Wow, what a difference a day makes!
Today, as a Recommended diary by soros, tells us, the NY Times is reporting that insiders are claiming that banks are in better shape than they thought they "might" be, and that all 19 major banks should pass their stress tests, even though they'll probably have to get bailed out even more down the road.
How odd that on Tuesday, Reuters reported that the results of the stress tests would be put off, so that the news wouldn't affect earnings season! And that, and I quote, "The last thing Treasury wants to do is set off a panic."
Bottom line? We're being lied to, big time. Again. By the administration that supposedly is of "hope and change".
Well I'm hoping for some change myself right now. I'm hoping that somebody wises up and gets rid of the professional-loser and failing-upwards and disaster-causer Summers and the equally hapless and incompetent Geithner. In other words, I want Obama to wake the F up and realize that he's either being equally incompetent and stupid, or else he's been duped by whoever recommended he hire these losers and f'ing well fix it.
I want what we were promised, which was "transparency". Instead we're getting pissed on, again, and told that it's raining. Shades of the Bush years.
WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department is planning to delay the release of any completed bank stress test results until after the first-quarter earnings season to avoid complicating stock market reaction, a source familiar with Treasury's discussions said on Tuesday.
Don't you love how they put that? To avoid "complicating" stock market reaction? Good lord ...
Why is this so bad? Well today the stock market is experiencing a signifigant rally based on a "profits" report from Wells Fargo which was far above expectations.
Wells Fargo is, as many have reported, most likely insolvent. Yet with their infusion of billions TARP money, they are suddenly showing a "profit". Wow. Yeah, I took first grade math. If I dump thousands of gallons of water into a badly leaking swimming pool, it will actually fill up. For a while.
So now millions of people are gonna get hammered from this rally, buying shares of a bank that is more than likely insolvent, because they're being lied to by our new government.
How is this productive? How could this possibly lead to anything good? Sure, as of today, this morning, Wall Street is doing backflips. So what? When it all comes crashing down, again, who really gets hurt? Mom and Pop retirees, like my own father, who is 74 and trying to live off his 401K for the rest of his life.
The source, speaking anonymously because the Treasury has not made a final decision on what to disclose, said officials do not want any test results released before the earnings season wraps up for most U.S. banks on April 24.
So they can't seem to figure out how to tell the truth to the public.
Officials realize it may be hard to keep the results under wraps, and they are looking for ways the banks could disclose some details without unduly disturbing the markets. They are also looking at providing some summary information about how the banks fared.
"Unduly"???? WTF do they mean by "unduly?" If the banks are in trouble, that's a goddamn FACT, and the markets had damn well better be "disturbed" by it!
What is WRONG with these people? The sooner the truth about everything comes out, the sooner we can get back to normal. "Normal" being where things should be, where they belong."
But officials are worried about how the market will react to the stress test results if there is not a clear recovery path for a bank that is deemed to have a large capital need.
The last thing Treasury wants to do is set off a panic, the source said.
So there you have it. The story that seems to be the truth, and then the anonymous leaking today of the bullshit.
All for some short-term gains in the stock market. And we all know the only people who benefit from that are the brokers who are in the know. The rest of us? Shit Out of Luck (SOL) as always!