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An era of decline and disappointment for bankers may not end for years, according to interviews with more than two dozen executives and investors. Blaming government interference and persecution, they say there isn’t enough global stability, leverage or risk appetite to triumph in the current slump.
“I don’t think it’s a time to make money -- this is a time to rig for survival,” said Charles Stevenson, 64, president of hedge fund Navigator Group Inc. and head of the co-op board at 740 Park Ave. The building, home to Blackstone Group LP Chairman Stephen SWchwarzman and CIT Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Thain, was among those picketed by protesters yesterday. “The future is not going to be like a past we knew,” he said. “There’s no exit from this morass....”
The benefits of a $700 billion taxpayer bailout and $1.2 trillion in emergency funding from the Federal Reserve have faded....
That isn’t diminishing lobbying efforts to soften rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, which would reduce risk, curtail proprietary trading and force more transparency in the $601 trillion derivatives market. Large financial institutions have been “exceedingly aggressive at trying to roll back reform” and have largely succeeded....
So now we see that Wall Street bankers are becoming increasingly aware that this "recession" is NOT like those of the past. Even the huge bank bailouts were not enough to solve the problems caused by the repeal of the Glass-Steagal bill in 1999. There is still a "$601 TRILLION derivatives market," and "there's no exit from this morass."
The Dodd-Frank Act made a feeble attempt to resolve the problem, but when the banks virtually own the government, it is almost impossible for government to tell the bankers to be good.
Today, the city of Harrisburg, PA filed for bankruptcy.
Birmingham, AL could be next with more than $3 billion of debt.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/27/national/main20084009.shtml
Many cities have been pushed to the brink. Everyone was told that if they could just kick the can down the road and wait a little longer, the economy would turn around and they would recover. But they cannot postpone admitting their insolvency indefinitely.
While things certainly look bad, in reality it is just God's way of forcing us to declare a Jubilee. The other side of a Jubilee will look quite different.