Are You Really That Dumb?
The Market Ticker ® - Commentary on The Capital Markets
Posted 2013-01-04 18:31
by Karl Denninger
in Bank Reform
Ignore this thread
Are You Really That Dumb?
 

The Atlantic asks....

When we asked Dane Holmes, the head of investor relations at Goldman Sachs, why so few people trust big banks, he told us, “People don’t understand the banks,” because “there is a lack of transparency.” (Holmes later clarified that he was talking about average people, not the sophisticated investors with whom he interacts on an almost hourly basis.) He is certainly right that few students or plumbers or grandparents truly understand what big banks do anymore. Ordinary people have lost faith in financial institutions. That is a big enough problem on its own.

But an even bigger problem has developed—one that more fundamentally threatens the safety of the financial system—and it more squarely involves the sort of big investors with whom Holmes spends much of his time. More and more, the people in the know don’t trust big banks either.

....

Several financial executives told us that they see the large banks as “complete black boxes,” and have no interest in investing in their stocks.

A chief executive of one of the nation’s largest financial institutions told us that he regularly hears from investors that the banks are “uninvestable,” a Wall Street neologism for “untouchable.”

And why is that?

Do you really need an article for this?

Let's just apply basic logic:

Why would you ever be less than transparent about your balance sheet and operations?

Still having trouble figuring it out?  Ok, I'll put it this way:

Nobody ever hides, obfuscates or says nothing when there is good news; they announce it loudly at every opportunity, whether it be in public filings, press releases, interviews or commercials run in the media.

It's not that tough.

Discussion below (registration required to post)
 

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Rjazz117
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Gold A True American Patriot!
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...which is why "pleading the 5th" is usually looked upon negatively, despite assurances to the contrary.

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“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
Ponzi_unit
Posts: 8102
Incept: 2007-09-05
Gold
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Nice catch, I would like to think that the big banks are 'replaceable'

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Taxpayers witnessed a crime and stayed around long enough to get charged with it.
Genesis
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They are.

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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me
Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft. Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb.
What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
Marvinmartian
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Pasadena, CA
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We were visiting relatives in Illinois over the holidays. The weather is much colder than California.

My significant other and her family dont have my antipathy towards banks. Whenever we drove by a bank with a time temperature on them, the temperature was off by a few degrees.

I took this opportunity to plant a dig on banks:
"You cant trust anything they say, they are banks and they lie."
Delphis
Posts: 1015
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Gold
Washington
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Marvin,

That is the number sans "spread" dontcha know...

/sarcasm off

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"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."....Albert Einstein
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence."...George Washington
Dbongo
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Online
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I'm glad I didn't listen to Goldman's call back on October 9th, 2012 that the S&P was heading to 1250. Those crooks were probably buying the whole time!

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I Heart TZA! Ben Bernanke, WINNING!

Onelegged
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NW Colorado
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Amen!

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The light at the end of this tunnel is a train.
Quik49
Posts: 3265
Incept: 2007-12-11
Gold
out yonderway
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Trust us...we're "with" the government...

sarc...

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UVA UVAM VIVENDO VARIA FIT

Morla
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People don't trust Wall Street because about 25% of the senior executives ADMIT they're a bunch of crooks when surveyed anonymously!
Quote:
In a survey of 500 senior executives in the United States and the UK, 26 percent of respondents said they had observed or had firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace, while 24 percent said they believed financial services professionals may need to engage in unethical or illegal conduct to be successful.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/1....


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Fear of govt IS the government.. Statism is a pack of unbacked threats; If govt gets out of control, ignore it and go about life as you see fit. Where's your crown, King Nothing?
Mikek31
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The big banks are "black boxes?" Wouldn't that make our government and its bonds "black boxes" as well? Just logically speaking.

BTW, I like the "one dollar of capital" logo. Haven't seen that before.

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Everyone keeps looking at the system and saying "it's not working, it needs to be redesigned somehow." It's working exactly the way the people who own it intend it to work.-Sutluc
Crzymorse
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The big banks are going to keep shedding assets and continue to lose value over time. Japan's financial institutions were some the biggest companies in the world 20 years ago. Deleveraging of the private sector through consumers using low interest rates to pay off debt rather than expand borrowing will continue to put pressure on the big banks.

The employment numbers also make that pretty clear; trillion dollar deficits can only keep the percentage of people employed at around 58.5%. Unemployed people don't see a whole lot credit card offers after a while. Greece is not coming here - Japan is.


Grunwald
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Seattle
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One word - Corzine
Supertruckertom
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Today was Lauren Lyster's last show on RT... Capital Account is no more for now.


One more light of knowledge is turned off.

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What I do is fairly simple.
People need their stuff.
It is my job to get it to them.
Genesis
Posts: 130709
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Wrong.

She's moving to a MUCH better venue with wider distribution. And it wasn't a surprise.

The light hasn't been turned off... just relocated a bit northward. And it's going to burn out some eyeballs up there.

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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me
Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft. Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb.
What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
Docberg
Posts: 163
Incept: 2009-02-20

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Gen, please keep us posted as to the new venue for Lauren and Dimitri. I quit watching television news and public affairs programs which were nothing but propaganda and screaming matches. Capital Account has been a wonderful breath of fresh air in an arid television wasteland.
Crzymorse
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Is she going to Fox Business, they could use someone intelligent.
Tristan
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Yahoo Finance
Johnny
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"God's work..."
Gamma
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I'd have to rate that as a screaming, major coup for Yahoo biz. Their market coverage is relatively interesting...it's obviously not in much depth, but it has its moments.

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This stuff we're going through, this is nothing compared to the Middle Ages.
They told me if I voted for John McCain, an idiot would be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Sure enough...
Supertruckertom
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I was thinking you might have some inside knowledge....

Moving up to the big Leagues then.

Maybe you get to pinch hit from time to time.

Here's hoping.

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What I do is fairly simple.
People need their stuff.
It is my job to get it to them.
Pay_lay_ale
Posts: 251
Incept: 2010-09-16

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Quote:
Nice catch, I would like to think that the big banks are 'replaceable'


Who says we need big banks at all? We didn't have big banks until the 2000s, after the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Bendover America and Wells F*ckup were mainly California banks with a few branches in other western states. JP Morgan was a moderately-sized investment bank that only gambled with investors' money and their own profits. Chase Manhattan was a NYC bank with a credit card and mortgage division. ****tybank was a NYC bank with a credit card division.

What we need are more community banks and credit unions. If you're "too big to fail," you're too big to exist and likely got to that position with dirty dealing.

Ckaminski
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I remember Baybank and how awesome it was - one of the first to offer online banking, and the system was still one of the best I *EVER* used, even to this day. The Bank of Boston merger wasn't so bad, but the Fleet merger - that was purely about $$$. When they closed my account on payday and bounced my direct deposit, that was the end for me - their computers automatically closed any accounts whose balance was $0 - WTF?

The continuing saga of megamergers should never have been allowed.
Judgesmales
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Gamma wrote..
I'd have to rate that as a screaming, major coup for Yahoo biz. Their market coverage is relatively interesting...it's obviously not in much depth, but it has its moments.
Yes, those good moments include the semi-regular video interviews with Howard Davidowitz.

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Don't forget: Panic is also an animal spirit, and it spreads much faster than optimism. Be careful what you wish for, Bernanke.
Swampwoman
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NE Florida
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Our regional bank was bought by Bank of America back then. We loved Barnett Bank. HATED BoA.

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“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody." --Thomas Paine
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