Ephemeral hell (finance, what else?)

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JB09Dj01.html


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Of course, there is no end to duplicity and corruption in the banks anymore, and so it is but child's play to diddle with numbers in accounts and ledger entries to get Total Reserves back up to its $41.639 billion more-or-less average by doing something tricky, like letting banks move losses off their balance sheets into Special Purpose Investment Vehicles or something in, say, an off-shore account in a related subsidiary in which they have a 0.0001% stake or more, or changing what is counted as reserves ("You could sell the building and all future cash flows, so that should count as reserves!"), or using a 15-year moving average of past reserve balances as "reserves".

John Williams at Shadowstats.com had noticed it, too, and says, "In December 2007, total borrowings from the Fed topped 36% of total reserves, then the highest proportion seen since 46% in March 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt declared a 'bank holiday' and closed the banks."

(bare that in mind - banks can and will close their doors - which includes safety deposit boxes.)

Things are getting Very, Very Serious (VVS) when the Fed is slashing interest rates with abandon and the government is literally sending out money to people, which is the predictable end-game panic of a bizarre economic theory propounded by a ridiculous Federal Reserve and the majority of morons who teach and comment on economics.

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For example, Larry Kudlow, strident CNBC market shill, says he does not care about a $400 billion deficit because he looks at it as a small percentage of GDP! Hahaha! $400 billion is about $4,000 for every non-government worker in the country, you moron! And this is just one year's freaking deficit!
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and this:

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/10640729/c_10640997?f=home_todayinfinance


Subprime Woes Just Beginning, PwC Chief Warns

Nonfinancial companies will be hit next, says DiPiazza. And some, like Bristol-Myers, Ciena, and Lawson, are proving his point.


-snip-

Samuel DiPiazza, chief executive of the Big Four accounting firm, pointed out that many nonfinancial companies were exposed through securities in their own investment portfolios, according to a Reuters report.

"It's not just in banks," DiPiazza said. "These securities sit in cash equivalent accounts of industrials; they sit in investment portfolios of pensions. We are having to deal with this with thousands of companies, not just a handful of big banks."
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[Mountainman]

1. Big Four accounting firms help to make this mess. There use to be a thing called ethics in

accounting. You had to take an ethics test when you pass the CPA exam. Now instead of worrying about whether a company's financial statements could be misleading investors, the big 4 help mislead investors. They teach companies how to make the transactions during the year and then do the audit of the same companies they teach.

[nightrider767]

2. Deficit to GDP ratio is a farce

Considering the actual deficit spending can be up to ten times higher than what's reported.

The fleecing of America.