Mike Stathis

Fed Bailout of Wall Street: Not Fair to the Commercial Banks

Nice commentary and great industry insight.

A note: Bear Stearns was not bailed out. In fact, the Fed refused to bail them out but granted unlimited cash to IBs in the future. Bear got a bad deal.

Perhaps we should all be wondering how it was that JPM got such a sweet deal - virtually no risk of loss and the world's most highly coveted clearing and prime brokerage business units from Bear, which I would estimate to be worth in excess of $18 billion.

Either way, both the commercial and IBs come out of this mess with the support of taxpayer dollars, which is debasing the dollar further, causing further inflation and higher oil prices.

I think a better title for your article might be "Fed Bailout of Wall Street Not Fair to Taxpayers."

I regard U.S. banks as the enemy of the American people, both commercial and investment alike. America is now more preoccupied with making interest than making products and the full effects of this disasterous strategy has only begun to surface.

Having worked on Wall Street, I've seen the fraud and corruption. And I left the industry because I did not want to be anywhere near that type of "business."

As a consumer, I have been exploited, lied to, and even had money stolen from me by one very large commerical bank. In fact, as it stands today, the commercial banking industry now joins the ranks of the worst run industries in America, along with the auto and airlines.