To save U.S. banks from losing their license to dangle the nation's economy over a cliff, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the country's elected elite threw them a bailout party and gifted them with the accounting- world's version of "Transformers. "
Unfortunately, new banking regulations aimed at solving these problems are little more than the same old song and dance that forced the bailout - and stuck U.S. taxpayers with a multi-trillion-dollar tab.
U.S. taxpayers and retail-level investors have been taken into the heart of the forest - and intentionally abandoned. The only way to escape is via a pathway paved by true transparency and real accountability.
At a time when banks are fat with profits - even as deep problems remain - these institutions should be prohibited from making bonus payments, and should instead be forced to write down all their non-performing assets in accordance with proper accounting standards. The projected bank bonus pools would cover most of those write-downs over the next few years.
We have a chance to celebrate a second anniversary of stock- market gains and another year of economic growth, but to ensure that prospect we need to start to break up all the too-big-to-fail banks. Once the giants are cut down to size, maybe we can have real transparency and not be afraid of being driven over a cliff by a bunch of greedy, drunken party boys.
For more: New Banking Regulations ... Same Old Story
Unfortunately, new banking regulations aimed at solving these problems are little more than the same old song and dance that forced the bailout - and stuck U.S. taxpayers with a multi-trillion-dollar tab.
U.S. taxpayers and retail-level investors have been taken into the heart of the forest - and intentionally abandoned. The only way to escape is via a pathway paved by true transparency and real accountability.
At a time when banks are fat with profits - even as deep problems remain - these institutions should be prohibited from making bonus payments, and should instead be forced to write down all their non-performing assets in accordance with proper accounting standards. The projected bank bonus pools would cover most of those write-downs over the next few years.
We have a chance to celebrate a second anniversary of stock- market gains and another year of economic growth, but to ensure that prospect we need to start to break up all the too-big-to-fail banks. Once the giants are cut down to size, maybe we can have real transparency and not be afraid of being driven over a cliff by a bunch of greedy, drunken party boys.
For more: New Banking Regulations ... Same Old Story
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