This exploitation of general cynicism with regard to the true value of many stocks and shares has to make this latest Microsoft move the most undeniably evil thing they have ever done. Do they want to become a bank? Sucking between $6 and $15 Billion out of the investment economy for their own purposes poses a clear and present danger to the U.S. economy. Can you trust Steve Ballmer any more than any of the guys at Bear Stearns?

microsoft is so smart, first they pay a dividend and now they need to loan money from the same investors.
Microsoft is becoming a bank, talk about diversifying.

invests this way needs to really have their head examined. I don't even see MS being around in 30 years, maybe 10 even. They are too far behind the ball unless they get new executive management and leadership who have a vision and these people do not grow on trees according to my sources in the headhunter business community.

Didn't think about that, i rather invest in CityBank and i hate that bank to the bone.

have no understanding about business and the use of capital.

oh, banks and executives do?

MS asks money from us to pay for there investments, that part we all understand. ok, when i take a bond for 30 years and MS is dead in 20 years, how does that work out for me?

So you're saying we should stop trading bonds period? That's what has this economy in such a mess. There's no guarantee any company will be around in 30 years. I can't think of a single company that I would guarantee will be around in 30 years, including Apple (heck 10 years ago Apple was almost dead). Your bank has no guarantee you won't drop dead in the middle of a recession when they can't unload your house. Yet they still make loans.

Banks and companies NEED to start lending/borrowing again. The entire world revolves on credit. It always has. It always will. Unless you know how to change that (and people a lot smarter then you have failed) then let Microsoft issue its bonds. Heck they sound like a great deal for those with the ability to buy.

No need for all the hate just because it's Microsoft, this is how the world works.

Actually I'm waiting for President Obama to nationalize Microsoft so we can put a fork in that too.

For the system to work we (the people) at least have to trust it and the company that we lend it to. Why would we trust a company that doesn't even have a governmental backing?

When i have cash on a bankaccount and the same amount on the same bank as a loan, when the bank goes bankrupt i will still have to fulfill the loan but lose the cash. The current system is cranky, unfair and not trustworthy anymore, we need change and i hope Obama has the balls to do it.

(1) does Microsoft really have 20 billion left or are their accountants hiding the widening losses in the market place (most recent quarter, zum Beispiel)

(2) will Microsoft be around in even 10 years? As small businesses increasingly defect to the Apple platform and realise 10% savings on their IT budgets, larger businesses won't be far behind; worker frustration goes down, productivity and happiness in the workplace go up. Perhaps the only reason Microsoft has survived this long is that no one has been brave enough to drop the few hundred million to write for enterprise

Someone will

Microsoft sees the dangers and is trying to staunch the haemorrhage at the consumer level; once a consumer uses a Mac at home and is converted, that consumer wants to take the platform to work and be as productive