Some quotes from the article in the url below that should be of concern to anyone hoping that we had learned from the Financial Crisis:
“Five years after the system was held at gunpoint by a massively interconnected and over-risked Wall Street, the country’s six biggest banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley—are now 37 percent larger than they were in the depths of the financial crisis. These institutions make more than four out of every 10 loans and tote two-thirds of the banking system’s $14.4 trillion in assets.”
“The total roster of U.S. banks is at all-time record low. In 1985, there were more than 18,000, compared with 6,891 now. … ‘The federal government has been keeping track of the number of banks since 1934 and this year is the very first time that the number has fallen below 7,000.’ [writes economics author and blogger Michael Snyder].”
“JPMorgan Chase is about the size of the entire British economy and holds 12 percent of all cash in the U.S.”
“Four U.S. banks now lug total derivatives exposure well north of $40 trillion, or more than the combined value of U.S. gross domestic product and the national debt.”
Too big to fail is not only alive and well, it is the global financial system! The graphic that accompanies the article demonstrates clearly how the banking industry has consolidated over the last two decades:
Have a good weekend.
David
David
David Chandler & Bill Werther
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Is Wall Street Now Too Big to Care?
By Roben Farzad
December 10, 2013
Bloomberg Businessweek
