The banks are profitable..rejoice my fellow serfs and knaves...

B

Black Swan

You couldn't make it up is an oft used phrase these days, the rejoicing in the mainstream media (in particular the BBC) in relation to bank shares rising and the banks moving into profitability is the type of sophist spin Mandleson would be proud of...

Greece is declared a basket case, needing 30-60bl from Euroland to avoid being declared effectively bankrupt. *We* create £200bl of Q.E. to give to banks at 0%-0.5%, who then lend bits of it at 5% (and stuff the rest on their balance sheets) and we're perceived to be 'dead clever like'...

We also spend an estimated £150bl (never to be returned) on rescuing the banks, up to another £850bl *guaranteeing* various counter party risk yet the M.Media cream themselves that (as it stands) the taxpayer has made a 'profit' on the shares of up to £10bl....'kin 'ell...are we that collectively stoopid?

After the events of 2008 the integral credibility of the money supply was in doubt, the integrity of those who create it from source likewise. The political avoidance of the economic pain cannot surely be put off any longer? As any scholar/advocate of laissez faire Austrian school economics would state "a Marxist doctrine of capitalist exploitation just ain't gonna fly", well perhaps they wouldn't have said it in the fifteenth century, but you get the point...What they did state was this; "the first job of an economist is to tell governments what they cannot do."
 
I think we're going to see the famous biblical dictum in action. "...unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" will be applied to banks going fwd, methinks.
 
.... and the banks have learned that no matter how irresponsible you have been, that you will get bailed out. What possible incentive have they to behave decently?

Oh, of course! .... the politicians are going to pass a load of new regs and monitor them closely aren't they :LOL:
 
[Found this on another forum. Note the sting in the tail]

Bank run ahead...
April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Greeces banks may run out of the collateral used to get funding from the European Central Bank as Greek sovereign debt falls in value, according to Citigroup Inc. Chief Economist Willem Buiter.

Greek banks probably get most of their short-term funding from the ECB, using mainly Greek sovereign debt as collateral, Buiter wrote in a report yesterday. When the value of the state debt falls in the secondary market, the decline in the mark-to- market value of the collateral may trigger margin calls -- or demands for more collateral, Buiter said.

Eventually the Greek banks could run out of additional collateral acceptable to the ECB/Eurosystem, Citigroup said. Their funding needs are likely to be exacerbated by a withdrawal of deposits that could become a run.

Greeces economic crisis has raised funding costs for Greek banks and forced them to borrow from the ECB rather than in the market. The ECB said on March 25 that it would extend emergency lending rules, adding that Greek bonds wont be cut off from ECB refinancing operations next year. The bank had been scheduled to reintroduce pre-crisis rules at the end of 2010, which sparked concerns over the Greek banks abilities to raise funding.

National Bank of Greece SA, EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA, Alpha Bank SA and Piraeus Bank SA, Greeces largest lenders, have been the worst-performing stocks in the 52-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index this year, led by National Banks 42 percent decline and a 37 percent drop in Piraeus.

Greek Banks Slide

National Bank fell 5.6 percent to 10.49 euros as of 1:58 p.m. in Athens trading today. Eurobank lost 5.7 percent to 5.11 euros, Alpha slid 6.2 percent to 5.65 euros and Piraeus sank 6.4 percent to 5.09 euros.

If Greeces lenders run out of collateral and suffer an outflow of deposits, the ECB would have to reduce the minimum quality threshold on securities acceptable as collateral, currently BBB- or the equivalent, or refuse to lend to the Greek banks, Citigroups Buiter said. That would spark a funding crisis and possible bank failures, he said.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou triggered his countrys 45 billion-euro ($60 billion) bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund on April 23 after failing to convince investors that the state could pare a surging budget deficit, which stood at 13.6 percent last year.

Earnings Outlook

Earnings at National Bank, the countrys largest lender, Eurobank, Alpha and Piraeus may suffer this year as government measures aimed at slashing the fiscal deficit curb loan demand and drive up defaults. National Bank and Piraeus posted net losses in the fourth quarter after loan losses rose. Local bank deposits fell 3.6 percent in the first two months of 2010.

Although a banking crisis would not trigger a sovereign default in any mechanical way, it could increase the reluctance of the markets to fund the sovereign and may precipitate a sudden stop, which would leave the sovereign wholly dependent on funding from the IMF and the other Euro area member governments, Citigroup said. The ECB/Eurosystem could end up with large mark-to-market losses on its loan portfolio.

European banks are seriously exposed to Greek risk and had total exposure of $193.1 billion at the end of December. French lenders have the biggest claims on the Mediterranean country, at $78.8 billion, followed by German banks with $45 billion and British lenders with $15.4 billion, Citigroup said, citing data from the Bank for International Settlements.
 
Greek banks..the Eurozone...pfftt!! What's up with the pussies, havn't they heard of Q.E.? Gentlemen start your engines, print, print, print, mint, mint, mint...300bl EU will cover it. You know it makes sense, just ask the UK govt and BoE ...:D
 
It gets worse, old news (well a couple of hours) Greece now has more ruins than its Acropolis as sovereign debt finally downgraded to junk...the contagion could get interesting, RBS + LBG own a lot of the junk. Germany really doesn't want to help, maybe loads of them went on holiday to Crete last year and thought they'd get the price of jet skis down from 50 EU per half an hour to a reasonable 20...I just fookin laughed at them...the kids thought I was being tight at the time...:devilish:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100427-716153.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesEurope
 
If I had a penny for every time I saw the expression "Greek tragedy" in the press..

So now the challenge will be to think of something alliterative or otherwise to go with Portugal.

Poor Portugal
Algarve all gone
Lesson for Lisbon

these are all crap, anyone got a better catchphrase?
 
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