- It’s no coincidence the biggest banks are on pace to pay record bonuses. “How hard is it for any finance firm to make risk free money when they can borrow form the Federal Reserve at zero, and lend that same cash to the Treasury (by buying bonds) at 3%?” Barry Ritholtz ponders.
- Editor & Publisher finds a buyer, although editor Greg Mitchell is out of a job.
- Obama’s bank tax may prevent firms from over-expanding and taking on too much risk yet again. “It will be better than doing nothing at all,” Greg Mankiw says. James Kwak says the tax “isn’t nearly big enough.”
- The bank tax doesn’t create an incentive to lend. Or maybe it doesn’t have any effect on lending.
- Mark Thoma wonders if the bank tax will create a moral hazard problem. “The proposed financial crisis responsibility fee is a good first step, but much more is needed to try to prevent the next crisis, and to reduce the impact if a crisis hits despite our best efforts to prevent it,” he says.
- The market’s reaction to reports from Intel (INTC) and JPMorgan (JPM) suggest earnings season has gotten off to a slow start for stocks.
- Stocks are dropping and the news isn’t half-bad. Chad Brand says the markets have priced in good news.
- WSJ’s coverage of the Haiti earthquake.
- Sprint Nextel (S) and Verizon Wireless respond to surging text-message donations for Haiti victims.
- BofA says late payments on credit-card loans fell to lowest level in about a year.
- Gordon Gekko prepping to make his long-awaited return.
