The company will not be impacted by the recent Ford Motor Company plant closing announcement.

Customer-based measures are important, but they must be translated into measures of what the company must do internally to meet its customers expectations.

There's a lot of steak, pasta, and chicken.

We're getting the fat out of the company.

Merrill, relative to its historical valuations at this stage of the cycle, is quite cheap. And (the company) will of course enjoy some recovery probably over the next few weeks as it has in the last week, as worries about the interest rate environment subside.

That's really the big question for me. Will the company be here in 10 years?