morph366

Banking Crisis Not Yet Over

You say
"Over all the British have saved their banking system from collapse."

You may be just a bit premature as they say it's not over until the fat lady sings

The U.K.'s Sovereign Rating and Major Banks

According to one senior source at Moody's (as discussed at FT Alphaville and also at my blog) the UK should be able to retain its AAA rating because of its "sustained inter-generational solidarity mechanism" - those are his actual words and not made up.

The great irony is that, according to another source, the UK would not qualify for an IMF Flexible Credit Line (FCL) for failing to satisfy the basic conditions.

So no IMF facility - normally paid out to lesser sovereign credits - but as far as the Head of Sovereign Risk at Moody's (at least as quoted in the FT piece) - no problem with a AAA rating.

Baffled and want to read more-
morph366.blogspot.com/...

Financials Watch: AIG Brouhaha Distracts from Other Improprieties

Good insight into another new scam.
You say that "someone will figure out.... that the TALF plan is a thinly veiled bailout of the hedge fund industry." It sounds like you have already!

Preview from Europe: Another Rollercoaster Day on the Markets

How long do you think it will take the forensic accountants to figure out just what value to put on Barclay's assets?

Barclays: Crushed

Re mbr
Solution you propose doesn't help as the the government will be investing in banking shares on your behalf as a taxpayer.

Barclays: Crushed

Re User 265631
You ask whether the dumbass traders who are wrecking our financial system understand balance sheets. I think the question would be better put to the people that run the banks.
Citigroup's problems, among others, stemmed from the fact that nobody understood the risks they were taking. The bank is not only too big to fail but too big to understand and manage.