by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Wall St On Parade:
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s oft repeated mantra this year – that the behemoth Wall Street banks “are a source of strength” in this economic crisis – is melting away faster than a snow cone in July, along with the share prices of these banks. So whom should Americans believe: The composite wisdom of the market or the opinion of a federal regulator whose supervision of these banks has been far from stellar.
The market would seem to have spoken clearly on just how “strong” these banks are. Since the first trading day of the year, January 2, to yesterday’s closing price, here’s the factual reality of just how much common equity capital these banks have bled: Citigroup is down a stunning 48 percent, losing almost half of its common equity capital; Bank of America has lost 35 percent; while JPMorgan Chase, the bank that has perpetually bragged about its “fortress balance sheet,” is down 34 percent year-to-date. And the U.S. is only seven months into what could become a prolonged economic downturn.
House Democrats, desperate to weaken the impact of President Donald Trump’s appointment to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, are crafting a bill to remake the Supreme Court, limiting justices’ tenures to 18 years. While the measure avoids the more radical strategy of packing the Court by adding new justices, it would still change the way the Supreme Court operates.
Update (1405ET): Another nugget revealed in the Flynn filing is that agents who worked on Mueller’s team joked about wiping their cell phones.
Shocking conflict of interest.
