Won't Somebody Please Think of the Bankers?

[marmar]

via AlterNet's PEEK:



Won't Somebody Please Think of the Bankers?

Posted by Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog at 10:54 AM on January 2, 2010.

Their plight hurts all of us.




I'm a bit late getting to this, but according to an article in yesterday's New York Times, next year might be a terribly painful year for the banksters:

Most banks are hunkering down in anticipation of another big wave of real estate and consumer loan losses. Small and midsize banks are expected to be hit especially hard: They must absorb nearly $900 billion of commercial real estate losses over the next few years....

The big banks, meanwhile, face a range of new regulations that take effect in 2010. Rules curbing overdraft fees and predatory practices in the credit card business are expected to squeeze the flow of billions of dollars from penalty income. They will also have less wiggle room as regulators require them to hold larger cash reserves, reducing their returns and forcing them to be more conservative.

That heralds a sharp drop in profits, especially if the ebullient stock and bond markets, which generated billions in trading revenue last year for Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street giants, tapers off in 2010.

Omigod! It's going to be just horrible for banks!

How horrible? This horrible:

Analysts say that bank profitability might fall by a third from its precrisis levels, to where it was in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

I hear you gasping -- understandably! Why, it's a cataclysm! They'll only make two thirds of what they made during the boom! They'll only make what they made under Ronald Reagan! .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/144907/won%27t_somebody_please_think_of_the_bankers/

[laughingliberal]

1. Good article. Thanks for posting. And they got it right. Volcker is the Colin Powell

of this administration-the one who knows what the right thing to do is but to whom no one listens. This guy is the grown up in the administration while the romper room kids like Rahm, Timmeh, and Summers go right on playing big shot with the Wall Street hooligans.

[HBravo]

2. Isn't there something we can do

like set up a donation system or maybe a telethon.:sarcasm:

[metapunditedgy]

3. 33% decrease in profits means bonuses can only increase 50%.

It's going to be a hard year for the banksters.

But seriously, who would hold stock shares of these banks? Shareholders have been getting screwed left and right in this crisis.