from today's SLATE: >[M]ost [of the big US newspapers] front the government-orchestrated sale of >most of Wachovia to Citigroup for $1 a share, or about $2 billion. Citigroup >will inherit Wachovia's $312 billion loan portfolio, but the government agreed >to pay for any losses after the $42 billion mark. In return for this >guarantee, the government got $12 billion in preferred stocks and warrants.
>Wachovia's sale is the latest example of how Wall Street has been reshaped in >the past few weeks with what the NYT calls "a wave of shotgun mergers." In a >separate Page One piece, the WSJ says that the "notoriously fragmented >American banking system is going through a decade's worth of consolidation in >a matter of weeks." Now only the strongest banks are likely to survive, and >the consequences of this consolidation will be felt for years. Customers might >see their fees go up because of a lack of competition, but on the upside, the >mere size of these banks means they'll be less vulnerable to future economic >shocks. Then again, these banks could decide to take bigger risks because they >may be seen as too big to fail. < maybe we should get rid of the too-big-to-fail problem by bringing back a lot of old regulations, such as the ban on interstate banking? -- Jim Devine / "Nobody told me there'd be days like these / Strange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama." -- JL. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
