Stress Testing Tim Geithner

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim GeithnerThanks to Occupy Wall Street, in the State of the Union this week President Obama struck some of his most populist themes yet. He wants to tax millionaires, bring back manufacturing and prosecute the big banks. He touted his Wall Street reforms saying the big banks are "no longer allowed to make risky bets with customers deposits" and "the rest of us aren't bailing you out ever again."

But are we safe from the next big bank bailout? Many experts are dubious and Wednesday the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen decided to test the theory in the most direct way possible. They used the administrative law process to formally petition the nation's top bank regulators to move swiftly to break up Bank of America (BofA) asserting in their petition: "The bank poses a grave threat to U.S. financial stability by any reasonable definition of that phrase."

"A Ticking Time Bomb"

BofA is not just big, its behemoth. With assets of $2.1 trillion, equal to more than 14 percent of U.S. GDP, it is bigger than many small countries. Yet, its stock is trading at $7.

What does Wall Street know that we don't?

The petition provides a compelling list of disturbing data points. In 2008-2009, BofA publicly took $45 billion in TARP bailout funds and secretly took another $1 trillion in emergency Federal Reserve loans. Yet, several analysts predict that BofA is woefully short of capital reserves and facing potentially billions in legal liability for its role in the crisis.

Although the bank declared net profits in recent quarters, these profits come from accounting tricks, one-time asset sales and stock swaps. BofA's share price to tangible book value is extremely low. The market suspects the bank is worth roughly half of what management claims, and the price of credit default swaps (a type of insurance) on BofA recently rose to record highs.

"The bank is a ticking time bomb," says David Arkush of Public Citizen. "If Bank of America in its current form were to fail, it would devastate the financial system. We're asking the regulators to make sure that never happens. The only way to be sure is to reform the institution into something safer, before any crisis materializes."

Public Citizen asked the new Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), which is chaired by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and made up of the nation's top bank regulators, to use the tools provided in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to act before a crisis occurs and to break BofA into smaller separate institutions. The law allows the FSOC to limit big bank mergers and acquisitions, restrict products and services or order it to divest assets or off-balance-sheet items after a vote to designate the institution a "grave threat" to financial stability.

"Too Big to Fail" is Alive and Well

Although President Obama said the goal of Dodd-Frank was to end the era of "too-big-to-fail," neither Geithner nor Fed Chair Ben Bernanke got the memo.

Geithner told the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2011 that future bailouts are possible: "In the future we may have to do exceptional things again if we face a shock that large. You just don't know what's systemic and what's not until you know the nature of the shock. It depends on the state of the world -- how deep the recession is. We have better tools now, thanks to Dodd-Frank. But you have to know the nature of the shock."

Bernanke may already be engaged in a back-door bailout of BofA. Recent news reports indicate that BofA is trying to move $22 trillion in derivatives out of its Merrill Lynch subsidiary into its FDIC-insured bank. The Fed favors the move. The Federal Depository Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which provides insurance to depositors if a bank fails, does not.

"By taking this action the Fed is allowing these derivatives to pose a direct risk to the FDIC insurance fund, keeping taxpayers on the hook for another bailout," according to Arthur Wilmarth of George Washington Law School.

Groups like Public Citizen fought hard during the Dodd-Frank debates to insert into the bill tools to allow regulators to break up big banks and prevent the next crisis. With BofA in such fragile condition, its time for a "test of the machinery," said scholar Lawrence Baxter of Duke Law School.

Expand the Stress Tests

Geithner is right when he says regulators can't predict future shocks; will it be the EU debt crisis, a multi-million dollar damage award against the bank or exposure to something out of the blue? While we may not know its origin, we know the shock is coming.

Remember in the Dodd-Frank debates, an amendment to break up the banks was rejected, efforts to restore Glass-Steagall were rejected, a proposal to force banks to spin off and separately capitalize their dangerous derivatives desks was quashed. In leading the fight against the stronger measures, Geithner instead pushed the FSOC to scan the horizon for risk and keep an eye on the behemoth banks. He also pushed "stress tests," which all too many banks seem to pass with flying colors.

Now its time to stress test Geithner. If the FSOC fails to deliberate and vote on the very serious condition of BofA, the whole exercise will be proven a sham.

Click here to tell the President to Break Up Bank of America.


The Center for Media and Democracy joined scholars and groups including Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, Demos, National People's Action, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, New Bottom Line, SAFER and U.S. PIRG in calling upon regulators to investigate any threats posed by Bank of America or other large and complex financial institutions and to take all actions necessary to safeguard financial stability.

Mary Bottari

Mary Bottari is a reporter for the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). She helped launch CMD's award-winning ALEC Exposed investigation and is a two-time recipient of the Sidney Prize for public interest journalism from the Sidney Hillman Foundation.

Comments

Dear Mr. President, Thank you for the speech last night; I was glad that you were brave enough to mention your demands of a vigorous and thorough investigation of the mass and Intentional Fraud perpetrated by the Banks, by the Federal Reserve, and by those "Financiers" on Wall Street. These highly-orchestrated financial CRIMES by those criminals who willfully conducted them, are indeed very serious and, in fact, are directly responsible for this ENTIRE Economic Fiasco. I, along with countless others, want to urge you, with the most emphatic fortitude possible, to thoroughly investigate ALL involved, to a man, in this totally and willfully collaborated gigantic Scheme to Defraud the very citizens of this, our country, the United States. But don't stop there!! Each one of the Criminals must then be Indicted, Prosecuted to the fullest extent of THE NEW LAWS, (all of which will be made retroactive) and, finally, actually PUNISHED SEVERELY; Let me be perfectly clear: Each Criminal that is found Guilty in the Courts of Law, whether by a judicious Judge or by a Jury of his/her "peers," shall be held fully accountable for their CRIMES, and penalties will surely entail STIFF terms of imprisonment, along with the lawful SEIZURE of ALL ill-gotten gains. We all know, for example, that Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, Richard Fuld, Hank Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Alan Greenspan, and an astonishingly dizzying and countless number of all the other CRIMINALS, should be on the TOP of your list for these vigorous investigations. We MUST HOLD each of these Serial PREDATORS/Offenders FULLY ACCOUNTABLE. ALL those who were and still are engaged in these Enormous Crimes of Fraud, Scheme to DeFraud, Elder Abuse, and countless other very serious Felonies, MUST PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES!!!! Thank you. We will ALL hold your feet to the fire on this issue specifically. PLEASE do NOT let us down!!! Sincerely, Christina Marlowe

"Each one of the Criminals must then be Indicted, Prosecuted to the fullest extent of THE NEW LAWS, (all of which will be made retroactive)" Yeah...that's the worst idea EVER. Let the government prosecute people for things done before they were illegal, and then they'll be able to put ANYONE in prison for anything they want to decide later is illegal. That's a very short road to tyranny and despotism, a road we're a long way along to the destination as it is with most of the checks and balances between the branches of government having been eliminated (20+ "czars" unvetted by congress with a budget not requiring congressional approval either, and the 17th amendment which had senators appointed to represent the states and protect states' rights, for two major examples.). If what you say were to occur, I would leave this country and ask for political asylum in Canada or Belize, or possibly New Zealand, because as soon as our dollar collapses from gross negligence in deficit spending and overregulations killing economic growth, we'll become a fascist totalitarianish state. Just look at all the countries whose economies collapsed due to hyperinflation. Did NOT end well for any of them.

Obama is a GREAT orator, but his votes, vetoes, signing statements, appointments and actions contradict his eloquent and rousing speeches. NEVER trust what he says; or ANY other official or executive, for that matter. For you clear-headed progressives out there, caucus for "uncommitted" at your upcoming precinct caucuses. Even though "your" party isn't "offerring" you any other candidates, you don't have to support THIS corporate sham. And, offer a resolution REQUIRING all Democrat candidates and officials follow the party platform. Quit relying on rhetoric and require appropriate substance instead.

If anyone questions the Wall Street Protesters movement as to why they are there. This should answer their questions. Instead of the people who invested in BOFA or JP Morgan and “Played the game and lost” ,but took home the profits in the mean time, being the ones who are reaping what they sow. They are keeping what they got and letting us all eat cake. Where are regulators now, that we need them? Oh wait regulation is a bad thing. Maybe I should just be a good sheeple and just bow down and eat the shinola that’s given to me. I won’t be able to shop at the grocery store since all my money is bailing out Europe and Wall Street now. Can I at least get a free vacation for my pounds please?