Forget too-big-to-fail, new concern is that many banks are too-weak-to-survive

Firms with over $11 trillion in assets would remain troubled even if interest rates rise, IMF says in new report

A third of biggest banks in the world’s richest countries are so weak their problems could not be solved even by a recovery and rising interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report released Wednesday.

About a third of European banks, with $8.5 trillion in assets, and a quarter of U.S. banks, with $3.2 trillion in assets, are in this too-weak-to-recover category, the IMF said.

The Fed Sends A Frightening Letter To JPMorgan, Corporate Media Yawns

 

Yesterday the Federal Reserve released a 19-page letter that it and the FDIC had issued to Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, on April 12 as a result of its failure to present a credible plan for winding itself down if the bank failed. The letter carried frightening passages and large blocks of redacted material in critical areas, instilling in any careful reader a sense of panic about the U.S. financial system.

A rational observer of Wall Street’s serial hubris might have expected some key segments of this letter to make it into the business press. A mere eight years ago the United States experienced a complete meltdown of its financial system, leading to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. President Obama and regulators have been assuring us over these intervening eight years that things are under control as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. But according to the letter the Fed and FDIC issued on April 12 to JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank with over $2 trillion in assets and $51 trillion in notional amounts of derivatives, things are decidedly not under control.

Keeping a Promise Isn’t Always a Good Thing (depends on the promise)

 

Usually, this blog is devoted to understanding external economic warfare. Of course, there can be internal warfare as well. Just consider the oath to defend the Constitution from “all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Likewise, enemies of our free market economy are not limited to foreign threats.

We are now witnessing a nearly complete economic assault waged against what was once a significant portion of our domestic energy industry. Essentially, coal is bankrupt, with the collapse of Peabody as just announced. This is not a shock. In fact, it was a campaign promise of then Senator Obama.

Why Is Germany Eliminating Paper Money?

 

 

Getting rid of paper money may help fight terrorism and even help prop up the banks—but is there a more sinister reason for these new financial controls?

Germany is considering abolishing the €500 note and introducing a €5,000 (us$5,600) limit on cash transactions. It is part of a plan proposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s partners in the Social Democratic Party to cut off terrorist financing in Europe. Banning the bills will supposedly help make people safer. In reality, it will do the exact opposite.

German Deputy Finance Minister Michael Meister told Deutsche Welle on February 3 that Germany would push these reforms at the European level. “Since money laundering and terrorism financing are cross-border threats,” it makes sense to adopt a European Union-wide “solution,” he said. But “if a European solution isn’t possible, Germany will move ahead on its own” (emphasis added throughout).

Mass Layoffs To Return With A Vengeance

Remember the mass layoffs of 2008-2009? The US economy shed millions of jobs quickly and relentlessly, as companies died and the rest fought for survival.

Then the Fed and the US government flooded the banks and the corporate sector with bailouts and handouts. With those giga-tons of liquidity sloshing around, as well as taking on massive amounts of new cheap debt, companies were able to finance their working capital needs, hire workers back, and even buy-back their shares en mass to make themselves look deceptively profitable. The nightmare of 2008 soon became a golden era of ‘recovery’.

Well, 2016 is showing us that that era is over. And as stock prices cease to rise, and in fact fall within many industries, layoffs are beginning to make a return as companies jettison costs in attempt to reduce losses.

Dick Bove: US banks have been ‘nationalized’

Now you have an indication of just how desperate the government is to find funds so it can fix the transportation system — if it’s really going to go towards that in the end, that is. Not only that, raiding (nationalizing) the banks is going to force banking to become more expensive and the fees are always passed on to the consumer. A new hatred towards bankers will begin thanks to the government plundering its own banking system, which in the end is its own people.

 

A transportation bill in Congress has put the U.S. well on the road to socialism, Dick Bove said Monday.

The bipartisan Senate bill, announced in July, would cut the dividend paid by the Federal Reserve to banks each year from 6 percent to 1.5 percent, and the difference would go toward funding highway projects

Deutsche Bank – the New Lehman Brothers?

As Mr. Armstrong points out, DB is part of the Euro crisis. It’s exposed to a time bomb of over $70 trillion in derivatives and it’s not surprising that it’s been said to be the next Lehman Brothers. It should be interesting to see how much more it’s exposed to in regards to the Volkswagen ‘scandal’, which is more of a political hit for quick cash. If the global economy is going to collapse, it is going to start in Germany.

 

The rumor mill has been nonstop. The crushing blow to Europe will be the failure of Germany’s biggest bank: Deutsche Bank. Just about every circle is quietly discussing how the bank is facing bankruptcy. The rumors have flown since March when Deutsche Bank failed the U.S. regulatory stress test, which was followed by the resignation of its head in June. A collapse of the Deutsche Bank is profound and very likely to impact Europe to the point that everyone behind the curtain is now calling for a new Lehman moment. Sources tied with the Fed’s decision not to raise rates fear that they will be seen as the cause of its failure. Germany clearly faces a major shock; if this combines with Volkswagen for the turning point next week, well, here we go again.

Cash Withdrawal Limits and “Bank Holidays” Coming?

Collapsing commodities prices, erratic market turmoil and the bursting of Chinese bubbles are leading to a crisis in confidence in the economic system across the globe. The long-expected crisis to which the global financial and systemic crisis in 2008 may have been a mere prelude may be upon us.

Governments have no appetite for further bailouts. The EU states have passed legislation which will make the banks or rather unfortunate and unsuspecting depositors liable for the bank’s lending and speculative profligacy.

Stock up on canned food for stock market crash, warns former Gordon Brown adviser

Global Geopolitics does not call dates, and a global market crash may in fact not happen, but all signs point towards an imminent crash. Warning signs are flashing, and not just from ‘conspiracy theorists’.

Don’t be foolish and think this warning pertains only to Great Britain. The U.S. will be one of the, if not the, hardest hit nations.

Why take a chance? How many more warnings do you need to see? Don’t be complacent. Prepare how you see fit. The best advice is to get right with God.

 

 

A former adviser to Gordon Brown has urged people to stock up on canned goods and bottled water as stock markets around the world slide.

Damian McBride appeared to suggest that the stock market dip could lead to civil disorder or other situations where it would be unreasonable for someone to leave the house.

“Advice on the looming crash, No.1: get hard cash in a safe place now; don’t assume banks & cashpoints will be open, or bank cards will work,” he tweeted.

Why Europe Will Lead the Charge to Eliminate Cash – The Next Step in Global Meltdown

Made in Germany, and by design it will fail. The incoming Fourth Reich will see to it.

 

Europe will lead the world into this Economic Totalitarianism because government is now desperate to retain the Euro. If the Euro collapses, so will Brussels. The government exists solely because of the Euro.

The fatal design of the Euro is the key. The failure to have consolidated the debts of all individual member states has been the worst possible mistake perhaps ever made in this post-Great Depression era of New Economics where government lawyers assume they can just write a law and that will be followed as some new modern dictator.

World’s biggest investor BlackRock says US rally nearing exhaustion

BlackRock has advised clients to be ready to pull out of global stock markets at any sign of serious trouble

BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor, has warned that central banks are poised to tighten monetary policy in the Anglo-Saxon countries and China, advising clients to be ready to pull out of global stock markets at any sign of serious trouble.

“2014 is the year to squeeze more juice out of risk assets. But investors should be ready to discard the fruit when it starts running dry,” said Ewen Cameron Watt, chief strategist for the BlackRock Investment Institute.

Jim Sinclair: ISDA to determine this week if five major US banks go insolvent

Yet, the American public is virtually and completely unaware.

In what might be one of the most important credit events about to occur in the history of the financial world, the International Swaps and Derivative Association (ISDA) is expected to make a decision as early as today on whether five major US banks will go insolvent according to Jim Sinclair in an interview on January 30th.

The ISDA is one of the most powerful monetary entities in the world, and in many cases according to Mr. Sinclair, has more power than governments.  It’s dominion spreads throughout the entire banking system, determining whether one or more of the nearly $1 quadrillion in derivatives and credit default swaps are paid out to holders in the event of a bank, sovereign nation, or securities default.

In his interview with Ellis Martin, Mr. Sinclair lays out that the decision by the ISDA could take place as early as today, and no later than this week, and it involves five major US banks, the nation of Greece, the Euro, and the chances of a massive QE bailout in the Western economic system.

Continue reading article: Jim Sinclair: ISDA to determine this week if five major US banks go insolvent (Examiner)

Interview link: Breaking News Ellis Martin Report with Jim Sinclair