What's next, the Bank of Obama?

Wonder-Twins Power Activate Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) and form the Bank of Obama, why not?  Throw more tax payer money into the fire, have a big party and get a 2009 deduction, lets do it America!

Bank of Obama

 

TARP 2 is now just the Bank of Obama, let's make it easier for all of us to understand.

The release of TARP 2 (another $350 billion) and its use to recapitalize banks only would not be sufficient to restore the capital in the U.S., its just not going to work.

'Bad Bank' Plans should be rejected, let's Run from the Bears (FAZ)

The FINANCIAL BEAR 3X (Public, NYSE:FAZ) is up 12% or 5 points to $44.32 this morning on news that the 'bad bank' plan isn't the best idea after all.

The idea of creating a "bad bank

" is unlikely to address the root problem of contracting system capital as simply removing "toxic" assets from bank balance sheets would not cause banks to increase lending, veteran banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.

 

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is increasingly focused on the possible creation of a "bad bank" that would let U.S. financial institutions move toxic assets off their books and could potentially take trillions of dollars of assets off banks' balance sheets.

Lending standards have tightened dramatically, and there is an unavoidable restructuring of risk taking place, causing money to come out of the system and lending to contract, with or without a "bad bank" structure, Whitney said.

"Lower asset bases, higher credit losses and bloated expense structures will continue to pressure banks' earnings power and capital creation," she wrote in a note to clients.

Apart from writedowns from structured securities and illiquid assets, commercial banks also face problems from rising defaults on balance sheet loans, Oppenheimer's Whitney said. "If a bank were to sell its "bad" assets into a "bad bank," it would still be left with lower earnings power from higher losses on "good loans" and the requirement to build reserves, lower earnings power from lower assets and a higher legacy expense structure, or both," she said.

A vast majority of toxic assets related to securities have already been written down and only few lenders would dominate the lion's share of the "bad bank," Whitney added.

"Those lenders, we argue, should monetize their "good" assets to cover their "bad" assets."

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