Great Summary of the Economy and Why The Banks Are Making Record Profits

[Conley]

This takes less than five minutes to skim -- it is mostly charts -- but it shows a lot about why we have the problems we do. Really the biggest issue IMO is that the politicians have allowed opened up the vault to the banks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-...t-2011-10?op=1

[jgreer]

I have seen this posted on other sites. You are right, it is good.

This is what the 99% and Occupy Wall Street is fighting.

[MMC]

I have seen this posted on other sites. You are right, it is good.

This is what the 99% and Occupy Wall Street is fighting.

Yeah but now that big money has been awoken and knows who is behind the Occupy movement. You can count on them getting the US and other Western nations to go after Anonymous with everything they got. Hence the US Media Downplaying and propagandizing what the movement is about. Making sure the coverage here is lacking.

[jgreer]

I have seen this posted on other sites. You are right, it is good.

This is what the 99% and Occupy Wall Street is fighting.

Yeah but now that big money has been awoken and knows who is behind the Occupy movement. You can count on them getting the US and other Western nations to go after Anonymous with everything they got. Hence the US Media Downplaying and propagandizing what the movement is about. Making sure the coverage here is lacking.

I am sorry but I have no clue what your talking about. There is a media conspiracy? Occupy Wall Street and the protestors have been mocked and marginalized by the news. I agree with that.

[wingrider]

hmmmm, I am not sticking up for the banks here but if theya re making record profits, why are they posting losses?, BOA says they lost 428 million in the third quarter,, something doesn't smell right here,

[Conley]

From the WSJ:

BofA posted a headline profit in the third quarter of $6.2 billion

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/10/1...gs-very-messy/

But it is complicated...interesting stuff, things are not as great for the banks as some would have you believe. Check this out:

Bank of America continues to struggle even after receiving what's often considered a gold seal by the investment community: a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs reported (GS, Fortune 500) its second quarterly loss since the company went public in 1999. Goldman lost 84 cents a share, much worse than the 16-cents-a-share loss expected by analysts.

On Monday, Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) issued a cautious statement as the bank issued a solid earnings report.

Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) is the last of the big banks to report, with its release slated for Wednesday morning before the start of trade.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/18/markets/bofa_earnings/

[Conley]

When it comes to this economic stuff who knows really? But I do believe the banks make a lot of money off the Federal government by playing the bond market. That I don't doubt, since it is set up for them to profit by design. I can see how they would take a bath on mortgages and other aspects of the business.

[Mister D]

A close friend of mine has a pretty solid position with BoA. I'll ask him what company morale is like these days. That would give an inside perspective on how the company is doing.

[Conley]

A close friend of mine has a pretty solid position with BoA. I'll ask him what company morale is like these days. That would give an inside perspective on how the company is doing.

Cool. In my experience company morale has little to do with how the overall company is doing and more to do with the workplace environment, salary, etc. Of course if he is way up there where company performance ties into his salary via bonuses then I can see where there would be much more overlap.

[Mister D]

A close friend of mine has a pretty solid position with BoA. I'll ask him what company morale is like these days. That would give an inside perspective on how the company is doing.

Cool. In my experience company morale has little to do with how the overall company is doing and more to do with the workplace environment, salary, etc. Of course if he is way up there where company performance ties into his salary via bonuses then I can see where there would be much more overlap.

One year he was $#@!ing about his bonus which he insisted was too small. He was insulted! I'm sitting across the table from him eating my chicken wings thinking I'm gonna strangle this guy when I'm done. Yeah, company performance impacts the bonuses. He likes the political game too or at least he understands that he has to play it. I'm curious what he has to say. He's mentioned to me before when there have been downturns in the company causing people to worry.