I’d say the ego and the intellect are well matched. In any case, how do you know Whalen wants to be a “TV talking head”? Sounds like one of those “unfounded opinions.” I had always assumed he wanted to be Treasury Secretary — as he should be. If there’s a more qualified candidate — with the requisite intellect, analytical skills, knowledge base, and political skills (also very important) — he or she must be hiding under a rock somewhere because I’ve never heard of them. Tim Geithner was a poor, poor choice, as we have seen.

I don’t know Chris Whalen personally, or in any other capacity for that matter, but he clearly has the talent and the horse sense to be a true public servant. Of the many public voices througout this whole bailout debacle, he’s been one of the taxpayer’s best friends. Who else has argued so credibly for the resolution of zombie banks like Citi and Bank of America?

What’s your beef, mkkby? I’m curious. (You really work for Treasury, don’t you ;-)

Have zero confidence in Jimbo.

Off subject SNV – Synovus has a couple of lawsuits pending and is on the ropes. There appears to be malfeasance, with Sea Island and other “preferred borrower’s”. This appears to be SOP for a number of regional community banks throughout the US -oh well

But we all make mistakes, don’t we?

The FDIC *is* the primary regulator for state-chartered banks. Yes, the state examines those banks, but they follow the FDIC. The FDIC has examination teams that go in and rate the state-chartered institutions (1 through 5) and issue cease-and-desist orders and sometimes lock the doors.

I worked in the finance/treasury department of a multi-bank holding company and we had banks that national, state, and thrift charters. We occasionally had unified exams (led by the regional Fed bank), but more often we had individual agencies come in.

The FDIC was nowhere near as thorough as the OCC or the Fed. The state examiners were a joke (one of the guys assigned to examine us had been fired from our finance department for his incompetence), and the OTS had bigger fish to fry. The FDIC guys just worked through their checklists; the OCC actually tried to understand our methodology. They also had a Washington office that knew how banks were run.

So Barry is wrong when he says that the FDIC only comes in after the primary regulator shuts down the bank. With state-chartered banks, they *are* the primary regulator.

Short USB @ $19.95

Short WBS @ $11.40

As always, performance trumps opinions.

2) The FDIC is my personal hero. My bank was told to raise additional capital or face possible takeover or closure this Fall. Their non performing commercial loans are off the chart. FDIC insurance premiums are roughly 5 or 6 times over last year’s expense. If it weren’t for mark to market changes,they would be in even worse shape. Huge layoffs barely dented this quarter’s numbers. And they paid large ‘retention bonuses’ earlier this year to senior management. It’s a basket case that will probably be under new ownership soon. Am I worried … No because of FDIC insurance.

The problem with beating down Cramer is futility. You know those inflatable clowns with sand in the bottom? (see where I’m going…)

The phenomenon that you describe with banks is a much bigger problem. These banks that won’t die are propping up businesses that should die. They’re replacing the concept that “capital flows where it’s treated best” , to “we know where the capital needs to go.” That will be the death of capitalism.

So, we are keeping small businesses run by incompetents on life support, “until things get better”. Hopefully, you guys get ther irony….