The goal of the Volcker Rule, which became law under the Dodd-Frank Act was to restrict speculative trading activity in risky derivatives by the Too Big To Fail Banks.  The ban on proprietary bank trading was proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker who believed that one of the primary causes of the 2008 financial meltdown was a result of speculative trading activity [...]

Four years after the start of the banking crisis, federal investigators are proving what many Americans have long suspected – the root cause of many banking failures was due to fraud. The Office of the Special Inspector General for The Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced last week that a massive $41 million bank fraud contributed to the 2011 collapse of Bank [...]

Has the exponential increase in lending regulations since 2008 contributed to the worst economic decline since the Depression of the 1930′s?  Government “solutions” to problems have a long history of failure.  In addition, the unanticipated consequences of government “solutions” often result in a plethora of new problems worse than the original ones [...]

The FDIC released the list of enforcement actions taken in February 2012 against 53 banks.  In the previous month of January, the FDIC had issued 42 enforcement actions. The orders issued by the FDIC included 10 civil money penalties, 1 prompt corrective action, 13 consent orders, 1 order terminating deposit insurance and 19 orders terminating consent orders and desist orders.  [...]

During 2011, some of the smartest investment pros in the world bet heavily on Bank of America and lost big as the stock price collapsed. Concerns over the looming collapse of the European banking system sent U.S bank stocks into a tailspin as panicked investors sold.  From a price of $15 in January 2011 the share price of Bank of America (BAC) declined to a panic low of $4.92 in [...]

The FDIC posted today the list of enforcement actions taken in January 2012 against problem banks.  A total of 42 enforcements actions were taken in January compared to 57 in December. Enforcement actions for January included 13 consent orders, 11 civil money penalties, 5 prompt corrective actions and 7 orders to terminate consent orders and cease and desist orders. Most of the [...]

How does the average consumer get by without a basic checking account?  How does someone without a checking account pay the bills that arrive each month – drive around to each creditor and pay in cash?  Where do you keep your savings – under the mattress or buried in the back yard? As incredible as it may seem, millions of Americans have neither savings or checking [...]

In Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s world, all he had to do was lower interest rates enough and housing prices would magically re-inflate.  Wrong!  Mortgage rates are at all time lows, home prices are at 2002 levels and owning a home is just as cheap as renting, yet the housing market remains mired in a depression. The folks at the Federal Reserve who created the [...]

The FDIC issued 57 enforcement actions against banks in December 2011, down from 72 in November. The December enforcement actions included 9 consent orders, 19 civil money penalties, 4 prompt corrective actions, 3 voluntary terminations of insurance, 12 removal and prohibition orders and 10 orders terminating previous consent orders and cease and desist orders. A consent order is [...]

David Stockman, former budget director in the Reagan administration, argues persuasively that the fundamental problems of the financial system are worse than in 2008. The “too big to fail” banks have become bigger, politicians have been bought and paid for, an entitled class of Wall Street financiers are being served by government policies and a massive amount of  [...]