A Friend Of Long Standing is now a vulture, in a cheerful and professional sort of way; she and her coworkers buy troubled assets (the nice phrase for "bad loans" and "repossessed real estate") from banks that are themselves in trouble and need to sell them to raise cash. My F.O.L.S. reports that one small bank (not a Portland-area bank) doesn't want to negotiate the sale of its troubled assets, but is holding out for full price, and insists that buyers of its troubled assets must also buy its stock. (The bank needs to raise capital quickly or it will be shut down this spring.)
My F.O.L.S. and I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this bank's philosophy. If the troubled assets were still worth their face value, they wouldn't be troubled assets. And the bank's stock would be more desirable if it hadn't made those loans in the first place. As it is, it makes me imagine a car dealer who won't sell me a Yugo unless I buy a Lada also.