Our U.S. financial system is a mess and it seems that Ben Bernanke and others are scrabbling to fix it. I haven't study this problem carefully, so I don't know what "it" is. I do know that it was a problem people thought they could sweep underneath the rug, but the dust pile got too big.
My CEO, Allan Lunsford, and I were talking late last year and he was telling me that there is over a trillion dollars still unaccounted for and he expected a couple banks to go under soon. My friend at Goldman Sachs thought UBS would go under in 2008, but the GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corp) and a Middle Eastern investor save their ass by investing $11.48 billion last December.
IndyMac's recent collapse has brought reality back to the financial sector. The problem isn't going away and band-aid policies are not going to do it any more. There needs to be an overhaul in this sector. The scary thing is that it's probably not over. Who is next?
Also one interesting fact to note is that Angelo Mozilo, the recent CEO of Countrywide Financial, was the co-founder of both Countrywide and IndyMac. Countrywide was saved by Bank of America and IndyMac by the Feds. I wonder what the culture was in both of these companies? :)
Some news articles to check out:
"Who's the Next IndyMac?"
"My Interview with Senator Jim Bunning" CNBC's Kudlow
"How to Know If Your Money Is Safe"
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