The Golden Truth: Big Wall Street Banks Hide Their True Debt Levels Every Quarter Now

Friday, April 9, 2010

Big Wall Street Banks Hide Their True Debt Levels Every Quarter Now

Well it looks like the Wall Street Journal only took a little over three weeks to report what I suggested in mid-March: Lehmangate Part 2: What Is the Rest of Wall Street Hiding? Here's the link to my post in which I suggested that Lehman was one of many using similar fraudulent accounting in order to dress up their balance sheet: LINK.

The Wall Street Journal today reports Big Banks Mask Risk Levels: Quarter-End Loan Figures Sit 42% Below Peak, Then Rise as New Period Progresses. I don't have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, but here's a Reuters news report: "Major U.S. banks temporarily lowered their debt levels just before reporting in the past five quarters, making it appear their balance sheets were less risky, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York" - Link: Reuters

This should not surprise readers of this blog. Wall Street is notoriously "Monkey see, Monkey do." So it only made sense that every other big Wall Street bank would be using accounting manipulations to accomplish the same fabulous results as Lehman, before Lehman collapsed. The only difference is that the remaining Wall Street banks have been deemed by the Fed/Treasury as "too big to fail." We have monkeys running the big banks and we have monkeys overseeing and regulating the big banks. I think Bernanke and Geithner deserve a Big Banana award. But what about the citizenry who enable these people to remain in power?

(courtesy of Jesse's Cafe Americain)

10 comments:

JoeFriday, 09 April, 2010
Dave,

They had to rescind FASB rules or the whole system would have collapsed. This gave the banks a license to lie. These big banks are broke beyond broke and are little more than walking zombies.

I went to BofA to cash a $1600 check and they required 2 forms of ID and a right thumb print. The kicker was, they only had five 100's, two 50's and had to pay the rest in 20's. They barely have enough cash to make it through the day. Truly sad.

Joe M.
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Dave in DenverFriday, 09 April, 2010
Wow Joe. That's an incredible story re: B of A

I have always maintained that our financial system collapsed in Sept 2008 and they ultimately had to throw in $23 trillion in direct cash PLUS Treasury guarantees to keep it going. That $23 trillion total number is TARP Watchdog Neil Barofsky's figure, not mine.
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JoeFriday, 09 April, 2010
Agree Dave but in order to maintain the float they can never mark to market. They are all stealth BK and one can only watch and wonder how long we have before it all locks up.

Joe M.
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Dave in DenverFriday, 09 April, 2010
Agreed but as long as the rest of the world and the people in this country let Bernanke operate the printing press, they can keep banks liquid and Treasury funded.

If you look at Weimar Germany, that game didn't end until the mark literally collapsed. I expect a similar path, with different "twists" along the way to occur in this country.
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JoeFriday, 09 April, 2010
You're right dave, we won't go through the total fear and capitulation phase until the USD collapses and history tells us we are on the right path to this end.

Joe M.
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AnonymousFriday, 09 April, 2010
ZeroHedge has a nice article regarding the fluctuating debt levels, also inspired by the WSJ. However, the site is down now for some reason...heh heh heh.
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hopiumFriday, 09 April, 2010
WOW! The reality of it all

http://www.loansafe.org/forum/deed-lieu-foreclosure-do-you-need-help-walk-away/11618-how-long-between-first-missed-payment-foreclosure.html
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Dave in DenverFriday, 09 April, 2010
LOL. That's an awesome site. Tell ya what, I think this next wave of credit defaults/mortgage defaults is going to take A LOT of people down.

I'm seeing homes in the 200-500k range selling around Denver, with the tax credit due to expire at the end of this month, but I'm seeing 2 "for sale" signs pop up for every one "sold" sign.
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Dave in DenverFriday, 09 April, 2010
@Anonymous: either zerohedge is moving servers or it was hacked and crashed. I bet it was the posting of this article and zero's related commentary:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/07/debt-denial/
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HalFriday, 09 April, 2010
Let's see--so the 18 banks which already are getting a free pass on the mark to fantasy accounting, still have to window dress their balance sheets to look good so they can continue to leverage up not to give credit to consumers or small business, but to fund their proprietary trading desks to better utilize their HFT and buy each others stocks to run those up for their option bonus and performance plans.

Did I miss anything essential?
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Why Gold?

Gold is the world's oldest currency. You exchange your fiat currency (dollars, euros, yen, yuan) into gold as an insurance policy against catastrophic Central Bank and Government policies which serve to destroy the value of fiat currencies and destroy democracy.

Gold can ONLY be considered an investment to the extent that it remains significantly and historically undervalued in relation to the fiat currencies against which its value is measured. Otherwise it remains the world's oldest currency and is completely free from the counterparty risk associated with currency by Government fiat (i.e. fiat currencies rely on a Government's "full faith and credit.")

Quote Of The Month Courtesy of "Jesse"

Unfortunately for Larry Summers, Ben Bernanke, and their friends at the BIS, they have not yet figured out how to print physical gold, silver, and other essential commodities, and the world is reaching the point where it might simply start ignoring the New York based markets with respect to essential commodities such as basic materials, oil, foodstuffs, and the like, as they become increasingly irrelevant, fraudulent, and Orwellian. And then where will the financial engineers be, except with no more excuses and no place to hide?

Here is the link to his entire commentary, well worth a read:

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/gold-daily-chart-shock-and-awe-for.html

Great Quote From Jim Rogers On Govt CPI Reporting

JR: I mean, we have inflation now. If you go to the shop, whether it’s groceries, or education or insurance or health care, prices are going up for everything. The government lies about it in the US. Some countries lie, many countries don’t: Australia, China, India and Norway. Many countries don’t lie about it and acknowledge that we have inflation. Others lie about it, the UK and the US, but if you go shopping you know prices are up.

Q: Are you saying that the American Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is a lie?

JR: In my opinion, yes, of course it is. Have you looked at it? They’ve changed their accounting several times in the past few decades. When housing was 20% to 25% of the CPI and housing was going up, they didn’t count it, saying rents weren’t going up, and then when home prices started going down, they counted it. It’s the same with many things. It’s staggering some of the tortuous reasoning that the BLS has used over the past 25 or 30 years. When the price of gasoline goes up, they say it’s not really going up because it’s better gasoline, better quality, therefore you’re getting more for your money. I mean, it’s endless, the stuff that they say and for some reason people sit there, although more and more people are catching on, and accept what the government says.

source: www.clusterstock.com

Quote of the Week

"The primary function of a Central Bank is to engage in the massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy elite. The Federal Reserve was set up to do this with the blessing and support of Congress." - Dave in Denver

If you refuse to believe the above, please read "The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve" by G. Edward Griffin and then explain to me why the Senate voted down the Vitter Amendment and Congress refuses to pass a law requiring a full audit of the Fed, even though the Fed is using taxpayer-backed money to bailout Wall Street and Europe.