From LaVern Isely, Monroe
I've been writing a lot about banks over the years and if something wasn't really wrong with them, then the Sept. 26 issue of Time magazine wouldn't have had an article titled "Why Banks Are Still Failing Us: After Three Years and Trillions of Dollars, Our Banks Still Don't Work" by Stephen Gandel. According to the article "Since the financial crisis, bank profits are up 136 percent but bank lending is down 9 percent ... Stingy Banks ... Lending has fallen in 10 of the past 12 quarters ... Less lending doesn't necessarily mean less risk, which brings up another unsolved problem: banking reform." Robert Johnson, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and an expert on financial regulations says "the financial derivatives are still not fully quantified on banks' financial statements and no bank CEO has the ability to prove they are safe."
That's why 50 state attorney generals are suing the banks because of the mortgage crisis. AIG is suing Bank of America. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suing JPMorgan, Chase, Citicorp and others. These problems former Federal Chairman Alan Greenspan should have seen coming but didn't do anything to regulate them, just like Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke is doing very little to solve the problem of hedge funds and derivatives. The bank lobbyists are saying we must not regulate derivatives. While they admit there some bad ones, they claim there are some good one and nobody is looking into if they are telling the truth.
After I've talked about derivatives for almost 20 years, you'd think they would have investigated. Granted, these hedge fund dealers, who are working with them, are making huge profits. As much as $5 billion in one year.
Also, give President Obama credit for wanting to tax the hedge fund dealers at a higher rate than 15 percent because we need the revenue. Also, the hedge fund dealers are doing a real bad job of managing. The growing $600 trillion derivative market has gotten so corrupt that "The Schiller Institute" wrote an article in June 2010 titled "Ban, don't regulate derivatives" by John Hoefle.
Obama says we're going to start a Buffett tax to help pay the bills. Republicans are saying we can't. "You're trying to create a class war." How can that be when the billionaires are paying individual income tax at a lower rate than the middle class? This issue will be decided by whoever you select as president in 2012.
I've been writing a lot about banks over the years and if something wasn't really wrong with them, then the Sept. 26 issue of Time magazine wouldn't have had an article titled "Why Banks Are Still Failing Us: After Three Years and Trillions of Dollars, Our Banks Still Don't Work" by Stephen Gandel. According to the article "Since the financial crisis, bank profits are up 136 percent but bank lending is down 9 percent ... Stingy Banks ... Lending has fallen in 10 of the past 12 quarters ... Less lending doesn't necessarily mean less risk, which brings up another unsolved problem: banking reform." Robert Johnson, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and an expert on financial regulations says "the financial derivatives are still not fully quantified on banks' financial statements and no bank CEO has the ability to prove they are safe."
That's why 50 state attorney generals are suing the banks because of the mortgage crisis. AIG is suing Bank of America. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suing JPMorgan, Chase, Citicorp and others. These problems former Federal Chairman Alan Greenspan should have seen coming but didn't do anything to regulate them, just like Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke is doing very little to solve the problem of hedge funds and derivatives. The bank lobbyists are saying we must not regulate derivatives. While they admit there some bad ones, they claim there are some good one and nobody is looking into if they are telling the truth.
After I've talked about derivatives for almost 20 years, you'd think they would have investigated. Granted, these hedge fund dealers, who are working with them, are making huge profits. As much as $5 billion in one year.
Also, give President Obama credit for wanting to tax the hedge fund dealers at a higher rate than 15 percent because we need the revenue. Also, the hedge fund dealers are doing a real bad job of managing. The growing $600 trillion derivative market has gotten so corrupt that "The Schiller Institute" wrote an article in June 2010 titled "Ban, don't regulate derivatives" by John Hoefle.
Obama says we're going to start a Buffett tax to help pay the bills. Republicans are saying we can't. "You're trying to create a class war." How can that be when the billionaires are paying individual income tax at a lower rate than the middle class? This issue will be decided by whoever you select as president in 2012.
