Basel III (Chuckle)
I guess I should say something about the new Basel III regulations.I will present three “facts” that, I believe, says it all.These three facts are as follows: 2019; financial markets rose when the news of the...
Read MoreAuthor: John Mason
Still No Life in Banking
Over the last two months I have been hoping that the smaller banks in the United States were starting to lend a little bit again. I was even looking for “Green Shoots”. (See...
Read MoreIt’s a High Frequency World
Gillian Tett raises some interesting questions in her Financial Times article today: “What can be done to slow high-frequency trading?” (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d72966fa-bc2d-11df-8c02-00144feab49a.html)She closes...
Read MoreWhat Should the Fed (and the Federal Government) Do Next?
This morning there is a series of articles in the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal titled “What Should the Federal Reserve Do Next?”. It consists of several short pieces written by well known economists. I...
Read MoreWatch the Currency, Stupid!
The value of a currency is “the single most important price in a nation’s economy.” So claims Paul Volcker.If this is the case then the eurozone continues to have problems.As information has filtered out that...
Read MoreBank Honesty is the Best Policy: the European Case
If the history of banking tells me anything, it tells me that banks are only fooling themselves if they think that they can hide bad assets and then outlast the drag these bad assets put on their performance.Headlines...
Read MoreFederal Reserve Non-Exit Watch: Part 1
Last month I presented Part 13 of my exit watch of the Federal Reserve. In the summer of 2009, the Fed stated that it was going to remove reserves from the banking system to reverse the massive injection of reserves that took...
Read MoreMr. Bernanke’s Testimony
How important was Ben Bernanke’s testimony given to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission? Well, the New York Times reported it on page B3 of the Business section and the Wall Street Journal reported it on page A6 of its...
Read MoreThe Number of Problem Banks Continues to Rise. Surprise!
The most important thing for government regulators at this time is to handle the problems in the banking industry in an orderly fashion. Don’t panic; don’t show fear; just keep plugging ahead. This seems to be...
Read MoreThe World Continues to Move to Smaller and Faster
Given all the headlines about double-dip recessions, consumer and business de-leveraging, and unemployment it is good to get back to some basic trends that, in my mind, are not going to change.On the front page of the New York...
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