Banks admit bailout won't work

Wow! Knock me over with a feather. I wonder if these guys get surprised when the sun rises every morning?

So much for that story. A few days ago, when Hank Paulson called the heads of the nine families to Washington and shoved cash down their throats, he announced that the banks would use this new taxpayer cash to lend. They won't, of course. They'll hoard it like a starving family who has just been given a grocery cart full of food.

And after a few days of silence, even the banks are finally admitting that.

NYT: , John Thain, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, said on Thursday that banks were unlikely to act swiftly. Executives at other banks privately expressed a similar view.

“We will have the opportunity to redeploy that,” Mr. Thain said of the new capital on a telephone call with analysts. “But at least for the next quarter, it’s just going to be a cushion."...

“I don’t think that the market wants to see that capital being put to work to leverage the business up again,” said Roger Freeman, an analyst at Barclays Capital, which acquired parts of the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers last month. “My expectation is it’s quarters off, not months off, before you see that capital being put to work.”...

Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan, said his bank was in a stronger position to use the money than some of its competitors.

“It’s clear that the government would like us to use the capital,” Mr. Dimon said on a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. “If you are a bank that is filling a hole, you obviously can’t do that.”

Who is "a bank that is filling a hole"? Seven of the nine that just got taxpayer money.

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yup

Robbing the coffers directly and of course nothing will trickle down. What is even more frightening is how Congress and the two Presidential candidates said this was all good! Then, twists of all twists, it's McCain who is calling for a HOLC, not Obama! and that's straight up New Deal method to refinance bad mortgages so people don't get foreclosed on...

so how many twists and turns can this scam have?

Lehman Subpoenas

New York Times.

Appears they were served about a dozen subpoenas. Problem is if Lehman is guilty of giving bogus reports to investors....they should be putting all of 'em in jail, including Standards and Poors.

I don't know how many CEOs were on CNBC and how many reports were given claiming all was well just about 3 days before they were bailed out, given loans and so on.

I can't think of any who came out and said "yes we're screwed investors", can you?