Friday, March 16, 2012

This Week in Bank Failures

The latest stress tests were released by the Fed with results that can only be described as comically random.

An account executive at Goldman Sachs criticized the investment bank’s toxic environment and contempt for its customers, in an open resignation letter published in the New York Times.

The FDIC is starting a publicity campaign in which it hopes to persuade investors and bank executives that the Too Big to Fail regime is dead. Giant banks and their investors take disproportionate risks because of the expectation that the government will cover any large losses that might occur. This gives the giant banks a competitive advantage over the rest of the industry, but only, of course, until they actually fail.