The leaks about who failed the stress tests are already starting.  Who got a big fat ‘F’?  Apparently, Citi and BofA for starters.  But is that any surprise?
Regulators have told Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. that the banks may need to raise more capital based on early results of the government’s so-called stress [...]

In this much-talked about Charlie Rose roundtable with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz joined by Bill Ackman of Pershing Square, Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times and Kate Kelly of the Wall Street Journal, these experts discuss the government-administered stress tests. Joseph Stiglitz has been particularly negative about the Obama Administration’s banking crisis [...]

It looks pretty clear that the U.S. regulators are going to clean house this year — at least with small banks.  Hundreds of small banks and credit union will go into receivership in 2009.  However, big banks are getting a free ride. First there was the juxtaposition of the kid gloves treatment of too big [...]

Irrespective of whether one thinks the stress tests used to test the U.S. banking system is a sham (10% unemployment is not a worst-case scenario), the fact of the matter is these tests MUST show some differentiation in order to be credible.  Vincent Reinhart, a former Fed official now at the AEI, makes this case [...]

Paul McCulley of PIMCO made a few comments back in March which caught my attention.  Given how well banks are doing this earnings season, I thought it relevant to quote him here.  The essence of his remarks was this:

Deleveraging is a self-reinforcing vicious cycle brought upon by the Paradox of Thrift.  In order to stop [...]

The Bloomberg video below makes it seem that Whitney believes the stress tests are a sham. She says the tests are a theoretical exercise whereby banks ask: “what will our earnings power be in two years after we sell off these ‘toxic’ assets?” She goes on to suggest that the answer to this question [...]

Story from Investor’s Business Daily:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for “new rules of the game” on Thursday, including a systemic-risk regulator, stronger capital cushions for banks, and more disclosure from hedge funds.
The broad-brush vision also would have derivatives such as credit default swaps trade via a central clearinghouse. Higher standards for money-market mutual funds — [...]

This post is a contribution from Rob Parteneau of MacroStrategy Edge about fiscal expansion, printing money, avoiding debt deflation, and U.S. treasuries. He has some great insights on deflationary spirals, the paradox of thrift and the desire of foreign investors to dump dollars. He also argues that the “Blame Asia Meme” is misguided as the ultimate source of credit growth in the United States is domestic. The crux of his statements is that the only way to avoid a deflationary spiral when household savings is increasing is through fiscal expansion, which is one reason I support fiscal stimulus. But, there are consequences.

I have the same misgivings about the Public Private Partnership Investment Program that Paul Krugman does. However, I still think it could work in conjunction with all of the other stimulus being applied (at least in inducing a cyclical rebound, which seems to be the goal). Krugman does not. Watch the video [...]

This is yet another semi-positive post about the Geithner plan. To reiterate, I think the plan is inadequate because it assumes illiquidity instead of insolvency and is a huge gift to the financial sector. But, that does not mean it will definitely not work in conjunction with other moves by Obama.
In fact, to [...]