The economic propaganda being issued

It is not complicated to understand how laws are being violated by the FDIC. Karl Denninger in his post details that and why there should be no losses from bank closings (unless there is bank fraud involved). Simply stated, it is the FDIC that is causing the losses by not closing banks when their mandate says they must. Leaving them open beyond this point enables losses to continue to mount to the point that, when they are finally closed, taxpayer funds are needed to bail out depositors. Timely closings would ensure taxpayer funds would not be needed.
There are two possible reasons why the FDIC is in violation of the law. First, they are inept. Second,

The stronger banks

The bailout fiasco is just now starting to show up for the act of desperation that many suspected it was. Instead of allowing markets to resolve a severely over-leveraged and distorted economy, the government decided to try to “bluff” its way through one more time. This strategy has been one used for almost 5 decades. Each time the credit stimulus required is bigger than the last. Each time the distortions to relative prices is made worse. Each time the misallocation of resources becomes greater. Each time the credit levels of individuals and government expand. Each time inflation becomes a bigger problem. Finally, a time comes when malinvestment and credit burdens are too large to be supported. It is probable that we have reached that point. To appreciate how far we have come regarding the abuses of credit creation, one need only note that since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, the dollar has lost about 96% of its purchasing power. Most of that loss (probably in excess of 90%) has occurred since 1980.
There are still many that believe that government actions will get us out of our predicament. They

The economic condition of the country

Paulson, Bernanke and Geithner have horrible forecasting records. Anyone forecasting, leaves himself open for a certain amount of embarrassment. Yet these people persist in pretending that they are capable of managing the economic condition of the country. That is truly scary!
Now we have the latest bit of evidence of  their prowess. Look at this statement (one of many in a detailed report) made by Frederick Mishkin when he was on the Federal Reserve Board: “… they clearly illustrate that Iceland is a well run, advanced Nordic country that has little in common with emerging market countries, a fact important to recognize when we start discussing financial stability in the next section.” Shortly thereafter, Iceland inconveniently and totally collapsed into financial rubble.
Perhaps it isn’t Bernanke; perhaps it is his aides that are so wrong. Actually it is neither. No one can accurately forecast such things. That they are wrong is not surprising; that they have the hubris to pretend to know these things is what is amazing. Frederick Hayek’s Nobel acceptance speech entitled The Pretence of Knowledge has much to say both about the problem and professional hubris. Perhaps this speech should be required reading by all Washington economic and other policy dunderheads.

The Honeymoon Is Over

For the first time in recent years, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. The GOP holds double-digit advantages on five of them.
As a libertarian I have equal distrust for all political parties, but this report is quite telling in what it could mean for the balance of power in Congress come the next general election.
Here’s some more from the report:
Republicans have nearly doubled their lead over Democrats on economic issues to 49% to 35%, after leading by eight points in September.
On the highly contentious issue of health care, voters now give the edge to Republicans 46% to 40%. The parties tied on the issue last month, after Republicans took the lead on it for the first time in August.
Most voters (54%) oppose the health care reform plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats, but 42% are in favor of it.
On taxes, Republicans are now ahead of Democrats 50% to 35%, nearly doubling their September lead on the issue. Prior to July, the percentage of voters who trusted the GOP more on taxes never reached 50%. It has done so three times since then.

Major currencies has fallen

A nice article detailing the recent history of the dollar. The fact that the dollar has declined 79% in the last 9 years versus the Euro is shocking. What is even more astounding is that it has declined so much against a currency not backed by a country and a region that has underperformed for decades. The socialistic economies of “Old Europe” have been stagnant for many years, especially regarding job creation. What does this say about the US for the past 9 years? Obviously it has implications for our economy, regardless of what government-reported GDP statistics say. It says even more about our loose monetary policy which would reflect even more directly into exchange rates.
The image to the right depicts a unit of currency issued by the United States of America. On the back is the phrase: “In God We Trust.” To the extent that the dollar has much value left, it may be as a result of this phrase. I assume that means it is less valuable to atheists than believers, but that is purely speculation.
Home > Euro Bests Dollar by 79% in This Millennium
Euro Bests Dollar by 79% in This Millennium

Currencies against the greenback

“Some sort of crisis is looking inevitable,” said Neil Mellor, a currencies analyst at the Bank of New York Mellon in London. “You can’t continue down this road without something giving way, and it’s clear that the U.S. is not going to do anything to put meat on the bones of its strong-dollar policy.”
Dollar decline draws international protest
LONDON — This could end up being viewed as the week when dollar weakness became too much for the rest of the world to bear, setting the scene for tense encounters at the upcoming meeting of finance ministers from the world’s 20 largest economies.
Brazil has now imposed a tax on some foreign-exchange inflows. The Bank of Canada has cranked up its negative tone on the strength of the Canadian dollar. And a whole slew of European officials have practically begged the U.S. to step in and boost the buck.
This chorus of pain marks a rise in international pressure on the U.S. to live up to its oft-quoted “strong-dollar policy,” after central banks in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand,

Waiting for the next crisis

Hope and Change in the Banking System seems to be “hope” that the system can get through this economic cycle while “change” is non-existent. “Too big to fail” creates incentives for risk-taking that would not occur in a true free market. Taxpayers underwriting risk and backstopping failure ensure that firms will take on more, rather than less, risk.
Legislated rules need to be imposed to contain excessive risk-taking based upon taxpayer guarantees. While a truly free market could handle this better than legislation, there appears to be zero hope for that occurring. Thus, a reinstatement of Glass-Steagall or its equivalent is necessary. Without some type of legislation, we are merely waiting for the next crisis to occur. With it, crises will still occur, but they should be more manageable.
The return to risky behavior is already underway. An analysis of JP Morgan’s recent financial results  concludes:
You might as well label JP Morgan the new Lehman Brothers because they are operating like an investment bank.  So much for those bailouts helping the average American.  The media really needs to scrutinize how these companies make their earnings.  They are simply using hot and easy money to double down in the Wall Street casino on the taxpayer dime.  No reform has happened since the collapse of Wall Street because these banks own our politicians.