Rubenstein Says 'Enormous' Bank Losses Unrecognized

[flashl]

Rubenstein Says `Enormous' Bank Losses Unrecognized (Update2)

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and European banks and financial institutions have "enormous losses"' from bad loans they haven't yet recognized and may have a harder time wooing sovereign-fund rescuers, Carlyle Group Chairman David Rubenstein said.

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"The sovereign wealth funds are not likely to jump into the fray again to bail out these institutions," Rubenstein said. "Many financial institutions aren't going to be able to survive as independent institutions."

Rubenstein said sovereign wealth funds are becoming wary after losing $25 billion on their investments in struggling banks and securities firms worldwide.

Financial institutions worldwide have recorded $329.2 billion in credit losses and writedowns and raised $246.6 billion in capital since the beginning of 2007. Rubenstein said about $60 billion of that capital was provided by sovereign funds last fall, and their investments today are worth about $35 billion.

Bloomberg

[grasswire]

1. ..but Carlyle Group will survive

I know for a fact that they are buying properties, renovating resorts, turning them into upscale destinations. I know someone who has been hired at one of the properties. Why are they expanding and investing in the upscale market? I'd like to know the answer to that.

[AdHocSolver]

2. Consider that these financial institutions lose $billions and still stay in business.

Most companies that lose that kind of money go bankrupt. Many go out of business altogether.

The situation is different for these banks, brokerage firms, commodities traders, mutual funds, etc. They get money thrown at them and that "value" disappears, and they still chug along.

Maybe the entire financial system is NOT governed by an "invisible hand", but rather high finance is all smoke and mirrors? Maybe it is all rigged? Maybe there is no "free trade", but rigged trade? Do you think?

Maybe people should ignore what the financial "experts" SAY, and determine what they actually DO. You cannot solve a problem, if you cannot even define what the problem is.

The first premise that you have to accept to understand the economy and its problems is that it is all controlled by the big financial corporations. They are NOT being tossed about by forces beyond their control. They are IN control. They are just spending time trying to figure out how to "juggle the books" so that the "other" guy, including you, gets stuck with their losses.

[sbyte]

3. A premise is not absolute. And institutions can/will fail.

An economy is more of a dynamic force which some people try to control. A premise works only in a limited time/money frame/scale. As we get to the edges of this time and money the premises seem to fall apart. Not to say that there aren't large forces at work taking money from us. You may have to look beyond the current businesses models in this time frame and look/grope at the history of economy's. Or look at the current choke points at this time. Which is the price of oil/energy and food. The price of oil is set in London at the International Petroleum Exchange. Food production has been squeezed because of the free trade agreements that force small farmers to give up.(see note 1) So there are forces beyond our borders impinging on our way of life. It is not really the financial institutions that are at fault. It is there fiduciary duty to make a profit. It is more the scheme of things as in the way exchange of goods is controlled now. We the U.S. have lost control of our ability to even get it back into control again. Unless we realize what has been done and resolve to stand up for our rights as a nation and take back control of our basic necessities.

note 1: Why we must get the WTO out of agriculture http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1842777556/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[AdHocSolver]

4. There is NO "free trade". NAFTA, WTO, etc. are all corporate cartel agreements.

Corporations do fail. But control of the assets remains in the hands of the same insiders. The assets are merely handed around between the same wealthy families like in a game of musical chairs.

Food prices are going up because of the diversion of cropland from food to ethanol production. Small farmers are forced off the land by cartel agreements which, for example, force farmers to buy Terminator seeds, rather than use seeds from the previous year's crop, as farmers have done for generations. Farmers are sued by Monsanto for user fees when Roundup Ready seeds blow into their fields by the wind and mix with their crops.

The price of oil is determined by the executives at Big Oil and the Middle Eastern oil sheiks. The International Oil Exchange is a technique for covering up how the price of oil is really determined. The same people who bid on oil at these exchanges are the same people who control the oil companies.

C'mon! If the "fiduciary duty" of the corporations is to make profit, then it is the duty of governments and international organizations to protect the people from unfair predatory business practices. Government is supposed to "level the playing field" by regulating business practices, being the referee, as it were. The U.S. government has been stolen by the corporations and stripped of its ability to protect the public. On the contrary, government has been co-opted by the corporations to do its bidding in pillaging the people.

The barbarians have taken over the country. Their greed will surely cause severe damage to the U.S. and its people, just as the Great Depression of the 1930's did. However, the wealthy will be little damaged by their greed and corruption. They will still control the assets of this country. They will still live like royalty.

The sooner we put competent, uncorrupted people in government to reregulate business and trade, the less damage that the people of this country will incur.

[truedelphi]

5. I thought that these failing institutions raised abt 200 billion between August and December of 2007

And over 200 billion this year from bailout monies provided by our Treasury...

And just last week, the financial sector was screaming that everything was hunky dory. That the elephant in the room had gone away - and that all the bailout money forked over to them from the US Treasury was getting the expected results of prosperity. (Seemed unlikely to me, but all M$M was saying that...

Personally I don't trust anything anyone says about the financial sector at this point.

And I think that they were saying things were good last week is so that they can hold off for their next round of capital thrown at them by our treasury, courtesy of the taxpayers. But even the stupid ol' taxpayers aren't gonna want to have money given to them 365 days of the year, with no financial "expert" ever saying at least once in a while, that it is helping to bring abt a recovery.

My guess is that they have to occasionally say that it is helping.