There is strong evidence that what has been suspected is true – the Big Banking Game is Fixed. And you thought the top US Banks had to fight to survive in one of the toughest and most coldly efficient banking markets. But diverse financial media players like China Post, Bloomberg, Iranian Financial Times, NYTimes, and Jon Stewart’s the Daily Show [the Wall Street Journal treated the news as an after thought]have taken note showing that the top 4 US Banks did what is normally impossible – had a quarter with no negative/loss trading days. That is like 4 baseball pitchers throwing a perfect game on the same day.
But we all know the top 4 US banks had a little help from their friends. The Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Summers, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner[the Three Bank Stooges???] have seen no reason to change the 0% lending rate afforded to the US Big Banks through the Fed Lending Window and only directly accessible by those banks. So traders from the exclusive club of big banks borrow at 0% and then lend back to the Government and others at 3%++. Sounds like some really tough trading worth a million or two in year end bonuses for the banks’ traders.
Ostensibly the recovery is “too fragile”. But that may be precisely because the top banks are still not lending to medium and small businesses, paying almost no interest on chequing deposits and less than 2% interest on savings, while increasing their charges for all services including ever higher credit card interest rates that have minimal correlation with past payment practices. And you wondered if SCOTUS had given enough lobbying and freedom of speech influence to the Banks?
The question now is there a simple way to increase lending to small and medium businesses while closing the CASH for the NeedyGreedy Fed Window and not distorting the economy now and in the future. At least it is a better strategy and valid economic question rather than the current giveaway to the banks.