Banks Are In Trouble
SEARCH BLOG: BAILOUT
It doesn't take more than a quick read of financial publications to realize just how much of the TARP iceberg is still below the water waiting for another Titanic experience.
In yesterday's The Wall Street Journal there was the headline "Fewer Catching Up On Lapsed Mortgages." In the article was the statement, "Barclays Capital projects the number of foreclosed homes for sale will peak at 1.15 million in mid-2010, up from an estimated 688,000 as of July 1."
There was also the editorial opinion titled "Private Equity and the Banks" that dealt with regulations by the FDIC for imposing bank-holding regulations if ownership exceeds 24.9%.
The private equity investors don't want the regulations, even if they exceed the 24.9% threshold. The Journal rightly muses: "The still weak U.S. banking system doesn't need investors looking mainly for a quick spinoff that could leave a bank in poor hands within a year or two." Yes, this is the time that the manipulators come out in force. [Note: for those of you who think the WSJ represents the interests of manipulators... have another think.]
Meanwhile, Bank of America "Denies Misleading Its Investors On Bonuses" ... "and it was "widely understood" that billions of dollars would be awarded for 2008 performance."
There was also an article about "Price for RBS Assets in Asia in Doubt" but the Royal Bank of Scotland is Great Britain's problem [I hope].
Skipping over to Monday's Barron's, a pithy paragraph on page 12... "Analyst Meredith Whitney said that U.S. bank failures will quadruple as a result of bad loans She told Bloomberg Television that she expects more than 300 closings."
But the final word goes to banking guru, former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan who was also quoted in Barron's: "We're OK for the next six months. We are getting a recovery... but the process doesn't have legs to it."
You can decide if the last part refers to the slowness of the recovery... or that the recovery doesn't have a leg to stand on.The big question for most of us is: in which mattress do we keep our money?
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