this is shocking – New York Fed and Treasury Tell Banks to Hold Cash – Posted by Larry Doyle – How often have Americans heard politicians screaming at banks for not providing credit? How often have those same politicians and bank regulators informed us that they are working to have banks inject money into the economy to support Main Street? Regrettably, America deals with this pandering and posturing from our political leaders and regulators all too often. While Americans are being told one thing, what are the regulators telling the banks? Hold cash. I am not shocked, but certainly disappointed, that American financial periodicals failed to run this story detailing these recommendations from our bank regulators. – Sense on Cents Blog
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Is The Federal Reserve Insolvent? – Submitted by Tyler Durden - The ongoing troubles at the GSEs are no secret: … The fact that the mortgage-bond spread has just hit a record tight … , with the sole purpose of keeping rates artificially low, and preventing banks from being forced to take massive writedowns on their entire loan book. This is all well known. What, however, seems to have escaped public attention is what the impact of these delinquencies is on the one largest holder of Mortgage Backed Securities, the Federal Reserve. … – – (goes on to talk about the true value of the MBS owned by the Fed) – Zero Hedge
speech: Fed’s Brian Sack: "The Fed Will Be Embarking On A Tightening Cycle Like No Other In Its History" – Submitted by Tyler Durden – … Recall that Brian is the de-facto head of the Fed’s "markets group" operation located on the 9th Floor of Liberty 33. If there is indeed a Plunge Protection Team, Brian is likely the PM who runs it. Remarks at the National Association for Business Economics Policy Conference, Arlington, Virginia … read on … – Zero Hedge
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Thrift Charter-Flipping Just One More Strain for OTS – By Kate Davidson – A growing number of institutions worried about the Office of Thrift Supervision’s future may switch to a national bank charter, putting even greater pressure on the agency’s budget. Hudson City Savings Bank, a $60 billion-asset thrift in Paramus, N.J., last week became the latest to announce a charter change amid concern about its regulator. … US-Banker
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FHFA Considers Sliding Scale for Capital Requirements – by JACOB GAFFNEY – … In a white paper released today, titled ‘Automatic Recapitalization Alternatives’ (download here), co-author Robert Collender, a senior policy analyst at the FHFA, and colleagues write that “regulators are seeking ways to reduce the procyclical [where one hit in financials causes another and so on] effect of the current capital regulatory regime and the spillovers associated with financial firm distress. … – HousingWire
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The Mayor Of Detroit’s Radical Plan To Bulldoze One Quarter Of The City – … According to one recent estimate, Detroit has 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots. So what can be done when an entire city experiences economic collapse? Well, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing believes that the answer is to downsize on a massive scale. Bing believes that Detroit simply cannot continue to pay for police patrols, fire protection and other essential services for areas that resemble ghost towns. … – The Economic Collapse Blog
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Detroit looks at downsizing to save city – Wants to turn vacant lots into farmland –
The Washington Times
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here we go again – leverage is back! – Freddie Mac Poised to Roll Out MF Mezz Program – By Erika Morphy – … However, she did say that the mezz financing would be provided by a third party and that Freddie Mac would work with several mezz lenders for the program. … Freddie Mac will originate lower-leverage senior debt and then work with one of the mezz lenders in the program to provide additional leverage, up to 85%. … – GlobeSt.com