Farewell, Sheila Bair
“Let’s face it,” she said. “Bear Stearns was a second-tier investment bank, with — what? — around $400 billion in assets? I’m a traditionalist. Banks and bank-holding companies are in the safety net. That’s why they have deposit insurance. Investment banks take higher risks, and they are supposed to be outside the safety net. If they make enough mistakes, they are supposed to fail. So, yes, I was amazed when they saved it. I couldn’t believe it. When they told me about it, I said: ‘Guess what: Investment banks fail.’ ”
-Sheila Bair as quoted in Sheila Bair’s Bank Shot, NYTimes
Sheila Bair is a regulator no more. She will be missed.
In your fantasies she will be missed. In my world, the world of distressed debt buying, this woman is despised as a bank and politician lackey. The FDIC is an inept outfit that sold its soul to the banking system and refuses to do what it takes because it is broke. She did ZIP to change this sad state of affairs. It is all about politics. If you knew how many banks are on life support right now, you would change your pitiful, uninformed tune. The truth of the matter is, war needs to be waged on the financial sector (banking, shadow banking, Wall Street and all the financial whiz jerks of the world) until it is shrunk and all these out-of-control monsters are brought back under control. Blair had no vision, no will, and no spine. In other words, she was perfect for the job, and she did as her masters ordered. She was an expensive order taker. We don’t need yes-men/women, we need revolutionaries. Heads need to roll, blood needs to be shed, and the financial sector needs to learn to live in fear.