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The Banking System Is Still Broken
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Ann Lee a former investment banker and now adjunct Professor at New York University, gives us facts that show the smaller banks that lend to small and medium sized businesses in the country are being closed by the FDIC. According to ADP small business that employs between 1 to 49 people, accounts for 48 million jobs, those between 50 and 499 employees account for 42 million jobs, and large business for only 17 million jobs. Without access to capital these small and medium sized businesses will continue to layoff employees, creating a vicious cycle of falling credit and demand. According to Automatic Data Processing's August employment report large business shed 60,000 jobs, medium sized business 116,000 jobs and small businesses shed 122,000 jobs. These smaller banks says Lee have done most of the lending to small and medium sized businesses. And overall lending has dropped from pre-crisis levels. Treasury's Capital Purchase Monthly Lending Report shows that banks that received government money actually reduced loan balance by $54 billion. According to reports issued by major credit rating agencies $700 billion of asset backed securities were underwitten in 2007. In 2009 only $10 billion was issued. This has a significant impact in every area. Banks have no incentive to lend with all the bad nonperforming loans on their books. They only hope that over time renegotiated loan terms would enable to recover these loans. But this might take a decade says Lee, if this is similiar to other crises like the one in Japan. She says what the banks do to make money is to borrow virtually unlimited amounts from the Fed at near zero rates and earn money from the spread when they lend to the Treasury. Does our current banking system make sense she asks. Banks are not investing in economic activity, in real products and services,but engaged in agovernment backed shell game that enriches bankers at the expense of everyone else. She says that the banking lobby may prevail in preventing the nationalization of the banking system, but this will not prevent questions about the status quo and its assumptions from arising if the recovery and regulatory reforms fail.
Sheila Bair at the FDIC lauded for her anticipation and comprehensive approach to the banking and credit crisis.
04/30/2008
Officials at the Bush administration credit Shelia Bair of the FDIC for anticipating the credit and banking crisis way ahead of others and for developing a comprehensive approach to tackle it.
Grouped Articles
The Case Against the Bernanke-Obama Financial Rescue
New York Times 05/16/2014
Bair Proposal Seeks Government Loans To Aid Homeowners
Wall Street Journal 04/30/2008
Agency Floats a Proposal to Help With Home Loans
New York Times 05/01/2008
BusinessWeek 06/26/2008
IndyMac Reopens, Halts Foreclosures on Its Loans
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2008
FDIC Presses Bank Regulators To Use Warier Eye
Wall Street Journal 08/19/2008
Bank Cleanup Options of bad bank, guaranteeing assets, and nationalization reviewed in the 2008 financial crisis
01/17/2009
Economist, NYT and experts look at the options for cleaning up the bad debt at banks.
Grouped Articles
Irreversible Damage: Why Little Action on Banking Can Do Great Harm.
New York Times 04/30/2010
New York Times 03/06/2009
New York Times 04/01/2009
New York Times 01/19/2009
Wall Street Journal 01/20/2009
New York Times 01/21/2009
Stress tests of U.S. banks by the Obama administration.
05/06/2009
What the stress tests of the banks by the Federal Reserve did and what they failed to do. By coming up with amilder stress test after intense bargaining with the banks have the stress test adequately protected transparency? Have they muddied up the problem of putting banks on their feet by not taking the strong action to clean up balance sheets that is needed, and making it appear that banks are healthier than they actually are.
Grouped Articles
Fed Publishes 'Stress Test' Procedures
Wall Street Journal 11/10/2013
Stressing the Bank 'Stress Tests'
Wall Street Journal 03/14/2012
Stress Tests Won't Prevent the Next Financial Crisis
Wall Street Journal 03/19/2014
We Can't Subsidize the Banks Forever
Wall Street Journal 05/06/2009
Banks Need Fewer Carrots and More Sticks
Wall Street Journal 05/07/2009
Banks Need Funds, but Taxpayers May Not Have to Pay
New York Times 05/07/2009
The recovery in credit markets, with credit markets returning to normal in June 2009.
01/17/2009
Distressed debt had reache a 19 percentage point premium over comparable Treasurys in December 2008 at the height of the credit crisis. On June 5, 2009, this premium had dropped slightly below the benchmark of 10%, according to S&P data. Banks were able to raise capital in these markets, and some were considering returning TARP money to the government.
Grouped Articles
Cost of Bailouts Continues to Decline
Wall Street Journal 05/10/2013
Plan to Help Banks Clear Their Books Is Halted
New York Times 06/04/2009
Wall Street Journal 05/01/2009
S&P Report Sees Less 'Distress' As Spreads Dip Below Benchmark
Wall Street Journal 06/08/2009
Wall Street Journal 07/27/2009
Recession Spells End for Many Family Businesses
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
The perverse effects of lobbying in damaging the public interest.
04/10/2009
Finance industry lobbying, with $300 million alone spent to repeal the Glass Steagall Act which kept banks from getting involved in the securties business, is having the effect of making changes without the due diligence and care necessary for changing legislation that had deep reason embedded in experience during the Great Depression. Citigroup's failure is a result of its involvement in the securities business, and it was a principal backer for the repeal. Similar situation is playing out in the U.S. health-care area which has overtaken the finance industry in money spent for lobbying. Lobbying of this magnitude is having distortional effects on national priorities on necessary regulation, and on creating sustainable economical systems for health care in health care laws.
Grouped Articles
Banks' Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills
New York Times 05/23/2013
New York Times 04/10/2009
Finance Lobby Cut Spending as Feds Targeted Wall Street
Wall Street Journal 07/02/2009
New York Times 07/20/2009
New York Times 07/20/2009
Doctors' Payments Snag Health Bill
Wall Street Journal 07/20/2009
Business as usual at banks but serious operational problems says Whalen of Institutional Analytics in 2009
08/23/2009
A study of FDIC data for regional and community banks shows situation worsening in 4th quarter 2009. The stress tests for big banks use a 9% loss rate and we are already there says Whalen.
Grouped Articles
Second-Lien Loans May Prompt New Losses for Banks
New York Times 07/16/2011
A Dubious Way to Prevent Fiscal Crisis
New York Times 06/04/2010
What the Stress Tests Didn’t Predict
New York Times 08/23/2009
How the Fed Can Avoid the Next Bubble
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
Recession Spells End for Many Family Businesses
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
The Banking System Is Still Broken
Wall Street Journal 10/16/2009
Quantitiative easing, the Federal Reserve creating money to buy government bonds, is creating surplus dollars and pounds.
09/24/2009
QE is likely to continue as the central banks of the USA and U.K. have no easy exit strategies.
Grouped Articles
Economist 09/24/2009
How the Fed Can Avoid the Next Bubble
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
The Weak-Dollar Threat to Prosperity
Wall Street Journal 10/08/2009
The Banking System Is Still Broken
Wall Street Journal 10/16/2009
What Happens If the Dollar Crashes
BusinessWeek 10/14/2009
Economist 10/26/2009
Britain leads the way in requiring more liquidity at banks and in getting agreement to limit bonuses.
02/04/2009
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 10/31/2013
Royal Bank of Scotland to Slash Costs as Losses Deepen
Wall Street Journal 02/28/2014
Bailed-Out Royal Bank of Scotland Sees Years of Losses
New York Times 02/27/2014
Wall Street Bonuses Are an Outrage
Wall Street Journal 02/04/2009
In U.K., Getting Tough With Nationalized Banks
Wall Street Journal 02/09/2009
U.K. Bankers to Wait Seven Years for Bonuses
Wall Street Journal 06/24/2015
The bailout and the Federal Reserve's infusion of cheap money are having unintended effects.
01/20/2009
One impact is that a few securties firms are making large profits even as the smaller banks are failing, banks like Citigroup and Bank of America are suffering losses, and the banks that were "too big to fail" are actually becoming larger. The Fed's infusion of money is not helping small and medium sized businesses with credit, as the smaller banks that lend to these businesses -as Ms. Lee points out- are not getting credit and are laying off people. This is setting off a vicious cycle of shrinking employment and shriking consumer demand.
Grouped Articles
How the Fed Can Avoid the Next Bubble
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
Recession Spells End for Many Family Businesses
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
Taking the National Debt Seriously
Wall Street Journal 10/12/2009
Steven Pearlstein - Don't Reinflate the Old Bubbles
Washington Post 10/14/2009
Financial-Services Regulation Fuels Tiff
Wall Street Journal 10/14/2009
That Promised Financial Reform
New York Times 10/14/2009
2008 global financial crisis and the incomprehensible- Are the old faces that put the whole financial system at risk, now the new faces trying to fix it?
01/15/2009
Sir James Crosby is the old face of HBOS bank which needed $17 billion of British government money, he has also been Deputy Chairman of the Financial Services Authorty since 2006. Has part of the problem been that regulatory agencies have been run by the very people they were supposed to regulate. In the process has the regulatory mindset which is supposed to have conservative instincts and to be skeptical of newly contrived schemes and ever vigilant, been destroyed or replaced with something foreign to the task of regulation.
Grouped Articles
Obama's Pick to Head SEC Has Record Of Being a Regulator With a Light Touch
Wall Street Journal 01/15/2009
Schapiro Pledges Vigilance as SEC Chief
Wall Street Journal 01/16/2009
SEC Chief Pledges Effort To Bolster Enforcement
Wall Street Journal 02/07/2009
SEC Expected to Name Khuzami Enforcement Director
Wall Street Journal 02/09/2009
Top Enforcer at the S.E.C. Steps Down
New York Times 02/10/2009
British Regulator Quits as Accusations Mount in Banking Crisis
New York Times 02/12/2009
Nationalization of banks in the U.S. in 2009
01/16/2009
As the crisis deepens and more banks become insolvent, nationalization has become a serious option for the government.
Grouped Articles
Irreversible Damage: Why Little Action on Banking Can Do Great Harm.
New York Times 04/30/2010
New York Times 03/06/2009
New York Times 04/01/2009
Rescue of Banks Hints at Nationalization
New York Times 01/16/2009
U.K. Boosts Its Bailout As Bank Losses Rise
Wall Street Journal 01/20/2009
New York Times 01/21/2009
Voices of caution about the economic recovery in the U.S. as underlying problems remain.
04/20/2008
Underlying problems in foreclosure rates, job losses, and toxic assets at banks remain unresolved, even as the stimulus spending plans and the Fed's putting money into the economy fast have helped restore some degree of confidence.
Grouped Articles
New York Times 10/10/2010
The Wage That Meant Middle Class
New York Times 04/20/2008
A Trap in Obama’s Spending Plan
New York Times 12/21/2008
In Japan’s Stagnant Decade, Cautionary Tales for America
New York Times 02/13/2009
New York Times 02/13/2009
New York Times 03/06/2009
The lack of action in the "too big to fail" and systemically important financial institutions area one year into the Obama administration.
04/21/2009
Regulatory reform proposals and other actions taken in the first 6 months still leave many banking and financial nstitutions that are too big to fail. Consolidations of banks have actually increasd their size. The dangers in additional bailout assistance if banks suffer huge losses.
Grouped Articles
GE Capital, AIG to Get More Government Oversight
Wall Street Journal 07/09/2013
Weâre All Still Hostages to the Big Banks
New York Times 08/25/2013
Wall Street Journal 05/01/2013
Economists Seek Breakup of Big Banks
Wall Street Journal 04/21/2009
Banks Need Fewer Carrots and More Sticks
Wall Street Journal 05/07/2009
What Does the Market Focus on After the Stress Tests?
Wall Street Journal 05/07/2009
Return to business as usual in the banking sector with pay and other practices..
08/23/2009
The administration's reluctance to back up the Fed's efforts to cap bonuses and compensation in banking.
Grouped Articles
SEC Wants Boss-Employee Pay Gap on Display
Wall Street Journal 09/19/2013
U.K. Bankers to Wait Seven Years for Bonuses
Wall Street Journal 06/24/2015
The U.K.'s New Bonus Claw Back Rules
Wall Street Journal 06/24/2015
British Regulators Extend Clawback Rules for Bankers’ Pay
New York Times 06/23/2015
Hatoyama Outlines Need for Regulation
Wall Street Journal 09/05/2009
Mozilo Filing Says SEC Distorts Charges in Suit
Wall Street Journal 09/05/2009
Challenging the embedded thinking on Wall Street and in the City of London.
09/24/2009
The unregulated functioning of free markets is a result of regulators and the banking community both believing that the uninhibited operation of free markets is the best way to generate economic growth. This makes it easy for regulators to be coopted and falling asleep on the job. Turner Adair of Britain's FSA, and other leaders, who are trying to bring fresh thinking to regulatory reforms.
Grouped Articles
On Wall St., A Culture of Greed Won't Let Go
New York Times 07/15/2013
New York Times 12/27/2011
Britain’s Top Financial Regulator Takes On Banks
New York Times 09/24/2009
British Banks Will Face Tougher Liquidity Rules
New York Times 10/06/2009
The U.K.'s Tough Line on Liquidity
Wall Street Journal 10/07/2009
A Lack of Fiscal Fitness Is Weighing on the Pound
Wall Street Journal 10/14/2009
FDIC restoration plan as it reaches negative net worth.
09/30/2009
$45 billion will be raised from banks fees to FDIC prepaid through 2012, after $120 billion in losses.
Grouped Articles
Banks to Prepay Assessments to Rescue F.D.I.C.
New York Times 09/30/2009
Bank-Bailout Fund Faces Years in Red as Failures Jolt System
Wall Street Journal 10/01/2009
Recession Spells End for Many Family Businesses
Wall Street Journal 10/06/2009
The Banking System Is Still Broken
Wall Street Journal 10/16/2009
Fewer Bank Failures? Chapter 11 Sale Offers a New Way
Wall Street Journal 01/06/2011
As Bank Woes Ease the FDIC's Fund is Building Up
New York Times 05/25/2011
Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein.
10/10/2009
Goldman and its CEO continue to be unpopular with a public that is unhappy with the government help to the banks. Large bonuses make the situation even worse.
Grouped Articles
Goldman Bets Less and Takes Hit
Wall Street Journal 07/20/2011
Wall Street Journal 07/23/2013
Senior Executives at Goldman Had a Role in Mortgage Unit
New York Times 04/18/2010
Wall Street Journal 04/20/2010
Exit Shows Blankfein Still Rows Goldman
Wall Street Journal 10/22/2013
A Moot Effort to Burnish the Reputation of Goldman Sachs
New York Times 10/23/2013
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