Tag Archives: too big to fail banks

8 years after the credit crisis, most big American banks and almost all big European banks are relapsing in spite of extraordinary central bank efforts to liquefy and engineer profits for them. However, as long as they pose colossal risks to the global economy and draw tens of trillions of dollars of central bank spending (which they mostly hoard on their balance sheets to survive and thrive) away from productive economic use, global growth will continue to stagnate, until it contracts dramatically and implodes the big banks all over again.

Are the big banks really as powerful as some people say that they are? Do they really control the global economy? If you asked most people, they would tell you that governments control the global economy but the fact is that the campaigns of our politicians are funded by the ultra-wealthy, the big banks and the large corporations that they control. Others would tell you that the Federal Reserve and the rest of the central banks around the world control the global economy but the truth is that the Federal Reserve was established by the bankers and for the benefit of the bankers. As you will see below, at the very core of the global economy there exists a "super-entity" of financial institutions that control an almost unimaginable amount of wealth and power. These financial institutions, and the ultra-wealthy individuals behind them, are really the ones that are pulling all the strings.

In this irreverent clip - satire at its best - Jason Jones from Daily Show teaches regulation-loving Canadian bankers the advantages of harmless American free-market fun or, more accurately, highlights the differences between the American and Canadian banking systems and their respective perceptions on the meaning of the word "greed". Enjoy!

The politicians of the western world are coming after your bank accounts. Cyprus-style "bail-ins...for systemically important banks" are actually proposed on pages 144 and 145 of "Economic Action Plan 2013" in the new Canadian government budget and it is being reported that the European Parliament will soon be voting on a law which would require that large banks be "bailed in" when they fail. ...I can't even begin to describe how serious all of this is. So exactly what in the world is going on here? Words: 1075

Wall Street has been transformed into a gigantic casino where people are betting on just about anything that you can imagine. This works fine as long as there are not any wild swings in the economy and risk is managed with strict discipline but, as we have seen, there have been times when derivatives have caused massive problems in recent years - the government bailout because of derivatives at AIG; the failure of MF Global because of bad derivatives trades; and the 6 billion dollar loss that JPMorgan Chase recently suffered because of derivatives - [but the next] derivatives panic that comes will destroy global financial markets, and the economic fallout from the financial crash that will happen as a result will be absolutely horrific. [Let me explain my contention.] Words: 1485