactions.

It will be good today to FINALLY see these men tell their story of what happened since the first TARP money came down. 

Nobody needs multi-million dollar bonuses. But let's look at all sides of this mess.  We'll be doing this in depth today on The Live Desk. Hope you'll join us!

If the forays into Madonna and Kaballa and ditching the wife and kids weren't bad enough -- ARod is now getting hit where it probably hurts the most.

This guy's ticket to bad behavior was paved on the premise that he was special. So supremely talented that he could get away with -- a lot.  But now that there is a cloud hanging over that -- this superstar is going to have a very tough time dealing.

That said. He's getting a bad deal. Who leaked his name and why?  These were supposed to be confidential tests to see if more than 5 % of MLB'ers were doping.  They were supposed to be destroyed -- but someone held on to the samples. Why?  Did they blackmail him first -- or just leak them?  Just wondering. His name has been in question for some time.  Chalk up another one for loose lips Canseco. 

We'll talk about the legality, the ethics and why baseball may not be America's favorite pastime anymore.  What a shame.

So looks like one way or the other -- we will all pay for the autobailout?

What do you think?

M

Do you think the big 3 will exist in 3 years? Martha

He wants to make some money, he says....

If the complaint is true -- it's BAD news for Illinois -- and some good work by the Prosecutors..

What do you think drives someone to mess with their own success to this degree????