Some regulations have occured this year which help protect the stated balance sheets of banks, but obfuscate reality from the public. We need more clarity, not more opaqueness. The government is doing everything wrong, and it will extend and deepen this Depression. The fact that Firstfed modified $1bn in loans, is a very bad sign considering the bank's equity is now under $300mm and low and middle income housing markets have collapsed anywhere from 40% to 90%. We should view banks as owners of real estate. If you figure FFED has $6bn in loans outstanding as of March 31, and say $300mm in equity, all that has to happen is those loans lose 5% of their value. Given the bank is in California where unemployment is 11% and rising, and given $1bn is already being "modified" and another 200+ houses are in REO on the banks website, FFED isn't looking so good. How our government allows this bank to appear as a stable institution is a crime. There's other safer banks that deserve FFED's deposits which would make them stronger and aide our economy. Issuers of Option-ARM loans aren't going to fare too well in the future, much less this bank having problems in the past. This banks will go down because it made among the stupidest of loans. The government is the cause of this nonsense, due to their leveraging the dollar in order to support bank-lending feeding-frenzy.
$22.29 (07/07/09)
