Krugman: Banks are back to business as usual
In the NYT, Paul Krugman notes that the banks are increasingly engaging in the same risky short-term profiteering that let to the economic meltdown:
In the grim period that followed Lehman’s failure, it seemed inconceivable that bankers would, just a few months later, be going right back to the practices that brought the world’s financial system to the edge of collapse. At the very least, one might have thought, they would show some restraint for fear of creating a public backlash.
But now that we’ve stepped back a few paces from the brink — thanks, let’s not forget, to immense, taxpayer-financed rescue packages — the financial sector is rapidly returning to business as usual.
Krugman further notes that Obama hasn’t yet shown the courage to directly confront the bankers, a move that, according to Krugman, could be politically popular.
From U.S. TARP inspector Neil Barofsky we hear distressing news:
1. He found hundreds of banks capable of tracking their use of the TARP money - despite claims by the U.S. Treasury that the task was impossible.
2. If the purpose of the TARP rescue was to increase lending, it has failed.
3. The U.S. financial system, now dependent on bigger and fewer banks, is shakier than ever.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/25/neil-barofsky-tarp-inspec_n_300178.html
AAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH *Runs around and tears how out* I AM SO SICK OF THIS!!!!!!
Perhaps we should organize a day where we all go down and visit the heads of each of these banks and give them a swift kick in the nuts.
Seriously, that is what it feels like here.
Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. According to the Labor Department’s latest numbers, from July, only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/economy/27jobs.html?_r=1