Remember that the Fed has regulatory powers over the banks as well. There will be some kind of under the radar accounting change that will allow the banks to keep assets at book value instead of having to mark to market.
1) That’s what the Japanese banks did for a whole decade. At that time the Clinton administration was telling them to let the banks fail and open up their market for foreign acquisitions. American banks will soon be all owned by sovereign investment funds.
2) It’s funny how things come around. It wasn’t too long ago that we wanted developing countries such as India, China and Brazil to allow 100% foreign owned companies (such as Citibank, Coke, etc) to operate in their countries.
3) Now that the election campaigning is in full swing, the skeletons of the 1990s will come out again. Remember Charles Keating and Silverado? Locally, we had HomeFed, Imperial Savings, and Great American Savings.
