Banks: anyone still trusting them??

[defio70]

People all over the country are choosing to move their money out of “too big to fail” banks and into smaller, community-oriented financial institutions that generally avoided the reckless investments and schemes that helped cause the financial crisis.
It’s a grassroots effort that has the potential to shift power in the financial system away from Wall Street and back to Main Street.
http://moveyourmoney.info/

[dlry]

Only now are we beginning to see the true details of what happened in those days and who played pivotal roles in the act that put American taxpayers on the hook to save AIG.

The New York Fed's Real Crimes

Email disclosures by AIG, responding to subpoenas from the House Oversight Committee, have revealed that the New York Federal Reserve requested that information about the AIG bailout be kept secret as if it were connected to national security.U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve’s bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.

The request to keep the details secret were made by the New York Federal Reserve — a regulator that helped orchestrate the bailout — and by the giant insurer itself, according to the emails.

http://tinyurl.com/y8l7fzr

Federal Reserve Moral Hazard Smoking Gun: In August 2008 Goldman Was Willing To Tear Up AIG Derivative Contracts, Offered To Take Haircut

The implications of this discovery are huge as they essentially destroy all the arguments presented by the FRBNY about an inability to extract concession out of Goldman (which being the largest AIG CDO counterparty, was the critical negotiating factor). It also casts doubt on the veracity of any arguments presented in Congress by Goldman representatives discussing the potential to take a haircut on their AIG exposure. What this means in plain English is that, in the month before the Fed entered the scene, GOLDMAN SACHS ITSELF OFFERED TO TEAR DOWN THE CDS ON AIG'S CDO PORTFOLIO (we don't use caps lock lightly). This is basically a smoking gun on the moral hazard issue perpetrated by the FRBNY when it got involved, and indicates that through their involvement, Tim Geithner, Sarah Dahlgren or whoever, not only did not save US taxpayers' money, but in fact ended up costing money, when they funded the marginal difference between par (the make whole price given to all AIG counterparties after AIG was told to back off in its negotiations) and whatever discount would have been applicable to the contract tear down that had been proposed by Goldman a mere month earlier. This, more so than anything presented up to now, is the true scandal behind the New York Fed's involvement.

http://tinyurl.com/yeql9tt

[Entendance]

...We'll start with a full audit and I suspect will shortly need to empanel a Grand Jury as well.
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/arch ... e-Fed.html

Last posts? at

search.php?search_id=active_topics

[GSIMMERLE]

Morning Call [7:57am ET] The biggest auditor of the biggest banks in the world, with over $1 trillion equity invested, is PricewaterhouseCoopers. Looking down their list of clients, with almost half of the top 15, I think 'too big to audit' should be the issue.

Rather than obtaining testimony this week just from Paul Volcker (today) and a few CEO’s of the largest banks (Thursday), I think the public also needs to hear from the independent auditors.

PwC’s preeminent client list:
• JP Morgan Chase 156.17B, world’s largest bank
• Bank of America 133.39B, world’s 2nd largest bank
• Crédit Agricole, world’s 9th largest bank; largest retail banker in France
• Itau Unibanco 91.02B, world’s 10th largest bank; largest in Brazil
• Goldman Sachs 78.72B, world’s 13th largest bank
• BNP Paribas, world’s 14th largest bank; largest in France
• Barclays 48.61B, world’s 15th largest bank

In addition to auditing 7 of the largest 15 banks in the world, PwC also audits many other important names:
• Intesa Sanpaolo, world’s 25th largest bank; largest Italian financial services company
• Westpac Banking Corporation 62.30B, largest bank in Australia by market cap
• Banco Bradesco 53.24B, 2nd largest bank in Brazil
• Lloyds TSB 14.31B, one of the UK’s largest retail banks
• Bank of China (Hong Kong), second largest commercial bank in Hong Kong
• Bank of Ireland, second largest bank in Ireland
• Banco Popular Español, third largest bank in Spain
• Commonwealth Bank, largest bank in Australia by assets
• BB&T Corp, major US bank
• Commerzbank, second largest bank in Germany
• Dexia, second largest bank in Belgium
• DnB NOR, largest Norwegian bank and financial services company
• Eurobank EFG, 3rd largest bank in Greece; 3rd largest Swiss private bank
• Fortis, in 2007 was world’s 20th largest business, now mostly insurance
• Nationwide Building Society, world’s largest building society (credit union)
• Macquarie Bank, largest investment bank in Australia
• SEB, major north-European financial group, headquartered in Sweden
• Standard Bank, South Africa's largest bank

According to a story in the Financial Times, the Volcker Rule put forth by President Obama is unlikely to be approved by Congress. Senate Banking Committee ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL) is reported to have said that the Obama administration risks losing Republican support for the bill if they begin to “politicize” the issue. Well, since when is a 100% split down Party lines, advocated by Shelby, not politicized? ..

http://caracommunity.com/

[Entendance]

Zombie Nation – The Rise of the Mathematical Plague…

...Access to $23.7 Trillion!? Oh my. That’s $77,198 per person in the United States! For my family of four that’s $308,792. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have that type of money just floating around in a drawer and I don’t really appreciate Uncle Sam using my money, or my future earnings, or my children’s future earnings to backstop the people doing High Frequency Trading, paying their bonuses, or using my money to artificially inflate the price of oil! No, I don’t believe the nation would have failed had we let the big banks go!...
http://tinyurl.com/yblja7c

Born Into Debt: Meet 11 Week-Old Joseph -- Irresponsible Politicians Are Stealing His Future (VIDEO)
http://dailybail.com/home/born-into-deb ... litic.html
'Is there anybody that isn't from Goldman Sachs?' (Video)
http://dailybail.com/home/is-there-anyb ... video.html

G.S. must go http://inpoints.blogspot.com/2010/01/fe ... er-of.html



last posts? at
search.php?search_id=active_topics

[sowhat]

<Financial crisis for beginners>
Ratigan: Goldman Sachs -- Robbing and Thieving The American Sucker Once Again (VIDEO)
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=604&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=20

G.S MUST GO viewtopic.php?f=17&t=595&start=420#p9326

[Entendance]

Bank Profits and Other Fantastic Tales

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=506&p=9401#p9401


Why Casinos Deserve Our Trust More Than Banks

...we live in scary financial times when we can trust a casino to be aboveboard and honest to a much greater degree than a bank...
http://tinyurl.com/yg3joj7

Banks are the epicenter of the economic crises that face the developed and emerging nations over the last few years.
http://tinyurl.com/yg25m65

last posts? at
search.php?search_id=active_topics

[GSIMMERLE]

...it’s still a mess, and it’s far from obvious whether there’s anybody at all in the Senate who has the power and determination to push once-in-a-generation legislation like this through. I’ve been pessimistic throughout this process: after decades of getting exactly what they want, I just can’t believe that the banking lobby is now going to end up getting exactly what they don’t want.
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2 ... he-senate/

[dlry]

60 Minutes: A Sucker Still Being Born Every Minute

The episode explores how ponzi schemes thrive.
http://tinyurl.com/ykoqbb8

[defio70]

A new federal credit-card law that takes effect Monday could erase billions of dollars a year in fees and interest charges paid by consumers. But card issuers are already deploying new tactics that could prove costly for even the most cautious cardholder.

Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps




http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... TopStories