The U.S. Recovery Has Been Spectacular*

We need a real recovery. That's what Mitt Romney said during the campaign, and he was right. Five years since the start of the Great Recession, unemployment is still far too high. It's not for a lack of optimism among policymakers. As Evan Soltas pointed out, the Federal Reserve keeps predicting that prosperity is just around the corner, only to find it's not. Catchup growth is the new Godot. FULL STORY *Compared to almost every other rich country and almost every other financial crisis.

Probes Spotlight Dual Roles in Housing Deals

Probes of the collapsed mortgage-bond boom are shedding light on how Wall Street firms...

Mega Banks Pressure Smaller PlayersBank

Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo hold 33% of all deposits..

Cap on Bank Bonuses Clears Hurdle in Europe

As Wall Street drags its feet on reining in bonuses, the European Union is forcing its banks — by law — to show some self-restraint.

Bank Fix for Sour Property Loans: Extend and Pretend

Banks are restructuring many unpaid loans on commercial real estate rather than foreclose...

IMF Warns Countries to Sustain Stimulus

"Fiscal stimulus needs to be sustained until the recovery is on a firm footing and may need to be amplified...if downside risks to growth materialize" said the IMF in its World Economic Outlook...

Source: www.wsj.com

Banks to collect $27 billion this year in Overdrafts - from consumers

Have a debit card? If you 'overspend' and are hit with the average $34 overdraft charge, your in that group of people who will help the banks collect more than $27 billion in overdrafts....lucky you!

U.S. Is Finding Its Role in Business

U.S. Is Finding Its Role in Business Hard to Unwind

Banks fight plan to regulate derivatives....

WALL Street is suiting up for a battle to protect one of its richest fiefdoms..

Will HSBC start a mortgage war?

Will HSBC start a mortgage war? Some predicted a mortgage price war after HSBC introduced a discount deal at 1.99 per cent last week,...

The 'New' Tactics in Mortgage Fraud

As more and more homeowners head back into the real estate picture, industry insiders say that new tactics are being used in mortgage fraud...

Did Bernanke Bully Bank of America ?

A new report by the New York Attorney General says that government officials bullied Bank of America Chief Ken Lewis into accepting a merger with Merrill Lynch--then ordered him to keep mum about losses at Merrill..

www.forbes.com

Busting Bank of America

The cavalier use of brute government force has become routine, but the emerging story of how Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke forced CEO Ken Lewis to blow up Bank of America is still shocking. It's a case study in the ways that panicky regulators have so often botched the bailout and made the financial crisis worse..

http://online.wsj.com

Knives out for 'reckless' Bank of America boss

Ken Lewis was preparing for the fight of his life this weekend in a high-stakes battle to retain his job as chief executive of Bank of America when shareholders assemble for the annual meeting of the financial giant...

www.independent.co.uk

Meltdown losses Total '$4 trillion'

News.bbc.co.uk
One year ago, the IMF estimated that total losses from the credit crunch would be $1 trillion, which has been exceeded, showing how rapidly the financial meltdown has escalated.

BofA's wallet may be full enough to repay TARP

BofA Head Kenneth Lewis boldly told the Charlotte Observer Wednesday that BofA could repay the borrowed monies immediately if it were not maintaining higher-than-normal capital to account for the "fragile" state of the financial system.

MAKE MONEY: Bank of America earnings preview

TheDeal.com: Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) is releasing first-quarter earnings Monday morning. Now that J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) have issued earnings and beat analyst's expectations, Bank of America has a lot to prove, especially since CEO and Chairman Ken Lewis' position has come under fire in recent weeks due to the Merrill Lynch acquisition.

The 10 people who have profited most from the financial crisis

Timesbusiness.typepad.com: We’ve rounded up ten credit crunch Houdinis who’ve escaped the financial crisis and are laughing all the way to the ailing bank.

Ten people who predicted the financial meltdown

Timesbusiness.typepad.com: The financial events of recent weeks have filled many of us with shock and panic. Surely no one could have predicted that we would be in this mess? Well, actually, they did. Here are ten people who saw the financial meltdown coming...

Filthy rich: the 10 highest paid hedge fund managers of 2008

Timesbusiness.typepad.com: Stock markets across the world may have tanked last year but that didn’t stop the top performing hedge fund managers from making themselves a huge pile of cash.