Free Republic

In an ironic twist, the Occupy Wall Street movement, which, two years ago, galvanized resentment against Wall Street and gave birth to the phrase “the 99%,” has given birth to something new: a financial institution. Or, as they call it — the Occupy Money Cooperative. “We launched [the Occupy Money Cooperative] because we felt that the way the for-profit banking industry operates in the U.S., it intrinsically exposes the U.S. economy to risk and makes us vulnerable to the consequences but, above all, fails many millions of Americans who don’t have bank accounts and are denied banking services,” founder and...

Within hours of Detroit filing the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history on July 18, French TV and other media followed up with the reassuring message that, in France at least, such a turn of events would be impossible. Under French law, municipalities are required to balance their budgets, and the national government can — and occasionally does — intervene to force them to comply. But take a closer a look at what’s been happening since the 2007 financial crisis, and a rather more nuanced, and surprising, picture emerges. For more than a dozen sizable towns and districts across France...

Over the last several weeks we have heard Congress caterwauling, stonewalling, stalling and wailing about so called "bank reform". So, cover your eyes and get the kids of out the room because this is about to become bi-partisan.* Here it is: According to both parties- I know you'll find this hard to believe- banks apparently aren't reformed enough. Yes, the problem that Barney-Frank and Chris-Dodd supposedly fixed with huge Democrat majorities from 2000-Obama to 2000-O'Tea Party, apparently isn't fixed, both Democrats and Republicans agree. For example, the other day we heard Barney-Frank both defend and condemn the Dodd-Frank banking reform...

The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), headed by chair Jeb Hensarling, has approved proposed bill entitled, “Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act” (PATH) that is being sold to the American public as a way “to create a sustainable housing finance system.” Hensarling explained : “Our plan helps taxpayers and homeowners. It gives power and control back to consumers. Under the current broken system, unaccountable Washington elites have more of a say over who gets a mortgage than your local bank. The current system is a government monopoly run by the same types of Washington bureaucrats who run the IRS. America...

Bank of America Corp.’s shareholder equity declined in the second quarter as the company’s bond portfolio sustained the biggest hit from rising interest rates among top lenders. The second-biggest U.S. bank by assets reported a $4.22 billion drop in a measure of equity that includes changes in bond holdings, currency translations and pension adjustments. The bulk was from unrealized losses in the securities portfolio, including a $5.73 billion decline in the value of government-backed mortgage securities. It is no mystery as to why BofA lost money. Between April 1st and June 30th, agency MBS took a beating (particularly after May...

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, the architect of the Consumer Financial Protect Bureau (CFPB), wants to put Glass-Steagall back into place. One of the purposes of the originial Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was to separate commercial and investment banking. “The four biggest banks are now 30% larger than they were just five years ago, and they have continued to engage in dangerous, high-risk practices that could once again put our economy at risk,” according to Senator Warren. Hmm. The enormous spike in excess reserves may be what she is thinking about. EXCRESNS But Senator Warren forgets a few things. First, the...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2002.aspx Treasury Targets Major Money Laundering Network Operating Out of Colombia 7/9/2013 Trade Based Money Laundering Network Supported Narcotics Traffickers Ayman Joumaa and Evaristo Linares Castillo WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of Colombian nationals Isaac Perez Guberek Ravinovicz and his son, Henry Guberek Grimberg, as well as 29 other individuals and entities, including companies located in Colombia, Panama, and Israel, as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). These 31 individuals and entities together form a money laundering network responsible for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in...

Rising Treasury and mortgage rates have been in the news quite a bit recently. Banks have suffered capital losses with the recent rises in rates. According to the Federal Reserve, unrealized gains in bank portfolios plummeted from more than $40 billion at the beginning of the year to about $6 billion, with the most precipitous declines over the past few weeks amid mounting market concern about the “tapering” of the central bank’s bond-buying program. The bright spot in the economy? Rising pending home sales! Pending home sales have been rising quite a bit in recent months. But at the same...

Did you know that U.S. banks have more than 1.8 trillion dollars parked at the Federal Reserve and that the Fed is actually paying them not to lend that money to us? We were always told that the goal of quantitative easing was to "help the economy", but the truth is that the vast majority of the money that the Fed has created through quantitative easing has not even gotten into the system. Instead, most of it is sitting at the Fed slowly earning interest for the bankers. Back in October 2008, just as the last financial crisis was starting,...

The Rockefeller Foundation, mega-banks, and even taxpayers via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have provided millions of dollars toward pushing a new type of “socially responsible” corporate structure known as the “benefit corporation.” More than 15 states have already signed on. Critics, however, say the scheme will further undermine what remains of the market system while promoting deeply controversial United Nations Agenda 21-linked notions of “sustainable development.”

NEW YORK (MainStreet)—It seems that many students - and their parents - are wading into a miasma of college tuition financing they are ill-prepared to understand. All too anxious to start attending the college of their choice, indeed often the college of their dreams, students and parents know little about the terms of the loans they obtain for tuition. One would have thought somewhere in all the high school honors courses and all those science and math courses SOMEBODY would have mentioned ...

Two Of China's Biggest Banks Have Stopped Lending At Some Of Their Branches Mamta BadkarJune 26,2013 Branches of Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have stopped lending amid the country's current liquidity squeeze, according to Caixin Online. The two banks, are part of the country's Big Four. Bank of China was reportedly having a hard time meeting loan-to-deposit requirements before the liquidity squeeze and it plans to resume lending on July 15. Meanwhile, ICBC's headquarters set a cap on lending, but what was unusual was that "headquarters had cut down on the quotas to...

Making The Most Of Borrowed Time (Central Banks Have Had Enough?)Jaime Caruana, General Manager of the BIS on the occasion of the Bank’s Annual General Meeting in Basel on 23 June 2013Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Since the beginning of the financial crisis almost six years ago, central banks and fiscal authorities have supported the global economy with unprecedented measures. Policy rates have been kept near zero in the largest advanced economies. Central bank balance sheets have doubled from $10 trillion to more than $20 trillion. And fiscal authorities almost everywhere have been piling up debt, which has risen by...

Worry about the global economic slowdown and tumbling stock prices. Then, worry about the scarcity of the highest quality collateral( US, German, Swiss government securities) and the rising cost of finding them– and the resulting handcuffs being placed on monetary policy in helping financial institutions to provide credit. ... Yes, the rush to safety has pusheed the 10 year Treasury yield in the US to 1.47%– an alltime record low. In Germany the return is only 1.20%, hardly enough to buy lunch for the bankers. The Swiss 2 year note has a negative yield; you pay the Swiss to hold...

Ready To Be “CYPRUSED” At A Bank Near You Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2013 02, 2013 - 04:42 PM GMT By: Christopher Quigley The banking situation in Europe continues to deteriorate rapidly. As a measure of the ongoing crisis the “ Bail In” option used in Cyprus is actually being made European Commission policy. The following is a recent report from the much respected Irish Times: “Proposals under Irish presidency to deal with European bank collapses likely to ‘bail-in’ large depositors. Deposits of over €100,000 are likely to be hit in the event of future European bank collapses, according...

When you watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” with James Stewart from 1946, you are given the impression that banks (as represented by Henry F. Potter) are stingy and evil. Savings and Loans (S&Ls) (as represented by George Bailey) are kind-hearted and good. A ridiculous stereotype, of course. Tell that to taxpayers who had to bail out the S&L industry to the tune of more than $124 billion. Bert Ely has a nice discussion of what happened to the S&L industry here. In short, S&L’s were regulated as to how much interest they could pay on deposits (Reg Q) and when...

In order to combat a wave of cyberattacks that have rattled the US banking industry since last year, the FBI has given certain banking executives extensive briefings of their classified investigations. The collaboration is part of a new policy being initiated by the FBI to try and foster closer cooperation between authorities and the private sector. It reportedly involved a number of bank officials being given high-level security clearance before a video conference briefing last month. During the briefing, the FBI’s executive assistant director Richard McFeely urged bank executives to share any data they have on cyberattacks they’ve suffered.

It was a brazen bank heist, but a 21st-century version in which the criminals never wore ski masks, threatened a teller or set foot in a vault. In two precision operations that involved people in more than two dozen countries acting in close coordination and with surgical precision, thieves stole $45 million from thousands of A.T.M.'s in a matter of hours. In New York City alone, the thieves responsible for A.T.M. withdrawals struck 2,904 machines over 10 hours starting on Feb. 19, withdrawing $2.4 million. The operation included sophisticated computer experts operating in the shadowy world of Internet hacking, manipulating...

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was nervous as he answered questions at his speech in Chicago today. “In light of the current low interest rate environment, we are watching particularly closely for instances of ‘reaching for yield’ and other forms of excessive risk-taking, which may affect asset prices and their relationships with fundamentals,” Mr Bernanke said. I was waiting for questions or hints as to if or when will take their foot off the monetary accelerator, but NADA. Global sovereign yields rose across the board this morning (except for Greece). The dollar is rising … while commodities plunged this morning (look...

President Obama will nominate Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) today to be the Director of the Federal Finance Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Many have called for the firing of the agency’s current director, Ed DeMarco. DeMarco has headed the agency since 2009 and was a Bush appointee. Watt’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. Watt played a key role in the he Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that is now law and has been an advocte for minority lending institutions. Watt is 67 and a graduate of Yale Law School. He has served in Congress since 1993 and...