WTF is REALLY going on with the banking industry?

[Climber]

I was talking to my mother this morning and she was telling me about her Brother's comments. He is a board member in a small bank in Connecticut and is a very smart guy who was at one time the New England President of the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), so he's not the type to be popping off with BS.

Apparently, their bank has plenty of money to loan and is making loans. Also, apparently the Feds have been contacting many small banks (he's been in touch with friends who are board members of other banks) and trying to force them to take loans at 8%!

His perspective on it is that they are trying to force these smaller banks into bad financial straights (Most of them are quite healthy) so that they can be bought up by the bigger banks.

Which begs the question: WTF is the Feds really up to? After handing out money to all of the really big banks that got themselves into trouble out of greed with little or no strings attached, they now seem to be fucking around with the smaller banks!

If this is true, then Paulson has gone way off the reservation and is operating at a level of corruption that make make all other corruption in the history of this country pale in comparison!

Anybody else hearing anything?

 

[Xenophonii]

I haven't heard anything but I wouldn't be surprised if it was another money grab by large corporations - just like the whole housing/credit situation...

 

[Cycle61]

Wow. If there's any foundation to this story, we're fucked a lot harder than I imagined.

 

[plumber]

We're definitely in a recession and people will blame whomever they can to save their job. It's a sad scenario that plays out on every down swing.

Your article says they're "trying" to force banks. I'm sure if this was the case it would have hit big media already. Why doesn't this guy just call CNBC and get it out there?

 

[Climber]

We're definitely in a recession and people will blame whomever they can to save their job. It's a sad scenario that plays out on every down swing.

Your article says they're "trying" to force banks. I'm sure if this was the case it would have hit big media already. Why doesn't this guy just call CNBC and get it out there?

It's not an article. This is my uncle who said this and he is a very smart guy who never exaggerates, what he says has always been rock solid.

 

[ThumperX]

NPR stated, in a broadcast report about 2 weeks ago, that the FED had printed and issued it self something like 1.4 trillion dollars
A customer of mine who is also a banker stated that much of the "bail out" monies went to filling large gaps in financial accounting. I believe Paulson refers to these gaps as "ill" assets

A good book to read that will give you a background on the Fed is "Creature from Jekell Island" enlightening.

 

[plumber]

It's not an article. This is my uncle who said this and he is a very smart guy who never exaggerates, what he says has always been rock solid.

I'm sure he is but if it was a conspiracy I'd assume somebody would have squealed to big media by now.

 

[Xenophonii]

I'm sure he is but if it was a conspiracy I'd assume somebody would have squealed to big media by now.

I dunno... the banking industry is very, very secretive. I hope it isn't true..

 

[/dev/null]

Here's what went on with the banking industry:

He says that from the market's bottom in 2003 until its peak in 2007, the market value of all publicly traded stocks worldwide grew from about $20 trillion to $45 trillion.

During this period, only about $1.5 trillion in cash went into the market. Debt accounted for some of the remaining increase in market capitalization, but most of it existed only on paper.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/01/BUQT1522JD.DTL&tsp=1

 

[wazzuFreddo]

did he also say that trumples are unstable?

 

[Arminius]

Here are a few blurbs from a Wiki article concerning Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Mae

In 1999, Fannie Mae came under pressure from the Clinton administration[citation needed] to expand mortgage loans to low and moderate income borrowers. At the same time, institutions in the primary mortgage market pressed Fannie Mae to ease credit requirements on the mortgages it was willing to purchase, enabling them to make loans to subprime borrowers at interest rates higher than conventional loans. Shareholders also pressured Fannie Mae to maintain its record profits.[9]




In 2003, the Bush administration recommended significant regulatory overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, the Democrats opposed that proposal, fearing that tighter regulation could sharply reduce financing for low-income housing, both low and high risk. Under immense lobbying pressure from Fannie Mae in association with Congressional Democrats led by Rep. Barney Franks, Congress did not introduce any legislation aimed at bringing this proposal into law until 2005. [15]

It is the government interfering with the free market that was partly at fault for the mess we are in now.

For now, Brett, what you posted is just hearsay and not even hearsay directly from the source but a secondary source. For now I'm going to continue to believe it is hearsay and not fact.

 

[wazzuFreddo]

^

didn't see that coming

 

[Eisernkreuz]

For now, Brett, what you posted is just hearsay and not even hearsay directly from the source but a secondary source. For now I'm going to continue to believe it is hearsay and not fact.

But his Uncle is George Washington, and he never told a lie

 

[Papi-C]

My uncles 3rd cousins former roommate heard there is no actually CREME in Twinkies. He's eaten a lot of Twinkies and wouldn't bullshit about such a thing.

 

[fredzepp]

[/I][/B]

interesting. i saw barney franks on 60 minutes and he acted like he was the messiah to the current banking mess. like he was the clean-up man. like it was everybody else's fault. maybe not that interesting. politics as usual i suppose.

 

[Zed10R]

I was talking to my mother this morning and she was telling me about her Brother's comments. He is a board member in a small bank in Connecticut and is a very smart guy who was at one time the New England President of the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), so he's not the type to be popping off with BS.

Apparently, their bank has plenty of money to loan and is making loans. Also, apparently the Feds have been contacting many small banks (he's been in touch with friends who are board members of other banks) and trying to force them to take loans at 8%!

His perspective on it is that they are trying to force these smaller banks into bad financial straights (Most of them are quite healthy) so that they can be bought up by the bigger banks.

Which begs the question: WTF is the Feds really up to? After handing out money to all of the really big banks that got themselves into trouble out of greed with little or no strings attached, they now seem to be fucking around with the smaller banks!

If this is true, then Paulson has gone way off the reservation and is operating at a level of corruption that make make all other corruption in the history of this country pale in comparison!

Anybody else hearing anything?

I haven't heard anything, but I would not be suprised at all. THere has GOT to be more going on than the average American knows about. There always is.

I HAVE noticed some intersting things, though. B OF A and Bank of the West won't give me a second credit account (not that I want it, really...just shopping around for rates and my credt score is in the 720's) but small local banks and credit unions practially jump out the phone and put the money in my hands. It's really weird. It looks like the little guys are the only ones who want to get to work and get out of this recession, and the big guys just want to sit on their stores of cash. Wtf is up with that.

 

[Climber]

For now, Brett, what you posted is just hearsay and not even hearsay directly from the source but a secondary source. For now I'm going to continue to believe it is hearsay and not fact.

I didn't post this because I expected everybody to instantly believe what I heard.

But, I did think that it was worth putting out there in case there were other people hearing similar things.

The power of the internet is that it can get the word out about things happening and while from a single perspective it may seem like it's just happening in one place, but if things are put together (because they have been posted in many places) and patterns can emerge.

If I read this, posted by somebody else, I would file it away and recall it if I heard of similar things happening from other sources.

 

[plumber]

I didn't post this because I expected everybody to instantly believe what I heard.

But, I did think that it was worth putting out there in case there were other people hearing similar things.

The power of the internet is that it can get the word out about things happening and while from a single perspective it may seem like it's just happening in one place, but if things are put together (because they have been posted in many places) and patterns can emerge.

If I read this, posted by somebody else, I would file it away and recall it if I heard of similar things happening from other sources.

I'm sure the spiders have already found it.

 

[gogounited]

Since when did Wikipedia become a credible news source?

 

[Ratters]

I haven't heard anything, but I would not be suprised at all. THere has GOT to be more going on than the average American knows about. There always is.

I HAVE noticed some intersting things, though. B OF A and Bank of the West won't give me a second credit account (not that I want it, really...just shopping around for rates and my credt score is in the 720's) but small local banks and credit unions practially jump out the phone and put the money in my hands. It's really weird. It looks like the little guys are the only ones who want to get to work and get out of this recession, and the big guys just want to sit on their stores of cash. Wtf is up with that.

Eh, about 15 years ago I went to Wells Fargo to get a 8k car loan. Had good credit and about twice that much in the bank at the time. They wouldn't give me the time of day. Switched to a credit union and they coulndn't wait to lend me money at a cheaper rate. Pulled all my money out and switched it to the CU and have been happy ever since. Fuck large banks.