They Probably Should Just Shut Them Down

America's five largest banks, which already have received over $145 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars, still face potentially catastrophic losses from exotic investments like derivitives and credit default swaps as economic conditions substantially worsen, latest financial reports and analysis show.

Citibank, Bank of America , HSBC Bank USA , Wells Fargo Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase reported that their "current" net loss risks from derivatives — insurance-like bets tied to a loan or other underlying asset — surged to a $587 billion loss as of Dec. 31 . Buried in end-of-the-year regulatory reports that McClatchy Newspapers has reviewed, the figures reflect a jump of 49 percent in just 90 days.

The disclosures underscore the challenges that the banks face as they struggle to navigate through a deepening recession in which all types of loan defaults are soaring.

The banks' potentially huge losses, which could be contained if in the unlikely event that the economy quickly recovers, also shed new light on the hurdles that President Barack Obama's economic team must overcome to save institutions it deems too big to fail.

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Its looking like the Federal Government should just let these cows die. They are sucking money faster than can be imagined and show zero signs of improvement. Worse yet, they will probably need at least another 1/4 of a trillion dollars just in this year to remain standing and erect.

Enough with good money chasing bad banks. Let them collapse and die. We will just have to deal with the consequences.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/08/business/shelby.php

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7037136&page=1

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