Category: regulation

It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!!

No Comments

And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.

  1. K Bank, Randallstown, MD
  2. Western Commercial Bank, Woodland Hills, CA
  3. Pierce Commercial Bank, Tacoma, WA
  4. First Vietnamese American Bank, Westminster, CA

A ordinary run, so far we have averaged 3¼ bank failures a week, though K Bank is very local. My chiropractor is in Randallstown.

Also, I neglected to mention that 2010 passed 2009’s total of 134 on 22 October.

Full FDIC list

So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):

I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.

Economics Update

No Comments

The lede here is that the Federal Reserved has announced another round of quantitative easing (printing money), $600 billion over the next 9 months, more than the the widely forecast $½ trillion, which pushed the US dollar down in currency markets.

Accompanying the statement was a mild, to my mind too mild, statement about how the recovery is not progressing as rapidly as planned.

With the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index falling, and US GDP growing at a truly anemic 2% rate, I think that they are being too timid, though there is good news with the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index and non-manufacturing index, and ADP’s private employment survey: all show an increase.

Even more significantly, it appears that retail sales are beating expectations, which may bode well for the all-important holiday shopping season.

Still, real estate looks dead, with mortgage applications remaining flat despite historically low rates.

BTW, here is a blast from the past, monoliner bond insurer Ambac is warning that it might go bankrupt this year.

I’m wondering if this will put a whole raft of municipal bonds in technical default, since if Ambac goes BK, then it no longer has an obligation to fulfill its insurance contracts.

I really don’t know. Does anyone else know?

Full Fed Statement after break:

Press Release

Release Date: November 3, 2010

For immediate release

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September confirms that the pace of recovery in output and employment continues to be slow. Household spending is increasing gradually, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software is rising, though less rapidly than earlier in the year, while investment in nonresidential structures continues to be weak. Employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. Housing starts continue to be depressed. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, but measures of underlying inflation have trended lower in recent quarters.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. Currently, the unemployment rate is elevated, and measures of underlying inflation are somewhat low, relative to levels that the Committee judges to be consistent, over the longer run, with its dual mandate. Although the Committee anticipates a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability, progress toward its objectives has been disappointingly slow.

To promote a stronger pace of economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate, the Committee decided today to expand its holdings of securities. The Committee will maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings. In addition, the Committee intends to purchase a further $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month. The Committee will regularly review the pace of its securities purchases and the overall size of the asset-purchase program in light of incoming information and will adjust the program as needed to best foster maximum employment and price stability.

The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period.

The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to support the economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; James Bullard; Elizabeth A. Duke; Sandra Pianalto; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Eric S. Rosengren; Daniel K. Tarullo; Kevin M. Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen.

Voting against the policy was Thomas M. Hoenig. Mr. Hoenig believed the risks of additional securities purchases outweighed the benefits. Mr. Hoenig also was concerned that this continued high level of monetary accommodation increased the risks of future financial imbalances and, over time, would cause an increase in long-term inflation expectations that could destabilize the economy.

Statement from Federal Reserve Bank of New York Leaving the Board

Prosecution Doing Back-Flips For Goldman Sachs in High Frequency Trading Trial

No Comments

If there was any doubt that the federal prosecutors in New York prosecuting Sergey Aleynikov for theft of trade secrets weren’t in Goldman Sach’s Pocket, those doubts have been allayed:

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has always closely guarded the secrets of its lucrative high-speed trading system. Now the securities firm is getting a help from an unusual source: federal prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan this week asked a federal district judge to seal the courtroom at the forthcoming trial of a former Goldman computer programmer accused of stealing the firm’s computer code. The move was a formal request to empty the courtroom of the general public when details of Goldman’s trade secrets are being discussed. The trial is set to start to late November.

Prosecutors also asked that any documents related to Goldman’s trading strategies remain under seal.

Such requests are common when proprietary corporate information could be exposed in a trial, lawyers say. This case is unusual in that it involves secrets about a potentially lucrative trading system, rather than, say, ingredients in a soda formula.

What is also unusual is that this code is almost certainly obsolete, and almost certainly has no value to a competitor.

The software almost certainly has to be updated regularly, probably monthly, possibly weekly, which means that the algorithms and code are almost certainly obsolete, but still they want the court sealed.

This is not about protecting trade secrets, this is about concerns by the vampire squid* that if the details on how they conducted business came out, they would have people calling for their scalps for front-running the markets.

Basically, Goldman, and the prosecutors, are trying to conceal activity by Goldman that is either illegal, or would lead to changes in regulations that would make it so if the details came out.

My earlier posts on this are here.

*Alas, I cannot claim credit for the bon mot describing Goldman Sachs as a, “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” This was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.

It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!!

No Comments

No FDIC closures, so the count for this year remains at 139, see the full FDIC list, but there was a credit union failure:

  1. Phil-Pet Federal Credit Union, Pampa, TX

Full NCUA list

It does seem like the trend is slowing, but it’s still pretty awful.

So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):

I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.

The Definitive Word on Hamp

2 Comments

David Dayen summarizes it in a paragraph:

This is just a truism based on the Treasury Department’s own design for HAMP. Every trial modification payment reads as a default to the credit reporting companies. The Treasury Department could have set it up so that didn’t happen; they chose not to intervene in that reality. All of the money between the trial modification and the original payment that borrowers don’t pay during their trial period gets tacked on as part of the unpaid principal balance at the end. The servicers also tack on late fees. Treasury could have banned that. They chose not to intervene. The servicers can proceed with foreclosure operations during the trial period, arguing that the borrower is in default. They can’t actually foreclose (also in some cases they have). But they can go through the legal process. Treasury could have put a stop to that. They didn’t. Borrowers keep getting told they have to miss a payment to be eligible for HAMP. Treasury actually didn’t put that into the design. But they haven’t sanctioned a single servicer for this or any other violation of the program guidelines. They could have done something. They didn’t.

(emphasis mine, though inspired by Big Tent Democrat‘s similar exercise.)

I think that Mr. Dayen is far more forgiving than I am. He implies that it was combination of incompetence and timidity.

I think that it was actual malice. I think that the Treasury Department deliberately chose to deceive homeowners, because they thought that it would give the banks some breathing space.

Pass the Popcorn

No Comments

The Federal Reserve has decided not to appeal the decision of the Federal Courts to turn over information on its sh%$pile for cash loans to Bloomberg News:

The Federal Reserve won’t join a group of the largest commercial banks in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let the government withhold details of emergency loans made to financial firms in 2008.

The central bank’s decision not to appeal makes it less likely the high court will hear the case, said Tom Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who has argued 22 cases before the high court since 1999 and whose Scotusblog website tracks the panel.

The Clearing House Association LLC, a group of the biggest commercial banks, filed the appeal today. Under federal rules for appeals, a lower court’s order requiring disclosure remains on hold until the Supreme Court acts. Kit Wheatley, an attorney for the Fed, confirmed that the central bank won’t join the appeal. David Skidmore, a spokesman for the central bank, did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

The bank group is appealing a federal judge’s August 2009 ruling requiring the Fed to disclose records of its emergency lending. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, sued for the release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

Obviously, the Supreme Court could still decide to hear the case, but the Fed pulling out indicates that they no longer see this sort of disclosure as a systemic threat, which in turn makes it less likely that SCOTUS will take up the case.

I think that it is now a question of “when” not “if” the data gets released, and I think that it should prove to be very interesting.

Background here.

If They Are Looking Into it, It’s Only Because They Need to Figure Out the Coverup

No Comments

I am referring to the fact that the Federal Reserve has announced that it will investigate the foreclosure problems:

Raising pressure on banks, the Federal Reserve is wading into the investigation of whether mortgage lenders cut corners and used flawed documents to foreclose on homes.

Major banks are already under investigation by state officials with subpoena power, who could force them to detail how they handled hundreds of thousands of foreclosure cases.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke added weight to those efforts Monday by saying the central bank would look “intensively” at policies and procedures that might have allowed banks to seize homes improperly.

“We take violation of proper procedures very seriously,” Bernanke said in remarks to a housing-finance conference in Arlington, Va.

Call me a cynic, but I think that this is all about creating the appearance of investigating foreclosure fraud without actually finding any wrong doing, because they are the Federal Reserve, and that’s how they roll.

A Welcome Change in City Planning

No Comments

In Boston, in a new development, officials are pressuring developers to reduce the number of parking spaces at the complexes that they are building:

……

When Boston development officials recently handed permits to the developers of Waterside Place, they did so despite neighborhood concerns that the developers wanted to build far more apartments than parking spots. On A Street, the Boston Redevelopment Authority is close to green-lighting a 21-story residential tower. The tower’s developer had originally planned to build one parking spot for every two residential units, an abnormally low supply; BRA officials are pushing the developer to push that ratio even lower by replacing a whole floor of parking with innovative workforce housing units.

These permitting decisions are not happening in a vacuum. Government-imposed floors on the number of parking spots required at new developments are falling across the city, and beyond. Somerville, for instance, is increasing zoning density and lowering parking requirements along the route of the planned Green Line extension, with an eye toward spurring new transit-oriented development. But the change is especially pronounced in the Seaport, where developers are working with as close to a blank canvas as you’ll find in any major American city.

City planners are in the middle of an extensive re-thinking of Boston’s zoning codes. As they work, neighborhood by neighborhood, to update the code, they’re flipping the conventional thinking about parking on its head: Instead of mandating that minimum levels of parking accompany new developments, they’re pushing to establish maximum parking caps.

……

If you want a walkable and transit friendly cities, parking spaces are the enemy, because it creates sprawl.

IIRC, there is more ground taken up by parking spaces than is taken up by people in Montgomery County, which is why it is strip mall heck. (and Louden County, where I currently reside 3-4 nights a week, is strip mall hell)

If you make enough parking for people to drive in from the ‘burbs, then you create unacceptable levels of sprawl.

It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!!

No Comments

And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.

  1. First Bank of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL
  2. Progress Bank of Florida, Tampa, FL
  3. The Gordon Bank, Gordon, GA
  4. The First National Bank of Barnesville, Barnsville, GA
  5. First Suburban National Bank, Haywood, IL
  6. Hillcrest Bank, Overland Park, KS
  7. First Arizona Savings, A FSB, Scottsdale, AZ

So, after a lull of a few weeks, things appear to be ramping up again.

6 7 banks, there have been 10 6 weeks with 6 7 or more closures so far this year, and it’s week 42.

Not pretty

Full FDIC list

So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):

I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.

The Mortgage Fraud Goes Max Bialystock*

No Comments

It turns out that some of the banksters have simultaneously sold mortgages to multiple people (see also here for the court fiuling):

In a complaint filed this month in Washington, D.C. federal court, Bank of America said the FDIC has wrongly denied claims by Ocala noteholders to recover from Colonial Bank and an Illinois lender also in receivership, Platinum Community Bank.

Bank of America accused executives at Taylor Bean, Colonial and Platinum of having fraudulently schemed to “double- and triple-pledge mortgages and steal assets” to hide their faltering conditions as the housing market declined.

So these banks, and a number of others, probably repeatedly sold the same mortgage to different trusts.

This is Max Bialystock level fraud. There is no gray area here, but predictably, the Obama administration is maintaining that somehow or other the problems are not systemic at the same time that they have convened a task force to see if laws were broken.

We have a system where banks simply ignored the law over what amounts to about a $30 dollar cost per loan transfer, MERS, we have banks destroying the chain of custody of the loans, and the solution of the Obama administration is to wave a wand and grant absolution.

That’s the message of these conflicting messages: There is a task force, but that is just politics, and all will be forgiven on November 3rd.

Un-dirtyword-believable.

*Just F%$#ing Google it.

Economics Update

No Comments

Catching up on the economic number dump, first we have the Federal Reserve’s so-called Beige Book, which shows that growth has continued, but it is very sluggish.

This is reinforced by the fact that consumer confidence fell in October, factory production and capacity utilization fell in September, for the first time in a year, though home builder confidence rose (to a truly pathetic 16 where 50 is neutral), and housing starts rose.

We also have some importing news out of China, with their central bank making a surprise increase in its benchmark rate, and Chinese government published new statistics showing that its growth slowed and inflation edged up.

Certainly, it looks like the Central bank is concerned about inflation, and the statistics, even considering the general unreliability of official government statistics, indicate a problem.

One interesting effect of the rate hike is that it should place additional upward pressure on the Yuan.

Mortgage Backed Security Holders Stir……A Little…

No Comments

Institutional investors who purchased mortgage backed securities issued by Countrywide, now Bank of America have sent a demand letter requesting that Bank of America repurchase their mortgages for non-performance.

What makes this a big deal is just who is writing this.

Pacific Investment Management Co. [PIMCO], BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are seeking to force Bank of America Corp. to repurchase soured mortgages packaged into $47 billion of bonds by its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit, people familiar with the matter said.

A group of bondholders wrote a letter to Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the debt’s trustee, citing alleged failures by Countrywide to service loans properly, their lawyer said yesterday in a statement that didn’t name the firms. The New York Fed acquired mortgage debt through its 2008 rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc.

Bank of America responded that it would, “defend its shareholders,” which might make for an interesting conflict between two groups of too big to fail financial institutions.

In either case, it makes Congressional Deus Ex Machina hail Mary play less likely, since the constituencies that normally bribe lobby the House and Senate appear to be fairly evenly divided.

My guess is that this is actually not as big a deal as it sounds.

I agree with Yves Smith, that this is primarily posturing:

  • This is not litigation, it’s just a nastygram that was release.
  • The claim appears to be an extension of a claim against trusts.
  • They are claiming that the lack of due diligence was because the former Countrywide is not going after Countrywide, that sold the loan.
  • That BoA/Contrywide has been too slow in forclosing. (!?!)

Still, if it prevents Congress from bailing out the banksters, it would be a good thing.™

The full press release from the bond holders is below the fold:

Institutional Holders of Countrywide-Issued RMBS Issue Notice of Non-Performance Identifying Alleged Failures by Master Servicer to Perform Covenants and Agreements in More Than $47 Billion of Countrywide-Issued RMBS

Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ –Today, the holders of over 25% of the Voting Rights in more than $47 billion of Countrywide-issued RMBS sent a Notice of Non-Performance (Notice) to Countrywide Home Loan Servicing, as Master Servicer (“Countrywide Servicing”), and to Bank of New York, as Trustee, identifying specific covenants in 115 Pooling and Servicing Agreements (PSAs) that the Holders allege Countrywide Servicing has failed to perform.

The Holders’ Notice alleges that each of these failures has materially affected the rights of the Certificateholders under the relevant PSAs. Under Section 7.01 of the PSAs, if any of the cited failures “continues unremedied for a period of 60 days after the date on which written notice of such failure has been given … to the Master Servicer and the Trustee by the Holders of Certificates evidencing not less than 25% of the Voting Rights evidenced by the Certificates,” that failure constitutes an Event of Default under the PSAs.

In a previous release, the Holders emphasized their intent to invoke all contractual remedies available to them to recover their losses and to protect their rights. Kathy Patrick of Gibbs & Bruns LLP, lead counsel for the Holders, emphasized that the Holders’ notice does not seek to halt loan modifications for troubled borrowers. Instead, it urges the Trustee to enforce Countrywide Servicing’s obligations to service loans prudently by maintaining accurate loan records, demanding the repurchase of loans that were originated in violation of underwriting guidelines, and compelling the sellers of ineligible or predatory mortgages to bear the costs of modifying them for homeowners or repurchasing them from the Trusts’ collateral pools.

Patrick also noted that the group of Holders that tendered today’s Notice of Non-Performance is larger, and encompasses more Countrywide-issued RMBS deals, than were included in the August 20 instruction letter. When asked why the group of holders was larger, Patrick replied, “Ours is a large, determined, and cohesive group of bondholders. We have a clearly defined strategy. We plan to vigorously pursue this initiative to enforce Holders’ rights.”

The Notice of Non-Performance, which is the first step in the process of declaring an Event of Default, was issued on behalf of Holders in the following Countrywide-issued RMBS:

Deal Name Deal Name Deal Name
CWALT 2004-32CB CWHL 2004-22 CWL 2006-15
CWALT 2004-6CB CWHL 2004-25 CWL 2006-16
CWALT 2004-J1 CWHL 2004-29 CWL 2006-19
CWALT 2005-14 CWHL 2004-HYB9 CWL 2006-2
CWALT 2005-21CB CWHL 2005-11 CWL 2006-20
CWALT 2005-24 CWHL 2005-14 CWL 2006-22
CWALT 2005-32T1 CWHL 2005-18 CWL 2006-24
CWALT 2005-35CB CWHL 2005-19 CWL 2006-25
CWALT 2005-36 CWHL 2005-2 CWL 2006-26
CWALT 2005-44 CWHL 2005-3 CWL 2006-3
CWALT 2005-45 CWHL 2005-30 CWL 2006-5
CWALT 2005-56 CWHL 2005-9 CWL 2006-7
CWALT 2005-57 CB CWHL 2005-HYB3 CWL 2006-9
CWALT 2005-64 CB CWHL 2005-HYB9 CWL 2006-BC2
CWALT 2005-72 CWHL 2005-R3 CWL 2006-BC3
CWALT 2005-73CB CWHL 2006-9 CWL 2006-BC4
CWALT 2005-74T1 CWHL 2006-HYB2 CWL 2006-BC5
CWALT 2005-81 CWHL 2006-HYB5 CWL 2006-SD1
CWALT 2005-AR1 CWHL 2006-J2 CWL 2006-SD3
CWALT 2005-J5 CWHL 2006-OA5 CWL 2006-SD4
CWALT 2005-J9 CWHL 2006-R2 CWL 2006-SPS2
CWALT 2006-14CB CWHL 2007-12 CWL 2007-2
CWALT 2006-20CB CWHL 2007-16 CWL 2007-5
CWALT 2006-37R CWHL 2008-3R CWL 2007-6
CWALT 2006-41CB CWL 2005-10 CWL 2007-7
CWALT 2006-HY12 CWL 2005-11 CWL 2007-9
CWALT 2006-OA11 CWL 2005-13 CWL 2007-BC1
CWALT 2006-OA16 CWL 2005-16 CWL 2007-BC2
CWALT 2006-OA17 CWL 2005-2 CWL 2007-BC3
CWALT 2006-OA6 CWL 2005-4 CWL 2007-QH1
CWALT 2006-OA9 CWL 2005-5 CWL 2007-S3
CWALT 2006-OC10 CWL 2005-6
CWALT 2006-OC2 CWL 2005-7
CWALT 2006-OC4 CWL 2005-8
CWALT 2006-OC5 CWL 2005-9
CWALT 2006-OC6 CWL 2005-AB2
CWALT 2006-OC7 CWL 2005-AB3
CWALT 2007-17CB CWL 2005-AB4
CWALT 2007-23CB CWL 2005-BC5
CWALT 2007-24 CWL 2005-IM1
CWALT 2007-OA7 CWL 2006-10
CWALT 2008-2R CWL 2006-12

SOURCE Gibbs & Bruns, LLP

Here is a Big Surprise

No Comments

The astroturf group Concerned Taxpayers of America represents just two of said taxpayers:

A few weeks ago, a group called Concerned Taxpayers of America emerged out of nowhere and started to spend large sums of money attacking Rep. Peter DeFazio (D) in his re-election bid in Oregon. At the time, both DeFazio and his opponent, Tea Party favorite Art Robinson, claimed complete ignorance of the group, and DeFazio even tracked it to a townhouse in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington to demand that the group identify itself — but to no avail.

Friday’s FEC filings, however, finally reveal that the Concerned Taxpayers of America consists of exactly two concerned taxpayers:

………

This sh%$ really needs to stop.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?!?!?

No Comments

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Administrative Law Judge George Painter is retiring, and he has filed a formal complaint of bias against his fellow judge, Bruce Levine:

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Administrative Law Judge George H. Painter made serious allegations regarding fellow CFTC judge Bruce Levine in announcing his retirement.

In a notice sent to complainants and their attorneys, Judge Painter claims that Levine told him that he had promised former CFTC Chair Wendy Gramm “that he would never rule in a complainants favor”. Painter’s notice goes on to say, “A review of his rulings will confirm that he has fulfilled his vow.”

He is invoking 5CFR§930.208, Administrative Law Judge Loan Program–detail to other agencies to request that his remaining cases be assigned to someone, anyone, else, because Levine is the only other administrative law judge at the CFTC.

You can find the PDF of his complaint, along with a copy of an old WSJ article which details a long history of Mr. Levine’s wrong-doing, like ex-parte contact with litigants, here.

It would have been nice if someone had ratted out this rat years ago.

H/t Streetwise Professor

Factoid of the Day

No Comments

I would not have known, but when you think about it, it’s not surprising that over their history, banks have been a money losing enterprise:

He duly notes the key role banks had in the financial collapse and cites “one amazing statistic,” namely that “in the aggregate, banks have never made money over time.” Instead, “like the airlines, banks historically have seemingly made money hand over fist during good times, but they give it all back when the cycle turns.”

But he asks, “How many bankers suffer the same fate when it comes to their own personal financial affairs?” And the answer to that question, Dennis believes, was a major factor in setting the stage for the encompassing financial crisis we’ve recently suffered through.

The problem is that while banks have not made money over their history, bankers have, because, when the going gets tough, they get to keep their enormous paychecks of the go-go years.

If we did something simple, like saying that remuneration to officers and executives in excess of $400,000.00 a year, the President’s salary, would be subject to claims against the company which paid them for 5 years, and then partially subject to claims against a company for the next 10 years, we would find a lot more honesty and probity in the financial industry.

I Hope that He is Wrong, But I Fear that He is Right

No Comments

John Carney at CNBC says that Congress will make the illegal actions of banks retroactively legal in the lame duck session:

The put-back crisis is not driven by economics. It is driven by legal rights. And there’s simply zero probability that the politicians in Washington are going to let Bank of America or Citigroup or JP Morgan Chase fail because of a legal issue.

So here’s what I expect will happen. The lame duck session of Congress will pass a bill that essentially papers over the misdeeds of the banks that originated mortgage securities. Every member of Congress and every Senator who has been voted out of office will cast a vote for the bill. And the President will sign it.

He is suggesting that you buy stock in Bank of America, because when Congress does this, the stock will rebound.

He’s right, the bankers own our government.

It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!! (late again)

No Comments

And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.

  1. Security Savings Bank, F.S.B., Olathe, KS
  2. WestBridge Bank and Trust Company, Chesterfield, MO
  3. Premier Bank, Jefferson City, MO

Full FDIC list

3 this week, which appears to be more or less on trend, which is a bit over 3, see graph.

My guess is that the final that the final number will be in the 150-160 range, though prognostic record is rather spotty.

So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):

I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.

Not Feeling Hopey Changey

No Comments

The Obama administration has lifted the moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf.

Well, at least this means that Mary Landrieu has dropped her hold on Obama’s OMB chair, right?

Wrong.

It appears that she wants to be sure that the EPA and the Department of the Interior are sufficiently compliant:

“I am not going to release my hold on Jack Lew. Instead, I will take this time to look closely at how [Interior] is handling the issuing of permits and whether or not drilling activity in both shallow and deep water is resuming. When Congress reconvenes for the lame duck session next month, I will have had several weeks to evaluate if today’s lifting of the moratorium is actually putting people back to work,” Landrieu said in a prepared statement Tuesday after the Interior Department announced the lifting of the deepwater ban ahead of schedule.

You just got called a c*cks*ck*r by Mary F%$#ing Landrieu, and you are supposed to be the umpire, to mangle a Bull Durham moment.

What are you going to do now?

This is what happens when people know you have no guts.