The off book shelters are where the profits go, and explainations for bad debt spring from. As it stands, the truth is hidden.Nowhere mentioned in the accompanying 66-page handout were the additional $1.1 trillion of assets that New York-based Citigroup keeps off its books: trusts to sell mortgage-backed securities, financing vehicles to issue short-term debt and collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, to repackage bonds.
``You will rapidly realize what a farce these off-balance- sheet things are,'' said Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. analyst Richard X. Bove. ``You could pick up a lot of loan losses with the stuff you're putting back on.''
It's impossible to predict what the losses might be from off-the-books assets or liabilities because disclosures are thin relative to what is required for balance-sheet assets, said Neri Bukspan, chief accountant for Standard & Poor's in New York.
``A lot of information tends to disappear or becomes second or third class,'' Bukspan said.
CEO's retire with 100's of millions of dollars whilst the fed decides which back to bail out next. Speaking of running on the banks; customers with cash holdings are only getting half of their money. You want to se the banks drained of money? Get the word out that when and if the bank you frequent fails you may only get half your money.
In an unusual move, the FDIC said it would give those customers access to 50% of their uninsured deposits.
