"While the largest banks can correctly claim that they have offloaded risky assets and bolstered the amount of cash on their balance sheets over the last decade, their business model has become fundamentally disconnected from the very people and entities it was designed to serve. Small community banks, which make up only 13 percent of all banking assets, do nearly half of all lending to small businesses.
Big banks are about deal making. They serve mostly themselves, existing as the middle of the hourglass that is our economy, charging whatever rent they like for others to pass through. (Finance is one of the few industries in which fees have gone up as the sector as a whole has grown.) The financial industry, dominated by the biggest banks, provides only 4 percent of all jobs in the country, yet takes about a quarter of the corporate profit pie."
Rana Foroohar, How Big Banks Became Our Masters, NYT
Why doesn't Washington reign in the obvious excesses and blatant frauds and abuses of the Big Banks? I will let you answer that one for yourself.
The Dollar rally and a 'risk on' attitude continued to pressure the precious metals today.
Trump and crew have unveiled their tax 'reform' plan's framework. It will be interesting to see how their latest legislative effort actually unfolds. The special interests and Big Money are preparing to storm the swamp.
Is post-hurricane Puerto Rico going to be another Katrina? Yet another failure in domestic humanitarian leadership? Perhaps we can redirect some of our global nation building efforts towards something a little closer to home, to someplace where we do not covet their natural resources.
Have a pleasant evening.
