Asset Wealth Illusions Fade As Debt Defaults Continue

Banking Links – February 21, 2010 Plunging Commercial Real Estate Values Not Reflected On Banks Balance Sheets– WP Does Foreclosure Assistance For The Long Term Unemployed Make Sense? – Bloomberg Discount Rate Hike Meaningless To Savers As Rates Stay Low – Bloomberg Insurers Of Municipal Debt May Face Huge Claims – Bloomberg Pros Ponder Merit […]

Indebted Governments See Central Banks As Final “Funding Option”

Banking Links – February 18, 2010 Is Your Bank On The “Do Not Trust” List? – Yahoo Finance With Fiscal Policy Options Exhausted Japan Looks To Central Bank For Salvation – Bloomberg Banks Take Blame For Collapse of Greece – FT With Economy In “Recovery” Question Of How To Shrink Fed Balance Sheet Debated – […]

US Treasury Needs New Buyers At Debt Auctions

Banking Links – February 17, 2010 “Fool Me Once Shame On You” – US Asks Foreign Governments To Buy Mortgage Backed Securities – Again – WP China’s Threat To Diversify Away From US Debt Becomes Reality – Bloomberg Fed’s “Exit Strategy” A Mirage – Financial Sense Goldman Sachs Sandbags Bond Investors On Sale Of Invisible […]

Taxpayers – Last Option To Bail Out Governments

Banking Links – February 16, 2010 Will US Housing Market Collapse As Government Winds Down Aid? – NYT Paulson Attacks Obama’s Financial Regulation Plans -Says Big Banks Essential To Financial Recovery -Times OnLine Europe At The Crossroads –  Greece Rescue Would Open The Floodgates – FT Forgiving Mortgage Debt Makes Payments Easier But At Whose […]

The Return Of Risk – A World Of Bankrupt Governments

Banking Links – February 15, 2010 China Follows Same Script Leading to Japan and U.S. Real Estate Crash – LAT Banking Industry A Mere Sideshow Compared to Sovereign Debt Crisis – Trader Mark How Wall Street Helped Greece To Borrow Beyond Its Means – Debt That Isn’t Debt – NYT Lender With the Biggest Exposure […]

Are Banks Piling Into The Next Asset Bubble?

Are Rising Interest Rates The Next Black Hole For Banks? Banks seem to have perfected the technique of over investing into the wrong asset class at the wrong time.  As banks dramatically reduce lending while trying to recover from bad investments in mortgages and commercial real estate, are they now repeating their history of poor […]

6 Banking Failures Highlight Horrendous Loan Portfolios

Six More Banking Failures Bring Year’s Total To 15 Regulators closed six banks today in Florida, Minnesota, California, Washington and two in Georgia.  The six failed banks had total assets of $5.5  billion and total deposits of $4.9 billion.  The total cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund for the six failed banks is estimated […]

5 More Banking Failures Bring 2010’s Closings To 9

Regulators closed five banks today in Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon.  The five failed banks had total assets of $3.2 billion and total deposits of $2.6 billion.  The total cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund for the five failed banks is estimated at $531.7 million or 17% of total assets.  The cost […]

FDIC Bair Slaps Down Bernanke – Says Low Interest Rates Incited Financial Crisis

Financial Meltdown Fueled By Misguided Fed Policies In an appearance before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, FDIC Chairman Bair testified on behalf of the FDIC on the causes of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  Since the financial meltdown of 2008, many financial analysts and government officials have given eloquent after the fact […]

How Much Did Depositors Actually Lose at Barnes Banking Company?

Depositor Losses At Barnes Banking Unknown On Friday, January 15, 2010, Barnes Banking Company was closed by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions which appointed the FDIC as receiver.  Since no other institution could be found to assume the assets or deposits of failed Barnes Banking, the FDIC set up a Deposit Insurance National Bank […]