Saturday, May 26, 2012

Big Banks Are Booming

Meet the 1% of the 1%:

"Persistent low interest rates, stagnant loan growth, and new rules for debit cards will crimp US bank earnings this year.  

Really (keep reading)?

Global regulators, seeking to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis and blunt the impact of potential European sovereign debt defaults, are pushing banks to hold more capital. Firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are seeking to pare costs in some countries while expanding in faster-growing economies, such as China, India, and Brazil....  

Why would anyone want to let those criminals into their country to play with their finances is beyond me.

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Oh, and about those "crimped" earnings:

"Bank earnings reach highest level in 4 years" November 23, 2011|By Derek Kravitz, Associated Press

That's one hell of a crimp.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the banking industry earned $35.3 billion in the July-September quarter....

Banks with assets exceeding $10 billion drove the bulk of the earnings growth. They made up 1.4 percent of all banks but accounted for about $29.8 billion of the earnings in the third quarter.

That's about 85%, folks.

Those are the largest banks, such as Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. Most of these banks have recovered with help from federal bailout money and record-low borrowing rates....

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And it GETS EVEN BETTER!

"US bank earnings at highest level in 5 years" by Marcy Gordon  |  Associated Press, May 25, 2012

WASHINGTON —  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the banking industry earned $35.3 billion in the January-March quarter.  

Gee, that's odd.   

Is it possible all this "wealth" is nothing but shit-shoveled paper and a scam with certain $hit$ ca$hing out early?

That’s up from $28.7 billion in the first quarter of 2011 and the highest level since the second quarter of 2007....  

And AGAIN:

Banks with assets exceeding $10 billion accounted for most of the earnings growth in the January-March period. While they make up just 1.4 percent of US banks, they accounted for about 81 percent of the earnings.

Those banks include Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. Most of them have recovered with assistance from federal bailout money and record-low borrowing rates....

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And let us not forget other Wall Street banks:

"Goldman Sachs’ stock plummeted and it struggled to post profits close to its previous years. Last year, the financial firm earned $4.4 billion, down 47 percent from the previous year....  

Oh, the poor, poor people at Goldman Sachs!!

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Also seeGoldman Sachs settles complaint for $22m

Goldman meeting relatively quiet

Yeah, it's all a big laugh!

"Analysts mostly cited the day’s reports of first-quarter earnings as the buying impetus. Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Goldman Sachs - all giants in their fields - were among those posting profits that exceeded analysts’ expectations....  

Of course, we are never told how much loot they scooped up.

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"Wall Street cash bonuses for 2011 are $19.7 billion. Profits are expected to be less than $13.5 billion in 2011, compared to $27.6 billion in 2010.

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"Last year, flagging profits at many financial firms reduced some bankers’ compensation from stratospheric to merely generous....

It's enough to make you sick, isn't it?

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Can you see why I'm not reading this shit anymore? 

Also see: Amid mass unemployment, corporate profits surge

Did you know "corporate profits set a post World War II record last year"?