Having just issued three press releases in two day, the media relations department at J.C. Penney (JCP) is arguably the ailing department store's most functional division. The latest announcement from Plano, Texas shows that an unexpected secondary offering of 84-million shares was priced at $9.65 per share, which was also below the market price at the time it was announced.

While the stock sale will net the company close to a billion dollars that it can use for general corporate purposes, it also dilutes the stock by at least one-third, and sent it plunging to levels last seen since the '80s.

Related: J.C. Penney Shares Whipsaw as Debt Concerns Grow

"It's exactly why you never want to catch these falling knives," says Jonathan Hoenig of CapitalistPig.com in the attached video. "Just when you think a weak stock can't go any lower, it does, time and time again."

The point is, if you're thinking about getting in early on the comeback story of the year, Hoenig says don't do it and points to all the bottom fishers over the last five years who have lost money doing exactly the same thing.

Obama administration officials are expected to propose roughly $300 million in aid to Detroit later today. It’s a paltry amount for largest U.S. city to ever declare bankruptcy and comes nowhere near the $18.5 billion of debt obligations Detroit has on its books.

This latest cash infusion is being made by a motley assortment of federal, state and private foundations and is ear-marked for improvements to the transit system and “blight improvements.”

Investing in transit while demolishing vacant buildings nicely encapsulates the process of “creative destruction” at work in Motown. At 138,000 square miles Detroit is a massive, increasingly desolate place. Over the last 60 years the population has dropped more than 60% from 1.85 million in 1950 to 700,000 today. It’s the kind of city where gorgeous buildings are stuck in desolate, dangerous locations.

One of the people in charge of saving Detroit is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. A Michigan native who built a net worth in the vicinity of $200 million as a Gateway executive and venture capitalist, Snyder is a self-described “nerd” with a pragmatic, tech-friendly approaching to remaking the city.

Speaking to Breakout from a packed tech conference last week, Snyder insists Detroit is already on the mend. “This isn’t about starting from scratch,” Snyder insists, “It’s already been going for several years.”